While the first season of The Apothecary Diaries concisely solved a larger intrigue through Maomao solving a series of smaller mysteries in the imperial palace, they closed only one of many doors that the series has open in its plot.
This can mean only one thing – you must know what happens next.
Unfortunately, the only way to get more now that the anime is over is to move into the source material, be it the manga or the light novel it was original written as.
If you have finished The Apothecary Diaries anime and are looking to start the manga or the light novel, the series actually makes it a little more difficult than you might expect.
Where To Start The Apothecary Diaries Manga After The Anime?
Starting The Apothecary Diaries manga after the anime is complicated only because The Apothecary Diaries has two separate, still-releasing manga series.
Sometimes you see this situation when a manga series changes artists or is otherwise rebooted, but usually one series ends so the other can begin. In this case, both manga versions of The Apothecary Diaries are still releasing.
The Apothecary Diaries manga is differentiated, primarily, by the authors names.
The first manga is by an artist called Nekokurage. The second manga is by Minoju Kurata, who also does the art for the light novel. The Minoju Kurata manga is also often referred to simply by its sub-title, Maomao’s Notebook.
If you watched The Apothecary Diaries manga after the anime, you can start at Chapter 41 for the Nekokurage version or Chapter 31 for the Minoju Kurata version.
The difference between these two manga series is minimal, but notable. The Nekokurage version is what the anime is based off of. It is a “simpler” version of The Apothecary Diaries story where the plot points are further explained to the audience so there is less to “infer” about the plot. Alternatively, the Minoju Kurata version keeps very close to the light novel version of the story where the plot is playing out and requires the audience to diligently pick up little clues to the mysteries without them being explained.
Both versions of the manga are still releasing, with the Nekokurage version releasing its 13th volume in 2024 and the Minoju Kurata version releasing its 18th volume.
Where To Start The Apothecary Diaries Light Novel After The Anime?
The Apothecary Diaries series was originally a light novel. So while you may eventually run out of manga chapters, there is still more story that you can consume if you go to The Apothecary Diaries light novels.
If you want to instead read The Apothecary Diaries light novels after the anime, you can start very easily at Novel 3. The Apothecary Diaries anime was very good at moving through the story slowly and adapting plot points without skipping too much.
Since starting in 2014, The Apothecary Diaries light novel is still releasing. As of 2024, it released Novel 15. This means that while the anime may be finished until The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 that is slated to come out sometimes in 2025, there is still a lot more story in The Apothecary Stories to enjoy.
This post contains an affiliate link to the corresponding manga volume where disclosure is required. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission from any purchases you make from those links – with no extra charge to you.