The Apothecary Diaries (2017)
[薬屋のひとりごと]
Volume 1
Original Author: Natsu Hyuga
Adapted By: Itsuki Nanao
Artist: Nekokurage
Original Character Designer: Toko Shino
Publisher: Big Gangan Comics
Synopsis:
The adopted daughter of a village apothecary is abducted and sold into service at the Imperial Palace, where mystery and intrigue abounds.
Story/Characters:
This is another one of those series where I started the anime and couldn't wait for the continuation and rushed out to get the manga, so you know it succeeded in hooking me. This series combines palace drama with medical intrigue with a nicely eccentric protagonist and a good supporting cast. The storytelling style blends the episodic format with an overarching narrative for a good balance of the best of both worlds. Now, I want to render the names properly in pinyin to be accurate to the setting, but I imagine I'll go with the official translations, which are often just transliterations of the Japanese (which are themselves either kana approximations of the Chinese pronunciation or just the plain old onyomi, which I suppose is the Chinese pronunciation morphed over the past 1200 years thereabouts), much as I caved in my AoT reviews (as I know Zeke was meant to be Sieg, but oh well...). Let's start with our protagonist. Maomao is normally an amusingly deadpan character (unless you really manage to stir her interest with something like rare medicinal ingredients) who has a very practical, no-nonsense approach to her situation. She doesn't wallow in self-pity or resentment over her situation. She simply resolves herself to keep her head down and get through her period of involuntary servitude. Only then she starts to notice things that she can't ignore and her subtle involvement in some of the goings-on in the rear palace draws the attention of our male lead Jinshi, the head eunuch charged with the rear palace. The dynamic between Maomao and Jinshi is one of the highlights of the series. Jinshi can be cool and collected, but he also has a mischievous and childish side to him and the fact that Maomao is virtually immune to his charms (which makes all the other maidservants swoon), it just eggs him on to mess with her more. It's a lot of fun.
The first case involves the ailing main concubines, one who follows Maomao's covert advice and one who doesn't. This leads to Maomao entering into the service of the former concubine, Gyokyou. Gyokuyou is really cool, with a nice sunny personality but also quite a bit of cunning. She's matched by her head maid Hongniang, who is quick to rein in Maomao's excesses. Maomao is set up as Gyokuyou's poison taster, which the other maidservants lament for the sake of this poor unfortunate newcomer, but it's Maomao's dream job as she gets to eat food meant for royalty and if she's lucky, she can get to experience fun new poisons. (Maomao is a firm believer in human experimentation, you see, especially when the subject is herself.) Our next case has Jinshi charge Maomao with making a love potion, which takes the form of the then-rare chocolate. (I know a bit about some of the chemical properties of chocolate, and if you give it to someone who hasn't built up a resistance through years of casual consumption, I imagine it might have quite the kick, though maybe not so much as is portrayed here.) This chapter also introduces Jinshi's main attendant Gao Jun, who often acts as the straight man to Jinshi and Maomao. We close on the first part of the mystery of the concubine who dances on the palace walls at night. More on that one next time.
Art:
The artstyle is lovely and gets punched up further whenever we get a strong reaction out of Maomao. There are great reaction shots to highlight the comedic moments and the atmosphere in general is beautifully rendered. I know it's a bit mean, but there are two different manga adaptations of the series and I call this "the one with the good art". (The other one isn't all that bad, really, but it's not half as appealing.)
Other:
We've got a number of extras here. Under the dust cover we have a couple 4-koma and a full page illustration of Maomao's harvesting activities. At the end of the volume we have a thank you note from artist Nekokurage, a short two-page comic with Maomao and Xiaolan drawn by Itsuki Nanao (who's apparently a pretty good artist), a message from original author Natsu Hyuga, and an illustration from original character designer Toko Shino.
Conclusion:
I really enjoy palace intrigue stories, and the cross-genre blending with mystery (especially of the medical nature but we'll also be getting some more general detective episodes) is particularly appealing. With a strong cast and beautiful art, it's pretty hard not to love. In both anime and manga forms, this series is rather high on my list of recent releases and I can definitely recommend you add it to your collection.
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