The Apothecary Diaries with 31 million copies

The anime series adaptation of the novel The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) written by Natsu Hyuuga and illustrated by Touko Shino caused the number of copies sold of the work to soar, which now has 31 million copies in circulation. This means that since the anime’s debut in October 2023, an additional 7 million copies have been sold.

Before the anime began broadcasting, there were around 24 million copies printed (physical) and sold (digitally) of the series, increasing to over 27 million copies a month later.

With animation by the studios TOHO animation It is OLM (Pokémon, Inazuma Eleven), the direction is by Norihiro Naganuma (The Ancient Magus’ Bride) who is also supervising the script and character design is Yukiko Nakatani (Go! Princess Precure, Tropical-Rouge! Precure). The art direction is Katsumi Takao (Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle) with Yū Nagai (Komi Can’t Communicate) directing the CGI.

In the cast we have:

• Aoi Yuuki like Maomao.
• Takeo Ootsuka like Jinshi.

The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) began to be published in October 2011 in Shousetsuka ni Narou and in physical format it began publication in August 2014. The novel inspires two manga adaptations simultaneously, one of Nekokurage published in Big Gangan and another from Minoki Kurata published in Sunday Gene-X.

Synopsis of The Apothecary Diaries

In an imperial court in ancient China, a few months have passed since a 17-year-old girl known as Maomao was kidnapped and forced to work as a low-ranking servant in the emperor’s palace. Still, she manages to maintain her curious and pragmatic spirit, planning to work until her years of servitude are over. One day, however, she realizes that two of the emperor’s sons have become seriously ill, so she decides to act in secret, using her experience as a pharmacist raised in a poor neighborhood.

Despite Maomao’s efforts to remain anonymous, she soon catches the eye of Jinshi, an influential eunuch who recognizes her talents. Maomao soon begins to gain positions in the empire and gradually begins to stand out by using her knowledge and eccentric personality to solve medical mysteries.