The Apothecary Diaries - anime review

The daughter of an apothecary who begins working at the emperor's palace shares her diaries of the daily life and misteries of the palace.

The story begins with Maomao, the daughter of an apothecary who lives near the city’s brothels. From a very young age, she learns the secrets of her father’s trade; she enjoys going out to gather herbs for medicines, and she tests poisons on her own arm—both to learn to identify them and to develop creams or potions to counteract them.

But one day, while distracted by some herbs along the path, she is kidnapped and sold into slavery. As it happens, she ends up working as a servant in the royal palace, and now she must work to pay off that debt and earn her freedom.

But sorrow permeates daily life in the palace. The newborn son of one of the emperor’s concubines is gravely ill, and Maomao cannot help but take an interest in the cause of his condition. Drawing on her expertise as an apothecary, she discovers that the powders the concubine uses for makeup—which are also applied to the child—are causing them to fall ill from poisoning.

This leads Jinshi, the official in charge of the inner palace, to assign Maomao the task of serving as a poison taster for Gyokuyou—a consort residing in the Jade Palace (one of the king’s consorts, as there are at least two others).

Jinshi has a striking appearance and is very attractive to the maids and female workers in the palace—with the exception of Maomao. Although he is supposedly a eunuch, he frequently tasks Maomao with solving mysterious deaths within the inner palace in exchange for rare medicines; however, it gradually becomes apparent that romantic feelings are developing between Jinshi and Maomao.

As Maomao’s popularity—and her expertise regarding poisons—grows, she finds herself visiting other concubines in the palace, partly due to the knowledge she gained from her time in the pleasure districts. We frequently see Gaoshun, Jinshi’s assistant, accompanying Maomao and providing her with information to help solve cases.

A new concubine enters the scene, and Maomao is dismissed from her role as a poison taster—only to be rehired, this time in the outer palace (which is significantly larger), leading to the emergence of new cases and mysteries.

Meanwhile, Maomao occasionally requests permission to visit her father and her friends at the brothel known as "Viagris"—as well as the elderly proprietress who runs the establishment—which happens to be one of the most famous brothels in that part of the city.

Personal comment

The Apothecary Diaries series is a very good anime where we see Maomao playing a detective in the style of Sherlock Holmes instead of being an apothecary. The relationship she has with Master Jinshi is very funny in my opinion but I suspect that perhaps he is not as eunuch as he should be.

There are many monologues by Maomao but they are only part of her thoughts towards Jinshi or that are necessary to solve the cases. Furthermore, we must not forget that the entire narrative is about her diaries or experiences.

Although the anime is fictional and does not mention any region or emperor in particular, it seems that all the events take place in some palace in China rather than in Japan.