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

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto means 'Apothecary's Soliloquy', and the anime keeps borrowing the word: its chibi recap shorts are 'Maomao no Hitorigoto' and a...

Q 02/05

Who wrote The Apothecary Diaries?

A) Hyūganatsu

B) Touko Shino

C) Minoji Kurata

D) Nekokurage

Answer · why

A) 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 03/05

On which user-generated novel website did The Apothecary Diaries begin as a free serial in 2011?

A) Alphapolis Web

B) Pixiv Bungei

C) Kakuyomu Novels

D) Shōsetsuka ni Narō

Answer · why

D) 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 sa...

Q 04/05

The Apothecary Diaries' author says its rear palace and fashions are modelled on which Chinese dynasty?

A) The Song dynasty

B) The Tang dynasty

C) The Qing dynasty

D) The Han dynasty

Answer · why

B) 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 u...

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 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 re...