Title: Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Media: Web novel/light novel/manga. The web novel and light novel have a few slight divergences, and both are ahead of the manga version which is what I mainly follow. Approx length: The manga version is currently less than 40 chapters Where to find it: It's available on NovelUpdates, and the manga version is on Mangadex
What is it, in summary? Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is a mystery series set in a fictionalized version of Imperial China. The MC is an apothecary named Maomao who works in the imperial harem. Especially in earlier chapters, it's her knowledge of medicines, poisons, and diseases that help her to solve various mysteries relating to the harem. The male lead is Jinshi, a highly-ranked noble tasked with overseeing the harem under the Emperor's orders.
What do you love about it? Maomao is a great protagonist! Her wit is as sharp as her tongue, and she's delightfully single-mindedly focused on poisons and medicines. She let herself be bitten by snakes so she could test out antidotes on herself and build up poison resistance. She's in cloud nine over being a food taster because she has the chance to eat and drink different kinds of poisons. Her idea of an ideal present is a box full of cordyceps-infested insects. Maomao is unapologetically weird and pragmatic and she's very fun when put next to a lot of the other characters, who are mostly all weirded out by her.
And the mysteries are all really interesting! Admittedly, I'm far more intrigued by the ones that directly make use of Maomao's medical knowledge rather than some of the more general mysteries. But the different cases she investigates are generally short, fuel for interesting character developments, and directly tied into a deeper ongoing plot regarding the political situation that's very intriguing to uncover piece by piece.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? Definitely casefic! I'd love to read some sort of adventure that Maomao and Jinshi have to puzzle out together. Maybe one that deals with some behind-the-scenes political maneuvering considering Jinshi's circumstances. Jinshi doesn't often get to take charge during the mysteries since Maomao does pretty much all of the detective work, so something where he might have to flex his political muscles would be fun.
Content warnings - Discussions of rape (Maomao grew up in a brothel) - Some cases Maomao investigates involve infant death
no subject
Media: Web novel/light novel/manga. The web novel and light novel have a few slight divergences, and both are ahead of the manga version which is what I mainly follow.
Approx length: The manga version is currently less than 40 chapters
Where to find it: It's available on NovelUpdates, and the manga version is on Mangadex
What is it, in summary?
Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is a mystery series set in a fictionalized version of Imperial China. The MC is an apothecary named Maomao who works in the imperial harem. Especially in earlier chapters, it's her knowledge of medicines, poisons, and diseases that help her to solve various mysteries relating to the harem. The male lead is Jinshi, a highly-ranked noble tasked with overseeing the harem under the Emperor's orders.
What do you love about it?
Maomao is a great protagonist! Her wit is as sharp as her tongue, and she's delightfully single-mindedly focused on poisons and medicines. She let herself be bitten by snakes so she could test out antidotes on herself and build up poison resistance. She's in cloud nine over being a food taster because she has the chance to eat and drink different kinds of poisons. Her idea of an ideal present is a box full of cordyceps-infested insects. Maomao is unapologetically weird and pragmatic and she's very fun when put next to a lot of the other characters, who are mostly all weirded out by her.
And the mysteries are all really interesting! Admittedly, I'm far more intrigued by the ones that directly make use of Maomao's medical knowledge rather than some of the more general mysteries. But the different cases she investigates are generally short, fuel for interesting character developments, and directly tied into a deeper ongoing plot regarding the political situation that's very intriguing to uncover piece by piece.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?
Definitely casefic! I'd love to read some sort of adventure that Maomao and Jinshi have to puzzle out together. Maybe one that deals with some behind-the-scenes political maneuvering considering Jinshi's circumstances. Jinshi doesn't often get to take charge during the mysteries since Maomao does pretty much all of the detective work, so something where he might have to flex his political muscles would be fun.
Content warnings
- Discussions of rape (Maomao grew up in a brothel)
- Some cases Maomao investigates involve infant death