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The Apothecary Diariesanime series has been gaining a lot of attention from fans, and it has been deemed one of the top 5 anime series to air in 2024. The series explores a lot of different elements in the most diverse way that makes the narrative intriguing for fans. The interesting thing, however, is the fact that the anime series has an even bigger fandom than the light novel.
AlthoughThe Apothecary Diarieslight novel was the third best-selling light novel series in 2021 and had over 38 million copies in circulation by 2024, fans still preferred the anime series more. The reason behind this was thatThe Apothecary Diariesanime had some subtle changes that made it more enticing for fans all over the world.
Norihiro Naganuma, the director ofThe Apothecary Diariesanime series, once revealed that these changes were not something that was planned. They had to be forced because of the complexity of Maomao’s character and to verify the story was depicted perfectly.
Maomao’s Emotions Needed Special Focus
ComicBookrecently interviewed Naganuma during this year’s Anime Expo where he talked about the infinite success ofThe Apothecary Diariesanime series. He also explained how the series was created differently to focus on Maomao’s story and her emotions as she was the protagonist.
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Naganuma stated:
I really tried to think about how we could make a drama between characters in such a small amount of time. It’s not just about the movement of characters, of course, or even our use of color. There are many different ways you express and enhance emotions for the audience.
The drama between Maomao and Jinshi isthe special sauce ofThe Apothecary Diaries.It holds a lot of significance in the narrative, and it was important for Naganuma to express this drama in the best way possible.
This structure between Jinshi and Maomao was enhanced by Maomao’s emotions and her expressions that portray the different genres of the series. They are used to create suspense, thrill, humor, and even sadness.
Prioritizing Maomao Affected Different Aspects ofThe Apothecary Diaries
While talking about Maomao’s character, Naganuma pointed out that the story in the anime series had some original content, which was only placed because of some specific elements fromThe Apothecary Diarieslight novel. These original contents use a lot of different images and colors to portray the narrative in a better way.
So the original work, the underlying story of The Apothecary Diaries, is actually a novel. So in order to tell some of its new more nuanced scenes and elements in the anime, we created original content.
The anime uses a lot of different colors and images to make sure that its story is depicted successfully, I think even more so than the mystery, whenever there is some kind of incident, how Maomao reacts as her expressions change and how she feels about that incident, is quite important as well.
According to Naganuma the depiction of Maomao’s reaction and her expression sometimes even hold more importance in theanime series than the mystery. This is done specifically to make viewers understand the severity of the situation.
Maomao is the protagonist ofThe Apothecary Diaries,and the entire narrative is portrayed from her point of view. Thus, using her emotions and her expressions to explain different aspects of the story was a brilliant move. The only issue is that it sometimes overshadows other elements.
The Apothecary Diariesis available to watch on Crunchyroll.
Tarun Kohli
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2959
Tarun Kohli is the Senior Anime Writer at FandomWire, with over 2,900 published articles. He currently specializes in critiquing One Piece and other Shonen anime. A passionate fan of the genre, his love for thoughtful analysis reflects his genuine appreciation for the art of anime. His deep understanding of anime culture has earned recognition from industry figures such as Adi Shankar and the creators of Blood of Zeus.
