5 March 2024: I'm less enthusiastic about The Apothecary Diaries now even though it's still good
Not every episode is about poison. Sometimes there's one about drool.
I'm glad Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries) rolled straight into the Winter 2024 anime season after Autumn 2023 instead splitting or ending after a single cours. 12-episode shows seem to be the norm now, and I think that limits the effectiveness of certain stories. Apothecary Diaries in particular has a long continuous plot (or multiple subplots) that are advanced a little bit every once in a while interspersed with episodic stories, so it's good it received more time to develop them.
Not every episode is about poison. Sometimes there's one about money.
I read the first volume of the light novel not that long ago, and its chapters are structured the same way, so it seems the anime adaptation is straightforward and faithful to the source material. (Well, the occasional comedic exaggerations are embellishments.) I don't read a lot of light novels, but Kusuriya no Hitorigoto seems to be one of the better ones. I don't know if this has more to do with how light novels are translated or if it's a tribute to the original text itself, but I'm at least eager to read more.
Not every episode is about poison. Sometimes there's one about lactation powers.
On the other hand, I'm less subjectively interested in the Apothecary Diaries anime even though I still find it "objectively" good. It hasn't dropped off in terms of quality or anything like that. It's not boring, and the subject matter hasn't shifted, so I'm unsure why I don't seem to enjoy it as much as I previously did. I'm still looking forward to reading the second volume of the book, though, so perhaps this response results from liking the book more than the anime? It is a mystery.
