Bingo row 5 – white
Anyone else notice that manga with women and girls as protagonists tend to have white-based covers and spines? I don’t know if that’s a trend or coincidentally what I read.
The Apothecary Diaries from author Natsu Hyūga is an ongoing series in the form of light novels (aka easy to read books with pictures), two manga series, and an anime. So that’s four simultaneously ongoing series of the same story and despite what people on Reddit say, they’re all about the same and the only real difference is where they are in the story. This review will be for the first 13 volumes of the manga series that is easily available in English by Natsu Hyūga, Nekokurage, and others.
Set in a country that is totally not China, Maomao is a pleasure district apothecary who ends up as a food taster for the emperor’s favorite consort. This works for her because she loves poison so much. Did you hear about that guy who got bitten by so many snakes that scientists are using his blood to make new antivenom? That’s Maomao, but for fun. She practically had an orgasm when the consort’s dish was actually poisoned.
Which was very awkward and confusing for the people waiting to find out if their soup was safe or not.
It’s hard to summarize the story because there is so much going on, which makes it so very re-readable and re-watchable in all its formats. Everything in the general premise I just gave is part of some conspiracy involving slavery, murder, or honey and can split into five or six different plots that then converge into the honey murders before splitting again into zombies, assassinations, and the emperor’s breast fetish.
That might sound overwhelming, but the mysteries are well paced. One mystery is mostly solved with enough loose ends to rollover into the next one. And Maomao ends up solving every mystery she’s given as fast as she can so she can lock herself in her room and play with her gallbladders and mushrooms. I mean that literally. She plays and dances with her drugs.
I wish I could say something to differentiate this manga (which goes up to the ice cream if you know the series) from the other formats because it is my favorite. But really, it’s just personal preference.