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The Apothecary Diaries Anime Casts Noriko Hidaka as Fengming

The official Twitter account for the anime adaptation of Natsu Hyūga and Touko Shino's The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) light novel series revealed on Friday that Noriko Hidaka will play Fengming, the chief lady-in-waiting for consort Ah-Duo. The character will appear in the show's 10th episode on Saturday, titled "Honey."

The anime premiered on October 21 with the first three episodes, and will air for two cours (quarters of a year). Crunchyroll is streaming the anime as it airs in Japan and is also streaming an English dub.

Norihiro Naganuma (The Ancient Magus' Bride season 1) is directing the anime at TOHO animation and OLM, and Naganuma is also supervising the scripts. Akinori Fudesaka is the assistant director. Yukiko Nakatani (Go! Princess Precure, Tropical-Rouge! Precure) is designing the characters. Shōji Hata is the sound director. Satoru Kousaki (Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song-), Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss), and Arisa Okehazama (ONIMAI: I'm Now Your Sister!) are all composing music for the anime. Ryokuōshoku Shakai performs the opening theme song "Hana ni Natte" (Become a Flower), while Aina The End performs the ending theme song "Aikotoba" (Password).

J-Novel Club publishes the novel series digitally, and it describes the story:

In the East is a land ruled by an emperor, whose consorts and serving women live in a sprawling complex known as the hougong, the rear palace. Maomao, an unassuming girl raised in an unassuming town by her apothecary father, never imagined the rear palace would have anything to do with her—until she was kidnapped and sold into service there.

Though she looks ordinary, Maomao has a quick wit, a sharp mind, and an extensive knowledge of medicine. That's her secret, until she encounters a resident of the palace at least as perceptive as she is: the head eunuch, Jinshi. He sees through Maomao's façade and makes her a lady-in-waiting to none other than the Emperor's favorite consort... so she can taste the lady's food for poison!

Hyūga began serializing the story on the "Shōsetsuka ni Narō" (Let's Become Novelists) website in October 2011. Shufunotomo began publishing the novels in print volume with illustrations by Shino in August 2014. Nekokurage launched an ongoing manga adaptation in Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan magazine in May 2017. Square Enix Manga & Books is releasing the manga adaptation in English. The company will also publish the novels in print starting in May 2024.

Sources: The Apothecary Diaries anime's Twitter account, Comic Natalie