Q 01/05

What is the Japanese title of The Apothecary Diaries?

A) Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

B) Kōkyū no Himitsu

C) Yakuzaishi no Nikki

D) Kusuriya no Monogatari

Answer · why

A) Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

It literally means 'Apothecary's Soliloquy', which is why the season two ending theme is called 'Hitorigoto'.

Q 02/05

Who wrote The Apothecary Diaries?

A) Hyūganatsu

B) Touko Shino

C) Minoji Kurata

D) Nekokurage

Answer · why

A) Hyūganatsu

Touko Shino illustrates the light novels; Nekokurage and Minoji Kurata draw the two manga versions.

Q 03/05

On which user-generated novel website was the story first serialised in 2011?

A) Alphapolis Web

B) Pixiv Bungei

C) Kakuyomu Novels

D) Shōsetsuka ni Narō

Answer · why

D) Shōsetsuka ni Narō

Shufunotomo picked it up in 2012 and relaunched it as a light novel series in 2014.

Q 04/05

The story's fictional country is mainly inspired by which period of Chinese history?

A) The Song dynasty

B) The Tang dynasty

C) The Qing dynasty

D) The Han dynasty

Answer · why

B) The Tang dynasty

The author says she took the most interesting parts of a thousand years of Chinese history and adds that 'technically, it is not set in China'.

Q 05/05

How does Maomao end up working in the Imperial Palace?

A) She volunteers as a food taster

B) She is kidnapped and sold as a servant

C) She passes the court physician exam

D) Her father sends her to study

Answer · why

B) She is kidnapped and sold as a servant

She plans to keep her head down until her two years of servitude are over.