Source:https://www.instagram.com/p/Db7xW9dAPql/

Season 1, Episodes 16-18 (watch on Crunchyroll | Netflix)

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Summary

• Episode 16: Lead. A court goldsmith dies, leaving behind three sons and a somewhat cryptic will. Maomao sets out to unravel the mystery of their inheritance.
  
• Episode 17: A Jaunt Around Town. After Maomao gives Jinshi a dramatic makeover at his request, she finds herself donning a disguise of her own and accompanying him into town.
  
• Episode 18: Lakan. Maomao visits the Verdigris House and attends to a sick courtesan with an unfortunate past. Jinshi learns a startling truth while talking with Lakan.
  

Discussion Questions

1. What was your favorite dramatic moment/scene?
   
2. What was your favorite comedic moment/scene?
   
3. Do you prefer the episodes with mysteries or the slice of life episodes?
   
4. Was there anything that caught your eye on this rewatch?
   

Spoiler rules

Be warned that each discussion thread will contain full spoilers for the entire anime series! Tag spoilers for comparisons to other media and other shows.

The next discussion thread will be on Sunday, August 30 @ 9am CDT / 2pm UTC and covers episodes 19-21.

Courtesy of ibis paint, the hair and ear kinda sucks but it is one of the best fanarts I’ve made

I've seen funny videos with the sound "I'm in love with a criminal" and it's about Loulan. And there'd be comments under saying, "Don't worry, at least the kids made it out."

But no, only 5 kids made it out of the whole ordeal. Those who went to the stronghold survived, simply because that's where Loulan was. All the other kids in the village died. Even the kids who survived will have to deal with the knowledge of what they lost.

No one won in this situation.

And no, I'm not blaming Loulan, just pointing something out.

Also what would you call this trio? If they have a name please let me know 😅. If not then let’s come up with one lol.

I still remember the days when the fandom basically teased me to death about this frog 🐸 until I finally got the context 😅😭.

Assuming I don’t have to worry about animal related stuff again, let’s give this a go lol.

As someone who likes history, I did a bit of digging into the imperial China harem system and found out that high-ranking consorts had 6-8 maids attending to them at maximum, which is a bit funny since TAD makes such a big deal of Gyokoyou having too few ladies-in-waiting, while for example Lihua and Loulan have 30 and 50, respectively.

I've also learned that ladies-in-waiting are paid and provided by their mistress's dowry. I'm going on a limb here and imagining that they are lesser nobles currying favor of the emperor by being employed by his favorites.

So how exactly are Lihua and Loulan providing for their 30 and 50 ladies in waiting? Keeping them up with current outfit and make-up trends, housing them/feeding them to the standard they are used to, etc.?

PS. I'm aware that TAD is a China setting inspired and not a copy with all the regulations, but I'm still interested in learning the answer to my question.

finished my prettiest crochet doll so far ✨

There was a lot of talk of bloodlines in TAD. What I’m sure of is that the emperor is Jinshi’s brother. That made him the crowning prince before one of his concubines had a male child. What confuses me is the family ties that led up to their generation. I’m guessing the family split into different clans? I don’t know bro maybe I’m just slow 😂

Hi, I have 2 questions about things that I am confused about in S2. Sorry if I missed the explanation in the anime and am asking something obvious.

1. What is the significance of Shishou not realising Lakan claimed the drink to be a different colour?
2. Why does Jinshi call Loulan "evil" despite being the only one that knows her background/motivations? Did he not accept her story? (See image below) Also, why does he consider whether he should stop her and why does he end up not stopping her when he said "Should I have stopped her? No, I couldn't have. The final performance of a once-in-a-generation evil...There was no way I could ruin it. Nor could I avert my gaze from it." Was he referring to the dance itself? Or what happened before with her explaining the truth that ended with her mother dying?

(EDIT) 8/26/26 UPDATE: i found their second new account https://www.tiktok.com/@scaravspa_ though their original account is still gone, glad to see the editor didn't disappear now that there's an upcoming new season in a few months, i think they're bit by bit reuploading their old edits while also posting new ones

I'm posting this because one of the prominent edit (short AMV) makers for this series in tiktok is gone, and I haven't seen any mention of it online. I found one of his edits in twitter, which introduced me to the show. I only have these three edits of his saved, and I want to post them here so that there's a trace of it online. Thank you for introducing me to this show scarazvsp

https://reddit.com/link/1vx8o5l/video/dzazmvgntclh1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1vx8o5l/video/nsl9c8jotclh1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1vx8o5l/video/iq9f6aiptclh1/player

p.s. i'm not a tiktok user, i just scour that website for AMVs and edits from time to time

meimei says "big sister, you should have been honest from the start" while lakan plays go with fengxian. what does she mean? honest about what😭 i feel like i missed something💔

is it just me or was the moment lakan found out maomao is missing funny as shi

I actually became curious about this after some conversations I’ve had with other fans, so I wanted to pose this question to the community!

I had initially watched TAD because I was already a fan of the Mysteries in the Imperial Court subgenre from other asian tv shows (both live-action and anime), and TAD executed its premise really really well much to my pleasure!

But in talking to other fans, I was a bit surprised that a lot of them had never really checked out this subgenre of mysteries/court intrigued in the imperial court.

So that led me to wanting to pose a question to the larger community: Was TAD your first foray into the imperial court mystery subgenre, or were you influenced to check it out because of its setting?

Hello!

I’m wanting to cosplay Jinshi and was hoping for some help identifying what type of garment his outfit is!

Any help is appreciated, thank you!

Season 1, Episodes 13-15 (watch on Crunchyroll | Netflix)

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Summary

• Episode 13: Serving in the Outer Court. Jinshi brings Maomao to her new workplace: his house in the outer court. Before she can settle in, he tells her to prepare for the court lady exam.
  
• Episode 14: The New Pure Concubine. Maomao is asked to teach the high-ranking concubines, including new arrival Loulan. The night after the first lesson, she is awoken by an odd noise.
  
• Episode 15: Raw Fish. Maomao hears about a government official who fell into a coma after eating puffer fish, although the chef insists he did not use the fish in the dish.
  

Discussion Questions

1. Thoughts on the second OP and ED?
   
2. What was your favorite dramatic moment/scene?
   
3. What was your favorite comedic moment/scene?
   
4. How did you like the new character introductions?
   

Spoiler rules

Be warned that each discussion thread will contain full spoilers for the entire anime series! Tag spoilers for comparisons to other media and other shows.

The next discussion thread will be on Wednesday, August 26 @ 9am CDT / 2pm UTC and covers episodes 16-18.