Why You're Missing the Best Winter Anime of 2024

The Apothecary Diaries is the best anime you're not watching!

By Nick Valdez

The Apothecary Diaries is the best anime of the Winter 2024 anime season, and you're really missing out by not watching it right now! There are a ton of new anime releases every season, so it can be tough to keep up with absolutely everything. This is even truer for the anime that aren't exactly at the top of the conversation, and that could mean that there aren't many others talking about your favorite anime at the moment. When all of that is stacked together, it means that some of the best anime can go completely ignored by mistake. 

That's likely the case for many with The Apothecary Diaries. First premiering last Fall with its first cour of episodes, it's now continued through the Winter 2024 anime schedule with some of the best episodes of its debut season overall. The first half of the series already had plenty of hooks within it to keep the intrigue going, but as it continues to pick up steam the closer it gets to the end of its first season it's only become more interesting than ever before. So interesting, in fact, that it's the hidden gem of the Winter. 

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(Photo: TOHO Animation)

What Is The Apothecary Diaries?

Based on the original light novel series from Natsu Hyuga and Touko Shino, The Apothecary Diaries is set in a fictional version of China during an ancient age. Following a young apothecary named Maomao as she's kidnapped and sold off as a laborer to the Imperial Palace, The Apothecary Diaries sees her using her skills, research, and knowledge to steadily learn more about the workings of the palace system while rising through the ranks. Her knowledge of poisons, medicines, and more ultimately lead her to becoming one of the palace's biggest assets. 

While this might seem like a smaller story, it's got big implications. Maomao is basically a detective in that she uses her knowledge to figure out small hiccups with people's stories during big moments. For example, when a string of accidents lead to the deaths of some important figures, Maomao then figures out it's all part of a larger intricate conspiracy with the intent of taking out someone very important to the Emperor. As you follow Maomao, fans are also treated to the larger view of the palace's society and all of the social maneuvers within it. 

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It's a slow burn, but also perfect if you want to catch it now. The second half of the first season ramps up the situations Maomao finds herself in as the story reveals more about her own past. It's almost a perfect binge as each episode offers a way to move the grander mystery forward while giving Maomao something interesting to inspect each week. It's like a procedural with an overarching narrative, and that's just a rare experience to find in anime offerings. 

Standing out from many of the other anime releases this season, and likely this year, you're really missing out if you're not watching The Apothecary Diaries. Thankfully, you can now catch up with the episodes now streaming with Crunchyroll. Have you seen this anime yet? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on X (formerly known as Twitter)!

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