^ ^^^ ^^^^ etc
The canon romance is simple but so unconventional and choppy that it's trouble to explain without buzzwords. I'm judging from when I read the LNs and WN early releases to about~ where the anime probably currently is if not further. A while~ ago. The weird romance was super memorable.
Maomao is aroace or very close to it depending on the version. She respects but doesn't relate to romance except as a means to an end, which is central to the Sherlockian Great pharmacy-romance Detective power fantasy and romantic power fantasy of being pursued and immune from wooing by Jinshi the idealized supportive (het) partner. A lot of it isn't power fantasy for her mentality but power playing to a core audience presumed to be mostly allosexual het cis women in danger of falling in love. The romance parts that Maomao quits actively avoiding tend to be receiving gifts or femdom (mild BDSM as time goes on) as Jinshi worships her and she establishes boundaries in a way she finds satisfying. It's very unconventional because her aromantic and neurodivergent traits empower her socially and are contrasted with the risky romances of neurotypicals in the royal harem, brothel, and geopolitics. Maomao doesn't come off as superior or inferior so much as an outsider view on power dynamics within a fairly patriarchal China.
The catcat x not-eunuch romance is also crammed in after the web drafts! Sometimes it feels forced in but not too out of character. The WN draft has distinctly aroace Maomao with little to no titillating moments between the pharmacy detective stories. Her disinterest and hyperfixations are clearly explained by her upbringing and lifelong mentality (her whole bloodline screams neurodivergent). Fanservice and extra connective tissue with Jinshi is added into that for the LN releases, thus into the ongoing manga and anime. So her own romance is often out of place with her contemplating others romances, but even at its most forced and character-redefining moments it sort of respects how (nearly?) aroace romance can occur as a negotiation of boundaries. In this case femdom with a person who is devoted to finding a path through the cat-themed-phramacist's thorns. Even so, she doesn't pine over Jinshi in a traditionally romantic way, and pregnancy is just another science experiment she wants to conduct on herself someday. I don't recall the mangas forcing more romantic reactions but the mainstream anime might leave more doth-protest-too-much moments to interpretation.
last edited at Jun 18, 2025 2:48AM