The Apothecary Diaries

N

Neilblue

Hikikomori
What up, dudes and dudettes (and all in between) :)

I was putzing around in YouTube and I came across a fairly new anime. The Apothecary Diaries and it is wonderful. For those who don't know "apothecary"
is an old fashioned term for what is now the pharmacy. It also refers to a person who made and sold medicine. TAD is about a girl named Maomao, who
lives in a fictional capital in the pleasure district during the Tang Dynasty. Her adopted father is the local apothecary who teaches her about medicine (she experiments on poison as well). One day she is abducted and sold to Imperial Palace as a laundry girl. She solves a mystery involving two concubines and
their children and is rewarded by being promoted to Lady-in-Waiting/Food Taster. She is also an amateur Sherlock Holmes solving various mysteries. She is smart enough to keep her station because she is 1. literate. 2. skilled. 3. the right people-Gyokyu, Jinshi, now Lishua and the Emperor-happen to like her. Otherwise, she could have easily been executed many times over for some of her actions. So, has anyone seen the anime or read the manga? Do we have a favorite season/episode? I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Weirdly I knew what an apothecary is before this anime came out because of the episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. where Rachel buys an apothecary table from Pottery Barn (and hilarity ensues) XP

I haven't actually watched The Apothecary Diaries yet, but it does sound like something I might really enjoy, I'll admit that sometimes when everyone hypes something up it can be hard for it to live up to that, for me one example is Frieren, which I did enjoy the first Blu-ray set of (Episodes 1-16) but have not yet felt compelled to buy and watch more of compared with some of my favourites (and I do think the English dub is great so that's not the issue for me). Sorry if my post seems a bit cheeky/derailing, not intended that way and I know there are lots of people who love TAD here so I'm sure someone who's seen it will be happy to discuss it with you :)
 
I started it last year on Netflix and as I don't have day to day access, I bought season 1 in a sale.

I wouldn't say I have a favourite episode as I felt it is consistently good all the way through.
The politics of the palace interest me, how people interact with each other. Particularly the relationships between the Courtesans.

Any episodes with an appearance from Meimei are the best.🥴
 

Attachments

  • bbd212af7a716c15682e9f26d55c64f4.jpg
    bbd212af7a716c15682e9f26d55c64f4.jpg
    63.2 KB · Views: 3
This seems an appropriate place to post this. Make sure closed captions are on:


If you are confused, note the date shown on the video.
 
Back
Top