The Apothecary Diaries, Volume 5 Review: Locusts, Lost Memories, and Maomao
Maomao returns to apothecary mode for lost memories, a looming locust disaster, sharp worldbuilding, and not quite enough Jinshi.
Reading details: English light novel translation · Read from September 12 to September 28, 2026.
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Spoiler warning: This review discusses events from Volume 5 and assumes you have watched up to where the current anime season ends.
Volume 5 of The Apothecary Diaries starts exactly where the anime currently leaves off, which made it very easy for me to slide into the story. Maomao is back to being an apothecary, though obviously nothing around Maomao stays simple for long. The aftermath of the Shi clan arc continues, and we find out what happened to Suirei, the children of the clan, and Suirei’s brother, who has lost all his memories and ends up living with Maomao. At first, Maomao thinks she might train him as an apothecary. Very practical. Very Maomao. Except he has absolutely no interest in medicine. None. Zero. He is much more interested in painting, partly because he has a hand for it and partly because he can actually earn money from it. Honestly, fair. Maomao may love poison and medicine like they personally raised her, but not everyone wants to join her apothecary cult of curiosity.
From there, the story opens up into one of the things The Apothecary Diaries does best: small clues slowly becoming something much bigger. With help from Jinshi and Basen, Maomao starts following leads connected to the old Shi clan apothecary. That eventually leads to the possibility of a coming famine caused by locusts, and to the fascinating detail that the Shi clan had once prevented such a disaster by maintaining the bird population in their region. This is the kind of worldbuilding I really enjoy in this series. It is not just palace gossip. It is medicine, agriculture, ecology, politics, survival, food supply, class structure, and Maomao connecting things because her brain refuses to leave a mystery alone. The locust issue is not glamorous, but it feels important. It is exactly the kind of practical problem that makes this world feel alive.
Maomao, Basen, and ordinary life
The character dynamics were also great. I especially enjoyed Maomao and Basen’s interactions. Basen brings such a different energy around her, and Maomao being Maomao means every interaction has this dry, slightly sideways humour to it. I also loved Maomao’s hunt for books, her completely normal-to-her and alarming-to-everyone-else feelings about poison, and how the brothel continues to be portrayed as a business place rather than only a tragic or romantic setting. The children being allowed to simply be children in that world also stood out to me. The story could easily make everything darker than necessary, but it often gives small pockets of ordinary life room to breathe.
Jinshi’s side of the story is also becoming more complicated. He is now openly in the position of needing a bride, and his interest in Maomao is plain as day. Like, my guy, we can all see it from here. Maomao’s cousin knows it too, and even takes her to parties where she could be exposed as a possible candidate for Jinshi. But Maomao remains Maomao: observant, practical, unimpressed, and not particularly interested in behaving like the romantic lead everyone else seems to know she is. And so the dance continues. I do wish there had been more Jinshi in this volume, though. I understand that the plot needed to move through the locust investigation, the Shi clan aftermath, the memory-loss thread, and Maomao’s apothecary life, but still. I wanted more of him. I wanted more of their strange, slow, socially impossible, emotionally constipated dynamic. Hopefully Volume 6 gives me more of that.
The feeling behind the English
One thing this volume made me think about a lot is translation. I am reading the English light novel because graphic novels and manga just do not work well for my brain. The light novel format is much easier for me. Just words. A clear line. A story I can follow without my eyes having to decode panels, speech bubbles, and visual chaos. But even though the story flows well in English, I kept feeling that something was being lost. Not necessarily plot. The plot is there. But tone, maybe. Urgency. Comedy. The exact flavour of certain scenes. Some moments felt like they should have been funnier, sharper, or more emotionally immediate than they came across in English. And this is the problem with translation, isn’t it? Do you stay faithful to the literal words, the feeling, the rhythm, the cultural context, or the reader’s understanding? Whichever direction you choose, something gets sacrificed. It made me genuinely understand the value of learning more languages, because sometimes I could feel there was another version of the scene hiding behind the English.
That said, the story progression is strong. The world keeps expanding in smart ways. Maomao remains wonderfully herself: curious, blunt, brilliant, poison-obsessed, and emotionally slippery in the most entertaining way. The political pieces are moving, the mystery is satisfying, and the character work is still the heart of it.
Final thoughts
Volume 5 is not my favourite only because I wanted a little more Jinshi and because the translation sometimes felt like it softened the flavour of scenes that should have hit harder. But as a continuation from the anime, it is absolutely worth reading. It picks up smoothly, gives more depth to the aftermath of the Shi clan arc, and reminds me why I like this series so much. Maomao is back in apothecary mode. Jinshi is circling emotionally like a man pretending he is not obvious. Basen is fun. The locust plot is weirdly gripping and makes me wanna read more. And I am, once again, fully seated for whatever poisonous, political, socially awkward nonsense comes next.