 https://myanimelist.net/anime/58514/ Plot Summary Second season of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. Other Information Type: TV Episodes: Unknown Status: Currently Airing Aired: Jan 10, 2025 to ? Premiered: Winter 2025 Broadcast: Fridays at 23:00 (JST) Producers: TOHO animation Licensors: None found, add some Studios: OLM, TOHO animation STUDIO Source: Light novel Genres: Drama, Mystery Themes: Historical, Medical Duration: Unknown Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older |
| Episode 25 Now that the spring garden party has come and gone, it's back to work for Maomao after working her way up the ladder as she's once again Gyokuyou's taster. And while venturing outside the court, she encounters a kitten, and it was only a matter of time before she encountered a cute calico kitten seeing that Maomao's name means kitten in Chinese. So after nursing the injured cat back to health, it gets adopted, and is also named Maomao. A great way to get back into this show as now Maomao has a cute pet who will keep all the rats away. |
| Maomao brings in some more books for the concubines and ladies-in-waiting, and Jinshi sees an opportunity to get the literacy rate up. Then while taking Gyokuyou's child out for a walk, she finds a kitten and starts nursing it to health, and the emperor decides to name the kitten after her. It was rather amusing when Maomao was talking about how cat lovers don't know what cats are thinking to Jinshi, and he was thinking, "Wait, that's exactly how our relationship effectively is." Now a caravan is coming to the rear palace, which means more business opportunities are in store. |
| Failure is always an option. |
| I was hoping to start with a good mystery, but oh well. I enjoyed the last season, so I'll be watching. |
| Finally~ |
| Both the OP and the ED are not as good as previous ones IMO, but still, glad it's back. This was fun, made me chuckle. Maomao is so smart yet can be so clueless at times. Using pr0n as an incentive to learn to read - hey, if it works, it works. |
SparkyBobJan 10, 2025 8:57 PM
| Hitohira no Hanabira ga Yureteiru boku no tonari de ima! Sorry. The OP just reminded me of that song xD I agree, the OP and ED for this season ain't it. But, I do like that they started this season like it wasn't a sequel-- felt like it just started where it left off. Maomao, her friend, the baby, and the cat all looked so darn cute! >.< Looking forward to the first mystery of the season. |
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| A nice chill start to the season giving us a cute story while reestablishing the characters major and minor after the break. |
| The tomatoes are coming! Arm the dicer! Prepare the olive oil! |
| Episode 26 The caravan is here, and the place is buzzing for the five-day event. Maomao is thinking about how to hide Gyokuyo's pregnancy seeing that outfits with high belts are the latest fashion trend. And then on the final day, Maomao does her shopping and some jasmine tea balls catches her attention, as well as from the other girls. But when sniffing around some of the clothes the caravan was selling, Maomao notices that they are all scented with stuff that are bad for a pregnant woman that Gyokuyo is, and realizes the caravan is out to poison the pregnant women there so that their children won't be born. And then the concubine Jin ends up dying. So after an episode that was all about Maomao getting a cat, it's back to the mystery as Maomao sees that the caravan is out to deal harm to the ladies though products that are seemingly harmless. |
| The caravan is a good place for business, but it turns out the scents and oils that were sold can potentially cause miscarriages if overused. In fact, a concubine has evidently died already. |
| Failure is always an option. |
| The mystery is afoot! |
| The tomatoes are coming! Arm the dicer! Prepare the olive oil! |
| A very productive Maomao this week. Lots of investigating and evidence collecting in a single episode. Is it just me or does Maomao's VA has a lower voice volume this season? I've noticed it since the 1st episode. I can barely here her most of the time. |
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| Episode 27 After getting word of Jin's sudden passing, Maomao is back on the case. In the meantime, she's gathering mushrooms, and notices that something smells strange. The mushrooms gave Maomao a hint as to who the culprit is who poisoned Jin. At the funeral, the concubine Son comes in and laughs sinisterly as she believes Jin poisoned her and sees this as retribution. As for what was used to poison her, she identifies the mushroom used to do it, but she's having a hard time figuring out the motives since the evidence is inconclusive. But by following the mushrooms, she finds the evidence needed to confirm that the body at the funeral is not Jin, but her body double Tao, while the real Jin died a year ago and was buried in the forest. With that, the case is solved as Tao was the culprit as she wanted Jin's position, and she impersonated Jin before falling herself. Once again, Maomao knew what she was up against and she has the shrooms to thanks this time around. |
| Maomao gathers mushrooms, and that helps her solve the mystery of how the concubine Jin died. But there's more to the story than that, as evidently the body at her funeral is not Jin at all. The real Jin died a year prior and was buried in the northern part of the rear palace, and Maomao finds the body thanks to some more mushrooms that grow atop corpses and excrement. |
| Failure is always an option. |
| I love the shift in art style for the silly parts. It helps keep a clear line so the more serious elements feel grounded. |
| The tomatoes are coming! Arm the dicer! Prepare the olive oil! |
Jozuwa-_- said: I haven't noticed it.Is it just me or does Maomao's VA has a lower voice volume this season? I've noticed it since the 1st episode. I can barely here her most of the time. |
| Cursive is the future. - Nate Bargatze |
MenchiK1 said: It didn't take a year. They only pretended that the concubine had been sick for a year to hide that they had replaced her. And given the setting it makes sense that they might not completely understand everything about such a rare fungus.Eating it of course will kill you but ingesting it is the only way to get the toxin in your system, and it would not take what was it in the show a whole year? |
| Cursive is the future. - Nate Bargatze |
Reply to MenchiK1
@zkeleton
I thought they said she had been sick for 2 years though. Not saying they wouldn't understand but the show portrayed the characrers as having the symptoms they wouldn't actually have.
I thought they said she had been sick for 2 years though. Not saying they wouldn't understand but the show portrayed the characrers as having the symptoms they wouldn't actually have.
| @MenchiK1 I'm not sure exactly how long they thought she had been sick. Whatever it was she wasn't actually sick. They just made up the sickness and stuck some bandages on her replacement's face to hide that she was just a look alike. It's also possible that this case really isn't completely closed. Last season they referred back to events that she thought she had figured out, but it turned out there was more to it that ended up connecting events together that looked like they were unrelated. So I wouldn't be surprised if we find out later there were things she missed or maybe she doesn't actually know as much about this fungus as she thought she did. She did want to keep those other mushrooms in order to do experiments with them so it shows she has gaps in her knowledge. |
| Cursive is the future. - Nate Bargatze |
| Going beyond Wikipedia, I found this: Touching the poison fire coral mushroom (\(Trichodermacornu-damae\)) can cause skin irritation and inflammation. Ingesting it can be fatal. Symptoms Skin irritation, inflammation, dermatitis, and rash Painful burning sensation Tingling, itching, and welts Stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever Peeling skin on the face, hands, and feet Hair loss Shrinking of the brain, resulting in speech impediment and problems with voluntary movement So all things considered, the show was reasonably accurate, given that dramatic license is a thing. Combined with the fact that the poisoning was deliberate and was probably carried out by servants who were told what to do and given no protection for themselves, what we saw was not out of line for an anime. Maomao herself was only "somewhat familiar" with poison mushrooms (she said as much earlier in the episode) and she herself has a scar from encountering one in her childhood, so her being overly cautious (avoiding spores, etc, with masks) made a certain amount of sense, especially since Jinshi was there. |
MenchiK1 said: I get the author is flubbing things for dramatic effect, but up to now they really haven't had to do that so now I am worried this show has either started running out of gas or the author is starting to deal with subjects they don't know very well. Since Maomao admits she isn't strongly familiar with poisonous mushrooms it would be an interesting twist if later in the season she learns she was wrong and it turned out to be a different cause. I think having her not be right all the time would add to the series. |
| The tomatoes are coming! Arm the dicer! Prepare the olive oil! |
Reply to MenchiK1
@Domvina
Yes but in this case they showed she tested it on herself to be sure, so I doubt they come back and say she was wrong because then they would have to explain her arm.
Yes but in this case they showed she tested it on herself to be sure, so I doubt they come back and say she was wrong because then they would have to explain her arm.
| @MenchiK1 She said that scar on her arm was from when she was younger and she accidently touched one. I don't remember her saying anything about testing it this time. |
| Cursive is the future. - Nate Bargatze |
| Episode 28 The next case involves mirrors that were gifted from a foreign land and are quite rare in this place. And of course, they bring their own mysteries to the table as well where it gets Maomao to think about things in a different light as she makes note of images that can be seen in two different ways. And after thinking things through, she sees an old lady and is presented with a picture of the granny and what she looked like in her youth. An interesting case is developing here as Maomao leans quite a lot though the mirrors and all, and it looks like it's going to develop into something big. |
| Looks like Gaoshun's hypothetical scenario might be a legitimate matter of concern regarding the envoys. And oh god, don't tell me Maomao intends to dress Jinshi up as a woman! |
| Failure is always an option. |
| I wonder what exactly the message the envoy was trying to send by setting the whole thing up with the mirrors and riddle that involved a mirror. Are they saying they want to know the truth or that they just want to see the trick? Or both? |
| Cursive is the future. - Nate Bargatze |
| Episode 29 A pair of envoys have arrived in Ayla and Aylin, who are making what appears to be an impossible request to watch the Moon Fairy dance. So Maomao comes up with a plan to fulfill it by having Jinshi disguise himself as the Moon Fairy and using the moths to look convincing. And then it's back to making medicine for Maomao. That was quite the convincing act that Jinshi pulled off there as he has what it takes to be a drag queen. |
| Looks like Shisui gave Maomao a flash of inspiration for the dance. Later, Ailan, one of Gyokuyou's ladies-in-waiting, comes down with a cold and self-quarantines herself at a clinic for a night. But Maomao learns that she could be in trouble if more people find out about her knowledge of making medicines, and it seems that the head lady at the clinic has picked up on that. |
| Failure is always an option. |
| Episode 30 With the empress dowager Shin onto Maomao and her knowledge about medicine. As it turns out, Shin has been making medicine for abortion in order to stop the emperor's child from being born while Maomao was treating some sick patients, all while she apparently brought in a box full of banned medicines. While Shin denies any wrongdoing, Maomao is quite perceptive as usual. She tries to get a sniff on Maomao, but Shin cuts her face and seeing that she's all too sensitive about being touched, Lihua comes in to approach her as she was exposed for being an empress who was simply after the status. As for how Maomao figured out it was an abortion drug that Shin was making, she noticed that the blossoms that were supposed to be red were white, and the seeds from it can be used to make an abortion drug. Shin sure is one wicked lady there, but Maomao and Lihua exposed her for who she is. |
| The lady from the clinic wants Maomao's help to find and care for a sick servant girl. When Maomao finds the sick girl, she uncovers a conspiracy by Lihua's head lady-in-waiting Shin, who happens to be Lihua's cousin. Shin was keeping some of the banned scented oils in a shed with the intention of making an abortion drug, and it turns out she was intending to use it on Lihua, who happens to be pregnant. Once the truth comes out, Lihua has her cousin banished from the rear palace. But a new question has been brought to light: how did Shin know that the scented oils could be used to induce abortions? |
| Failure is always an option. |
| This is starting to seem like the same mystery over and over again. The show's lost a lot of its charm from season 1 |
| Episode 31 Next case brings Maomao to a shrine where she needs to choose the correct colored door in order to proceed. The first time around, they went through the green door, then the yellow that lead to a dead end. After hitting a dead end, Maomao is left with a clue about somebody being a child of royalty, but not the Mother Royal. After thinking about it, Maomao deduces that the key to this is color blindness as the emperors had poor eye sight, and the clues on the top of the doors point to one door being obviously wrong, but to figure out the correct answer Maomao needed to think about how a color-blind kid would see the three doors, picking the blue, then the light blue door, and finally the green door when it says to pick the red door, but there was no red door with a colorblind child seeing the green door as the red door. And the correct pathway leads to the balcony where coronation ceremonies happen. Once again, Maomao comes through realizing that there's a lot more to the puzzle and that there's a right answer that can be logically obtained. |
| After observing her friend Xiaolan take a class at the new school, Maomao is brought along with Jinshi and the emperor to navigate a maze of doors in a shrine, and she eventually deduces that the correct path can only be revealed to someone who is color-blind. The head teacher is really pushing for Maomao to be incorporated into the imperial bloodline. |
| Failure is always an option. |
| My wife's father was red-green color blind, and both my sons are, though both fake it extremely well. They claim it's only certain shades they can't see. In fact my oldest son is a professional illustrator. But he was recently startled to learn that our brown couch (which we've had since he was a kid) is brown. He'd always thought it was green. Back to the show. I was puzzled by the use of concubines, since color blindness is a sex-linked gene and extremely rare in women unless both X chromosomes carry the trait. I guess that's why the show was making such a big deal about "thick blood" etc. The parents would likely need to be siblings or something? And yeah, the emperor is starting to notice the weird, smart loli - but not for himself. |
MenchiK1 said: The one issue I have is by making Maomao so smart, it makes it all the worse that she hasn't picked up on anything about Jinshi yet. It's not that Maomao hasn't picked up on anything yet, it's that she doesn't want to pry. She doesn't want to overstep her boundaries out of concern that she might get reprimanded severely, and she thinks pressing matters further might lead to exactly that. |
| Failure is always an option. |
Reply to Galaxy-Crisis
MenchiK1 said:
The one issue I have is by making Maomao so smart, it makes it all the worse that she hasn't picked up on anything about Jinshi yet.
The one issue I have is by making Maomao so smart, it makes it all the worse that she hasn't picked up on anything about Jinshi yet.
It's not that Maomao hasn't picked up on anything yet, it's that she doesn't want to pry. She doesn't want to overstep her boundaries out of concern that she might get reprimanded severely, and she thinks pressing matters further might lead to exactly that.
| @Galaxy-Crisis She also knows there's a good chance if she stumbles into some grand secret it could cost her her head. Sometimes ignorance isn't just bliss, it's a necessity to survive. |
| The tomatoes are coming! Arm the dicer! Prepare the olive oil! |
| Episode 32 Maomao finds so many great things inside the storage shed that she can't hold back her excitement, and then goes collecting insects with Shisui. After returning she sees the empress dowager Anshi coming by, and she asks Maomao to solve a mystery that has been on her mind. Anshi knows that Gyokuyou is pregnant, and she proclaims to have put a curse on the late emperor. That has Maomao thinking about what exactly that curse is. Then comes a tea party, and Hongniang has some pretty serious things to talk about with Maomao. As Maomao thinks more about what this curse is about that she makes a request. Anshi sure is suspicious as empress dowagers are typically shady characters in shows with this kind of setting, and it will be interesting to see what Maomao asks for and finds out. |
| Maomao's next case comes from the empress dowager, Anshi, who believes she put a curse on the previous emperor. The previous emperor was not very popular, and even Anshi wished he would disappear. After being shown where the previous emperor died, Maomao learns that his body did not decay for the whole year that it was placed in state. |
| Failure is always an option. |
MenchiK1 said: I don't remember them implying that was because of some disease. I certainly could have missed it. Though often the thing people will say about someone like that is that they're 'sick' so kind of the same thing I guess.A disease that makes you crave lolis? Must have come from Japan originally. |
| Cursive is the future. - Nate Bargatze |
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