A review by vessel
The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 1 by Natsu Hyuuga

lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I watched the TV anime based on The Apothecary Diaries, thoroughly enjoyed it, and picked up the light novels, for a bit more perspective and insight on the characters and story. There are a lot of interesting tidbits to be found for those who are coming to the work with a similar mindset.

On it's own merit, the characters are charming enough, even though the secondary characters rarely get to have more than a personality trait or two, Maomao and Jinshi and their bizarre situationship are well thought out. I must confess, though, I find Jinshi's coming onto Maomao way less funny or charming when it's not in a cute animated style. The medical mysteries are always fun, especially when it's something you recognize, dressed up in era appropriate context, such as
food allergies, or botulism toxin.

As an online serialized light novel prior to it's print publishing, the story occasionally suffers from issues that tend to plague the genre, such as important plot developments and defining changes to the status quo being solved... literally in the next chapter. The translation quality is excellent, but my copy had a number of editing errors, some minor, some very severe, to the point it would've been impossible to parse what was happening in the story without my preexisting familiarity with the material (chapter 4).

If you've read or seen other versions of this story, I think it's worth a read, for funsies. If not, content warnings noted below.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings