Apothecary Diaries Mini-Anime Episode 50: The 'Fireproof Robe' Is Actually Asbestos
薬屋のひとりごと ミニアニメ第50話、火浣布の正体はアスベストだと海外ファンも日本の視聴者も戦慄
The Apothecary Diaries Season 3's long-running mini-anime, "Maomao's Monologue," hit episode 50 on October 12 with a story about a legendary "fireproof cloth" from a foreign land — and the comment section spent most of its time pointing out that the real-world material behind that cloth is asbestos.
A Japanese reaction clip built around the episode drew 172 comments, and the single most-liked one (225 likes) is the blunt observation that a robe woven from asbestos "sounds terrible for your health." From there, commenters traded historical trivia about the toxic fiber, a joke connecting the episode's riddle to the Kaguya-hime folktale, and plenty of love for Maomao's trademark deadpan delivery and Jinshi's now-casual habit of calling her by name.
The Apothecary Diaries Season 3's mini-anime side feature, "Maomao's Monologue," hit its 50th episode on October 12 — and this time the story isn't about a mystery illness at all. It's a riddle: Maomao is asked about a legendary foreign "fireproof cloth" that supposedly doesn't burn, and the fun of the short is watching her reason out exactly what it's made of and where it came from. The clip has pulled in 172 comments, and almost none of them are about the plot twist itself. They're about the chemistry.
“The material for that "fireproof cloth" is asbestos — so it's basically a robe that sounds terrible for your health...”
火浣布の材料って、『石綿』つまり、『アスベスト』だから、身体に凄い悪そうな服だな･･･。
“And in a way, it was an era where nobody knew it was basically a poisoned garment.”
そしてある意味毒の服って言うことをみんな知らない時代
“Even in the real world, people didn't know it was harmful until the late 20th century.”
現実の世界でも20世紀終盤まで有害性が知られてなかったからねえ。
That split basically is the whole comment section: half the thread is fascinated that a historical "magic cloth" has a real, documented material behind it, and the other half can't get past how casually dangerous that material actually is. Nobody is really arguing — it's two different flavors of the same reaction.
“It's basically a lump of carcinogens, which is why it's banned today. Hearing that the recipe calls for 'asbestos' felt the same as hearing the alchemical elixir of immortality is made from sulfur, realgar, and mercury — like, oh, that's the bad kind.”
発癌性物質の固まりだから現代では使用禁止された物質。 「硫黄・雄黄・水銀」で作られた煉丹術の不老不死の霊薬と同じ様にレシピ材料「石綿」と聞いて、「あっ、ダメなやつだ……」と思った。
“Given life expectancy back then, people probably died before the asbestos's latency period caught up with them, so it likely wasn't seen as a problem the way it is now.”
当時の平均寿命からすれば石綿の潜伏期間より短いから今の様に問題視され無かったとは思う。
The other big thread of the conversation is a literary one. One of the clues in Maomao's riddle — that the cloth comes from something "born from bamboo" in a foreign land — sent commenters straight to a story every Japanese viewer grew up with: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where Princess Kaguya sends one of her suitors off to fetch the legendary "robe of the fire rat," and he fails.
“"Born from bamboo in a foreign land"? "THAT'S KAGUYA-HIME!!"”
「異国では竹から生まれた」？ 「かぐや姫のことかーーーーーー！」
“So if one of Princess Kagu— sorry, one of that foreign princess's suitors had just had Maomao's level of knowledge, he could've actually pulled off his quest?”
つまりかぐy……異国の姫の求婚者の1人は猫猫並みの知識があれば達成できたのか？
Commenters are basically saying Maomao would've solved that entire folktale subplot in an afternoon — which tracks, since the rest of the episode is just as much about her and Jinshi's dynamic as it is about chemistry. Several viewers zeroed in on one small detail in how Jinshi talks to her now.
“0:24 — He's stopped calling her "the pharmacist" or "the apothecary" and now just casually says "Maomao." He's really gotten used to it.”
0:24 「薬師」や「薬屋」ではなく、もうすっかり「猫猫」呼びに慣れてきた壬氏さま😄
“I love Maomao's deadpan delivery.”
猫猫の棒読み好き
No real argument breaks out over any of it — the asbestos trivia and the Kaguya-hime connection are both things people are trading as fun facts, not fighting about. If there's a divide at all, it's trivia-lovers geeking out over the history versus everyone else just repeating "that's horrifying," and both camps leave the episode happy. Trust Maomao to know this stuff — one commenter joked that you can't exactly put her "in the corner" for it, so he'd settle for putting her in the ash pile instead.
FAQ
- What is the "fireproof cloth" the mini-anime is about?
- It's a legendary cloth from a foreign land that supposedly doesn't burn, posed to Maomao as a riddle in the episode. Commenters pointed out that historically, cloth like this (火浣布, literally "fire-washed cloth") was woven from asbestos, which does resist fire but is now known to be highly toxic.
- Why did commenters bring up the Kaguya-hime folktale?
- One of the riddle's clues (that the cloth comes from something "born from bamboo" in a foreign land) reminded several commenters of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where a suitor of Princess Kaguya is sent to fetch the legendary "fire rat's robe." One commenter joked that the suitor could have solved his quest if he'd had Maomao's knowledge.
The Apothecary Diaries Movie Drops a New Character PV Ahead of Its Dec. 11 Release
“If Jinshi just says "Maomao, want to go on a trip?" they can make one of these every single year — that's an unbeatable formula.”
Read this roundupThis is one of 4 Japanese-reaction roundups for The Apothecary Diaries. See them all →
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