Warning: Spoilers Ahead for The Apothecary Diaries Season 2!
The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 is all set for its finale after running two cours in Winter and Spring 2025. The season adapts volumes 3 and 4 of the light novel, focusing primarily on the Shi Clan’s plot to challenge the Imperial family. The first cour sets up the premise of the rebellion where Jinshi is invited to a hunting tournament and becomes a target of the Shi Clan. The assassins use modern weaponry, and even Maomao gets caught up in this before the duo escapes to a cave. In the second cour, Maomao gets kidnapped by Suirei and ends up in the Shi Clan’s fortress.
In order to save Maomao, Jinshi finally lets go of his fake identity as an Eunuch and embraces his true self as Ka Zuigetsu, the Moon Prince. He also has to lead the battle since the Emperor can’t be away from the Capital. After taking control of the fortress, Jinshi and Maomao reunite briefly before the former heads towards Shishou and Shenmei to put an end to this charade. However, the character who truly got to shine in the entire season was unexpectedly Shisui, who was later revealed to be Loulan, the daughter of the Shi Clan Head and his official wife.
Loulan’s Voice Actor Sheds Light on Her Understanding of Shisui’s Character
Asami Seto joined The Apothecary Diaries team as Loulan’s voice actor in the first season but wasn’t given credit until recently because of the series’ plot twist. The fact that Loulan and Shisui are the same person was only revealed in the second cour of the anime, and it’s something that surprised even Maomao. It’s not like Maomao never doubted the possibility, but she tried to deny it because she grew rather fond of her friend, Shisui. Now that Seto’s name has been officially listed as a cast member of the anime, she finally gets to share her experience working as Loulan and the challenges she faced in order to act like two completely different people.
According to Mantan Web, Seto says, “Shisui is the person I want to be.” She later continues to talk about how, despite being the same person, Loulan and Shisui are fundamentally different. Seto continues, “Loulan is Shenmei’s ideal doll, and I think she has given up. She has lived her life suppressing her emotions to suit her mother. It’s not portrayed in the anime, but I think she originally had a carefree side to her. That was suppressed, and I imagined that she lost sight of who she really was.”
She continues, “When I play Loulan, I imagine her speaking according to the script Loulan writes. She has set what to do and say, and she speaks the words. There are some lines that she speaks forcefully, but she only says them because it’s the right time. I think she was playing Loulan. The face of Shisui that she showed to Maomao and Xiaolan may be the self she wanted to be.”
Seto later adds, “Because she is playing Shisui, maybe all her memories with Maomao and Xialon were lies… But I don’t want to think that, and it’s probably not the case.”
Loulan’s True Self Was Buried Deep Down Because of Shenmei
As Seto states, Loulan had to keep living as Shenmei’s doll, who was never allowed to do as she pleased. When she takes on the appearance of Shisui, she drops her heavy makeup, fancy attire, and all kinds of restrictions placed on her. Donning the outfit of a servant girl, Loulan is free to make friends, chase after insects, and just have fun like she always wanted. When talking about this character, Seto specifically makes a distinction between Loulan and Shisui, just as the author intended.
She leans more towards the carefree personality of Shisui because that’s what Loulan was truly meant to be. Even Maomao, who was close to Shisui all this time, kept addressing her by that name instead of Loulan. Loulan didn’t say much, but she was touched by a simple name, as if Maomao had acknowledged the real her. Unfortunately, because of her mother’s cunningness, she was forced to take drastic steps and plot her parents’ deaths. Ultimately, Loulan couldn’t escape being targeted by Jinshi’s army since her crimes were too severe to be overlooked despite her contributions.
H/T: Mantan Web
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