is a Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series written by Natsu Hyūga and illustrated by Touko Shino. It was serialized online since 2011 on the user-generated novel publishing website

Shōsetsuka ni Narō is a Japanese novel self-publishing website created by . It was launched on April 2, 2004. Users can upload their novels free of charge and the novels are also free to read. As of December 2022, the site hosts close to 1,000,000 novels, has ove ...

. In the following year, it was acquired by Shufunotomo, who initially published the series as a novel with a single volume in 2012, and then as a light novel series in 2014. The series is set in a fictional country modelled after ancient China. It has been adapted into two

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series in 2017, with one published by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

in ''

Monthly Big Gangan is a manga imprint owned by Square Enix Holdings. It originated as a manga imprint for Enix before the company re-branded as Square Enix. It publishes manga in several anthologies aimed at different reader demographic groups in the Japanese m ...

'', and another one published by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

in ''

Monthly Sunday Gene-X , often abbreviated as , is a ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. Like many other manga magazines, it is an " anthology magazine", with each issue featuring new chapters of several manga series. The series are also published in '' ...

''. The light novel is licensed in North America by

J-Novel Club J-Novel Club is a publishing company specializing in the translation of Japanese light novels into English. It streams light novels and manga in regular installments before publishing finalized e-books. As of August 2021, J-Novel Club has license ...

, and the manga illustrated by Nekokurage is licensed by Square Enix. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation by Toho Animation Studio and

OLM The olm or proteus (''Proteus anguinus'') is an aquatic salamander in the family Proteidae, the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe. In contrast to most amphibians, it is entirely aquatic, eating, sleeping, and br ...

is set to premiere in 2023.

Premise

In a certain country in the East, Maomao, a young girl who works as a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

in the

red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particu ...

, is kidnapped and sold to the imperial palace as a servant. However, she still retains her curious and eccentric personality and plans to work there until her years of servitude are over, without drawing the attention of anyone. One day, after hearing the rumors that the emperor's children are critically ill, she begins to investigate the cause, using her experience as a pharmacist, and successfully solves the mystery of their illness. Even though she intends to remain anonymous, her actions eventually catch the attention of an influential

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

, and soon finds herself solving various mysteries in the imperial court.

Characters

; : ; : ; : ; : ; : ; :

Media

Novel

Originally, the series was only published by Natsu Hyūga on the user-generated web novel site

in October 2011. The publisher Shufunotomo acquired the series and then published it on their Ray Books imprint as a novel with a single volume on September 26, 2012.

Light novel

In 2014, Shufunotomo began to publish the series again. This time, it was published as a

in their Hero Bunko imprint, which is mostly made of acquired Shōsetsuka ni Narō titles. Since then, the series continued to get more volumes with the story continuing, unlike the previous novel version which had just only one volume.

announced in November 2020 that it had licensed the light novel series.

Volume list

Manga

adaptation by Itsuki Nanao and illustrated by Nekokurage began in the 2017 6th issue of

's ''

'', released on May 25, 2017. Square Enix has compiled its chapters into individual ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. The first volume was published on September 25, 2017. As of February 25, 2023, eleven volumes have been published. In November 2019, Square Enix announced the English language release of the manga in North America under the title ''The Apothecary Diaries'', and began publishing it in December 2020. The manga is also licensed in Indonesia by

M&C! m&c! Publishing or better known as m&c! (stands for Magazine & Comics; id, Majalah & Komik) is a publishing company in Indonesia. The company has its roots on Komik Majalah in the 1980s, which often published various comics from foreign publisher ...

. An alternative manga adaptation, titled , illustrated by Minoji Kurata, began in

's ''

'' on August 19, 2017. Shogakukan has compiled its chapters into individual ''tankōbon'' volumes. The first volume was published on February 19, 2018. As of February 25, 2023, sixteen volume have been published.

''The Apothecary Diaries''

''Mao Mao no Kōkyū Nazotoki Techō''

Anime

television series adaptation was announced on February 16, 2023. It is produced by Toho Animation Studio and

, with Norihiro Naganuma directing and supervising the scripts, and Akinori Fudesaka serving as assistant director. Yukiko Nakatani will design the characters, and

Satoru Kōsaki is a Japanese music composer and arranger. He is best known for his work on anime, including '' Lucky Star'', ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', ''Monogatari'' and ''Beastars''. He worked at Namco, where he primarily composed soundtracks for ...

Kevin Penkin Kevin Penkin (born 22 May 1992) is a British-born Australian composer, primarily for video games and anime. He is best known for composing the score of the anime '' Made in Abyss'', which won Best Score at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and t ...

, and Alisa Okehazama will compose the music. The series is set to premiere in 2023.

Reception

Sales

The Apothecary Diaries was the sixth best-selling light novel series in 2019, with 461,024 copies sold; the fifth best-selling light novel series in 2020, with 527,950 copies sold; and the third best-selling light novel series in 2021, with 496,626 copies sold.

Critical response

In her review of the first novel for

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

, Rebecca Silverman gave it an overall grade of B, writing: "It's an enjoyable read, one that gets better as it goes on, and if its pacing is a little too fast, it makes up for it in the way the characters interact and the story unfolds", though she criticized it for lacking in mystery elements despite being of the mystery genre. Silverman also gave the second novel a B grade, describing it as being "still an engaging read" and writing: "Maomao is a wonderful, if at times abrasive, heroine who takes no garbage from anyone, and watching her become more and more involved in the life of the court is interesting." In his review of the first volume of the manga adaptation for Anime News Network, Theron Martin gave it an overall grade of B+. He praised the art, characters and use of historical details, and noted several similarities with ''

The Story of Saiunkoku is a series of Japanese light novels written by Sai Yukino and illustrated by Kairi Yura set in fictional ancient China. As of July 2011, the eighteenth and final volume was released, concluding the series. Four side story anthologies have ...

''. Martin gave the second manga volume an overall grade of A−, writing: "''The Apothecary Diaries'' manga adaptation continues to be an excellent read. The art is beautiful, Maomao's the sort of female character who's actually strong rather than just being a Strong Female Character, and the story has nice continuity." In 2019, the manga adaptation won the

Next Manga Award The is an annual award for manga series presented by Kadokawa Corporation's ''Da Vinci'' magazine and Niconico streaming website. It is divided into two categories: one for print manga, and one for web manga. Overview The award was originally ...

in the print category. The manga adaptation also ranked 5th on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2020". In 2020, it ranked 9th in the

AnimeJapan AnimeJapan is a Japanese anime consumer show held for the first time at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center in Tokyo, in March 2014. It was created from the merger of the Tokyo International Anime Fair with the Anime Contents Expo. It is organ ...

Most Wanted Anime Adaptation poll.

References

External links

* at

* * at ''Monthly Big Gangan'' * at ''

'' * at Square Enix Manga & Books * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Apothecary Diaries, The 2012 Japanese novels 2014 Japanese novels Anime and manga based on light novels Comics set in a fictional country Drama anime and manga Gangan Comics manga J-Novel Club books Light novels Light novels first published online Mystery anime and manga Novels set in fictional countries OLM, Inc. Romance anime and manga Seinen manga Shogakukan manga Shōsetsuka ni Narō Television series set in fictional countries Toho Animation Upcoming anime television series