The Apothecary Diaries Trivia
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50 free The Apothecary Diaries trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This The Apothecary Diaries trivia quiz covers Hyūganatsu's story from every angle: the web novel that started on Shōsetsuka ni Narō in 2011, the light novels illustrated by Touko Shino, the two competing manga adaptations, and the Toho Animation and OLM anime that ran for two seasons in 2023–25 with a third on the way. The questions cover Maomao and Jinshi, the Emperor's four high-ranking consorts and their pavilions, the poisoned face powder that opens the story, Gaoshun, Lakan, Luomen, Xiaolan, the Three Princesses of the Verdigris House, and the voice casts in Japanese and English. There are also questions on the setting Hyūganatsu says is 'technically not China', the sales records, the theme songs, and the awards. Spoilers are kept to what the first anime season reveals. If you enjoy this, BrainPickle has plenty of other anime and manga quizzes. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and each question carries a citation to the page it came from.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the Japanese title of The Apothecary Diaries?
Kusuriya no Hitorigoto
Kusuriya no Hitorigoto means 'Apothecary's Soliloquy', and the anime keeps borrowing the word: its chibi recap shorts are 'Maomao no Hitorigoto' and a season-two ending theme is simply 'Hitorigoto'.
Q 02Who wrote The Apothecary Diaries?
Hyūganatsu
Hyūganatsu first posted the story as Uribō, 'boar piglet'; when the book needed a proper author name, she borrowed that of her favourite citrus fruit.
Q 03On which user-generated novel website did The Apothecary Diaries begin as a free serial in 2011?
Shōsetsuka ni Narō
Shōsetsuka ni Narō was a site the author stumbled on while stuck at home after Japan's 2011 earthquake; she began posting that October because, she says, she was bored.
Q 04The Apothecary Diaries' author says its rear palace and fashions are modelled on which Chinese dynasty?
The Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty of Yang Guifei is the author's stated model, but she mixes eras freely: the culture sits near the 16th century and the science runs up to the 19th.
Q 05How does Maomao end up working in the Imperial Palace?
She is kidnapped and sold as a servant
She is kidnapped and sold as a servant while out gathering herbs: procurers earned easy money by passing girls off as relatives sent to work in the rear palace.
Q 06What is Maomao's plan for her two years in the rear palace?
Lie low
Lie low was the plan, and it lasted about three months, until her curiosity about the palace's sick infants got the better of her.
Q 07In the public eye, Jinshi holds what position in the rear palace?
A eunuch who runs its administration
A eunuch who runs its administration is only his cover: Jinshi is later unmasked as a prince of the imperial family and has to drop the pretence.
Q 08Who voices Maomao in the Japanese anime?
Aoi Yūki
Aoi Yūki had already played Maomao on a drama CD and kept the part for the anime, while the role of Jinshi went to a new actor.
Q 09Who voices Jinshi in the Japanese anime?
Takeo Ōtsuka
Takeo Ōtsuka took over Jinshi for the anime; on the earlier drama CD the part had been played by Takahiro Sakurai.
Q 10Who voices Maomao in the English dub?
Emi Lo
Emi Lo leads the English dub, which opened the way the Japanese broadcast had: with its first three episodes released together.
Q 11Maomao grew up in which renowned brothel, whose Madam treats her like a granddaughter?
The Verdigris House
The Verdigris House is also where Maomao lands when the palace dismisses her, until Jinshi pays its Madam to take her back as his own attendant.
Q 12What is the name of Maomao's adoptive father, an apothecary and former court doctor?
Luomen
Luomen was exiled from the rear palace long ago, yet when a consort's pregnancy turns dangerous Maomao has him summoned as the one doctor skilled enough to help.
Q 13Which high-ranking consort is known as the Precious Consort and is the Emperor's favourite?
Gyokuyō
Gyokuyō later bears the Emperor a son, and the birth carries her from favourite consort toward the title of Empress.
Q 21Who is Jinshi's loyal attendant, the father of his younger aide Basen?
Gaoshun
Gaoshun's standing as a palace eunuch is a cover story: he is a married man of the Ma clan, the family that has guarded the imperial line for generations.
Q 22By what unflattering label does Maomao refer to the rear-palace eunuch Guen?
A quack
A quack is Maomao's private name for the palace doctor, who had his reasons for the post: he became a eunuch so that his sister would not have to enter the rear palace.
Q 23Who is Maomao's biological father, revealed to be the monocle-wearing, face-blind military tactician?
Lakan
Lakan cannot tell faces apart and sees most people as game pieces; one of the few he could ever recognise was the courtesan who beat him at Go.
Q 14The Precious Consort's residence is named after which stone?
Jade
Jade Pavilion maids pitied Maomao when she became the consort's food taster, not knowing that she relishes any chance to sample a poison.
Q 15Why does the Precious Consort appoint Maomao her lady-in-waiting?
As thanks for warning her about poisoned make-up
As thanks for warning her about poisoned make-up: a lead-based face powder was sickening the consorts and their babies, and her daughter recovered once she stopped using it.
Q 16Whom does Maomao nurse back to health over two months at the Emperor's request?
Lihua
Lihua, the Wise Consort, was wasting away after the death of her infant son; Maomao changed her diet and had a sauna built so that steam baths could help her recover.
Q 17Maomao's name means which animal?
Cat
Cat is the meaning of Maomao's name, and the anime plays on it: a stray kitten found in the rear palace ends up being named after her, to her annoyance.
Q 18Which condition of Consort Lishu's do her attendants refuse to take seriously?
Food allergies
Food allergies were a mystery to the court: Lishu's attendants took her refusals for fussiness until Maomao pointed out that a fatal reaction would be treated as a poisoning.
Q 19Ah-Duo, the Pure Consort, has which unusual tie to the Emperor?
They shared a wet nurse
They shared a wet nurse, which makes Ah-Duo the Emperor's milk sibling: she grew up beside him, became his first consort and bore his first son.
Q 20Who replaces Ah-Duo as the Pure Consort?
Loulan
Loulan brings more ladies-in-waiting than any rival, yet she slips out of her pavilion dressed as a servant girl called Shisui to hunt for insects.
Q 24Fengxian, Maomao's mother, sent what to the lover who had stopped visiting?
Two severed fingers
Two severed fingers, her own and her baby's, went to the man who had been away for three years; Maomao takes the parcel for a curse.
Q 25Who is Maomao's gossip-loving servant friend in the rear palace, and the subject of a spin-off manga?
Xiaolan
Xiaolan swaps palace gossip for sweets, which is how Maomao gets much of her news; her spin-off manga, Xiaolan's Story, began on Manga Up! in March 2025.
Q 26Which soldier gives Maomao a hairpin and later takes up with the courtesan Pairin?
Lihaku
Lihaku hands out hairpins freely at the garden party; Maomao cashes hers in for an escort out of the palace, paying him with an introduction to her home brothel's star courtesans.
Q 27The 'Three Princesses' of the brothel where Maomao grew up are Pairin, Meimei and who?
Joka
Joka is the youngest of the three and the one who dislikes men: she entertains customers with poetry and music and keeps them at arm's length.
Q 28Who is the dutiful head lady-in-waiting serving the Precious Consort, and Maomao's boss?
Hongniang
Hongniang, on learning why Maomao hid her talents, broke a vase on purpose and charged it to her wages, so that nothing was left for those taking a cut of her pay.
Q 29Which two studios made the first two seasons of The Apothecary Diaries?
Toho Animation Studio and OLM
Toho Animation Studio and OLM shared the first two seasons, then split the work: OLM alone animates season three, and Toho's studio alone makes the film.
Q 30The Apothecary Diaries' first season filled two three-month broadcast blocks known as what?
Cours
Cours are the three-month blocks of Japanese TV schedules; season one's 24 episodes ran as two back to back, which is why its opening and ending songs both changed at the halfway mark.