Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 2nd Season

Using her wit and vast knowledge of medicines and poisons alike, Maomao played a pivotal role in solving a series of mysteries and conspiracies that plagued the imperial court. Having recently come to terms with the secrets of her parents, she returns to fulfill her normal duties on behalf of the emperor's highest-ranking consorts. Maomao also works alongside the eunuch Jinshi to better the consorts' many ladies-in-waiting, including helping them learn to read.

However, with the arrival of a merchant caravan comes a new wave of intrigue. A pattern of strange coincidences involving the visitors and their wares unsettles Maomao, driving her to investigate the puzzling circumstances behind the convoy. As dangers from both outside and within threaten the balance between the imperial concubines, Maomao continues to utilize her cunning and medical expertise to keep the women safe from harm.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Maomao Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Jinshi Main

Ootsuka, Takeo Japanese

Loulan Supporting

Seto, Asami Japanese

Gyokuyou Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Shisui Supporting

Seto, Asami Japanese

Kan, Lakan Supporting

Kirimoto, Takuya Japanese

Gaoshun Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Xiaolan Supporting

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Lihua Supporting

Ishikawa, Yui Japanese

Ah-Duo Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Morishita, Katsuji Producer

Okamoto, Junya Producer

Fujimura, Tomoko Producer

Yazawa, Izumi Producer

Reviews

Jul 4, 2025

Marinate1016

Recommended

I thought I loved apothecary diaries before, but man season 2 showed me I hadn’t even scratched the surface of what makes this series so special. In short, this season is an improvement in basically every way on what was already one of the best ongoing LN/anime series around. The way Hyuga-sensei paid off so many of the plot points that she’s been building up to since the first season made this an awesome weekly viewing experience. Every little detail, seemingly meaningless interaction or character, they all come together in the climax of this season making for one of the best payoffs I’ve seen in ... a long time. The worldbuilding in this series is truly second to none and while some episodes might seem a little slow, they’re all building up towards a very satisfying and emotional payoff at the end. If you liked season 1 of apothecary diaries, you haven’t seen anything yet. This is where the story really gets going and almost feels like a prologue ending. This is Maomao at her best, the political intrigue becomes a much bigger focus, PLUS our romance really starts to take shape here. I thoroughly enjoyed all 24 episodes here and I cannot wait for season 3 and to continue reading in the books!

So for me there’s 3 big things that make this season better than season 1. First off, Maomao’s character development. Now we all know our girl is a bit slow when it comes to other peoples’ emotions and that makes sense because of her upbringing and the emotional issues she has. In this season, we got to see her really grow as a person and truly open up to others. This is a huge theme as it made the last arc so much more impactful than it would’ve been with season 1 Maomao. The second thing being the political intrigue and manoeuvring. Now for some people this might be a little boring, but I absolutely love seeing people pull strings from the shadows and make moves like it’s a chess game to gain power, get revenge, change the culture of the kingdom, etc. I really liked how much of a slow-burn it was as well. It’s like every episode there’s something happening in the background that you might not think is important, then it’ll be referenced 3-4 episodes later and it all just snowballs into this massive conspiracy that forms the overarching narrative of the season. That same conspiracy causes Maomao to grow as a person and brings she and Jinshi closer. That brings me to my third point, Jinmao! You can’t really talk about Apothecary Diaries without its main ship and for good reason, Jinshi and Maomao are one of the best written ships in the medium. It is the perfect slow burn relationship and Hyuuga-sensei makes a point to make sure both of them understand themselves as individuals and one another before progressing it. It makes the relationship feel so much more authentic and earned than what you typically get in this medium and I think that’s reflected in the sheer amount of fans this ship has. It’s beloved for a reason and this season really shows you why. From the iconic “frog” scene to the finale episode, it’s just a nonstop roller coaster with them and as a romance enthusiast and massive fan of the ship, I loved every second of it.

I felt like the story overall in this season was way stronger than the first. While we started out with some seemingly unrelated minor cases for Maomao to solve, it quickly became apparent that everything was part of a wider conspiracy that slowly came together over the course of the first cour and really got going in the second half. I for one love all the lore about the royal family, learning about the previous emperor and his transgressions, trading dynamics with other countries and the other political players within the kingdom itself. It generally felt like the world got way bigger AND dangerous in this season. We also saw way more of the world. I’m really a fan of authors slowly expanding the world, almost drip feeding you, and making you want more information as soon as possible. It’s just a testament to how interesting the story and characters are that you crave more of it and every week I was dying for the next episode because of that here.

Without going into too much detail because of spoilers, another thing that really took this season to the next level for me was the relationship between Shisui and Maomao. Genuinely one of the best written friendships you’ll see and it’s actually probably the biggest catalyst for Maomao’s development in the story so far. Every interaction with them was gold and I love how they come to see each other as sisters, helping one another deal with trauma. It’s really the foundation of the second cour and plays a pivotal role in the emotional climax of the season. If you enjoy seeing well written female friendships with a nice sprinkling of yuri vibes, you’ll enjoy this one. You can’t escape Shisui fan-art online for a reason, she’s amazing and one of the best supporting characters of the year.

Production values were top notch as usual, but the seiyuu performances in the second season were probably even better than the first. Partly due to the story just being better, but I think Yuuki Aoi and Seto Asami and Otsuka Takeo were immense. Really drove home the powerful emotional moments.

Apothecary Diaries season 2 was an absolute joy and made 6 months go by in the blink of an eye. Started a little slow, but truthfully I even enjoyed those slower moments because I love Maomao and this story so much. Once it got going, though, it was a nonstop roller coaster with tons of twists, lore drops, reveals, character development. This has all the makings of an all time great story and the craziest part is this was basically just the prologue ending. The final episode title of “the beginning” is so apt because only after the finale are we finally really going to get going here. I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Apothecary Diaries season 2 gets a very easy 10 frogs out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jan 23, 2026

DI0NYSIUS

Mixed Feelings

STORY (Review adjusted based on show length)

Complexity: 9
World-Building: 8
Pace: 5
Direction: 6

CHARACTERS (Review adjusted based on show length)

Quantity vs Quality Ratio: 6
... Development: 6
Depth: 8

Art, Animation & Music (Review adjusted based on air date)

Art Style: 10
Animation Quality: 9
Soundtrack & SFX Quality: 9

ENJOYMENT LEVEL 7/10


I've decided to change my reviews into Pros & Cons for simpler, concise reviews. It will aid the rating system above and be helpful to pinpoint specific aspects. This review focuses on comparing this season to season 1 since that's typically the case for sequels.

=====PROS=====
+ A better usage of soundtracks & sfx in this season. In my season 1 review, I mentioned how it took a backstage role compared to the art & animation, but they let it shine a bit in this season.
+ If you loved the mysterious stories of season 1, the first half of this season tries to create a similar set of stories. It's a good thing, but I felt the "novelty" wore off. So it felt like a comfy go-to dish you order at a restaurant you frequented. You knew what you got and you were happy.
+ There is a heavier focus on plot twists to surprise the viewer this season. This is a positive on the whole, but it contributes heavily to a negative that I'll mention later.
+ There is a new character introduced from the first episode that is genuinely a great addition for the first half of the show.

=====CONS=====
- What happened to concise, tight writing? There is too much exposition dumps, rambling and dragging dialogues throughout this season.
- Characters are not proactive, but reactive in nature. This is frustrating because both Maomao & Jinshi heavily characterize this. It paints plot events as a "nuisance" rather than part of the core show.
- The pacing was slow back in season 1, but it was more bearable because of good writing, story and characterization. Sloppy writing exacerbates this problem making the slower pace painful to sit through.
- Events appear more forced & unnatural. Most clarification is done in hindsight through exposition that isn't convincing. This showcases a typical problem in mystery themed plots where the "twist" occurs at the start inexplicably with the promise of connecting it later. Too much of these twists tend to pile up without proper reasoning behind them and ambitious writers aim to connect this web of occurrences to a single scheme later. When 'later' arrives, the explanation is cooked up in such a way that all those past events align. But this explanation will not sound 'natural' or 'reasonable' because its precisely created to match a specific collection of events that wouldn't happen naturally otherwise.
- We get an important reveal regarding Jinshi by the end of the first half. This makes no sense considering where he was, his work & the time period/setting of the show. This was before the internet you know.
- I felt Maomao was unnaturally advanced in thought in Season 1 considering the time period (but it was acceptable). Though season 2 goes into absurd levels since she knows things that are supposed to be outside her realm of expertise as an Apothecary. Her involvement in plot events throughout the show seems questionable since she doesn't seem to have any particular goal by taking part.
- The final set of episodes is a story arc (most of the second half) that is different from the rest of show and of season 1. It was quite poorly written in comparison. Story arcs are harder to nail than episodic events, but the pay off is great if you do. If you do, that is.
- Does Romance exist or not? This anime is too confused to answer this. The people who watch & enjoy this show are typically not the same who'd enjoy a school-life romance anime, with the classic tropes of 'going to kiss but interrupted' or 'relationship progresses but not really'. Stop dodging this question and answer it properly.
- A lot of the new characters in this show are quite weak. I didn't care about most of them. That girl who "resurrected" was annoying as hell and I felt that the main 'villain' for the last arc was the first horribly written character for this anime.

On the whole, some slight improvements from Season 1 but there are more problems. It was a decent watch but season 1 was unanimously better in my opinion. I hope it doesn't get worse in season 3. If you loved season 1, its likely season 2 would be interesting to you, just not to the same extent. Looking forward for season 3 next.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 5, 2025

bunnymai

Not Recommended

Funny

This season is worse than the previous one.
Season 1 Maomao seemed like an intelligent capable heroine solving problems around the palace. However, in season 2, the plots get much more convoluted and frankly, much more confusing, involving way too many characters we barely see. Honestly, I like shows with political intrigue normally, but the fact that Maomao is literally the only capable person in the series and solves every single issue and escapes unscathed each time is a bit unrealistic.
The ending is an extreme let down. I won't spoil it, but it's incredibly unrealistic and frankly, makes a lot of exposition and tension in ... earlier episodes pretty pointless. I can't decide if this is a children's anime from their unwillingness to deal with heavy themes, or an adult anime from their frequent sexual suggestiveness.
As with season 1, the worst character by far is rapey Jinshi. He is so incredibly rapey I can't believe the manga was written by a woman. He always forces himself onto Maomao, despite her clearly indicating her unease or disinterest. He acts like a petulant child and sulks whenever he doesn't get his way, it's so revolting to watch. I honestly can't see any redeeming qualities from him. Any scene with him in it is just ruined. I said in my Season 1 review that I predicted he would not actually have been castrated, because no way they have the courage to write a leading man who doesn't have the parts. Well I wasn't wrong.. Which makes him so much more rapey, hanging around the rear palace by choice despite not being a eunuch, ignoring his real responsibilities

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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