The Apothecary Diaries Director Addresses the Anime's Global Surge

The director of The Apothecary Diaries attempts to break down the anime's runaway success.

By Evan Valentine

The Apothecary Diaries has hit the ground floor running when it comes to its many mediums that it has been a part of. First beginning as a novel series in 2011, the tale focusing on Maomao and Jinshi grew to gain its own light novel, manga, and anime adaptation, bringing in major sales across the board. Recently, we here at ComicBook had the opportunity to hear from anime director Norihiro Naganuma on the popularity of The Apothecary Diaries' anime adaptation and what made the television series such a hit amongst fans.

Director Norihiro Naganuma explained why the anime adaptation has been a hit and how the style of the series has helped the story of Maomao resonate with viewers, "I think it's clear there's a lot of international interest in The Apothecary Diaries. I think vibrance is one of the keywords that come to mind when I think about an international audience. I really tried to think about how we could make a drama between characters in such a small amount of time. It's not just about the movement of characters, of course, or even our use of color. There are many different ways you express and enhance emotions for the audience."

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(Photo: OLM)

Source Materials Vs Adaptations

Also during the panel at this year's Anime Expo, Naganuma stated the following when it came to bringing the original story to life, "So the original work, the underlying story of The Apothecary Diaries, is actually a novel. So in order to tell some of its new more nuanced scenes and elements in the anime, we created original content. The anime uses a lot of different colors and images to make sure that its story is depicted successfully, I think even more so than the mystery, whenever there is some kind of incident, how Maomao reacts as her expressions change and how she feels about that incident, is quite important as well."

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If you haven't seen the first season of The Apothecary Diaries, the series is streaming on Crunchyroll. Here's how the streaming service describes the popular anime series, "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 isn'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?!"  

Want to stay up to date on Maomao and Jinshi's journey? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook for the latest updates on The Apothecary Diaries. 

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