My understanding of the dynasty and succession as it currently stands. Ah Duo and the current emperor are Jinshi's parents. Jinshi was swapped at birth by Ah Duo with the current emperors brother. That brother later died, and Jinshi has been raised as "the emperors brother", who is rarely seen in any real capacity. This means that in reality, Jinshi is the crown prince and SHOULD inherit the throne no matter what, even if the emperor has another son. As it currently stands, he technically is still the next in line because people think he's the brother anyway. But if they can keep up the charade that he is just his brother and a new son is born, he doesn't have to become emperor and can have more freedom in his life. Now what's complicated is who exactly knows what? I'm not entirely sure myself. I would be tempted to say the only people who know the truth are Ah Duo, the Emperor, Gaoshun and that older women (who I forget her name right now), Jinshi himself, and of course Maomao, who definitely knows but refuses to acknowledge it because knowing the most important secret in the empire is a good way to get yourself killed. (Oh and Lakan knows, forgot about him). Probably other people know as well, but I haven't read the source material, and the show hasn't shown that anyone else knows to my knowledge.
I still don't understand how this is possible if he's nineteen and Ah Duo gave birth seventeen years ago. Perhaps the author has something else in store? 🤔
@@floydmorgan6048 It is because of the age of the Chinese calendar, when a child is born it is considered one year old, and in the new year another year is added, so children are usually older than the age at which they were born. example: Mao mao. 16 years in the west and 17 years in the east
yeah that's about what i think is going on. but i don't think lakan knows the full truth, but only the half as jinshi being the emperors brother since that position in itself is very high. maybe after that ritual when he saw him walking out he realized something, but i'm not sure what exactly that would be, or maybe he was just shocked that the person performing a ritual that maomao saved was jinshi himself. 🤔 maaaan i need s2 right now this show is too good
The only people that are aware of the baby switch and that Jinshi is the Current Emperor's son are Lady Ah Duo, the Current Emperor, the Current Empress Dowager, Gaoshun and his wife, Jinshi's elderly servant woman & Maomao's adoptive father. There may be a few more servants of the Current Emperor and Current Empress Dowager, but only a few of the most trusted would be aware. The truth was withheld from Jinshi, so he still believes that he is the younger brother.
MaoMao, the Loid Forger of TAD...Incredible observational skills and ability to piece together complex puzzles, but unable to see what's in front of them when it comes to the person who is, but they deny, is closest to their heart...
From my understanding it is like this: Jinshi is the son of the current emperor, meaning he would be next in line. He seemingly does not want that and therefore hopes for a new prince to be born. I guess.
Its not explicitly stated but all the implications are pointing to Jinshi being the emperor's 1st born son; Ah-Do being his mother. They were switched. So he's a fake eunuch and also fake brother of the emperor. Why? 🤷 🤷 🤷 When he says that the emperor just has to make another son. Its implying he doesn't want the responsibility of being heir to throne.
The scene where Suirei rises from her coffin kind of reminded me of an underrated anime I have finished recently, named Shiki. Although, this anime is leveled as Horror and Gore in genre, it had a well constructed Mystery to it. Also, this was one of those few animes that made me realise how humans could lose their moral judgement, by unleashing their dormant brutality under desperate situations. The openings and endings were quite nice, especially the ones sung by the famous Japanese Rock Band BUCK-TICK (Kuchiduke and Gekka Reijin), these two songs are phenomenal. Before listening to Gekka Reijin, I haven’t had no idea just how beautiful a Japanese Gothic Rock Song can be, but since then it became one of my favourites. These two song incorporates the motive of the story pretty well. So, if you want to watch a Horror themed Mystery anime, you can watch Shiki.
SO much happened this episode and a lot of information/confirmation dump. The only thing missing for me was the other ladies in waiting meeting Maomao when she came back to the rear palace because I love how they take care of her. Lihaku overhearing such a thing must be heart stopping. I love that when Maomao was talking about Suirie and what she did to escape, mentioning resurrection medicine and Jinshi is still clueless until she explains it all to him lol, even though the doctor and Gaoshun were already understanding.
they dropped so many revelations this episode whew edit: As far as what information the show has presented at this point (and to clarify the Jinshi bridge scene): Jinshi, from his very own POV and knowledge, is the Emperor's brother. And it's implied that he does not want to be next in line hence why he wants the Emperor to have a son asap. As to whether that (him being the brother) is the truth or not, the story atp in the anime is yet to confirm and the whole "swapped at birth" story was mere conjecture on Maomao's part
I agree that I really like how they give us little pieces of information casually through conversation! It's like the anime is giving us, the viewers, a mystery to solve while Maomao is solving mysteries on-screen.
Maomao’s mad cackle and polite “could we possibly get my leg stitched back up?” is one of my favorite Maomao moments. (I _am_ a bit partial to how it was delivered in Nekokurage’s manga over this, though. Some comedy just works better with panels than in motion.) I didn’t even notice at the time, despite being a source reader, but if you look closely at earlier episodes, you can see Suirei in her masculine disguise in a couple scenes - poisoning that drink, for instance. This anime’s attention to detail is so great. Jinshi actually being only 19 is even more striking when you realize (A) it’s been maybe a year since Maomao’s kidnapping in episode 1 and (B) this is Store-Brand Imperial China, so that’s probably the old East Asian system where age means “how many calendar years have you been alive in” - so he’d only be 17 by our reckoning now, or at most have just turned 18, since this is early in the year. (Maomao, then, would be 16-17 now.) I don’t know _how_ he’s been passing for an adult as long as he apparently has. To me, his monologue suggests he doesn’t actually know about the baby-swap Maomao theorized back when Ah-Duo left - or if he’s ever thought of it, he’s dismissed it as a fantasy, much like Maomao suppresses her “speculations”. (And his name does seem more like a pseudonym than something someone would actually name a kid, from what I’ve heard.) The mystery girl Loulan finally speaks! Her voice actor isn’t credited, though. The emperor does seem to be a pretty decent guy - good dad to Lingli, and it’s finally made explicit that the reason he doesn’t touch Lishu is that he doesn’t want to be like his father. Though it’s a pity Lishu still ended up having so much trouble in the inner palace - arguably an unintended consequence of his own choices. If he’d paid her the occasional visit (finding a way to make clear to everyone that it’s not that sort of visit), he might’ve been more conscious of what was going on with her, and been able to send the message that she was someone who had his favor and not the palace punching bag. I actually started making a timeline for this series recently, but decided to shelve it on account of “too much else to do”. If I ever pick it back up, I might augment it with notes on what the LN says about geography. And yeah, the Imperial family tree is getting more complicated too, especially now that we’re starting to hear about the FORMER dowager empress (the current emperor’s grandmother), who was apparently a woman of quite some authority.
I love finding out Jinshi's real age because it puts the scenes of Gyukuyo and Jinshi teasing each other into a new context what with them being actually the same age (19).
The Emperor wants to name Jinshi as his heir, because biologically he is. Jinshi is smart enough to know that he will never be accepted as a legitimate heir by certain factions in the Empire, so the Emperor needs to father a new legitimate heir, so that the legitimacy of the Succession can’t be questioned.
It has been around a year and a half to two years since Ah Duo was dismissed where it mentions her child was born 17 years ago. This can be seen from Gyokuyuo 's daughter's growth. She was likely only around 6 months old at the time, and now she appears to be around 2 to 3 years old.
Not true, but I'll concede the timeline's confusing. What we've seen so far: Maomao was kidnapped early in the year, around three months after Lingli was born. The first five episodes cover most of that year; the garden party is held in early winter. Maomao's visit back home is a bit after that; we're told it's ten months after her kidnapping. This is only explicitly stated in the LN, I believe, but it's minor enough that I feel comfortable saying it for clarification: Ah-Duo's dismissal was shortly before the end of the year, timed so that "a new consort might be in place by the time people made their formal new year’s greetings"; earlier, it says Maomao was brought to the Garnet Pavilion "to help with the great spate of cleaning that marked the turn of every year". It's only been a few months since then; the spring garden party hasn't happened yet. So, my best guess is that Lingli's meant to be between 15 and 18 months old by now. If she looks older, blame the art style. Toddlers are hard.
@@araragisenpai4088 The entire point that is hammered home by Maomao and her adoptive dad is don't come to a conclusion based on preconceived notions and lack of information. Which is what a lot of people who watch this show are doing.
@@TimmycooBut the show does this on purpose. It plays creepy music when he's around, he says creepy things and both of our focal characters strongly dislike him. So it's not like viewers are just making things up.
Exactly. Even the surrounding characters protect her from him coming to Verdigris. Putting this on viewers "coming to conclusions" is 10/10 hindsight and ridiculous to blame them for it, when even the direction is doing it. And that's not even the point anyway, the main comment is putting expectations as a certainty, so anyone seeing this will be "oh so there's a turn around" even if it's not put in evidence by the show at all at this point.
