Rating: B+
Even The Apothecary Diaries isn’t free of the seemingly-ubiquitous bathing episode in anime titles, as this episode proves with Maomao, Xiaolin, and Shisui spending much of the episode in the Rear Palace’s baths or concerned with what goes on there. The difference here is that this may be one of the least sexy portrayals of such fare that you’re ever likely to see in a non-kiddie anime series.
That’s not to say that the episode is entirely without sexual elements; Maomao doesn’t hesitate to remark on how surprisingly well-endowed Shisui looks to be under her unflattering bathing clothing, but Maomao has never been prudish about such things (except when she’s in self-denial about a certain person’s “frog,” of course!), so her not remarking on something like that would have been out of character. But the episode otherwise avoids or glosses over nearly every opportunity to vamp things up, instead keeping its focus on what all is going on in the baths and why the trio is there in the first place.
In the period of the Roman Republic and Empire, bath houses were common places for politicians and the elite to conduct informal business, in part because they were innocuous places for people from disparate factions and families to gather. The same would certainly be true for the Rear Palace. While the highest-ranking consorts have baths in their pavilion, all the rest and the serving girls would come here on a regular basis, making it a prime place to dish and overhear gossip or make connections with those they wouldn’t normally meet in daily activities. The former gives Gyokuyou a convenient excuse to allow Maomao to go there regularly with her friends, as it kills two birds with one stone for the Emperor’s current favorite: she gets the entertainment she craves and can keep abreast of what all is going on in the palace for more strategic reasons. The latter is more the real reason why the trio went there in the first place, as the original goal was to help Xiaolin build up some connections that could lead to a job once her contract is up.
What comes out of those sessions doubtless will have both short and long-term story consequences. On the short term, Lishu showing up in the baths with her chief lady-in-waiting suggests a problem at her own pavilion, one which turns out to be a suspected haunting; doubtless dealing with this will be the main focus of next episode. On the longer term, there’s the matter of Loulan’s suspected pregnancy. This one I’m taking with a grain of salt for now, as we get further hints this episode that Loulan is quite the schemer and comments were made in the first season that the Emperor having a child by Loulan could be troublesome, something he would almost assuredly know himself. Definitely not ruling out that her acting in a way that could be interpreted as her being pregnant is merely a stunt on her part, though to what end she might be doing that is unclear at this point.
The episode isn’t lacking for the series’ traditional humor elements, either, though as always, those never get in the way of potentially more serious elements and are smoothly integrated in without missing a beat. In all, the episode finds a nice balance of fleshing out further world-building, setting up further storylines, and developing some supporting cast members further. (We get another indicator, for instance, that Shisui can be remakably smart and perceptive, and doubtless that will be important later on.)
USA Anime 