The Apothecary Diaries Creates “Maomao Day” in Newest Promo

The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 has been incredible so far, keeping up the momentum from Season 1 and somehow surpassing its production and animation quality. To celebrate Cat Day in Japan and to commemorate the release of the brand-new season, TOHO Animation Studio and OLM released a special promo image featuring the series’ protagonist, Maomao – whose name conveniently sounds like a cat’s “meow” – with two other palace workers. The promotional image was part of a series of illustrations of Maomao and Jinshi being pictured with different seasonal flowers. Given it’s January, the latest artwork features peonies.

Peonies are flowers that are often associated with love, wealth, and healing – themes that may not necessarily invoke Maomao in the first season of The Apothecary Diaries, but could be hinting at some pivotal moments that have been hinted at in Season 2. The official website hosts the full image, with the series’ official YouTube channel showcasing a short promotional video featuring the art.

[RELATED: The Apothecary Diaries Hypes Season 2 With Playful New Year’s Poster]

The Apothecary Diaries has solidified itself as being one of Winter 2025’s must-watch series – and it absolutely deserves it. The first season was gorgeously animated, and while the show mostly follows the pacing of the manga as opposed to the original light novel, it handles its story and major character beats flawlessly.

The Apothecary Diaries Is the Perfect Blend of Sherlock Holmes & Historical Fantasy

While The Apothecary Diaries may not feature any high fantasy elements like magic or monsters, it does set itself in a fictionalized world based on the Tang Dynasty with loose references to the Ming Dynasty. This gives the anime enough wiggle room to establish a wholly unique world while still blending in the charming aesthetics that can be found in real-world history. Plus, allowing the series to be set in a world with its own rules and politics makes Maomao’s mystery-solving far more interesting, as it allows for more flexibility when investigating motives and reasoning behind whatever it is that she’s trying to solve.

The series has been compared to the Sherlock Holmes novels ever since it released, and for good reason. In addition to the setting being heavily inspired by the real world, Maomao also has her own Watson-like sidekick in Jinshi. While there is certainly some more-than-platonic tension between the two, it gives the story that classic mystery genre banter that helps break up the intensity of each investigation with thoughtful character building and a charming sense of humor that’s difficult to master. With the second season of the show currently airing as a part of the Winter 2025 lineup, there are still plenty of adventures for the unlikely duo to solve before Season 2 comes to an end.

H/T The Apothecary Diaries Official Site