The Apothecary Diaries (light novel and manga)
Written by Natsu Hyuuga and illustrated by Touko Shino
Set in a fictional country based on Imperial China during the Tang dynasty, and often referencing knowledge closer to the late Ming dynasty, the series follows Maomao, a young girl working as an apothecary in a red-light district, who was kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace as an indentured servant. She still retains her curious and eccentric personality and plans to work there until her two years of servitude are over.
After learning that the emperor’s newborns and concubines are critically ill, she begins to investigate the cause. Using her experience as an apothecary, she successfully solves the mystery of their illness. Even though she intended to remain anonymous, her actions catch the attention of Jinshi, an influential eunuch. Then, consequently, she undertakes the solving of mysteries for the royal court.
by Lília
It was a simple story of a young girl, a food taster in a medieval palace who could solve the most perplexing mysteries. Against that bracing backdrop, my heroine-a woman who could be as outwardly prickly as she was inwardly sweet-turned out to be well received.
I hope you’ll find our heroine Maomao’s deductions and discoveries thrilling and surprising!
– Natsu Hyuuga
We’ve been hearing about this series for a while now, but I wasn’t really curious until my kid, a great fan of anime, invited me to watch it with her. I was a bit skeptical, thinking it would be a bit childish, but I said yes. The things we do for our kids… And I really don’t regret it. We’ve binge-watched 11 episodes in one afternoon! And you know what? It’s great fun! I was moved by tender moments and would laugh out loud many times during an episode, where even serious themes were dealt with in a light way, not turning the series heavy and uncompromising.
I liked it so much that we already have a date to watch it further. And while watching is fun and all, I do enjoy reading the story on paper. So I started investigating the origins of the manga and anime, since it seems people consider that the manga is the original source for the anime and the light novels.
According to Wikipedia, The Apothecary Diaries “is a Japanese light novel series written by Hyūganatsu and illustrated by Touko Shino,” serialized since 2011 on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, a user-generated novel publishing website. The manga adaptations started being published in 2017, and the anime was first released in October 2023 in Japan, thus making the light novels the original source for both manga and anime alike.
I’m so fascinated that I’m going to read them all, especially because both the anime and the manga don’t yet tell all the stories already published in the light novels, and once a story grabs my interest, I need to read the whole of it. The tone might seem light, but it has very dark turns and deals with serious situations, and is quite surprising in how it shows them all. And because of its light tone, even the very serious themes are easier to grasp and understand.
The light novels have, as a written text usually does, a different pace than both the manga and the anime, but I’ve noticed that both the manga and anime follow the light novels quite truthfully. I’m always fascinated by how a screenwriter and an illustrator adapt a novel to the screen and to comics, so the process of reading and watching is also a bit different than when you read a novel that has never been adapted to another medium.
If you like mysteries, some herbal knowledge, court intrigue, a bit of romance, and a lot of sarcastic tirades and funny remarks, I think you should at least try this series, be that in anime, manga or light novel format. And maybe, as it happened to me, you’ll like it so much you might get them all!
