The Apothecary Diaries has stolen fans' hearts, but what about the heroine's own? Is The Apothecary Diaries a romance anime? Keep reading to find out.
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Exploring The Apothecary Diaries' Genre
In The Apothecary Diaries, Maomao, an apothecary's daughter living in a red-light district near the imperial palace is captured and made an indentured servant at court.
There, a high-ranking eunuch detects her talent for understanding poisons, leading her to become a lady-in-waiting to the emperor's favorite concubine.
Anime databases such as MyAnimeList characterize The Apothecary Diaries as a drama and a mystery anime, which sounds about right.
There is quite a lot of drama between the emperor's concubines, as well as hidden enmities among ladies-in-waiting.
Moreover, as a royal apothecary and food taster, Maomao is often invited to crime scenes to investigate poisonings and other tragedies.
While some of these incidents are solved within one episode, The Apothecary Diaries also features a few lingering mysteries that we encounter again a few episodes later.
MyAnimeList further adds the secondary tags Historical and Medical to describe the show's themes.
This is fitting because The Apothecary Diaries isn't a historical anime as such, but a work of imagination with historical elements.
It doesn't take place in a real court in Imperial China, nor are the characters based on real people, although the inspirations from the time and place are clear, and the anime addresses women's issues at that period.
So, Is The Apothecary Diaries a Romance Anime?
While The Apothecary Diaries contains romantic elements, it is not a romance anime as such.
For many fans, one of its key mysteries is whether Maomao and Jinshi end up together, but this is a background question that doesn't overwhelm the plot.
Maomao's feelings for Jinshi might be shifting, but we don't expect her to forget her poisons and herbs for him anytime soon.
Before the show's release, many thought that it would be a romance due to its court setting, bright colors, and shoujo-like elements.
However, even if Maomao and Jinshi's romantic tension becomes much more explicit later on, The Apothecary Diaries' structure is that of a mystery.
The show would no longer be what it is now if not for the focus on the court drama and the puzzling mysteries that Maomao must solve.
Overall, a work can have romantic elements without necessarily being a romance if the protagonist's love life isn't the main focus.
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