Passing the Vibe Check: ‘The Apothecary Diaries’ Episodes 1-3 Review

This is a mostly spoiler-free review of The Apothecary Diaries. The first three episodes debuted Saturday, October 21 on Crunchyroll.

The first three episodes of Crunchyroll’s newest historical sensation The Apothecary Diaries adapts a popular light novel and manga series with ease and much flair. This anime adaptation pushes the envelope for solving mysteries while complicating court politics in a drama with a whole cast of colorful characters. The series centers on Maomao, who lives an ordinary life with her apothecary father. She loves to collect herbs for medicines, conduct experiments and mostly keep to herself. Life is simple but ordinary. She’s content. It is not until one day where she’s taken away and sold as a servant to the emperor’s palace. It is there that she realizes that her life has changed. As Maomao keeps her head down and makes sure that her work as a maid is done in the rear palace, a palace dedicated to the emperor’s consorts, his heirs and those who serve them. It is a place where no men with the exception of the emperor, his kin and eunuchs are allowed to be. It also ends up being a dangerous place where a low-ranking maid as herself is expendable, as she could lose her life as she has no connections or nobility to fall back on. This place, whether she knows it or not, will become not just her home for the near future but also a breeding place for violence, despair yet also friends and her found family away from home.

©Hyuganatsu, Imagica Infos …