Set during Tang-Dynasty China, The Apothecary Diaries Season 1 follows Maomao (voiced by Aoi Yûki), an apprentice apothecary with a propensity to try poisons and test them on herself. The Stereo Geeks watched the first season on Crunchyroll and Ron shares her review here. 

Working as a servant, Maomao finds herself solving palace mysteries by utilizing her vast knowledge of medicinal herbs and poisons. While enjoying some of the work, Maomao chafes against her palace rival, Master Jinshi (voiced by Takeo Otsuka), a gorgeous high-ranking official who persistently wants to befriend her.

The Apothecary Diaries is based on a novel, written by Hyūganatsu and illustrated by Touko Shino. It was then adapted as a manga by Itsuki Nanao and illustrated by Nekokurage, before being adapted as an anime television show in 2023. I’m a bit late to the show but now that Crunchyroll has given us access to their content, I had to get stuck in.

Season 1 begins with Maomao as an apprentice apothecary working at a brothel. The ladies who work there treat Maomao like their little sister and indulge her strange, and dangerous, interest in testing out poisons on herself.

But Maomao ends up being kidnapped and sold into servitude at the Imperial palace. With no way to escape, Maomao tries to live a quiet life waiting out her term. But alas, her curiosity gets the better of her. Maomao learns that some of the concubines and their newborns are ill and has a hypothesis. Unfortunately for Maomao, the much-sort after Master Jinshi, overhears Maomao and puts her to work investigating the illness.

By solving the mystery, Maomao ends up becoming a key member of one of the concubine’s homes in the rear palace. And she only draws more attention to herself by being inexplicably good at solving poison-related mysteries.

And the better Maomao does, the more Master Jinshi utilizes her services – which frustrates Maomao, who has taken an intense dislike to him. He’s too beautiful, and knows it; he’s high-ranking. And despite being good at his job, he can often be childish. Most annoyingly for Maomao, Jinshi really wants to be her friend and she doesn’t want any attachments while at the palace.

I’ve really enjoyed The Apothecary Diaries Season 1, though at first, I wasn’t sure I would. It opens in a brothel, and the bulk of the plot takes place in the midst of concubines. Some of the stories are quite depressing – royalty have always had gross tendencies and harems have rarely had a history of being happy places to work in.

Yet, Maomao, with her weirdness and sincerity, won me over from the start. She is so fond of herbs and she loves being an apothecary – I love the funny expressions she makes when she sees herbs out in the wild. She truly comes alive at the prospect of playing with herbs and poisons.

Her interest in poisons is very strange, I’ll admit. This is a girl who actively wants to try and ingest poisons, no matter how lethal. Does she have a deathwish? Or is she just a mad scientist? I’m leaning more towards the latter, but it’s such a bizarre quirk of Maomao’s personality that it makes her compelling. She’s probably going to get badly ill at some point. But until then, Maomao will keep pushing her limits.

Despite the subject matter, I’m relieved that The Apothecary Diaries Season 1 isn’t gross or hyper-sexualized. I was a bit worried about that but the show manages to avoid anything too grotesque and there aren’t any gratuitous sex scenes. What a relief. You still can’t watch this show with children, but young adults can safely view it without concern.

It’s almost expected with how far animation has come, but The Apothecary Diaries Season 1 is unbelievably beautiful. The palace is vast and every pavilion has its own aesthetic. The characters all look different, and have particular clothing styles, so even if their faces aren’t in view, we generally know who the characters are.

I particularly love when the show changes art styles to signify extreme reactions of emotions. The way Maomao turns into a curious cat at the prospect of a poisonous mystery makes me laugh out loud. And Jinshi’s never-ending sad faces every time Maomao rejects his attempts at friendship never get old. That poor man is trying his best but Maomao’s determination to be a lone wolf cannot be overcome.

24 episodes of The Apothecary Diaries Season 1 flew by much too quickly. The show is chock full of mysteries, not only related to the rear palace, but also to the military, and beyond the palace walls. And yet, its mystery-of-the-week gimmick turns out to have a deeper connection than initially suspected. One that I presume will be explored further in Season 2. Which I can’t wait to watch now. What will Maomao and Jinshi discover this time?

The Apothecary Diaries is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.