50 Fun Facts About The Apothecary Diaries

What is the Japanese title of The Apothecary Diaries?

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto means 'Apothecary's Soliloquy', and the anime keeps borrowing the word: its chibi recap shorts are 'Maomao no Hitorigoto' and a season-two ending theme is simply 'Hitorigoto'.

Who wrote The Apothecary Diaries?

Hyūganatsu first posted the story as Uribō, 'boar piglet'; when the book needed a proper author name, she borrowed that of her favourite citrus fruit.

On which user-generated novel website did The Apothecary Diaries begin as a free serial in 2011?

Shōsetsuka ni Narō was a site the author stumbled on while stuck at home after Japan's 2011 earthquake; she began posting that October because, she says, she was bored.

The Apothecary Diaries' author says its rear palace and fashions are modelled on which Chinese dynasty?

The Tang dynasty of Yang Guifei is the author's stated model, but she mixes eras freely: the culture sits near the 16th century and the science runs up to the 19th.

How does Maomao end up working in the Imperial Palace?

She is kidnapped and sold as a servant while out gathering herbs: procurers earned easy money by passing girls off as relatives sent to work in the rear palace.

What is Maomao's plan for her two years in the rear palace?

Lie low was the plan, and it lasted about three months, until her curiosity about the palace's sick infants got the better of her.

In the public eye, Jinshi holds what position in the rear palace?

A eunuch who runs its administration is only his cover: Jinshi is later unmasked as a prince of the imperial family and has to drop the pretence.

Who voices Maomao in the Japanese anime?

Aoi Yūki had already played Maomao on a drama CD and kept the part for the anime, while the role of Jinshi went to a new actor.

Who voices Jinshi in the Japanese anime?

Takeo Ōtsuka took over Jinshi for the anime; on the earlier drama CD the part had been played by Takahiro Sakurai.

Who voices Maomao in the English dub?

Emi Lo leads the English dub, which opened the way the Japanese broadcast had: with its first three episodes released together.

Maomao grew up in which renowned brothel, whose Madam treats her like a granddaughter?

The Verdigris House is also where Maomao lands when the palace dismisses her, until Jinshi pays its Madam to take her back as his own attendant.

What is the name of Maomao's adoptive father, an apothecary and former court doctor?

Luomen was exiled from the rear palace long ago, yet when a consort's pregnancy turns dangerous Maomao has him summoned as the one doctor skilled enough to help.

Which high-ranking consort is known as the Precious Consort and is the Emperor's favourite?

Gyokuyō later bears the Emperor a son, and the birth carries her from favourite consort toward the title of Empress.

The Precious Consort's residence is named after which stone?

Jade Pavilion maids pitied Maomao when she became the consort's food taster, not knowing that she relishes any chance to sample a poison.

Why does the Precious Consort appoint Maomao her lady-in-waiting?

As thanks for warning her about poisoned make-up: a lead-based face powder was sickening the consorts and their babies, and her daughter recovered once she stopped using it.

Whom does Maomao nurse back to health over two months at the Emperor's request?

Lihua, the Wise Consort, was wasting away after the death of her infant son; Maomao changed her diet and had a sauna built so that steam baths could help her recover.

Maomao's name means which animal?

Cat is the meaning of Maomao's name, and the anime plays on it: a stray kitten found in the rear palace ends up being named after her, to her annoyance.

Which condition of Consort Lishu's do her attendants refuse to take seriously?

Food allergies were a mystery to the court: Lishu's attendants took her refusals for fussiness until Maomao pointed out that a fatal reaction would be treated as a poisoning.

Ah-Duo, the Pure Consort, has which unusual tie to the Emperor?

They shared a wet nurse, which makes Ah-Duo the Emperor's milk sibling: she grew up beside him, became his first consort and bore his first son.

Who replaces Ah-Duo as the Pure Consort?

Loulan brings more ladies-in-waiting than any rival, yet she slips out of her pavilion dressed as a servant girl called Shisui to hunt for insects.

Who is Jinshi's loyal attendant, the father of his younger aide Basen?

Gaoshun's standing as a palace eunuch is a cover story: he is a married man of the Ma clan, the family that has guarded the imperial line for generations.

By what unflattering label does Maomao refer to the rear-palace eunuch Guen?

A quack is Maomao's private name for the palace doctor, who had his reasons for the post: he became a eunuch so that his sister would not have to enter the rear palace.

Who is Maomao's biological father, revealed to be the monocle-wearing, face-blind military tactician?

Lakan cannot tell faces apart and sees most people as game pieces; one of the few he could ever recognise was the courtesan who beat him at Go.

Fengxian, Maomao's mother, sent what to the lover who had stopped visiting?

Two severed fingers, her own and her baby's, went to the man who had been away for three years; Maomao takes the parcel for a curse.

Who is Maomao's gossip-loving servant friend in the rear palace, and the subject of a spin-off manga?

Xiaolan swaps palace gossip for sweets, which is how Maomao gets much of her news; her spin-off manga, Xiaolan's Story, began on Manga Up! in March 2025.

Which soldier gives Maomao a hairpin and later takes up with the courtesan Pairin?

Lihaku hands out hairpins freely at the garden party; Maomao cashes hers in for an escort out of the palace, paying him with an introduction to her home brothel's star courtesans.

The 'Three Princesses' of the brothel where Maomao grew up are Pairin, Meimei and who?

Joka is the youngest of the three and the one who dislikes men: she entertains customers with poetry and music and keeps them at arm's length.

Who is the dutiful head lady-in-waiting serving the Precious Consort, and Maomao's boss?

Hongniang, on learning why Maomao hid her talents, broke a vase on purpose and charged it to her wages, so that nothing was left for those taking a cut of her pay.

Which two studios made the first two seasons of The Apothecary Diaries?

Toho Animation Studio and OLM shared the first two seasons, then split the work: OLM alone animates season three, and Toho's studio alone makes the film.

The Apothecary Diaries' first season filled two three-month broadcast blocks known as what?

Cours are the three-month blocks of Japanese TV schedules; season one's 24 episodes ran as two back to back, which is why its opening and ending songs both changed at the halfway mark.

On which Japanese network does The Apothecary Diaries air?

Nippon TV first ran it in a slot after midnight on Saturday nights, then promoted it for season two to the 11 p.m. 'Friday Anime Night' block.

Which band performed 'Hana ni Natte', the first opening theme of The Apothecary Diaries?

Ryokuoushoku Shakai were handed 'self-love' as the song's theme, and singer Haruko Nagaya built the lyrics around Maomao, whom she saw as the opposite of a typical lead.

Which band performed 'Kusushiki', the second opening theme of The Apothecary Diaries' second season?

Mrs. Green Apple's 'Kusushiki' outgrew the show: the Japan Gold Disc Awards named it one of the year's five best songs by streaming.

Why does Maomao paint fake freckles on her face?

To look plain and avoid attention: the freckles began as protection in the pleasure district, and her fellow maids only discover the trick while making her up for a garden party.

Nekokurage's manga of The Apothecary Diaries runs in which Square Enix magazine?

Monthly Big Gangan has carried Nekokurage's version since May 2017; that August a rival publisher launched its own manga of the same novels, and both are still running.

The second manga of The Apothecary Diaries, drawn by Minoji Kurata, carries what subtitle in English?

Maomao's Notes on the Inner Palace reached Viz Media's list only in February 2026, more than five years after Square Enix began publishing the rival manga of the same novels in English.

Which company licensed the original Apothecary Diaries books for digital release in English in 2020?

J-Novel Club has sold the novels digitally since 2020; print editions waited until 2024, when Square Enix, already the manga's publisher, took them on.

Why did The Apothecary Diaries' author swap her first heroine, a mining-town mother of three, for a teenager?

She feared it would flop on a site full of light novels with young leads, so the mining-town mother who finds a poisoning victim became a teenage apothecary in the rear palace.

By August 2026, roughly how many copies of The Apothecary Diaries novels and manga were in circulation?

Over 57 million, up from 24 million just before the anime began in 2023; the 2026 count was also the first to include translated editions, in 16 languages.

Which character beat Maomao to the 'Must Protect at All Costs' prize at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards?

Anya Forger of Spy × Family took that prize, but Maomao left with Best Main Character, and her Japanese voice actress won her category for the second year running.

Nekokurage's manga of The Apothecary Diaries won which prize's print category in 2019?

The Next Manga Award's print prize went to it in 2019, when the web prize went to Spy × Family; both manga went on to become hit anime.

Which theme park hosted an Apothecary Diaries attraction from July 2025 to January 2026?

Universal Studios Japan ran it as a park-wide rally: guests moved from spot to spot helping Maomao and Jinshi work out why a fashionable cure-all was poisoning people.

What is the title of the Apothecary Diaries anime film announced for release in late 2026?

The Deceased Empress' Treasure is no adapted volume: the series' author wrote a new story in which Maomao and Jinshi carry home the remains of a consort five years dead.

Anime News Network's review of The Apothecary Diaries manga named which series its 'most prominent and direct predecessor'?

The Story of Saiunkoku also sends a sharp heroine from the pleasure district into an imperial court and pairs her with a suitor almost too pretty to be a man, reviewer Theron Martin noted.

What do the bandages on Maomao's left arm cover?

Scars from testing poisons on herself, though her fellow maids assume she was mistreated as a child, and their pity gets her excused from chores.

Japan's health ministry teamed up with The Apothecary Diaries in 2024 to promote what?

Electronic prescriptions were the cause: Maomao appeared on ministry posters in clinics and pharmacies, and her voice actress gave an interview to the ministry's own magazine.

Which actress was cast as Maomao in the live-action Apothecary Diaries series announced in September 2026?

Mana Ashida became famous as a small child in the TV drama Mother and reached Hollywood in Pacific Rim; the series, due in 2028, gives the former child star the lead.

Which singer performed 'Hyakka Ryōran', the first opening theme of The Apothecary Diaries' second season?

Lilas Ikuta, the voice of YOASOBI, had never sung a TV anime opening solo before; as 'In Bloom' the song went on to a Best Anime Song nomination at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

Which manga's novelisations outsold The Apothecary Diaries to top Japan's 2021 light novel chart?

Demon Slayer's spin-off novels led Oricon's 2021 series chart with about 776,000 copies; The Apothecary Diaries sold about 497,000, two years before it had an anime of its own.

Announced in September 2026, the live-action Apothecary Diaries series is to stream worldwide on which service?

Prime Video, not the anime's home Crunchyroll, landed the live-action version: Amazon is co-producing the series with Toho as a worldwide exclusive for 2028.