One more episode of peak man I hate seasons ending.. Lakan vs Maomao, what a way to start the episode and talk about an awkward family reunion. Fitting that it’s a game of chess between the two as they’ve been playing proverbial chess for a while now.
Who would’ve thought Lakan’s weakness would’ve been regular alcohol lol, talk about a lightweight.
Whaaaat was that Lakan flashback holy shit. I owe him a complete apology, was not familiar with his game at all. Been slandering this dude for months now calling him a scumbag, rapist, you name it and he turns out to be one of the kindest and most well written characters??? That’s how you play with viewers’ expectations and great twist from the author. Did not see this coming. Not only was his birth condition messed up, but then he and Fengxian’s love story was so tragic. Their shared love of Go/Chess makes the game he played with Maomao at the start even more special.
Yea, him sleeping with Fengxian is what caused everything to go south, but it was a mutual decision they made and were two consenting adults. It’s not like he chose to abandon her for three years either. I’m seeing a few people still calling him selfish and attacking him and it’s like are we watching the same episode?? It’s just an extremely unfortunate situation for everyone involved.
Another very interesting detail was the uncle. He apparently became a doctor in the rear palace and got kicked out.. sound familiar? I wonder..
Next and final episode titled Jinshi and Maomao.. finally getting Maomao outfit from the OP too.. 😩 I know it’s going to be a masterclass.
It’s incredibly important to me that the anime decided to include this scene that wasn’t in the manga. In the manga, Maomao does pass out in Jinshi’s lap after saving him from what was obviously an assassination attempt.
HOWEVER, the manga cuts off at this point, keeping strictly in Maomao’s perspective, and cuts straight to when she regains consciousness in bed after being treated for her injuries. The manga doesn’t show how she got back. They SAY how, and she briefly mentions, “wow that must have been embarrassing; he carried me back,” but we don’t SEE it. We don’t get to feel the true impact of what that means. But the anime DID show us, and holy shit.
They SHOW us how taboo this is. They show Jinshi carrying her out of the temple, after a public attempt on his life.
They show us the shock and horror on Lakan’s face as Jinshi silently walks past him. Horror at the state his daughter is in, horror at another man—a man with a status he could never dare to question—staking such a public claim over his child, horror at the fact that he could never have this level of closeness with her (as Maomao would never allow it).
Everyone hides their gazes, as is their custom when someone of his rank passes by, but the air is different this time. Jinshi is furious, he’s terrified, and he could not give a single shit about how inappropriate it looks to these palace officials.
The shot that slowly follows her trail of blood—even though it’s a small detail—that in particular leaves such a intense impression of how poignant this is for him.
Maomao talked about this scene in the manga like it was nothing to her. She did what she set out to do: she saved the person who was targeted by the attack. She didn’t even know the target would be someone she knew. But she has no idea that this happened afterwards as a result of her bravery. To her, it likely wasn’t even an act of bravery at all. She acted on impulse; she did what she knew was the right thing to do.
The anime didn’t need to include this, because the manga didn’t show it. But damn, I’m so glad they did.
The fandom loves the make jokes and memes about how Jinshi cannot successfully flirt with maomao and every attempt falls flat. Hilarious, i love these jokes too. But i dont think we talk enough about how funny it also is that Jinshi also has to constantly be aware of maomao like a petowner whos pet is constantly eating shit they shouldnt
Maomao: *eating poison on purpose*
Jinshi: what are you eating?
Maomao: *starts chewing faster*
Jinshi: what is in your mouth?! Spit that out! Spit that out right now!!!
Maomao: *trying to scurry away before he catches her*
The fact we got this and Frieren airing at the same time for 6 months.. I really don’t think people appreciated how generational that run is. What a time to be alive. Sad to see this end, but there’s the LN and S2 coming! GTA 6 and this in the same year will be wild lol.
Lakan plotting revenge on buddy for putting his hand on Maomao shoulder got me dying. How the author took him from being this seemingly horrible conniving person to a doting overprotective father gotta be studied. A masterclass in gradual character reveal.
S/O to Meimei for being the real fucking MVP of this series omg. The look of shock Lakan had on his face when she opened the door to be able to go see Fengxian was great. I thought my screen had frozen because bro was shook. He probably hasn’t ran that fast in decades lol, but such a beautiful scene with him seeing her again after all these years and even with the health condition she’s just as beautiful as he remembered both inside and out. After all the BS they been thru they deserved this. They were always happiest when they played Go so fitting that’s how their reunion goes.
Maomao’s outfit from the 2nd OP is finally here! That dance scene MOVED me. Beautifully choreographed and animated. Maomao is so gorgeous, man. No wonder Jinshi gets weak in the knees when he sees her get dolled up lol. Speaking of Jinshi, the fancams and AMVs are going to eat the scenes up that we got today. Him almost knocking her off the bridge, then carrying Maomao back home, so cute!
He really thought Maomao was going to confess to him there, whole time she just wants that Ox Bezoar for her experiments lmaooo. 😂 she definitely knows how to get what she wants out of him now.
Great finale, happy end for everyone. But the mysteries of the rear palace are far from solved. Still a lot of things left to be answered and I can’t wait for s2. They can take all the time they need cooking up. We can read in the meantime. I’m going to miss Maomao Saturdays so much.