I have non-spoiler reviews of season 1 and season 2 on AniDB. Please check those if you don't want spoilers. This is about the anime, not other forms of the show.

In a sense, all shows are mystery shows. You watch the show and you learn a story, and at the same time, you're free to speculate and project forward what the story is. It is difficult to say something like “this is a mystery show” when all shows have these elements. Calling Kusuriya as a mystery show is easy, but it doesn't really accurately describe what it is. I call it something like “intellectual candy”. You can notice things that characters haven't noticed yet, and you can speculate about the future, but you don't really have any role in solving the mystery. A key focus we see in the show is Maomao “thinking”. In her thinking sequences, we see flashbacks and she creates the narrative that she predicts based on what has happened, but many of the conclusions she jumps to aren't “wholly independently reproducible with information available to the audience.” In other words, I find fault with calling a show a mystery show unless the audience can independently come to the same deductions as the characters in the show.

Lakan's place in the show is interesting, because at first, it's portrayed that he's the villain. In my AniDB review, this is the red herring character. I think it's interesting, because from Maomao's point-of-view, she detests him and even kind of hides from him, but it is not entirely clear if this is fear for her safety, or fear of confronting him for who he is. As time goes on, it becomes clear that Lakan is actually just a really, really broken father, but one who is at least wholesome and good. It's possible to forgive Kusuriya's portrayal of him at the start because we're viewing him through the lens of Maomao, who is naturally scared of him. When she warms up to the concept of him, it becomes clear he is not a the enemy. Actually, it's more appropriate to say that he did something that breaks our prior assertions: he helped his daughter save Jinshi, when otherwise, he would have had no reason to if his goal was to kill Jinshi. From that moment on, we have a lot more trust in him. I'm sure I'm not alone in speculating that it was Lakan trying to eliminate Jinshi at the start, and came to realize that he was, in-fact, benign.

But was this a mystery? I would argue this was something the audience was clearly intended to speculate on. It was extremely well-done! And by the end of season 1, we know that not only is Lakan in the right head space, but is actually morally in the right. He marries his long-lost wife, effectively has become closer to his daughter, and even has seemingly rescued his wife and is helping her heal. This is good plot development and gives Lakan a Real Character Arc.

In season 2, Lakan is completely absent and we're left to continue speculating about characters like Loulan, and we see more things get developed. However, at this point, the show is showing and telling much more than it is anything else. Because it's a story and not a “solve your own mystery adventure” I don't really fault the show for how season 2 progresses, but it does feel markedly different. The main things I would argue about are the fact that the Shi clan's behavior feels contrived without any prior suspicion. I think the main villain lady, whom I've already forgotten her name, isn't portrayed readily enough to remind the audience of her importance until it's too late. We see her brought up in the first season as sort of a rumor or a historical figure, but she's alive and well, and seemingly doing crazy stuff.

The resolution of season 2 felt extremely…taxing to get to. There was a lot of exposition, and there was a lot of “explaining things to the viewer” that felt difficult to follow, at least for me. Maybe I'm just a westerner and I'm not familiar with Chinese or Japanese culture, but I didn't connect well to the basis for the emperor being who he was, and the rest of the line of children. I can take the show at face value, but the interwoven layers of who is married to who and did what to who felt too difficult for me to trace in my head, watching the show in a batch. I know how we got from A to B, but I was left feeling like I was missing information throughout season 2, in a way I wasn't with season 1. Season 1 felt tight and well-constructed. Season 2 did not feel badly constructed per-se, but it felt more difficult to follow.

So, I think it's not a mystery show, and I think it's more intellectual candy.

With respect to the absolute ending of season 2, I felt very little sympathy for many characters. It may seem crass, but Shisui didn't garner much, if any sympathy from me. Shisui's identity, as Loulan, also felt flat. My sympathy, from the kidnapping scene on, just didn't extend. I wonder how many other people felt this way.

I tend to watch shows and pick favorites, even subconsciously. I liked Shisui's character initially, but not meaningfully so to consider her a favorite. Maomao and Jinshi are far different to me. So Shisui being held hostage felt like reasonable motivation for Maomao to go with the Shi-clan. From the moment Maomao was being “held hostage”, though, my sympathy genuinely evaporated. I think I love Maomao far too much, but I did feel really disconnected at this point.

I knew when Shisui said that she “gave the children medicine” that she was actually giving them “the resurrection medicine” but I still felt like she was “too evil” for my taste. I don't sympathize with her, I don't support her actions, and as far as I'm concerned, I don't actually care, either way, as to her end status being alive or not.

Outside of the Shi-clan's interpersonal issues, I'm pretty bankrupt on thoughts as to why the “end battle” was not a battle but was a complete wash. I kind of expected this, but not to the degree that was portrayed. I'm surprised that there was absolutely zero battle for a team of people who had, up and until this point, been quite successful in executing things. I mean, they nearly murdered Jinshi once, and at least semi-successfully tried to attack him another time. They succeeded in building a lot of guns and gunpowder and stuff, only for Shisui, the random dice roll character, to successfully blow that plan up.

I feel like the ending had potential to be potent and emotional, but by the time I saw Shisui dancing, I considered her quite low in my mind as is.

Okay, so Maomao and Jinshi are definitely going to be together at the end, right? Or, at some point at least. I think this is a given.

Maomao has low emotional intelligence, and this is explained rather late, but at a fine-enough point in the series. I can understand why she doesn't understand Jinshi's cues, and I can also understand why she's reluctant to love her.

But I want to make it very clear that my hopes for season 2 were quite dashed by the lack of movement in this relationship. I value shows that build relationships and explore them. I really crave seeing characters flourish together. Darling in the FranXX is one of those shows, and even though I haven't seen CLANNAD I'm pretty sure that's also one of those shows. They are rare. SAO is actually one too, come to think of it.

Anyways, I expected based on how season 1 ended that Jinshi and Maomao would at least become closer in season 2. And they did, but not to the degree I wanted or hoped for. I know, at this point we're at the limits of how a series can be constructed and anime. I know there is a future season 3, and probably conclusions later. But it feels like such a tease to have the “frog” scene in this show and not get us to the point where these characters can have a reasonable conversation. The Ox Bezoar scene in-particular is just so utterly frustrating. It broke my suspension of disbelief and I think I'm still upset about it. I think even Maomao with a -100 debuff on emotional intelligence, would pick up on Jinshi wanting to talk to her, but she just didn't.

I hold out hope that they get together and that this teasing stops. It's a very stupid trope in anime to have lovers “almost kiss” and have people walk in on them. We've had this happen multiple times in this series, and I do think it diminishes the impact of so many emotional moments and scenes. There is no payoff, and I feel that it's actually quite rude to do this to the audience. Even in the final episode, when Jinshi is biting her neck (excuse me, what else does this mean???? Hello??????? Anyone??????), they're interrupted due to plot convenience. I don't know if I hope this is in the source material, or if I hope this is an anime deviation. It sucks.

I think the reason why I hate this so much is because it is so completely and utterly contrived and unrealistic, and just serves to delay the inevitable. For a show that has so many good payoffs, not having a payoff for this is disrespectful.

With respect to Jinshi in-particular, I still don't understand his role. At the end of season 2, the jig is up and he's leading an army. But then he returns and he's wearing a mask. There is seemingly no end to the Jinshi role, despite the fact that it's made clear who he actually is. He wants to erm, eat Maomao, but he doesn't want to reveal his role, despite having already done that? Is the entire “royal military” capable of keeping a secret? Why is this still a secret and why do we care?

I'm sure we will get more answers to this, but it feels like it's strange that he was able to command the military and then return to life as Jinshi.

Come on Maomao you gave Shisui Jinshi's hairpin? How amazing would it have been for you to be wearing the hair pin instead of giving it to Shisui? Come on.

Given all of what I've said, I feel like Kusuriya is still my new favorite show/series. I'm going to have to caveat that with the fact that Maomao and Jinshi have to end up in a relationship or I'm going to call this fraud and retroactively deduct points. I can give a pass to the show for not necessarily having all ducks in a row by the conclusion of season 2. But I cannot give a pass if this never happens – because it will be a giant plot point opened and never closed.

The shi-clan's story / resolution was captivating, even if I felt that it was not necessarily my cup of tea for the interest in the characters.

I haven't talked about Lakan and Maomao. As someone with a problematic childhood with his father, I feel like Lakan made me appreciate an honest attempt to rebuild a relationship with Maomao and take responsibility for his actions. Seeing Lakan stand up for Maomao made me happy, but seeming him scream at Jinshi and then sending his analyst over to help all to save his daughter was genuinely rewarding. I am so, so happy to see Lakan in this way.

Moreover, Lakan taking in his wife and seeing that she's playing Go with him still makes me happy. I was pretty sure he wanted to kill Maomao and Jinshi at the start, quite literally, and seeing him go all the way to a doting father is genuinely really rewarding. I particularly like the idea that people in the palace are wary of messing with Maomao for angering him – it adds a unique twist I haven't seen with this type of character.

This show is excellent. It does not exist without flaws, but the parts that resonate with me resonate maybe a little too well. I absolutely adore almost everyone, except the Shi-clan, but I would argue that's because I feel way more protective of Maomao than anything else. Currently (as of November 12, 2025), I consider this my favorite intellectual property and anime series. But I don't think it's any technically better than things I consider favorites like FMA: Brotherhood, Death Note, Psycho-Pass, etc on the merits. I consider it technically equivalent, but I feel just a huge sense of overwhelming happiness with some elements of this show that I never expected. I absolutely love Lakan now, and I never expected this. Maomao is easily one of my favorite characters of all time. Jinshi is. I could just go on, but that would involve listing all characters. What really cemented this is how many times the OP shows these characters being happy, and I think: “wait, holy wow, I agree!” It's an absolute joy to see the cast slowly become loved in my mind.

Also, generally: it's not isekai, it's not videogame world / simulation, etc. It's just a normal show, and that is so refreshing.

Spoilers for 無職転生 〜異世界行ったら本気だす〜 up through the end of season 2.

無職転生 is the last major property I watched. I want to bring it up because in terms of feelings, I feel very similarly to this show, but different in many respects. It is entirely more wholesome and genuinely so much better to have Maomao be emotionally deficient but also more naturally falling in love than e.g., Rudeus and Roxie.

I think that if you subtracted the whole “cheating on his pregnant wife” thing, though, I would say that Sylphie and Rudy are a lovely couple that break the trope of teasing that Kusuriya has. It's terrible that a show that introduces infidelity and tries to write it off as a Sylphie consenting has better love and romance mechanics through Sylphie and Rudy than a show that has an obvious couple in Jinshi and Maomao.