The Apothecary Diaries is Awesome!
Key points for The Apothecary Diaries Quarter-season review:
- The Apothecary Diaries stands out with its rare portrayal of Ancient China in anime, adding a unique and authentic touch to the story.
- While initially seen as a potential drawback, the episodic nature of the series has become part of its charm, contributing to an entertaining and well-executed plot.
- The characters, both main and side, add depth to the series. While not all receive extensive development, they play their roles effectively, with the main character Mao standing out as an engaging protagonist with a blend of passion and humor.
This anime is probably my 3rd favorite anime from this season. It is a very close competition between Frieren and Ragna for the top 2 spots so… Either way, that doesn’t and shouldn’t take away from just how good and fun The Apothecary Diaries is. It has a very unique setting and one of the best-executed “episodic” plots I have seen.
That combined with some interesting and memorable characters and an awesome protagonist, make this anime a joy to watch. And even 7 episodes later, it only feels like we have only scratched the surface.
So welcome to a “quarter-season” review, I guess? Since the anime is scheduled for 24 episodes and we just got episode 7… Anyway, let’s talk about The Apothecary Diaries today!
What do I think of The Apothecary Diaries so far?
The setting of Ancient China is something we rarely see in anime. As in China proper, not “China-inspired”. So that alone gives this anime a certain air of uniqueness. I am not too familiar with old Chinese “traditions” but I do feel like they’ve been depicted accurately here, even though the story itself is fictional. Especially when it comes to the political side of things and how the emperor operates. Either way, all this political stuff adds an interesting layer to the story. A lot of things in this anime happen because of political standings and things like that.
There was a time when I felt like the “episodic” nature of the series was a little detrimental, but at this point, it feels like that’s the vibe of the series. It is moving away from it slowly though, not completely but just a little bit. While I enjoy the plot as it is, I would like to see more of an overall narrative to the series. And the episodic fun can continue under that overall narrative. Kind of like what Frieren is doing, for example.
Lastly, the characters in this anime are pretty awesome. Not every character gets development or anything fancy like that but the side characters are entertaining, they do their roles well, and that’s enough. The main characters do get proper development as Jinshi did. Mao is an awesome MC as well. She is obsessed with her medicine practice and mad experiments, she gets really angry when someone does something to harm her patients, and other than that, she’s a meme and she’s adorable LOL.
That is all for now!
Let me know what you guys think in the comments. I think I will give The Apothecary Diaries a solid 9/10 for now. Let’s see how things hold up in the coming weeks. There are a lot of episodes still left to go after all. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!!
Also, check out my thoughts on The Faraway Paladin Season 2 here!
