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This. This right here.

I need this this year

Apothecary Diaries is pog as fuck bc serious political issues and dynamics from a woman's POV are rarely depicted in ANY form of media

It's always a man's world where women's issues surround him. Even if we get a female perspective once in awhile- it all comes back to how it facilitates his game in the end. She's a footnote in the overarching scheme of things. Misogyny exists. Back to the real plot.

Apothecary Diaries is strictly from a female perspective and how each class of woman has to act, what limits they have, what rights they have and don't have between each class, etc. These women have to behave a certain way under a patriarchy, which you would think makes it a man's story, but it never is. The women are THE focus of this show, their struggles are THE plot. The focus is about how the patriarch effects them.

Take the concubines for example. The show dives into how bearing a child affects their rank, how traumatizing it is to lose that child, the consequences of that, etc. We have barely seen the emperor who sired all these kids because this is not about him.

Jinshi's personal plot is secondary to Mao Mao's journey- he is mostly there to provide new cases for Mao Mao to solve and to learn more about the shortcomings of his class when taking care of citizens like Mao Mao.

Jinshi is not a bad person, but by virtue of his position in the higher classes, he cannot understand how harsh life as a poor WOMAN is specifically- he can only catch glimpses of it from what Mao Mao tells him and feel outrage but powerless in his wealth and luxury

Mao Mao is a fortunate commoner woman for what privileges someone in her class should and shouldn't have. She happened to be adopted by a knowledgeable man. She is allowed to read, write, learn, and has enough skill to be a poison tester and have a job EXTREMELY out of her class limit as an apothecary, also a job not traditionally meant for women

Mao Mao is not a "noT lIkE oThER gIrLs" protagonist, she is FOR THE GIRLIES. She only wants to help the women around her, and women are whom she has the closest relationships to. She sees a woman being harassed and can't let it stand. She sees a frail, traumatized woman dying from the recklessness of those who should be caring for her and spends day and night nursing her back to health, while also punishing the people who were so careless with her needs.

My girl has STUDIED UP on THE BODY to TEACH these upper class ladies on how to really HEAT things up in the BEDROOM

Sex depicted in Apothecary Diaries is both something women are not shamed to be enjoying, while at the same time being acknowledged as an unfortunately huge economic necessity to market themselves.

Like shit is just so real in this series???

Listen, I can go on and on about how GOATED the series and especially Mao Mao is but you get the picture

hyperfixate hyperfixate hyperfixate hypERFIXATE HYPERFIXATE

I just…Oh My God.

can you stop talking about your holes?

I heard someone call barbie disappointingly heterosexual and I've never disagreed with anything more strongly in my life

I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned “forever” into the only acceptable definition of success.

Like… if you open a coffee shop and run it for a while and it makes you happy but then stuff gets too expensive and stressful and you want to do something else so you close it, it’s a “failed” business. If you write a book or two, then decide that you don’t actually want to keep doing that, you’re a “failed” writer. If you marry someone, and that marriage is good for a while, and then stops working and you get divorced, it’s a “failed” marriage.

The only acceptable “win condition” is “you keep doing that thing forever”. A friendship that lasts for a few years but then its time is done and you move on is considered less valuable or not a “real” friendship. A hobby that you do for a while and then are done with is a “phase” - or, alternatively, a “pity” that you don’t do that thing any more. A fandom is “dying” because people have had a lot of fun with it but are now moving on to other things.

I just think that something can be good, and also end, and that thing was still good. And it’s okay to be sad that it ended, too. But the idea that anything that ends is automatically less than this hypothetical eternal state of success… I don’t think that’s doing us any good at all.

Comments are turned off so I guess I’ll just have to reblog. Keep scrolling if Dr.Stone isn’t your thing. Now, if we take a look at most of Senku’s appearances w/in the series, the lines used for his face and body are naturally very sharp. In film and tv, sharp lines on a character can mean the character is devious, dangerous, scheming, closed off, etc. Even his lower eye lines, although they are softer to show his eye shape are still pretty sharp in comparison to the other characters.

Now let’s compare these images to ones shown in the original post. Those photos show a Senku who’s lines have grown quite soft and smooth. Soft and smooth lines in film and tv usually mean a character is open, emotionally vulnerable, trusting, safe to be around etc. These moments are when Gen has really gotten through his hard and stony facade and revealed to Senku how much he really knows about his partner in crime. And before anyone says it, yes, these types of lines are used when he first interacts with Kaseki and during a few of his interactions w/Taiju&Yuzuriha. These are important but not for what we’re talking about right now. I don’t think Senku realizes how much of a caring person he is. I would dare say he is up there with Natsu from Fairytail in that department, but he keeps his emotions at bay for fear of judgment and the abuse of those emotions used against him. Idk where this seeming innate fear comes from but I would like to see how Gen and Senku learn to beat it together. This had turned into a pretty long rant so I’ll end with this, the difference of lines is not one the original mangaka needed to add, but by adding this subtle difference they have made a truly great character with a great relationship that I’m excited to see as it continues to bloom more and more over the course of the series.

Edit: Typo

My random SENGEN relationship analysis

I absolutely adore Senku’s facial expressions every single time when Gen reads his mind and says something totally obvious to him. Senku is a type of person who always tries to hide his kindness (it doesn’t work because everyone finds out that actually he is a kind hearted and caring person) and he just wants to keep his cool appearance but he knows it’s unnecessary because Gen knows him better.

His face is like “I won’t say it aloud but you know me better than anyone else, mentalist” every time when Gen reads his mind and says his inner thoughts aloud. Senku loves being with him because Gen really understands this part of Senku’s personality, and in this way Senku feels comfortable with him. I believe Gen is the most trusted partner and probably the closest person to Senku. He accepts and unconditionally loves Senku - this is the most heartwarming part of their relationship. 

rare vent art from a few months ago

Do your job! (obviously I mean Amazon)