The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 54: “The Paper Village (Part 1)” Review: Maomao Mistaken for a Bride, and Jinshi Utterly Shaken – Riri Ititama / Vtuber

2026年11月8日2026年11月9日

In this post, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on episode 54 of The Apothecary Diaries season 3, “The Paper Village (Part 1)"!

Maomao and the others tag along on the quack doctor’s trip back to his hometown!

What kind of incident is waiting for them there, I wonder?

Anyway, first things first…

Maomao the cat is adorable🐈

🎬 Series Info

📖 Synopsis

One day, a letter from Jinshi arrives for Maomao.

Written in it is a “troublesome matter" Jinshi has brought to her, and Maomao is holding her head in her hands.

A few days later, Gyokuen the quack doctor — a court physician, with his cat Maomao in tow — arrives at the pleasure quarter’s apothecary, together with Basen and a disguised Jinshi.

And so Maomao ends up accompanying Gyokuen on his trip home to the western lands…

The “Bride" Remark That Shook Jinshi

The first thing that made me laugh was the “bride" misunderstanding during the hometown visit!

The quack doctor’s younger sister saw Maomao and assumed her eunuch brother had brought home a young bride — that whole thing.

And the one most shaken by it was Jinshi, sitting right there in disguise!

He even dropped his teacup. Way too shaken, don’t you think? (lol)

Ohh, Jin-shi-sama!

To begin with, Jinshi’s identity as the emperor’s younger brother has been exposed, so he’s in a position where he has to move around in disguise like this. It really is tough for him.

But you know, I do think he could talk a little more.

Wouldn’t it be perfectly fine if he got a moment alone with Maomao?

…says the viewer, selfishly.

A Character Named Sazen

Sazen’s knowledge is amazing, isn’t it?

It seems a master or someone taught him, and while he’s no stand-in for Maomao, he’s grown enough to be trusted with the shop.

Well, part of it is that he’s been told to honestly say what he can’t do — but still.

Speaking in meta terms: without a character like that, Maomao wouldn’t be free to move around. Oops — should I not say that?

Well, it’s precisely because there’s someone who can watch the shop that Maomao can travel to a faraway land like this.

He really is a great character. But about that aconite incident at the start—

In the mugwort that Chouu and Shirin had picked, there was aconite mixed in!

You were going to swap it out later? No, no, no!

Tell them right away, and swap it out right away!

What if someone had tasted it? (lol)

You’ll die. Seriously!!

The Quack Doctor: A Truly Good Man, Apart from His Medical Skills

Oh, right — the quack doctor, Gyokuen.

His medical skills aside, as a person he truly is a good man, isn’t he?

But back home, his reputation had been inflated beyond all belief.

His sister’s husband genuinely believed he was “a famed doctor who even delivered the emperor’s child."

The exasperated looks on Maomao and the others’ faces as they heard that made the scene all the more fun.

Basen’s jaw just dropped…

His younger sister, too, turned out to be surprisingly similar to her brother.

Also — the cat he brought along, Maomao, is adorable.

On this point, I will not budge.

The Paper Village’s Land Problem?

The paper village they arrived at seems to consist mostly of the quack doctor’s house and his relatives, really?

It feels less like a village, and more like a gathering of relatives.

Well, that’s exactly why the fact that the village’s land is borrowed weighs so heavily on them.

The previous landlord had no plans to use the land, and apparently he’d made an arrangement for the village to buy it from him over 20 years.

For a man of that era, he truly was a good person!

But that generous landlord passed away, and his son became the new landlord—

and that’s where the trouble started: a full-blown dispute over the rights to the land!

On top of that, the son both hates outsiders and looks down on craftsmen. A double hit…

They’d been harassed in various ways, but the harassment escalated because of the grain tax increase introduced as a locust countermeasure.

Combined with the low tax on paper, he started one-sidedly telling them: pay up, or get out.

Troubles over taxes truly never change, in any era.

Though, well — the quack doctor’s family is basically caught in the crossfire here.

Anyway, there’s apparently going to be a meeting, and it looks like Basen will attend it.

(Does that mean Jinshi-sama will be there, too?)

Who knows what will happen next time.

Who Is the Girl at the End? Looking Ahead to “The Bet"

At the very end, the eldest son was in a barn, holding a crying girl and telling her, “Don’t worry. I’ll do something about it, no matter what."

Just who is that girl?

Wait — so the eldest son is that kind of character?

The reason for his bad attitude earlier probably lies somewhere in all this, too.

Next time is episode 55, “The Bet."

From the preview, I’m guessing it’ll be some kind of drinking bet in a face-off with Lakan?

📝 Riri’s Thoughts

Episode 54 was a “Part 1," so the truth behind the case is carried over to next time, I suppose.

Even so — Jinshi’s flustered face, the quack doctor’s tall tales, Sazen’s growth, the village’s land problem… it was packed with way too much!

For now, my prediction: maybe the mysterious girl is the landlord’s daughter?

I haven’t read the original work, so this is pure guesswork, though.

And that’s exactly why — maybe the landlord found out about her relationship with a mere craftsman, and that’s why he’s making such unreasonable demands?

Or maybe there’s yet another reason?

I’m really looking forward to the next episode♪

📚 If you’re curious about what happens next, check out the original novel this story appears in♪ (Please note: the shop links below are for readers in Japan.)