Tag Archives: Review

The Apothecary Diaries, episode 13

Rating: B+ After a week off, the second half of the series begins, shifting the adaptation into the territory of the second light novel and the 5th manga volume. This also marks a significant change in the setting: instead of being in the Rear/Inner Palace, Maomao is now working in the Outer Palace, directly underContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries, episode 13”

2023 in Review: The Best and Strangest of the Year

As we say good-bye to 2023, it’s time to take a look at the highlights of the year as a whole, rather than just individual seasons. And my, this was a very full year, with over 190 series either debuting or getting new installments this year! The Fall 2023 season was the biggest and deepestContinue reading “2023 in Review: The Best and Strangest of the Year”

The Apothecary Diaries episode 12

Rating: B+ The situation at the heart of this episode is one quite familiar to any fan of romances with class-based complications. The higher-ranked man wants to be respectful of the lower-ranked woman’s wishes by not forcing her into a situation she may not want (and which he has reasonable evidence to that end, basedContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries episode 12”

The Eminence in Shadow episode 32 (season finale)

Rating: B+ Ragnarok is upon us! Well, sort of. Really, it’s just an opportunity for Shadow to fight a boss monster-type foe while his Shadow Garden minions do all of the lesser work. The minor problem for the series is that Ragnarok just isn’t that interesting a foe on its own. Sure, it wrecks partContinue reading “The Eminence in Shadow episode 32 (season finale)”

The Eminence in Shadow episode 31

Rating: B+ During the last couple of reviews, I wondered why the succession of the Oriana Kingdom bypassed the former queen and went straight to Rose. This episode gives us the answer: the former king, in one of his few moments of lucidity towards the end of his life, forced the succession onto Rose byContinue reading “The Eminence in Shadow episode 31”

The Apothecary Diaries episode 10

Rating: B+ Last episode began a narrative shift away from individual mysteries and more towards how certain mysteries may be connected into a bigger picture. This episode continues down that path as Maomao interacts with two of the other four high-ranking concubines: Lishu and Ah-Duo. In the process, we learn a bit more about eachContinue reading “The Apothecary Diaries episode 10”