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The Apothecary Diaries anime made its premiere on October 21, 2023, and released the first three episodes of the 24-episode series. The first three episodes gave an elaborate overview of Maomao and her background, as well as her medicine knowledge.
The anime is currently available on Crunchyroll with English subtitles, and reportedly, Netflix has listed it for Asian countries as well. Many fans had expected The Apothecary Diaries anime to be a slice-of-life anime revolving around medicine. The premier made it clear that it would be more like a mystery thriller revolving around the use of poison and deception.
Disclaimer- This article contains spoilers for The Apothecary Diaries anime.
The Apothecary Diaries anime episode 1 highlights: Maomao starts her tenure in the palace
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Episode 1 starts with Maomao making medicine for her adoptive grandmother. The grandmother reprimands Maomao, saying she should keep her experiments to the minimum or start working as a courtesan. Hearing this, Maomao runs away to the fields to collect medicinal herbs, but instead, she ends up getting kidnapped and sold to the imperial palace as a servant.
The Apothecary Diaries anime episode 1 then undergoes a three-month time skip during which Maomao acclimated to her job and new life as a servant in the imperial palace, which had almost three thousand personnel, including low-ranked concubines, servants, and eunuchs.
Later, Maomao discovers that the crown prince born to Lady Lihua and Lady Gyokuyou's daughter has fallen ill, which was attributed to some sort of curse by the majority of the workers. Maomao notes the symptoms and quickly deduces that they are signs of poisoning from the face powder that everyone was using.
The Apothecary Diaries anime episode 2 highlights: Maomao gets promoted
Maomao ends up getting promoted for indirectly leaving a message about the poisonous face powder. Episode 2 starts with Maomao reporting to Lady Gyokuyou, who is now her new mistress. It is revealed that Jinshi, the manager of the imperial palace, appointed Maomao as Lady Gyokuyou's personal maid in order to make full use of her medicinal knowledge.
Maomao later reports to Hongnian, the head maid of Lady Gyokuyou, and receives a tour of Lady Gyokuyou's residence as well as that of the other servants. The other servants catch a glimpse of Maomao's bandaged body and prevent her from doing any work out of sympathy.
Maomao is later summoned during mealtime and is informed of her role as a poison taster. Maomao later reveals her expertise in detecting poisons while also revealing her resistance to them.
The Apothecary Diaries anime episode 3 highlights: Maomao solves the mystery behind the ghost
The Apothecary Diaries episode 3 starts off with one of the palace servants coming face-to-face with a mysterious ghost-like lady dressed in all white. The mystery of the ghost lady who had been haunting the palace is at the center of the episode. Maomao later learns about the ghost lady and dismisses it as a rumor.
Later, Jinshi approaches Maomao and asks about the hauntings while also seeking her advice on how to cure sleepwalking. Maomao later sees the so-called ghost lady, who is then revealed to be a mid-ranked concubine named Lady Fuyou. According to the palace officials, the ghost lady was just Lady Fuyou sleepwalking.
Maomao later deduces that Lady Fuyou had been faking her sleepwalking and was deliberately making herself look undesirable to the emperor. Maomao even goes on to speculate how she was doing all this in order to get gifted off to a military official who was her childhood friend.
Final thoughts
The Apothecary Diaries anime premiered on October 21, 2023, and became an instant hit in Japan, so much so that it became the No. 1 trending on Twitter across Japan. Currently, three episodes of the anime are out. Also, episode 4 will be released on October 28, 2023, and will showcase Lady Lihua's state after losing her son.
