4s6o24

Imagica Infos revealed that it will collaborate with the Japan Pharmaceutical Association starting in March 2025. This collaboration will involve real pharmacies across Japan issuing exclusive medical notes notebooks featuring a design based on the anime adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries.

Once the collaboration event has gone live, select pharmacies under the association will issue medical diaries with the special design. However, these books will not be available for personal sale or distribution. The pharmacies will professionally handle the book in the same manner as regular drug notebooks, and Imagica Infos is also discouraging people from asking the facilities about the specific design.

The collaboration-themed medical diary will feature an anime illustration of The Apothecary Diaries' protagonist Maomao on the front cover, with the back cover also adding Jinshi. A sample image showing both sides of the book's cover is also available to view right below:

The exclusive medical diary themed after The Apothecary Diaries will be available in pharmacies across Japan in limited numbers starting from March 2025. This collaboration will be based on the anime adaptation of the 2011 novel that started airing in 2023. The second season of the same anime launched in January 2025, and it is still ongoing as of February 2025.

The post The Apothecary Diaries Gets a Real Pharmacy Collaboration appeared first on Siliconera.

Season 2 for The Apothecary Diaries will start airing from January 10, 2025. It’ll consist of two cours that air back to back. A streaming service hasn't been confirmed for it yet, but the first season aired on Crunchyroll.

The official X (formerly known as Twitter) for the show posted a new key visual of it as well. It depicts Maomao and Jinshi standing in a building while an ethereal-looking night sky is behind them. At the side of the poster, there is a tagline that loosely translates to, “What awaits them is—” with no answer.

The first season ran from October 2023 to March 2024. In of where the anime stops, it stops at around Chapter 40 of the manga and the end of Volume 2 of the original light novel. As of late September 2024, there are 14 volumes of the light novel out in Japan. It’s unknown if there will be a change in pacing, or if this will simply be a long-running show. J-Novel Club has licensed the digital version of the light novel whereas Square Enix licensed the physical prints. As for the manga, Square Enix licensed it and despite the past tax issues with the illustrator, it’s still going.

The Apothecary Diaries takes place in Imperial China and it focuses on Maomao, who was kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace. Thanks to her experience as an apothecary worker in the red-light district, she was able to figure out what was behind a mysterious illness befalling the emperor’s children and concubines. Despite her wishes to stay anonymous, Jinshi, a eunuch, takes notice of her and loops her into solving more mysteries for the court.

The Apothecary Diaries season 2 will start airing on January 10, 2025. You can watch the show (as well as the second season) via Crunchyroll.

The post The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 Airs in January 2025 appeared first on Siliconera.

On September 9, 2024, Nekokurage, the artist for the manga adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries, gave an update on her tax evasion situation. Long story short, she will continue to work on the series.

In a handwritten note, Nekokurage apologizes for all the trouble she caused people. She has deeply reflected on her actions after receiving a guilty verdict and has now hired an ant. She swears that she will not repeat this mistake in the future. Nekokurage also thanks the readers who told her they still wanted to see her art in the manga, as well as those who allowed her to remain the artist. She hopes that her work can make it up to everyone, as well as serve as a way of showing gratitude.

Nekokurage, or Erika Ikeda, was found guilty of tax evasion in July 2024. The Fukuoka District Court sentenced her to three years’ suspension, as well as fined her 11 million JPY. She had pleaded guilty in June 2024 after evading taxes worth 47 million JPY. According to her, she had planned on declaring several years’ worth of taxes at once, despite people around her (including the author of The Apothecary Diaries) giving her financial advice. As a reminder, Nekokurage is the artist for the manga adaptation and not the original light novel.

The Apothecary Diaries is available in English from J-Novel Club and the anime adaptation is on Crunchyroll.

The post Nekokurage Will Remain Artist For The Apothecary Diaries Manga appeared first on Siliconera.

Nekokurage, the artist for the manga adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries, has been found guilty of tax evasion. The Fukuoka District Court sentenced her to ten months in prison and three years’ suspension, as well as fined her 11 million JPY (close to $71.1k). [Thanks, KaroshiMyriad and Mainichi!]

As a note, she will only have to serve her ten months' jail sentence if she commits a crime within the suspension period of three years. During the court proceedings, the prosecution stated Nekokurage (whose real name is Erika Ikeda) prioritized her work and was too lazy to prepare the documentation necessary to declare her taxes. This is despite the fact that Ikeda clearly understood the need to declare and file her taxes. They added that her motive leaves no room for sympathy.

In June 2024, Nekokurage pleaded guilty to tax evasion worth 47 million JPY, which (at the time) is about $298,754. Ikeda claimed that she’d planned on declaring several years’ worth of taxes in one go and this is something she’d done in the past. The people around her (including an acquaintance, her editor, and even the author of The Apothecary Diaries) urged Ikeda to file her taxes or at least consult an ant. Ikeda has accepted full responsibility for her actions and states that her failures do not reflect on the property she works on. She has not made a public comment about her sentencing and her last Tweet was in April 2024.

Square Enix has told IT Media in a statement that it has no plans on cancelling the manga serialization.

The post The Apothecary Diaries Manga Artist Found Guilty of Tax Evasion appeared first on Siliconera.

Nekokurage, who is the illustrator for the manga version of The Apothecary Diaries, pleaded guilty for tax evasion worth 47 million JPY ($298,754). It is unknown what will happen to the manga as a result of this. [Thanks, Live Door!]

The article in question refers to Nekokurage with her real name, Erika Ikeda. She pleaded guilty to the charges and stated that she’d planned on declaring several years’ worth of taxes at once. According to the prosecution, she started her work as a manga artist in 2010. That was also when her acquaintance told her that she needed to file her own tax returns. Though Ikeda knew that this was a legal obligation, she instead chose to prioritize her deadlines.

In the past, Ikeda did, in fact, declare multiple years’ worth of taxes at once. Her acquaintance was not the only person getting on her case about her taxes. Ikeda’s editor also urged her to declare her taxes. This is because if a problem arises as a result of this, they may risk the manga's cancellation. The author for The Apothecary Diaries (Natsu Hyuga) also told Ikeda (Nekokurage) that she should speak to an ant. Though Ikeda made about 260 million JPY (about $1.7 million) between 2019 and 2022, she didn’t declare her income in time and thus evaded 47 million JPY’s worth of taxes.

Ikeda posted an apology on her Twitter (X) . She accepts full responsibility for her past ignorance, as well as stated that she's now paid off all the taxes and fees she owes. At the end, she says that this is all her personal problem. It has nothing to do with the people working on the manga version of The Apothecary Diaries or Natsu Hyuga.

As the case is still ongoing, there’s no information on what will happen to the The Apothecary Diaries manga, nor is there information on what Ikeda’s punishment will be.

The post The Apothecary Diaries Manga Artist Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion appeared first on Siliconera.

TOHO Animation Studio and OLM will team up to release an anime adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries. The anime will come out some time in 2023. There is also a trailer for the show, which shows off the animation and basic premise of the show. The Apothecary Diaries is a light novel series that started in 2011, and J-Novel Club has the license for it in North America.

So far, the only cast member we know for The Apothecary Diaries is Aoi Yuki. She voices the main character Maomao. Aoi has previously voiced Ten in Urusei Yatsura, Lumine in Genshin Impact, and Futaba in Persona 5. You can watch the trailer for The Apothecary Diaries here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gquRl13WryU

The Apothecary Diaries is about a young girl named Maomao who was a pharmacist before someone kidnapped and sold her to the imperial palace. Using her expertise as a pharmacist, she solves the mystery of the emperor’s children’s illness. Though she had wanted to remain anonymous and under the radar until she could return home, she continues to solve mysteries within the court.

The anime of The Apothecary Diaries will start airing some time in 2023. You can read the light novel series in English via J-Novel Club. There is no information as to what streaming service will license The Apothecary Diaries for English yet.

The post The Apothecary Diaries LN Series to Get Anime Adaptation appeared first on Siliconera.