Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

Description

From Square Enix:
Maomao, a young woman trained in the art of herbal medicine, is forced to work as a lowly servant in the inner palace. Though she yearns for life outside its perfumed halls, she doesn’t long for a life of drudgery! Using her wits to break a “curse” afflicting the imperial heirs, Maomao attracts the attention of the handsome eunuch Jinshi and is promoted to attendant food taster. But Jinshi has other plans for the erstwhile apothecary, and soon Maomao is back to brewing potions and solving mysteries.

Original Manga:
SquareEnix, Mechacomic

Official English

Note: Won the Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Award in 2019.

Type

Manga

Related Series

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (Novel) (Adapted From)

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto - Maomao no Koukyuu Nazotoki Techou (Alternate Version)

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Gaiden: Xiaolan Kaisoroku (Side Story)

Associated Names

Die Tagebücher der Apothekerin - Geheimnisse am Kaiserhof

Diários de uma Apotecária

Dược Sư Tự Sự

El monólogo del farmacéutico

I diari della speziale

Il monologo della speziale

Les carnets de l'apothicaire

Los Diarios de la Boticaria

The Apothecary Diaries

Zapiski zielarki

Độc Thoại Của Người Dược Sĩ

Şifacı Günceleri

Монолог травниці (Ukrainian)

Монолог фармацевта

يوميات الصيدلة

ตำรับปริศนา หมอยาแห่งวังหลัง (Animag)

药屋少女的呢喃

药师少女的独语

薬屋のひとりごと

약사의 혼잣말

Groups Scanlating

Kongkalikong Scanlation

m00nr4bb1t

No Group Scanlation

Phoenix Serenade Scans

Latest Release(s)

c.79a by No Group Scanlation 1 month ago

c.78b by No Group Scanlation 2 months ago

c.78a by No Group Scanlation 3 months ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

15 Volumes (Ongoing)

Completely Scanlated?

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1 (S1) / Vol 8 ,Chap 41 (S2)

Ends at Vol 8, Chap 40 (S1)

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

3 topics, 7 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 8.8 / 10.0 (571 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.68 / 10.0

43%

26%

17%

Last Updated

April 19th, 2025 5:57pm PDT - 5 days ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Historical Mystery Romance Seinen Slice of Life
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (Novel)

Peerless: Wushuang (Novel)

Ballad of Sword and Wine (Novel)

Legend of Exorcism: Tianbao Fuyao Lu (Novel)

Dinghai Fusheng Records (Novel)

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Square Enix

Serialized In (magazine)

Big Gangan (Square Enix)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Manga Up! Global (Digital)

Square Enix USA (13 Volumes - Ongoing)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #55

(-2)

Monthly Pos #50

(+12)

3 Month Pos #42

(-33)

6 Month Pos #55

(-28)

Year Pos #56

(+14)

List Stats

On 3407 reading lists

On 979 wish lists

On 48 completed lists

On 44 unfinished lists

On 528 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Apothecary Diaries manga creator Nekokurage indicted on suspicion of tax evasion

10 months ago

Thoughts on Chapter 9

7 years ago

Alternative manga?

7 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

APOTHECARY DIARIES feels almost classical

by Textualpoacher
4 days ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

Basically a very solid manga. APOTHECARY DIARIES feels almost classical even, because it has a balance of elements which used to be fundamental to manga from another generation: a strong protagonist, a strong hook, generally good comedy, and a romance plot for good measure. It's some of these other stuff that you can nitpick with, but the skeleton is there. The foundation is there.

What can you nitpick with? Apothecary has that quintessential disease that most historical manga have where the protagonist will display modern sensibilities and some modern knowledge that can break the suspension of disbelief. The love interest is annoying and boring. Every character is in fact one-note to a fault; they have one trait that defines them and will never become more complicated than that. Also, the mystery element is plainly badly done. These are not-insignificant sins, especially the mystery element which is supposed to be a huge selling point.

The mysteries are, first of all, basically "unfair." By that I mean that without possessing specialized knowledge or making wild guesses the reader will not be able to guess the solution. Maomao will already have the knowledge and make assumptions that come out of nowhere. And everything is resolved very quickly which leaves no room for tension or intrigue. Some plot mysteries (not the episodic mysteries) are weirdly unsatisfying, either because they were not properly introduced or because the solution is handed to the reader too quickly or because it's basically uninteresting.

However, there are moments in APOTHECARY DIARIES that make the whole thing worth it.

For example, in one scene Maomao, who has always had a strong sense of self-preservation, tells her superior and love interest about the fundamental unfairness of the difference between their stations in life, in a way that makes it extremely realistic. She doesn't say, "We're the same no matter how we were born," she doesn't even say that it's unfair, she just breaks it down to him that they are fundamentally different people because one was born a noble and the other was born a peasant, and that one's life is precious and the other's is not. He can say things which are forbidden to her; he can know things which are forbidden to her; and her life can be taken on a whim. It doesn't matter that he doesn't use these powers, it just matters that he has them. And it feels realistic because as someone who's lower born and who's constantly interacting with these nobles she would have that apprehension, she would have that constantly on her mind, that at any moment if she's found wanting she could be killed. Also I might have read more into this scene than can reasonably be inferred from the page.

I've said in the beginning that this manga feels classical. There's another reason why. If anyone knows classic kdramas they'll agree with me, but APOTHECARY DIARIES reminds me ver strongly of JEWEL IN THE PALACE, a historical TV series about an orphan girl who starts out as a cook and becomes a physician. There's court intrigue and a girl too smart for her own good and the sisterhood and solidarity between women who work in the palace. It's been a long time since I've read or watched anything like the show. It was one of the most popular TV shows in all of Asia for a reason.

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A good read

by Zazie122
1 month ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Maomao is a really neat protagonist and I love reading about her and her antics.

Most of the rest of the cast are kinda whatever but at least Jinshi can be entertaining, and I do like his dynamic with Maomao.

Definitely recommend. One of those series that's popular for a reason!

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Decent

by DefaultPeanut
8 months ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

It's not really a seinen, its shoujo.
The story is your basic power fantasy but for woman.

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highly overrated

by Sherinz92
1 year ago

Rating: 1.0 / 10.0

This manga is no seinen. It is more like a shoujo manga and I would bet that majority of the fans are of shoujo fans.

Romance? If you called once in a blue moon appearence of ML a romance, that is.

95% of the time this manga revolve around FL and ML is just a cameo once per volume or so. We'll get to see how great the FL is, how everyone seem to like her (yes yes she got haters too, even cringiest of shoujo FL had haters, yeah right).

If this is not the trait of shoujo and its seinen still, I guess I must be wrong.

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garbage

by ENYX
1 year ago

Rating: 1.0 / 10.0

why is this popular and high rated? people nowadays don't even have good taste. the FL is so cringe and toxic. fuck that girl and the characters in this manga talks about cutting genitals like nothing tf.

... Last updated 1 year ago

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Boring

by Squared
1 year ago

Rating: 4.0 / 10.0

Its very good until you realize you have no reason to read it, yeah the characters can be charming, but there’s really nothing going on below that, MC has literally no reason to get into half of the trouble she does, it is never explained why she does more then ‘girl likes plants and medicine’

I don’t read mysteries for their own sake, less so if the protagonist has other stuff she wants to do. It’s an ok read, but for me? Boring after the novelty passes and you get their shtick

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A rare good manga

by Krimson
2 years ago

Rating: N/A

N/A

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by Seabunniesarecool
2 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

Plot was good. Only thing that made me drop my rating to a 6, was the ml. The ML is extremely annoying and is basically those kids in elementary who NEVER stop talking to you, even after you made it clear you dislike them.

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Beautiful

by InoriRain
2 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

It's one of the most amazing mangas I've read so far.
If you're looking for serious romance, then this ain't your cup of tea. However, there's some very very slow burn romance going on here.
The main focus of the manga seems to be solving mysteries and politics. Therefore, the story is amazing in that aspect.
Definitely worth a shot!

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A very special story for me!

by glowtoads
4 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I've been following the novel for so long (the terrible unofficial translation, and then the much-better official) so I was overjoyed to see that KnH had a manga adaptation too! And it's fantastic. This story translates beautifully to a manga format -- it's really lovely to see this many women drawn so diversely and sensitively. In general I think the tone is tasteful and sophisticated -- what other story can take subjects like rape, sex work, ageing, and childbirth, and NOT insult a woman through it? In fact, KnH takes pains to make sure to emphasise that Maomao's opinion is just her opinion, and that doesn't mean it's right, and that she sits as a small fish in a big sea with some very powerful decision-makers. As a character, she's very aware of what it means to make a judgement, and the implications and outcomes from saying anything, which is why she is always so confident and assured when she makes her move; as a story, the repercussions of making judgements and acting on opinions have a ripple-effect throughout the plot.

This manga is pretty easy reading, which is nice considering how serious some of the subject matter is. I think that shows a lot of respect for the characters/women involved (for example

one of the dowager imperial consorts is VERY VERY VERY young i.e. the late emperor was a paedophile and it gets addressed with appropriate tones of quiet horror but isn't the focal point of her story. She's allowed to be more than what other people did/made of her). Rakan's story is also much stronger here than it is in the novel, which I was pleasantly surprised by. The episodic nature of KnH works really well in keeping the pace up and matches the plot as well as Maomao's "well this isn't my problem" attitude. Lovely, lovely story, and I highly recommend!

... Last updated 3 years ago

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