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| “ | If I should die, I'd want to die of poison. | ” |
–Maomao, Light Novel | ||
Maomao (
Appearance[]
Maomao is a young girl who stands relatively short in height and possesses a petite frame. She has blue eyes and dark forest green hair, which is typically tied up and sectioned with a light blue ribbon that holds a portion of her hair back, whereas two strands of hair can be seen framing her face and are adorned with 2 beads each; the top one being red and the bottom one being sky blue. The bandage wrap seen on her left forearm hides the number of self-inflicted scars from where she had tested upon herself when experimenting with remedies and poisons.
Maomao's main outfit consists of an aoqun hanfu with a light green top and a long, burgundy skirt. The inner robe in her top is white, while the collar of her light green robe is both pale and dark green. She also wears a pair of dark green flats to accompany this outfit.
In essence of her usual wear, Maomao prefers to wear more simple and practical garments and will otherwise avoid wearing elaborate outfits and makeup unless the opportunity for her to do so arises, giving those the impression she dresses rather plainly. Despite avoiding makeup, she frequently paints freckles using clay around the bridge of her nose.[4]
On the rare occasions where Maomao would dress up and remove her freckles, she is considered to be attractive, especially when posing as a noble lady or courtesan, something that usually leaves most people to fail in recognizing her as the same person entirely.[5]
Despite wearing an impassive expression on her face, she can radiate with heightened excitement whenever she is able to taste and or experiment with poisons, medicines, or rare medical ingredients, often being portrayed with cat ears.
Personality[]
Maomao's approach to life is very practical, focused on learning to survive and thrive in whatever way her environment demands her to. She is rarely tricked or charmed by others: she is one of the few to be unaffected by Jinshi's beauty and charm. Her mindset has helped her come to terms with matters that many would find scarring; for example, she considers her near-rape, and later her kidnapping enraging situations, but also as inevitabilities of living in the red-light district. She is a very pragmatic individual who is well aware of her position in the world as someone with no status who can be considered expendable at a moment's notice. She often follows commands without outward protest and forces herself to not acknowledge (and even withhold) significant events she had witnessed in the Imperial Palace as a form of self-preservation, such as the truth behind the illness of Gyokuyou's daughter, Lishu's harassment by her ladies-in-waiting, or that Jinshi is not in fact the Emperor's brother but is in fact his son by Ah-Duo, as she is well aware that her status as a commoner means that she is easily expandable if it means to protect a noble and that her words might get someone killed. In part because of her own self-preserving attitude, she finds people who will help others to their own detriment painful to watch.
Despite her pragmatism, Maomao's insatiable curiosity often leads her to involve herself in the problems of others. It is also implied that she has a strong sense of justice, empathy, and compassion, which makes it very hard for her to ignore misdeeds and injustice once she has witnessed them.[6] She is well-equipped to expertly navigate the inner palace, which she herself notes is more or less the same as the red light district she was raised in. She is sharp-witted, calm and mature enough to know how to read people and situations, and how to placate or intimidate aggressive colleagues or superiors without making them direct their ire at her.
At the start of the series, Maomao was an extremely detached individual who avoided making any sort of close connection or deep attachment with the only exception being her adoptive parent and mentor, Luomen. She refused to accept that she is highly favored by the consorts of the Inner Court, or utilize any special treatment, such as assistance for a current "case" she is working on or wanting to return home for a brief spell, those in power are happy to have extend to her for her accomplishments. She maintained a firm wall between those around her, refusing to reciprocate any attempts of people trying to get close to her and even appeared to prefer having transactional relationships rather than those built on kindness. She was particularly stubborn in her willful denial about people's obvious sincere concern and affection for her be it platonic or romantic. She most notably denies Jinshi's clear romantic affection for her (though it more accurate to say she is aware but doesn't want to acknowledge due to inevitable trouble it will cause), and has even tried to run away at times when she is forced to confront it. She finds the idea of romantic dreams foolish and silly as they are likely to lead to someone's ruin rather than happiness.
A large part of Maomao's perspective and hesitancy towards accepting kindness and forming relationships is due to being raised in the red-light district where she never received true unconditional love, as well as the knowledge that someone sincerely loving someone doesn't ensure they won't be tossed away if it's necessary. While she was well-loved by her "older sisters" who work in the brothel (known as the Three Princesses of the Verdigris House: Pairin, Meimei, and Joka), she realized she came second to their job. As a baby, her cries would not be answered until they completed their work for the day, so she eventually stopped crying and asking for help. Even the "Madam" or "Granny," as Maomao refers to her as, had no qualms about charging her for taking care of her and trying to force her into becoming a courtesan.[7] She has stated she does not believe she has the capacity to love somebody or let them get close to her. This experience is what caused Maomao's aloofness-to-a-fault personality and resistance to forming close relationships as a defense mechanism to protect herself from the (unfortunately high) possibility that despite being close confidants and friends, the members of the Inner Court would throw her out, even kill her, for something as small as being associated with the wrong person.
The red light district, as well as the events surrounding her own conception, gave Maomao a skewed, though fairly accurate, view of romantic relationships in the world as she spent her life watching courtesans be madly in love with their clients only to cast them aside once they ran out of funds. She would often see courtesans being promised the world by clients only for it to end in lies, people being sold as property, the perverse horror of cheaper brothels, numerous rapes and femicides, and how even well liked courtesans that would bring in a fortune and put a brothel on the map would be tossed out back to be a common prostitute the second they lost their value. Her hesitancy to hope for something more lest she be hurt if it fails was heavily influenced by her mother Fengxian; her mother had intentionally conceived Maomao with the patron she was in love with in order to bring her price down to one he could afford. However, he (seemingly) abandoned her and it forced her to work on the street for the lowest paying patrons, which led to her getting syphilis.[8] As a result, she took her anger and frustration out on Maomao, which only got worse as the illness ravaged her brain, going as far as yelling in horror everytime she saw her and even cutting her pinky off. Maomao came to view her mother, who was wasting away in a back room, as stupid and foolish for her actions, as her pursuit of love had turned from the most worshiped high courtesan showered with adoration and luxury to a rags clad walking corpse. This presented her with the harsh reality of how expendable people can be and how even being loved doesn't guarantee safety.
Having been personally taught by the genius physician Luomen, Maomao is fascinated by medicine, especially poison and herbs. She has a habit of experimenting with them to observe their effects, primarily on her own body. Due to her passionate love of poisons and her enjoyment when consuming them, as well as her incredible high intellect and ability to master anything as long as she is interested, she is considered uniquely talented, eccentric, strange, creepy and obsessed by many characters in the series, traits she shares with members of her father's side of the family: the La Clan. Her obsession over medicines is a major motivation for her actions throughout the series, as Jinshi learns to bait her to solve court mysteries with the promise of giving her rare medicines. She is also fascinated with venomous animals more so than with any commonplace pet like cats; such as snakes and spiders and centipedes.
Abilities[]
Perception: Having been raised in the red light district, Maomao is very good at dealing with and manipulating other persons. Along with her experience and knowledge of herbs, she is able to deduce and solve problems more effectively than most people. In spite of this, while she recognizes her cleverness, she does not consider herself highly intelligent by academic standards as the only thing she can bring herself to study is medicine.
Medicine: Having been taught by Luomen, one of the best pharmacists in the country, Maomao is an excellent user and maker of herbs for various medical purposes, and she often experiments with the intention of creating her own unique medicines, which she often tests on herself. She is currently reading all of Luomen's all books and learning all the trades of a physician, including surgery.
Poison Resistance: Because she constantly experiments with poisons on her own body, Maomao has developed a mithridatic resistance against drugs and poisons. Whether afflicted by snake bite, aphrodisiac, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. She even once administered rescue breaths on a poisoned victim's drooling mouth. Despite her many resistance to poisons, this does not extend to her buckwheat allergy, which she has given up attempting to overcome.
Videos[]
- Anime-related
Trivia[]
- Maomao's name is derived from "猫" (māo), the Chinese word for "cat". This is alluded to frequently with Maomao having a number of cat-like mannerisms such as curiosity and aloofness.
- In the manga and anime, Maomao is often given cat ears as a visual gag.
- Her nickname Xiao Mao translates to "kitten" (小猫).
- Her other nickname Niang Niang (in Chinese) translates to "lady/missus". Tianyu and some of his fellow physicians start calling her this to imply they think she is benefiting from nepotism on account of her blood relation to Luomen and Lakan.
- Maomao's family on her father's side are famous for being brilliant individuals that master a field in ways never thought possible but have odd, socially inept personalities. Maomao is known for brilliant apothecary skills, but she dislikes studying topics uninteresting to her so much that she failed the court lady exam.[9] Her adoptive father Luomen is a physician second to none but lives in squalor due to a lack of common sense, while her biological father Lakan is a genius tactician who can't even recognize distinct human faces.
- Maomao has an unusually high metabolism for alcohol compared to most people in the setting, including Basen and her own father Lakan.[10] Her high tolerance for alcohol in comparison to the rest of the characters in the story parallels the real world phenomena known as Asian Flush Syndrome. Many people descended from the Yellow River civilization have a mutant strain of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2), the gene which enables the liver to convert ethanol into acetate. People with the ALDH2*2 variant cannot metabolize alcohol and so become inebriated much faster and recover much more slowly than people with the functioning gene. Maomao would have inherited the functioning gene from Fengxian, since Lakan doesn't have it.
- She enjoys drinking wine in general[11], and once proposes a drinking contest with the sole intention of crushing her opponent, who is thrown off guard due to her lightweight appearance.[12]
- She once pickled a poisonous snake in alcohol and drank it.[13] Later in the series, she also grills and eats snakes.[14]
- At the beginning of the story, Maomao works for Shang-fu, also known as wardrobe services in the Inner Court for the Imperial Palace.
- In episode 8 of the anime (as well as chapter 11 of the manga), Maomao is somewhat skilled in administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and using the Heimlich maneuver.
- Goof: Doctors reacting to the series have pointed out that Maomao is administering M2M & CPR incorrectly, pressing her knuckles against the victim's abs and giving him a dozen rescue breaths instead of only two. However, most fictional depictions of hands-on first aid are usually inaccurate and anyone knowing how to resuscitate in the 15th century of China's Ming dynasty is fanciful, since anything like chest compressions is not known until likely the mid 19th century.
- Goof: In the anime, the apprentice courtesan, who resuscitated the poisoned courtesan by repeating after Maomao administering artificial respiration on the male victim, should've also been affected by poison from sealing her lips on the drooling and coughing mouth of the female victim (Maomao is the only poison resistant one in the scene).
- It's implied that Maomao is agnostic (or possibly atheist) due to her grounded belief in science. She doesn't believe in superstitions or religion, reasoning that people make up stories to explain phenomena they cannot understand.[15]
- She is right handed, and performs all her poison and medicinal experiments on her left arm.[16]
- She was once obsessed with the idea of finding the panacea to heal all diseases, which motivated her excessive self-experimentation, but later became cynical of the possibility.[17]
- Her good memory for poison also makes her good with food ingredients. She is also knowledgeable in cooking as it shares similarities with making medicine.[13]
- She prefers savory snacks such as rice crackers over sweet ones, and often laments the prevalence of sweet snacks in the Imperial Palace. She also likes Jasmine tea.[21]
- She is extremely resourceful and provides Consort Gyokuyou's attendants with various makeshift items to help them weather the cold garden party such as cold remedies, anti-chapping ointment, as well as heated stones that serve as handwarmers.[21]
- Her speech was originally very impolite (due to her being a commoner) before being given polite speech lessons by Hongniang.
- Some of her freckles are temporary tattoos she gave herself using a needle.[22]
- She doesn't like children.[23]
- If she were to die, she would like to die of blowfish poison specifically. She enjoys the tingling feeling it causes.[23]
- She is allergic to buckwheat. She has unsuccessfully attempted to develop buckwheat allergy resistance.[24]
- Maomao's voice actors, Aoi Yuki (in Japanese) and Emi Lo (in English) share the same voiceover role for Lucyna "Lucy" Kushinada (also the lead character) in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
References[]
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries light novel: Volume 2
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries manga: Chapter 29
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries anime: Covert Operations (season 1, episode 5)
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries light novel: Volume 1, Chapter 15
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries light novel: Volume 1, Chapter 16
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries light novel: Volume 3, Chapter 19; Volume 7: Chapter 18; Volume 8, Chapter 20
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries light novel: Volume 3, Epilogue
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries light novel: Volume 2, Chapter 20
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries light novel: Volume 2, Chapter 1
- ↑ The Apothecary Diaries light novel: Volume 5, Chapter 9
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 25
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 05 Chapter 9
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 9
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 04 Chapter 15
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 01, Chapter 2
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 7
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 8
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 9
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 14
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 04 Chapter 5
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 10
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 16
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 18
- ↑ Light Novel Volume 01 Chapter 19
External links[]
- Official anime S1 character webpage (in Japanese)
- Official anime S2 webpage (in Japanese)
Feilong • Fengming • Fengxian • Fuyou ☆ Gaoshun • Guen/Quack Doctor • Guiyuan • Gyokuen • Gyokujun • Gyoku-ou • Gyokuyou
Haku-u • Hongniang • Hulan ☆ Jazgul • Jin • Jinshi • Joka • Junjie ☆ Kanan • King of Shaoh • Koku-u • Kokuyou • Kounen
Lahan • Lahan's Older Brother • Lakan • Lakou • Dr. Li • Lihaku • Lihua • Lingli • Lishu • Dr. Liu • Lo-en • Loulan • Luomen
Maamei • Madam • Maomao • Maomao, the Cat • Meimei ☆ Onsou • Oracle ☆ Pairin ☆ Rikuson
Sanfan • Sazen • Seki-u • Shenlü • Shenmei • Shikyou • Shin • Shishou • Shisui • Shrine Maiden of Shaoh • Suirei • Suirei's Mother • Suiren • Sotei
Taihou • Taomei • Tianyu ☆ Ujun • Ukyou • Uryuu ☆ Xiaohong • Xiaolan ☆ Yakou • Yao • Yinghua • Yinxing • Yo • Dr. You ☆ Zulin
Crown Prince • Emperor • Empress Regnant • Former Emperor • Imperial Brother


