corallydeer 's review for:

The Apothecary Diaries, Volume 1 by Itsuki Nanao, Nekokurage, Natsu Hyuuga

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

I adore the anime adaptation of this manga so I just had to give reading it a shot! I love the art style in the manga and it's always really cool to see comparisons between the adaptation and the manga. I still adore the story and I'm so excited to read through the manga and see what lies ahead!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Kidnapping, Grief

Minor: Bullying, Trafficking

Medical Content

(Maomao is an apothecary so there is a lot of medical talk and content)

| Child Death & Grief

(Consort Lihua loses her infant son to poison and grieves his loss)

| Kidnapping

(Maomao is kidnapped and sold to the palace)

| Self Harm

(Maomao experiments on herself and we do get to see her injuries and where they came from)

| Bullying

(general bullying between the women of the Inner Court; Consort Lihua also slaps Consort Gyokuyo)

| Trafficking

(it's explained, in passing, that Maomao's kidnapping was part of a larger trafficking ring that abducts girls and sells them to the palace)