About The Apothecary Diaries
The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) began in 2011 as a web novel by Natsu Hyuuga, the pen name Wikipedia writes as Hyuganatsu, on the site Shosetsuka ni Naro. Shufunotomo has published it as a light novel series illustrated by Touko Shino since 2014, with sixteen volumes out by May 2025; in English it comes from J-Novel Club digitally and Square Enix in print. Two separate manga adaptations began in 2017, one drawn by Nekokurage for Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan and one by Minoji Kurata for Shogakukan's Monthly Sunday Gene-X. The anime, made by TOHO Animation Studio and OLM and written by Norihiro Naganuma, ran for two 24-episode seasons on Nippon TV, from October 2023 to March 2024 and from January to July 2025. A third season, made by OLM alone, began on 2 October 2026.
The setting is a fictional country inspired by Tang-dynasty China. Maomao is a young apothecary raised in the capital's pleasure district by her adoptive father, Luomen, who taught her everything he knows about herbs, medicine and poison. She is kidnapped and sold into the emperor's rear palace as a laundry maid, and plans to keep her head down until her two years are up. Then she hears that the emperor's babies are falling ill, recognises the cause, a face powder that contains lead, and leaves anonymous warnings. Jinshi, the strikingly beautiful eunuch who runs the rear palace, tracks her down and makes her a lady-in-waiting and food taster to Consort Gyokuyou, the emperor's favourite.
From there, Apothecary Diaries becomes a run of medical and forensic mysteries, most of them poisonings, which Maomao solves with what she learned from Luomen and from the courtesans of the Verdigris House, the brothel where she grew up. The cases slowly join up. Season 1 turns on rivalries between the four high consorts, a string of incidents aimed at Jinshi, and the eccentric military strategist Lakan, who takes an unsettling interest in Maomao. Season 2 brings foreign envoys, the empress dowager and the powerful Shi clan into the story, and the question of who Jinshi really is moves to the centre. Running through it all is the wary relationship between Maomao, who wants nothing to do with palace politics, and Jinshi, who keeps bringing her his problems.
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What the The Apothecary Diaries Quiz Tests
Our Apothecary Diaries quiz covers the anime's first two seasons, 48 episodes in all. It does not ask about season 3, which began in October 2026, or about anything only in the light novels or manga. Easy levels cover the premise: how Maomao comes to the rear palace, her freckles and her taste for poison, the Verdigris House, the pavilions of the high consorts, Jinshi and Gaoshun, and who made the series. The middle levels follow the story in order, from the soldiers poisoned by their cooking fire and the dancing ghost on the wall to the garden party, Maomao's dismissal and return, the warehouse explosion, Lakan and his game with Maomao, and season 2's moon fairy, hunting trip and broken block of ice. The hard levels test the details a real fan remembers: the seaweed in the raw-fish case, the metalworker's fishbowl, the name Jinshi uses in town, the cat's official title, the Shrine of Choosing, the late emperor's paintings, and the season 2 reveals.
Key Characters
Maomao is an unusual mystery lead: blunt, unsentimental and far more interested in a rare poison than in the beautiful people around her, but unable to walk past a puzzle or an injustice once she has noticed it. She hides her looks under painted freckles and tests remedies on her own bandaged arm. Jinshi is the opposite on the surface, all charm and polish, and one of the few things he cannot charm is Maomao; in private he is more childish and more uncertain than his public face suggests, and he is hiding something about who he is. Gaoshun, his patient attendant, quietly keeps both of them out of trouble. In the rear palace Maomao serves Gyokuyou, the emperor's clever, warm-hearted favourite, and trades gossip with Xiaolan, a cheerful maid who always knows the latest rumour. Outside it stand Luomen, the gentle, gifted doctor who raised her, and Lakan, a monocled strategist who cannot recognise faces and sees most people as pieces on a board. Season 2 adds Shisui, an insect-loving maid who becomes Maomao's friend, and Suirei, a skilled herbalist with her own reasons for working against the court.
Available Quizzes
The Apothecary Diaries Trivia
50 hand-crafted questions across 5 categories. 10 levels of increasing difficulty.
Which Apothecary Diaries Character Are You?
Answer 10 questions to discover which character from the rear palace of The Apothecary Diaries matches your personality!
Random Mix
Questions from all 47 anime including The Apothecary Diaries. The ultimate challenge.
Characters
Maomao
Jinshi
Gaoshun
Xiaolan
Gyokuyou
The Apothecary Diaries Fun Facts
- The author's pen name, Hyuganatsu, is the name of her favourite fruit, a Japanese citrus. She first posted the story under the name Uribo, 'wild boar piglet', and appears at fan events in a boar costume rather than showing her face. Square Enix's English edition of the manga credits her as Natsu Hyuuga.
- Her first idea was a mystery about a mother of three in a mining town who uncovers a poisoning. She decided a teenage heroine would suit the web-novel site better, and made her an apothecary so that she would know medicine.
- The author has said she took what she found most interesting from about a thousand years of Chinese history, from the Tang dynasty to the 19th century, added some Japanese sensibilities, and that the story is technically not set in China.
- In 2025 the anime won Animage's Anime Grand Prix, with Maomao voted best character and Jinshi fourth. Aoi Yuki, Maomao's Japanese voice, won Best Voice Artist Performance (Japanese) at both the 9th and 10th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
- By August 2026 the light novels and manga together had more than 57 million copies in circulation.
- A live-action series produced by Toho and Amazon MGM Studios is due on Prime Video worldwide in 2028, with Mana Ashida as Maomao.
The Apothecary Diaries Quiz — Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes of The Apothecary Diaries are there?
As of 24 October 2026, 52 episodes have aired. Season 1 has 24 episodes (22 October 2023 to 24 March 2024) and Season 2 has 24 (10 January to 4 July 2025). Season 3 began on 2 October 2026 and is planned at 24 episodes in two parts of 12, with the second part starting in April 2027.
Is The Apothecary Diaries finished?
No. The light novels are still coming out (sixteen volumes had been published by May 2025), the anime's third season is airing, and a film, The Late Lady's Treasure, with a new story written by the author, opens in Japan on 11 December 2026.
What order should I watch The Apothecary Diaries in?
In release order: Season 1, Season 2, then Season 3. The story is continuous and there is nothing to skip. The film The Late Lady's Treasure tells an original story, and the short Maomao's Monologue clips on TOHO Animation's YouTube channel are optional extras.
Where can I watch The Apothecary Diaries?
Crunchyroll streams the anime outside Asia, and also in the Middle East and South Asia, and Netflix has carried it in some Asian regions. Availability differs by country and changes over time, so check your local services.
What is The Apothecary Diaries about?
It follows Maomao, a young apothecary from the capital's pleasure district who is kidnapped and sold to the emperor's rear palace as a maid. Her knowledge of medicine and poison catches the eye of Jinshi, the eunuch who runs the rear palace, and he keeps bringing her the court's mysteries, from poisonings and curses to plots against his own life.
