The recipe for The Apothecary Diaries is deceptively simple: take one acerbic young apothecary with a very sharp tongue, add a gorgeous young eunuch, put them both in the rear palace of a Chinese-adjacent emperor's court, and season with medical mysteries. On paper, it doesn't look particularly innovative, but the reality is an all-consuming series.

Based on the light novels of the same name by Natsu Hyūga, The Apothecary Diaries is a nearly-perfectly balanced delight of a historical mystery series. Taking place in a country very similar to China (I hesitate to call it fantasy China because this isn't a fantasy series in the traditional sense), the plot follows (mis)adventures of Maomao in the emperor's rear palace. That's where the emperor's consorts and concubines all live, and the only men allowed inside are eunuchs, to protect the virtue of the women, which translates to “make sure the only children present are fathered by the emperor.” Maomao doesn't enter the rear palace voluntarily; she's kidnapped while gathering herbs for her father. Because medical workers in the story's world are never female, no one suspects the knowledge Maomao has; she's a fully accomplished apothecary in her own right and a capable doctor. This means that her original plan is to keep her head down and work as a maid until her term of service ends, thus ensuring her escape from the rear palace's confines.

Needless to say, things do not go as planned, and that's largely due to Maomao herself. She may be exceptionally sharp-tongued and not suffer fools easily, but she's also a very caring person deep down, and when she sees a problem that she can fix, she fixes it. This brings her to the attention of Jinshi, the eunuch in charge of the rear palace. He's used to charming all the ladies with his exquisite beauty, and when Maomao is repulsed by his charms, he finds her incredibly intriguing. Thus begins a game of cat and mouse (with Maomao as the latter, despite her name meaning “cat”), with Jinshi's increasing attraction to her owing to the way she manages to solve little mysteries and fix issues with her medical knowledge.

One of the major attractions of this series is that the science it relies on is appropriate for the period (most sources believe it's set in the 15th century or thereabouts, which would make it the Ming Dynasty) and fairly true to life. For example, the first case that Maomao becomes involved in deals with lead-based makeup, which she figures out is behind the death of the infant prince and the rash of illnesses sweeping the rear palace. The use of white lead in cosmetics is well-documented, and the ills of overexposure (or, we could argue, any exposure) are equally well-known today. Maomao's unique skills as the apothecary daughter of a doctor positions her to have more knowledge of the subject than others in the rear palace, and she puts this to good use – over the objections of the ladies serving Consort Lihua, one of the four most prestigious women in the rear palace.

Maomao's personality and profession put her at odds with the traditional women at Lihua's pavilion, which helps set up the contrast between Lihua and Gyokuyou, another top-ranking consort. Gyokuyou, who has foreign ancestry, is much more willing to listen to Maomao and to heed her advice, eventually having her assigned as her personal poison tester. (Maomao does love her some poison, much to Jinshi's consternation.) Her easy acceptance of Maomao's personality quirks and medical knowledge stands in sharp contrast to Lihua's pavilion, where her head lady-in-waiting, Shin, does her level best to discredit and ignore Maomao's advice. In her eyes, Maomao is trying to make Lihua less appealing or somehow destroy her, indicating the hold traditional views of women and beauty have, even when those are actively killing the women they're supposedly helping. Lihua herself is very open to Maomao, but her reserved nature and traditional upbringing keep her from saying too much, allowing Shin and the other ladies to run roughshod over Maomao until Jinshi steps in.

We only briefly meet the other two high-ranking consorts, Ah-Duo and Lishu, in this half of the first season, but all four women and Maomao's interactions with them highlight women's health and the expectations placed upon them. Maomao grew up in the red light district of the palace town, raised equally by the courtesans of Verdigris House, a high-class brothel, and her father, who serves as their doctor. Thus Maomao is fully aware of women's reproductive health and has a very open, matter-of-fact attitude when it comes to sex, which is emphatically not the norm for women like Lihua. Both Ah-Duo and Lishu help to highlight this, with Ah-Duo having had a difficult birth and ultimately her fertility and Lishu at risk for being preyed upon by the previous emperor, who was a pedophile. The four consorts allow Maomao to show off the breadth of her knowledge and her commitment to women's health while also developing the world of the rear palace and Maomao as a character.

Maomao is the main draw of this series. Whether she's hissing at Jinshi's advances, taking a foolish lady-in-waiting to task, or geeking out over a poison, Maomao is an absolute delight, ably carrying the series on her small shoulders. While the dub performance by Emi Lo is fine, Yuuki Aoi best embodies Maomao as a character, with her deadpan delivery contrasting perfectly with Maomao's excited or exasperated noises and cat-like vocalizations. The other vocal performances in the dub are all solid (and honestly, so is Lo's; she's just not Yuuki Aoi, who is a very tough act to follow), with Monica Rial's Ah-Duo being one of the standouts.

With a good story, great characters, and spectacular animation – especially the opening theme, which is beautiful and catchy – The Apothecary Diaries is one of those series that begs to be owned on disc and rewatched frequently. The Blu-ray may not have tons of extras, but the inclusion of the “Maomao no Hitorigoto” shorts (which aren't dubbed) makes it worthwhile, as they add to the story and the relationship between Maomao and Jinshi. If you missed this series, now is a great time to pick it up on disc.