Yay… They are back~ Our precious MaoMao and her handsome bug Jinshi are back to solve more mysteries in the palace and there will be more new supporting characters being introduced. Yes, season 2 of The Apothecary Diaries premiered on January 10, 2025 with another 24 episodes released weekly starting with episode 25 (not the usual numbering of episode 1, season 2). The first season was the most streamed anime in Japan last year according to Japan’s streaming platform, U-Next. Since season 1 covered the stories in Volumes 1 and 2 of the light novel by Hyūga Natsu 日向夏, season 2 will cover Volumes 3 and 4 if I assume correctly… The light novel is now up to Volume 15 with the latest volume published in 2024, so hopefully we can look forwards to many more seasons to come…
If you want a quick recap of season 1 before delving into season 2, here’s a good video to refresh your memories by… Although I think there’s a minor mistake, Lakan is a war strategist in the palace, hence he’s good at playing chess, so he’s a high-ranking military official, not a guard as mentioned in the video. Spoilers >>> Here’s another video done by a fan charting the family tree of some major characters, especially the royal branch, in The Apothecary Diaries, you may not want to see it as it contains MAJOR spoilers of the relationship of some characters not yet told in the anime and also new characters not yet introduced in the anime… There are still some major characters not mentioned in the video who appeared in the latter volumes of the light novel, such as the family trees of Gaoshun & Gyokuyou, who provided major plotlines later…
In Bloom / A Riot of Flowers 百花繚乱 (S2 opening theme song 1) – Lilas Ikuta 幾田りら (of Yoasobi)
Recipe for Happiness 幸せのレシピ (S2 closing theme song 1) – Hirai Dai 平井 大
Update March 12, 2025: Found a map of the Country of Li 茘 drawn by the author! The outline of the fictional country (in teal-green colour) is inspired by Fukuoka 福岡県 and it is mostly surrounded by sea except to the north and the south.
The capital of Li (indicated as 都 on the map) from which the Emperor rules is situated in the Central Province 華央州, or Ka Province 華州. The Red Light District where MaoMao grew up is also located in the Central Province. The Northern Province 子北州 is/was governed by the Shi Clan 子の一族. The Western Capital 西都 (indicated on the map northwest from the capital of Li), where Gyokuyou 玉葉 grew up, is the capital and largest town of the Western Province 戌西州. The yellow country is Shaoh 砂欧. The pink country is Anan 亜南. The north of Li is the federation of countries known as Hokuaren 北亜連 and they are separated from the Country of Li by a large, impassable mountain range.
Update March 15, 2025: Official MV of the opening theme song and animation MV of the closing theme song for cour 1 of season 2… Also four special festival releases from TOHO animation…
Update March 29, 2025: The poster and trailer for cour 2 of season 2 has been released… Can’t wait for the rest of this season, it will be epic… The ghost story episode from cour 1 will become very important, so have you taken note of all the hints from that episode?
Update April 1, 2025: April Fool’s special…
Update April 5, 2025: Opening and closing theme songs for cour 2 of season 2… Hmm, interesting they are revealing all the fox masks in the opening, but without context they are just a tiny spoiler, and we get the first look at Lahan, LOL… Also, am I seeing too much, there are references to the next two seasons at least?
Mysterious / Kusushiki クスシキ (S2 opening theme song 2) – Mrs. GREEN APPLE
Soliloquy / Hitorigoto ひとりごと (S2 closing theme song 2) – Omoinotake
Update April 20, 2025: Here’s the acoustic version of Hitorigoto…
Update June 16, 2025: A special anime version of Kusushiki…
Update June 28, 2025: The special anime version of Hitorigoto…
The insert song from Episode 47 is Light of Life いのちの灯火 sung by Miyake Rimu 三宅りむ
Update July 2, 2025: Here’s the clip from the episode featuring the song…
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Spoilers of The Apothery Diaries season 2… Actually not big spoilers since I’ll not spoil what the future plotlines are but rather some details that are important or that some viewers may have missed so far… Starting with Season 2 Episode 15, or Episode 39 overall… By the way, there’s a big difference between reading the light novel and watching the anime – for light novel, there are no visual cues of the appearance of somebody, but in anime you can tell so much from the appearance of someone or how they are drawn. For example up to this point in S02E15, sharp eyes viewers would have already noticed Consort Loulan and Shisui look identical, and one of the the new eunuchs looks like Suirei… In the light novels, we can only deduce based on the clan name of Shi 子 – Shishou 子昌, Shisui 子翠…
S02E15 spoilers: This is actually a sad episode because we are seeing the three friends (featured heavily in the end credits of cour 2, season 2) together for the last time since one of our beloved characters will not appear again in person after this episode… So farewell, Xiaolan… This episode is also a big misdirection because what happens next will blow your mind! I’m so looking forwards to the next episode which will lead to the climax of season 2…
S02E16: Hint… Remember there was a girl whom the former emperor didn’t admit was his daughter and was expelled from the palace with a doctor? That daughter is the half-sister of the current emperor and she’s not in the palace, remember that going forward… Also try to put together the connection between the last scene of E15, and that of the previous organiser of the ghost stories gathering passed away the year before according to Hongniang…
S02E17: After MaoMao was kidnapped, some viewers questioned why didn’t she try to escape? They forgot that MaoMao wanted to know about the resurrection drug which Suirei promised her if she went with them! We are also gradually being introduced to new characters going forward to next season starting with this episode…
Update May 30, 2025: More minor spoilers for Season 2 will be posted in a new post MaoMao The Perpetual Hostage.
Corner Café 
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