This is a review ONLY for the first season. I have not watched the second season.
Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, also known as The Apothecary Diaries, is an anime that passed under the shadow of Sousou no Frieren due to the gigantic popularity that the latter achieved during its time; but, despite this, it achieved some fame and renown in the community for its ideas and change in an ocean of isekai anime, shounen and action flicks with exhilarating battles. It is without a doubt that The Apothecary Diaries drank a lot from the fame of Sousou no Frieren, mainly because of the demographic to which these two shows are addressed, but also because of certain similarities in some genres or cast of characters; I bet that if I were to make a Venn diagram a large part of the audience of SnF would overlap with that of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, I would not find it strange. So, it doesn't strike me as odd that, like Sousou no Frieren, I didnt like The Apothecary Diaries. And it's sad, because Kusuriya no Hitorigoto had so much potential to become a truly memorable and captivating show, but it falls apart due to its own flaws. Lakan and Fengxian's story is probably my favourite part of the show, but even that is pretty defectuous and plagued by a somewhat clumsy execution with an uneventful conclusion.
The design of the environments and characters is adequate, they are often appropriate and characteristic of the era in which The Apothecary Diaries is inspired; you can easily differentiate between concubines of a high caliber and those that are of a lower level. A personal favorite of mine is the scene where the mysterious concubine is seen dancing with the moon from behind; she could be seen engaging in an ethereal and almost ghostly dance, something that added to her mysticism and the mystery surrounding her. Although their personalities and identities are nothing to highlight they are superficially pretty and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto tries to make use of various artistic styles to accentuate comedic or emotional scenes; the animation is decent enough to deliver, it's not particularly special or distinctive with the exception of Lakan's story with Fengxian, which is stylistically notable and both Lakan and Fengxian's seiyuus did a good job in capturing the tone of the scenes. The overall design and stylistic choices are probably the best part of this show and they usually are pretty neat.
The stories presented in Kusuriya no Hitorigoto are okay, often describing emotional stories in the form of mini-arcs, a la Violet Evergarden, mainly with events mostly caused by the circumstances surrounding the participants of these situations; their effectiveness vary, and immersion isn't the strongest, but they are just okay. A very high-tier concubine who in order to meet her youth love she sells herself at a lower price, the poisoning of multiple people in the temple, a substance which is spread throughout the kingdom that is actually poisonous—which was ignorantly used to beautify—and which was the main cause of one of the concubines' discomfort, something that makes the patient enter into a relationship with Maomao, because the latter (of course) is the one who discovered that this was actually a potent poisonous substance and it is from this discovery that it stops being used in the palace, and so on; all of these stories are fine, but they are ruined by the constant urge to include Maomao in every single situation or else it could not be solved: Maomao is the one who uncovers a conspiracy in the kingdom, Maomao is the one who discovers the truth of the double suicide, Maomao changes Jinshi forever, Maomao is the one who behind the scenes managed the circumstances of the girl who wanted to meet her love again, and so on, the author feels the need to insert her in every moment, even in those that should not concern her, so that most of the cases would remain unsolved if it were not for the participation of the apothecary, directly or indirectly; to this show's detriment, many acts in the show began to be very predictable when you know The Apothecary Diaries' usual shenanigans and patterns—a mystery show becomes predictable. Lakan and Fengxian comes close to being a well-knit story, but it falls apart due to strange characterization, forced melodrama, weird choices and inadequate dialogue. I'll talk about that later on; but remember this.
The dialogue is decent, not anything to highlight; however, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto lacks interesting interactions, valuable introspection or well put together comedy (KnH usually relies upon moeblob and repetitive gags for comedy) and philosophy; although these shortcomings will probably not greatly affect the viewer's experience or the quality of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto in normal scenes, it is certainly something to know before watching this show. Overall it is usually pretty average and unremarkable, this is a problem in specific parts that require the viewer's immersion; this work tries to cover up its own lack of finesse in emotional scenes with music that is intended to evoke feelings towards the viewer; but these scenes are usually not a big enough deal, are very predictable or do not have a remarkable construction, therefore they tend to come off as flat and melodramatic as a whole. Soundtracks in anime are often used as a supplement to amplify or distort certain emotions, like End of Evangelion using the upbeat Komm Susser Todd or Ghost in the Shell with its meditative sound to amplify Motoko Kusanagi's ascension; but if you look beyond the dramatic and loud instrumentals of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto you can witness how all of the story, before accompanied by a fitting soundtrack, often becomes somewhat ridiculous and embarrassing. Does this show seriously wants me to feel concern or pity for a character as utterly flat and inhumanly perfect as Maomao is? Or do I have to feel pity for NPC number 342 or sympathize with them? That's the message I get when I get this music playing in the background. The soundtrack can work but it's not used in a well-executed or nicely knitted emotional story with captivating dialogue, so here as a whole it doesn't usually hit in the best way and comes off as out of place; both just crumble down because of the inefficacy of each other.
People complain about Kimetsu no Yaiba and Tanjiro as a character, with justification since the world essentially revolves around him; there is no change in the natural order until Tanjiro arrives and hunts down several incredibly powerful demons with asspulls and plot conveniences. Until he arrived the demons had the upper hand over the human race by far and for YEARS not a single demon of the high moons died until the protagonist arrives and changes absolutely everything for the better, doing the most incredible feats in a very short period of time; so much so that the pillars are seen as inept next to him and in a time frame where his victory doesn't really feel rewarding. Tanjiro possesses no disadvantages that weaken him to any substantial extent, and those that do arise are solved by convenience, plot devices or other characters, not valuable development or long-term transformations.
In Kusuriya no Hitorigoto until Miss "I'm not good at makeup, proceeds to do modern makeup at a professional level" Maomao arrives, tragedies continue to freely happen; she appears and everything begins to control itself in a radically better way. Necessarily for Maomao to succeed and excel everyone else must be reduced to ineptitude, extreme close-mind, idiocy, evilness or to the most bland characterization in anime history—hell, it even makes Lakan betray his own characterization. This goes to an absurd point where I cannot simply suspend my disbelief and let it slide that EVERYONE except for Maomao are seduced by Jinshi and her predatory beauty and that EVERYONE except for Maomao are inept and incapable of doing their tasks properly, and that EVERYONE is incapable of discovering facts for themselves or thinking logically. I can't say anything about the rest of the characters since, as I said before, Maomao simplifies and stupidizes them tremendously to the point where they are either very bland or possess nothing that stands out; but Jinshi is basically the stereotypical pretty boy and on many occasions is used as a comedic gag or to demonstrate ad nauseam how stubborn and anti-establishment Maomao is by rejecting and avoiding him. Jinshi is constantly after her even though he has been relentlessly rejected by the apothecary, no one but Jinshi is romantically interested in her—remember that Maomao is not like other girls, she rejects the hot guy whos wanted by everyone else—but he constantly craves her and is after her constantly.
You see, Maomao is not like the other girls around her, she is hardworking, strong both physically and mentally, intelligent, a good cook, an excellent herbalist, good at treating patients, she knocks out an adult woman whos much bigger than her with a single slap, she can intimidate people with JUST HER EXPRESSION, she's also a mighty tank! Receiving a metal baton to the face from a man whos easily triple her weight without being AT LEAST knocked out! That's a good defensive build if you ask me. She's also good at research, she is not envious, she is attractive, she is not naïve, she is persuasive, she does not hesitate, she gets whatever she wants, others orbit around her, she is empathetic, she is studious, she is wise, she knows how to bake perfectly, she is good at seduction, she's a better detective than fucking Sherlock Holmes, she dances like fucking peak Shakira, she gives seasoned concubines advice on sexuality, she knows how to heal wounds and disinfect them properly, she goes against the zeitgeist of her country, she is good at talking to others, she is insightful, she is informed about what surrounds her etc etc etc. She does not allow herself to be oppressed or dominated by the strong oppressive Chinese grip of her time and fights against any order there is in her era; contrary to the other women and men of course, who in comparison to Miss "r/NotLikeOtherGirls" Maomao are seduced by the beauty of Jinshi and her lineage, the rest—except for Maomao—are uneducated or absurdly evil and unable to fully understand the problems that plague their homeland, which is just lame as fuck. The amount of characteristics in which the protagonist is sublime make her an extremely unrelatable character and one that I am unable to empathize with. Even moreso considering the lack of valuable introspection or construction that bedevils Maomao. How am I supposed to feel immersed in Jinshi and Maomao's relationships when both of them are such nothingburgers of a character and when their relationship is tremendously forced and superficial? Is the dramatic sequence in the end of episode 19 supposed to make me feel something at all?
ALL SHALL FEAR MAOMAO'S WRATH!!!!
A person dies in front of a group of people:
NPC Nº1: We can't solve this, we must wait for Maomao.
The fucking aliens come to invade the earth, they kill NPC Nº1
NPC Nº3: We can't solve this!! We must wait for Maomao to outwit them so they abandon the earth!!!!
NPC Nº3: Where's Maomao?? We can't solve this without her!!!!
NPC Nº2: She's cleaning the dishes, healing 334925 concubines at the same time, treating the sick patients, cooking, making herbal treatments, catering poison, punching the craneum of a concubine that disagrees with her, defeating Saitama, putting her freckles out to demonstrate her immaculate beauty, outwitting EVIL and JEALOUS concubines, giving out wisdom to everyone in the palace, healing 592834 wounds, solving 49203 mysteries AND avoiding Jinshi—yeah, that weird creep who seduces everyone except our almighty goddess Maomao—all at the same time, with just one hand and without seeing.
NPC Nº3: We are so doomed!!!!!!!!!!!!
NPC_DIALOGUE_3 ERROR
She completely changes the order of the palace like no one ever has, to the point where the whole place she is in would fall into disarray and chaos if not for her presence and actions; it goes to an absurd point, Maomao inherently hurts the show as her own character must stupidize or cripple others for her own benefit to a level where I can't suspend my disbelief. Situations must ALWAYS be resolved because of Maomao and her actions, that which is extraneous to her is not resolved or awaits resolution forever because the rest of the characters are stupidized to make her shine; in case a situation is being resolved without her taking the lead role, somehow the author manages to insert Maomao so that in such a way all goes well under the tutelage and watchfulness of the protagonist, criminal cases and tragedies would skyrocket if it were not for her. Woah another case that was resolved by Galaxy Brain Maomao! It not only feels unsatisfying, but also utterly boring and predictable.
People who disagree with Maomao are soon disproved or shown by this anime to be ridiculously malicious, unintelligent or excessively inept people; such instances where Maomao believes something and everyone says, with a smug expression of utter disbelief "Nah, I don't think Maomao is right this time" and they don't know that she is always right in one way or another, the author wants to make her shine constantly, but it is such a strong brilliance that it blinds and obscures the other characters completely. It reminds me in some ways of Hollywood films or shows that create female protagonists to feed the hordes hungry for female representation in mainstream media, but instead through ineptitude or corporate malice they create the most boring, stupid and inhuman strong woman stereotype; a protagonist who can never be wrong, who is completely inhuman, devoid of personality or interesting traits, who is good in every way or talent and who ruins the rest of the show by her mere presence; this is Maomao, with her presence she drags the rest of the characters and aspects of this show into a maelstrom in which she is the center and everything else is obliterated.
Random Concubine: Well, Maomao I disagree with y-
The sky gains a darker tint and gray clouds soon stand on top of the celestial firmament; the sun disappears and it starts to rain
Everyone in the character cast, the author, the anime itself and everything or everyone: YOU SHOULD KILL YOURSELF, NOW!
A thunder soon falls in the concubine, burning her to a crisp
Everyone applauds, cherishing the all-powerful goddess Maomao for resolving everything in the palace!
I have seen Kusuriya no Hitorigoto being described as a "self-insert power fantasy" but many discredit this criticism by arguing that the protagonist lives in a society which actively oppresses her; however, they ignore that this is where the power fantasy actually flourishes, the rise of an outcast, by having Maomao turn the system over its head and outshine the rest of the character cast without any actual and notable reprisal, efforts or relevant consequences, her enemies being presented in the most idiotic way ever AND having the most beautiful guy in the palace drool over her. She is taken to the royal palace and then receives a bunch of compliments, a better place to experiment with her favorite things, she's able to exercise her hobby and she beats down and outwits everyone who disagrees with her; the anime might want to paint a mature picture of oppression, but I can't help but feel like the anime contradicts itself when doing all of this. When consequences soon come to her life they do not matter at all and only serve as a plot device to further ascend her position as a concubine and make her—in a very artificial way—closer to Mr "Pretty Boy" Jinshi. Nevertheless, the show doesn't do a good job in delving into the circumstances that surround Maomao and other characters; it doesn't take the necessary time for the viewer to immerse themselves into this world and as such every tragedy in this show falls flat on its face. A power fantasy by itself isn't bad, I like power fantasies in games like Cruelty Squad or Subarashiki Hibi with Takuji Mamiya, but these two pieces of media (which I love) deconstruct the archetypical power fantasy and give it way more nuance and depth, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is a plain and typical rise-of-underdog power fantasy™ where Maomao just skullfucks everyone in some way or another.
When Maomao finally has to pass through a complicated event (a dismissal from the palace and having to say goodbye to everyone, which is done in a non-gratifying way) the Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Ken Himbo gets all depressed and quirky in a corner and wants to get her back, again slobbering all over her all-powerful goddess—you know... this show just ISNT THE SAME without dear quirky waifu Xiaomao!—and the show decides to turn its tide towards getting the protagonist back, when this could've been an interesting opportunity to see Maomao fight and struggle against hell and back in China's deepest corners and most degrading jobs just to ascend to her previous position again, you know, to flesh out her character and give her & her relationship with Jinshi more depth, after all, love and pain are two sides of the same coin, sisters even; but nah, the anime decides that this is too much work. She goes in her new job and her love interest is in the corner of the restaurant shes working at, waiting to be grasped by Maomao-sama's holy light! Not even one episode with consequences hitting her that the show goes OUT OF ITS WAY to bring her back and pander her; our protagonist has clearly heard his voice before, but this show needs to also make the fanservicey moment of Maomao with Jinshi getting closer to her just so girlfailures or boyfailures looking at this show can self-insert on her or him.
EVERYONE else in the place is looking at them, truly a dream fantasy! When she goes back to the palace, with her makeup and ornaments ready, EVERYONE is astonished at her beauty and they look at her, drool coming out of their mouths, quickly interrupting their tasks to take a glance at the goddess; of course, Jinshi gets jealous and tells them to hurry up. OH and she gets to work in the pretty guy's house AND she also ascends to a higher position on her job, all thanks to Generic Pretty Boy thirsting over her and to the anime clearly pandering to her. BRO is with his fucking unbuttoned shirt in front of her, you really can't make this shit up; all of this just after a tasteless joke about Jinshi getting raped (someone took advantage of him after sneaking in aphrodisiacs), talk about a real good joke timing! She arrives to her new workplace and of course theres some FILTHY vixen girls who are envious of her. These aren't real people, these are archetypical NPCs fabricated so Maomao can be even more idolized, it is such a cheap technique. The synergy between Jinshi and Maomao feels utterly artificial due to these type of tricks that the author pulls off; both Maomao and Jinshi are bad characters and their quirks grow old and cringe. Mind you, I do love strong female leads, I love Minakami Yuki from Subarashiki Hibi, I love Shiki Ryougi from Kara no Kyoukai, I love the leading YorHa girls (2B, A2) from NieR:Automata, I love Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell, I love Marina from Fear & Hunger Termina, I love Hitagi Senjougahara from Monogatari, or Elster from SIGNALIS... you get it; so this is not a matter of bigotry, or mere pettiness, I love strong women (and women in general, really) but I just see Maomao as a very archetypical (and frankly tiring) snarky, quippy, unlikeable strong woman archetype made in the dirtiest sewers of Hollywood—but its made in Japan instead, so it is instead... celebrated, I guess?
Remember how I said that, despite being nicely depicted, Lakan and Fengxian's story is generally pretty contrived? I'll just copy and paste my rough comments on it: "The outcome of episode 23 was pretty obvious from the get-go, it was clear that Maomao was going to win the Go game somehow with her convoluted plan and that they were going to play the "ACKSHUALLY he isn't a bad guy" card without putting actual work in his redemption arc. Why did he agree to such rules on the Go game when they were clearly biased against him? For such supposedly clever characters the miscommunication and irrationality are insane; all of his life has been purely based on dry, hard logic; seeing others as chess pieces yet he can't put two and two together on anything regarding Fengxian and his relationship with her. Yes, the Go and Chess metaphors aren't subtle and Fengxian clearly was outside his "seeing everyone as pieces" mindspace but you'd think that someone as Lakan would find a way to fit such an irregular unit into his normal thinking scheme. Perhaps making her the queen; the second piece with the upmost importance on the chess game, maybe even making her the King, as she'd be the piece with the upmost importance on his current life situation. This way he'd be able to construct something and get away; but instead he just... gets driven away by passion? It feels so out of character, and theres not enough care put into him for me to care when hes deconstructed. Also, moreover in relation to the Go game: NOBODY gets THAT drunk THAT fast lol, Maomao's plan is just anticlimactic, and oh surprise! She wins again.
I feel like his backstory could have been constructed and told better in the span of many episodes instead of it all being shoehorned into a single episode of soooo much exposition; I get that there were some signs, but the amount of information we suddenly receive about him makes it hard for me to digest all of it and feel anything for this guy; maybe his character would have been benefitted from receiving more scenes from his PoV and internal monologues? Moreover, if a soldier and the ghost-like concubine could manage to reunite again, how couldnt two of the most clever characters in the entire kingdom do that too? You'd think they'd find a way, especially considering how both of them are so dry and they don't drive themselves purely into passion; there's always at least sprinkles of cold inference even when they were having sex. Both of them not finding a plan to get away, now outside and fully cognisant, is insane in my honest opinion; not even a semblance of a thought process, yet they are depicted as so clever and cunning, its a strange choice that goes against their characters.
I believe it is especially contrived that all of it turns this way, as it kind of betrays Lakan's character. I'm also surprised at the lack of consequences or judgement towards the old hag who allowed all of this through pure ineptitude or malice. You'd also think that Lakan and Fengxian would be able to outsmart the granny, but nah. Regardless of whos the "guilty" one in their case I think that doesn't matter, both are absolute goofballs and this is the upbringings they have brought upon themselves. I'm sorry if that sounds rough, but it is just unthinkable on how none of them communicated or planned anything in any way whatsoever, later resulting into such a contrived drama regarding Maomao's family. An insane amount of miscommunication, strange out of character moments and weird interactions plague this episode, which if executed better could have been maybe a more endearing backstory. Maybe they could have executed a plan but it ended up badly, turning into even more of a tragedy? I'm not sure, but as it stands now, it's pretty contrived.
After recognizing the usual patterns, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto becomes such a terribly boring and predictable show; quite sad, since this show could've been much more if executed better; being easily foreseeable and bland is a problem for an anime which aims to show the development of a mystery or case. Maomao quickly grows to be the best pharmacist, doctor and soon-enough to be everyones favorite 2quirky4me, perfect and horribly plain waifu—Frieren has a good opponent, someone is as bland as her!—I'm incapable of ever seeing Maomao as an engaging main character, moreso of an inhumanly, no introspection perfect individual with whom I can't relate nor someone I can't empathize with, as I'm very imperfect, so are you, so is everyone else, while Maomao receives everything she wants, gets compliments for everything she does, gets no real consequences for her acts and if someone dares insult her they are quickly proven to be ill-willed, everyone who disagrees with her is proven wrong or shown as outright malicious or, in the case of Lakan, they have to ruin his character to glorify her even more.
She is seemingly perfect at every talent that is needed in the temple; the doctor is a complete coward and cannot dissect or analyze a dead body thus Maomao, a botanist at profession, has to do it; the concubines are sexually inept so Maomao has to teach them and much more; how has this place endured the test of time before the all-mighty protagonist graced them? It cannot stand on itself without the protagonist's aid, it is so absurd! Kusuriya no Hitorigoto mostly fails and it's really hard for me to get completely immersed in this show because of its faults and questionable writing or choices. It's ironic how this show ends while proudly flaunting its deepest flaw: Maomao herself. Of course she strikes a perfect dance in episode 24 like she's peak Shakira or something; I was somewhat more enthralled with Lakan and Fengxian's case, so returning to these two vapid characters (Maomao and Jinshi) with a superficial moe relationship is just mindnumbingly boring. And the old hag doesn't receive any consequences, despite being a clear aggravant in that convoluted case between the strategist and the concubine, which is particularly astounding to me. It's practically like this anime is Maomao's hostage, perhaps Kusuriya no Hitorigoto has always just been only meta commentary on how an author can be dominated by their own creation.