Anime Spotlight #69: Apothecary Diaries Season 2
a.k.a. The Animeister.
In 2024, even before the anime had finished airing its first season, The Apothecary Diaries was the first series I chose to review for the Month Of Love. So when I found out there was going to be a second season, it seemed obvious that I should keep that trend going this year.
So, let's kick off Month Of Love 2026 by looking at The Apothecary Diaries: Season 2.
The Apothecary Diaries is a long-running (fifteen years!) multimedia franchise written by Hyūganatsu (I think her name was originally rendered with a space, so in my first season review, I incorrectly identified her as Natsu Hyūga; she's an extremely private person and uses Hyūganatsu as a one-word pen name), including novels, a light-novel series, and now three manga (a spinoff from the perspective of Xiaolan—Mao Mao's gossiping best friend—began in March of last year).
The anime still follows Mao Mao through her daily adventures as a kidnapped indentured servant and food taster in the Rear Palace of a fictionalized Tang/Ming-era Imperial China, using the apothecary knowledge she gained from her uncle/adoptive father (and the tactical potential she inherited from her estranged birth father—revealed to be the court war strategist late in the first season, and I don't particularly like the "main character was suddenly secret royalty all along because she needs certain privileges to solve a thing and so the romance can be socially viable in the series' worldview" writing crutch at play here, but he's a fun, shrewd, quirky character) to solve matters of medical health, political intrigue, and rumored supernatural origin, and sometimes, all three at once. What begins as a series of seeming coincidences (chemically induced miscarriages, an influx of new servant girls and eunuchs, a seasonal trade caravan and foreign dignitaries visiting from the West, frequent discussion of lookalikes,
color-blindness, and a host of other plot points and mysteries) subtly but obviously converges into one woman's organized quest for power, recognition, and revenge against the former emperor (who...liked his concubines young and hoarded and tortured them to the grave) at the expense of all others that spans back to the first season. Most of it is easy to figure out if you've been paying attention (or even if you're just caffeinated out of your mind and bingeing the season overnight with no sleep because you're on a deadline and it's just that good of a series), especially the part with the frog, but the audience inclusion is part of the charm.
I wish the final battle to rescue Mao Mao from the rebel city had been animated more (it looks like a slideshow of a Pokémon win condition from twenty-five years ago because Toho and OLM were pushed to animate the full twenty-four episode season instead of being allowed to stop at the "frog" reveal for a solid cour cliffhanger and having the time to make sure their one, big setpiece looked as good as possible), but the emotional stakes and the psychological payoff of the season still work incredibly well, and the overall story (at least, until there's a new concubine or a ghost rumor or some other reason to call Mao Mao back from running her father's shop when the third season airs this October) gets to progress beyond its serialized episodic format.
In addition to the upcoming third season (that I'm definitely going to watch), there is also a feature film in the works, so expect a full series review next year. I'm also committing myself to catching up on Hell's Paradise (which went un-reviewed in 2024 because of other commitments at the time) and watching Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun for October because Halloween. Until then, please Stay Tuned and remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, help out my ad revenue as you read because not everyone can be a royal or a medical professional, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content, like Wednesday's Omnibusted Retrospective on Myths & Legends: Beauty & the Beast.
110
Animeister,
Out.
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