By: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee

We are well into the winter anime season, and a certain show called The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) should be on your watchlist if it isn’t already. I saw the poster for it on my Crunchyroll homepage back in January, and I recalled seeing the trailer being unveiled at Anime Expo 2023. It left a lasting impression on me with its gorgeous animation, historical setting in Imperial China, and the concept of exploring herbal medicines and poisons from that time period. However, since the trailer release, I had seen and heard virtually nothing about it. I admit that I can be quite the contrary to the popular trends, so I was driven to see what was becoming of The Apothecary Diaries, despite Frieren and Solo Leveling dominating the anime discourse these days. So, I clicked on the advertisement and started watching. The rest is history. Now, I come to you today to spread the word about this show so you, too, can enjoy this gem hidden in plain sight (and help ensure a Season 2 gets made!).

The story is set in a fictional universe inspired by Ming Dynasty-era China (1368–1644 in the real world), and all the beauty and ugliness of life in that society. 17-year-old Maomao simply wants to live a quiet life with her apothecary father and her “big sisters” (high-level courtesans) in the nearby brothel. However, Maomao is unfortunately (and/or fortunately) kidnapped and sold into the Rear Palace, the garden of the Emperor’s concubines. She starts at the bottom as a servant girl and soon reveals her knowledge of medicines and poisons to save the Emperor’s newborn heirs from a mysterious illness. 

From then on, she is swept up in solving the medical mysteries befalling those who live and work in the Imperial Court, while working her new day job as a poison taster for a high-ranking concubine. All this while rejecting and evading the increasing infatuation and sometimes creepy, sometimes endearingly, childish advances of Jinshi, the Rear Palace manager who is also the most beautiful eunuch around. 

Fans of medical dramas, detective/mystery dramas, historical dramas, and comedic innuendos will find lots to love about this show. It has a well written development and a lot of really interesting, accurate tidbits. There is even a “Pharmacist Reacts” YouTube series on The Apothecary Diaries by DefinitivelyZach that is particularly educational and just as entertaining! The animation quality, voice acting, and soundtrack are all top-notch too. 

Maomao may be smart enough to solve every puzzle thus far, but she is too well-characterized to be a Mary Sue. Lest you be wary of a toxic reverse-harem situation here, with Maomao potentially collecting suitors left and right and treating them all like dirt, the romance aspect is not the immediate main focus of the story (although there is clearly a slow-burn romance between Maomao and Jinshi that has grown on me the more Jinshi matures).

On par with recent trends for female characters in anime, we see a highly intelligent woman like Maomao earn the respect of everyone she meets through her tact and problem-solving skills, despite her commoner status. She also remains hilariously aloof to Jinshi’s advances when he puts on insincere, seductive airs.

As a girl who grew up on the doorstep of a brothel, Maomao has seen many women be lied to and downright betrayed by men. If Jinshi can be more consistently honest with his feelings around Maomao, and grow out of his childishness, he might just stand a chance with her!

Once I got used to Jinshi being cringe-worthy levels of creepy and accepted his weirdness as innocent immaturity (because at least he never has harmful intentions, despite his questionable methods of flirting), I quickly fell in love with The Apothecary Diaries and I’m confident that you will, too!

Season 1 Second Cour of The Apothecary Diaries is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. Cours 1 and 2 are 12 episodes each for a total of 24 episodes in Season 1.

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Copyedited by: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting