The Imperfect Empress Anshi: Masterful Characters of The Apothecary Diaries

The most recent episode of The Apothecary Diaries shed some light on the mysterious Empress Dowager, Anshi, and her husband, the previous emperor. The duo has been mentioned throughout the anime series but not always in the best light. While the late emperor didn't manage to leave a good legacy, the Empress Dowager is still an active member of the royal family, taking on the role of the Empress as her son still hasn't chosen a wife. Yet, in spite of her rare appearances and almost no direct influence on the story, Anshi managed to leave quite a mark in the few episodes she was a focus of. My goal here is to analyze just how much influence she has and how her life choices led her to where she is today.

The first time we indirectly learn about Empress Dowager was during the Ah-Duo's story arc. Ah-Duo states they gave birth at the same time, but her child died while the prince survived. Although not explicitly confirmed, Maomao hints at discovering a baby switch: Ah-Duo gave her baby to the Empress Anshi because her child died. Her motives remain murky, but it is implied she hoped her baby would have a better life as the son of an Empress. The relationship Ah-Duo has with the current Emperor was the main focus of this arc: she would never have a child again due to neglect caused by the doctors at the palace who prioritized the Empress, yet he loved and respected her enough to make sure she spent her life in safety even after retiring as a concubine.

While watching these episodes, the viewer doesn't get any information about Empress Anshi. What are her motives? Is she evil? Did she demand Ah-Duo's baby? To me, it felt like hints dropped were pointing in that direction. This is a character whose face we never saw and all we knew of her is that her husband had very problematic tastes in women. Whether she condoned his behavior or even encouraged it was never elaborated on, but seeing her as only a mysterious presence in the background didn't do wonders for her reputation.

The Apothecary Diaries series does many things well, but its strongest point in every format is definitely character development. And so, Empress Anshi was only properly introduced in Episode 32, "Empress Dowager" with her story further expanded on in the following episode, titled "The Late Emperor." And unsurprisingly, it is a tragic one.

Empress Dowager Anshi

My first impression of Anshi was that she was pushed into a political marriage, one that neither her nor the late Emperor wanted. And while this is true to an extent, with the previous Empress pulling the strings, it still doesn't negate the fact that Anshi was ultimately treated like a pawn in a political game.

Initially sent to the palace to assist her half-sister, who was a concubine, the 10-year-old Anshi was already tasked with something big: seducing the Emperor who was more than twice her age and unable to function around people his own age. Emperor's unorthodox tastes were seemingly a known fact outside of the palace and Anshi's father decided to use his daughters to get to him. It doesn't look to me like Anshi even considered whether this was a choice she wanted to make, which is fairly understandable given her age. Even after giving birth to her son (at 11!) and getting accepted as an Empress by Empress Regnant she continued to yearn for the Emperor's attention and love.

Yet, as she eventually fell out of favor with the Emperor due to growing up, she began to blame him and pay more attention to his actions around other young girls in the palace. Her recount of the events implies she feels responsible for eventually causing her husband to fully mentally break down because she assaulted him. This event would eventually lead to her second pregnancy: it's not surprising that she refers to Jinshi as a "child of immorality, child of a mistake" as his role as the royal prince is essentially what led to the loss of her husband.

Regardless of how despicable he may have been, Anshi shows that she still cares for the late Emperor to some extent. She seems quite pained by the thought of the woman in the painting being her, because if it is, then it shows that somewhere deep down he may have cared for her and she sees her actions as something that hurt him. In her mind, it's probably easier to accept that it's the Empress Regnant who through her possessive love of her son, who should have never ruled, caused a chain of events that hurt so many people. It feels unfair that she is the one left carrying this burden of guilt because she was groomed and failed by every adult in her life. Her latter life choices, as bad as they may have been, were a direct result of how she was raised and treated.

Yet, as an adult, Anshi seems dedicated to doing better than her predecessors. She chooses not to dwell on the painting, choosing to turn over a new leaf. She obviously doesn't continue the practices the previous Empress established. She pushed for abolition of slavery, stopped the practice of making men become eunuchs, and is seen as an advocate of the women-led clinic. In my opinion, these are clear signs of her making sure that what happened to her and Ah-Duo due to lack of available and experienced doctors in the palace doesn't happen again even if her actions unintentionally caused Ah-Duo's suffering.

Some Final Thoughts on Empress Dowager

I'm genuinely impressed, once again, with how much impact somewhat minor character had in just two episodes of The Apothecary Diaries. Anshi's personality and motives were presented in quite a layered manner. I enjoyed the progression of wondering whether she actually had good intentions to witnessing her horrifying background to actually realizing that she is someone imperfect but set on making the world around her a better place. I also quite like how aware she is of her power and position, evident through the differences in her inner monologue and how she speaks to others; while she acts like a polite, somewhat youthful woman in public, she is completely different when left to her own thoughts to the point where even her voice changes.

It'll be great seeing more of Anshi as the story progresses and personally, I'd be quite satisfied to her achieve everything she couldn't before. Fiction, but especially anime, needs more characters with this level of depth and thankfully, The Apothecary Diaries seems like a good place to find that.

© Hyuganatsu / Imagica Infos / The Apothecary Diaries Project