I Ranked Every Apothecary Diaries Character (Tier List)

[00:02] it's taken me this long to make this video.

[00:16] channel and to another video. So, fun fact, The Apothecary Diaries is my third favorite anime. [laughter] I laugh at that because I barely ever make content about it because it's such a good story. I feel like I'm barely

[00:30] scratching the surface of what I know about it. So, I feel a little bit like I'm not fully prepared to make a video about it, but I need to talk about it because it's so good. So, what better way to introduce The Apothecary Diaries

[00:44] to my channel than to do a good old-fashioned character tier list. The Apothecary Diaries is actually the type of story I don't usually get that into. It doesn't have all of the hallmarks of a show that will get inside my heart the

[00:57] way it has. And I think one of the main reasons why that is is because the characters are just so darn lovable. I I can't help but just enjoy the story. I would also like to throw out there that I am a light novel reader for this. I'm

[01:10] not fully caught up because only through volume 9 is printed in English and so far I've stuck with just what's printed. But keep in mind that season 2 ended at volume 4. So I'm quite a bit ahead of where the anime is right now. That being

[01:22] said, I'm going to attempt to not do any light novel spoilers during this video. know this is going to be 100% based off of the anime so that you don't get spoiled. And if you haven't watched The Apothecary Diaries, what are you doing?

[01:36] right into today's video. But before we do, don't forget to like this video, comment your thoughts. If you want access to exclusive perks like early release of videos, fun emojis, and even an opportunity to choose what videos I

[01:49] membership. For a small fee, you get access to all of those perks and more. becoming a full-time content creator. So, if you are interested, just hit that join button. But with that, let's get into this. I'm not going to lie, as I've

[02:04] been widening my horizon of animes to talk about, it's a lot more difficult for me to talk about the shows that are really high in my list, but I've only watched one or two times. because once I fall in love with the show enough to

[02:17] make it my comfort show where I just keep watching it over and over again, that's when I start to feel like I know enough to talk about it. So, just a disclaimer, I have watched the anime twice and I've read all the light

[02:29] novels, so my knowledge is not as deep. I just genuinely love this show and I like can't fully explain why. So, everything that I'm about to say is just my opinion on the characters. it might be a little bit different than you

[02:43] obviously because characters are very subjective and people like different characters from different shows. So before you write an angry comment about one of the characters that I dislike or really like, just remember this is just

[02:55] my opinion and this is just for fun and just to see how much people want to see me talk about the Apothecary Diaries cuz I'm willing to rewatch it and like take And the first character we have, we are starting off with a bang. We have

[03:09] starting off with a bang. We have Gausian. So, fun fact, Gausin is my third favorite character in the show. I love him. I love his like tired dad love him. I love his like tired dad energy. The way he is just constantly in

[03:22] the background just looking exhausted or mortified or just like face palming, sighing, but also he is like a ride or die, which is kind of his job. You know, he is guarding a member of the Imperial family, so he needs to be a ride or die,

[03:37] right? But just his energy and his loyalty, I love him a lot. Like he just is such an endearing character to me that I like every time he's mentioned ever, I'm like Gausian, yay. So he's also like

[03:52] this, but he's pretty attractive, [music] too. I'm just saying. Gausian goes straight to S. I'm not sorry. Next is Ma Mau the cat. I

[04:04] mean, she's a cat. She's cute. [music] She's adorable. She's a cat. I'm going to put her in C because there's not really much to to say about that. Okay, I had to adjust my screen because the pictures are being weird. All right,

[04:17] next is Shaolan. I'm going to say some of these names [music] really in really really wrong. I'm so sorry. She's adorable. She is really, really, really adorable. She is really, really, really cute. Do I care a ton about her? Yes. I

[04:30] would say when she like caused that carriage to fall and the ice to break, I was genuinely worried for her life cuz this story is set in like a fictional version of Imperial China. Mamau says it over and over again, but like even the

[04:45] smallest things can get you the death penalty during this like timeline and that sort of thing. So, I was very nervous for her. As far as just like characters go, I think she's fine. I do love her friendship with Mow and she's

[04:59] really cute, but there isn't like a ton to know about her. She's very just like there to kind of move Maau forward. I think I I do think I like her better than the cat, though. So, I'm going to We'll put her in C, but we'll put her

[05:11] like above her. So, cuz she's very like average to me, I guess. Like, I don't dislike her, which is what I would consider D to be, but I don't like love her. Gyoko I have some thoughts on. I love Gyokuo, first of all. She's also

[05:25] one of my favorite characters. I would probably put her like top five for sure. I have some theories about her that I don't want to talk about too much. If comments and maybe I'll make a video about it. But I think that she's a very

[05:39] interesting character that we have been with for the entire story, but I feel like we don't know much about her, especially in the anime. So, I think there's a lot of mystery surrounding her surrounding surrounding her. I can't

[05:52] wait to keep reading and keep finding out more about her. She's also the biggest gini amamo shipper in the show. I think the only person that rivals her is probably the emperor, [laughter] but I do like her. She's just very

[06:04] kindhearted, but she's also like incredibly smart. Like, she knows what kind of position she is in and she plays a political game, which is one of the reasons why I have some theories about her. But I'm going to put her in a

[06:18] don't know if I can put her in S tier quite yet, but that could change. She quite yet, but that could change. She could very well find herself in the S could very well find herself in the S tier. Princess Lingley is she's a baby.

[06:31] She's cute. We'll put her in C. Y'all are going to have to forgive me because I'm not good with the names of all of the ladies in waiting. I believe this is Hungyang, who is the leader, like the the head lady in waiting, and she's

[06:43] the head lady in waiting, and she's freaking hilarious. She is so sassy and is like scary. I love how she like scares Mao because she's just so you better be on top of your game. Um, she takes her job incredibly seriously and

[06:57] she is like very protective over Guyoku because she is one of Guyoku's late like she is the head lady in waiting and she takes no excuses. Um, I'm going to put takes no excuses. Um, I'm going to put her in Bee because Bee feels about right

[07:12] her in Bee because Bee feels about right with that. We got Gingshi. Gingshi I with that. We got Gingshi. Gingshi I love and adore. He is a yearer. He is beautiful. He's super dumb but super smart. Like he's perfectly in the

[07:25] then he does things where it's like, bro, is there even any brain cells that are active right now? And usually that all has to do with like him just being been in love with her since the start. But also, Gingshi gets a lot of flack

[07:41] for being like a red flag because he does some things that's a little bit, you know, questionable. But they're questionable with in like today's timeline. I am a firm believer when you are watching a show that is clearly not

[07:55] set in present time and is set in like a very ancient time like this is where it's clearly at least a couple hundred years ago, right? I want to judge the characters based off of the timeline that they live in, not the timeline that

[08:09] I live in because then like pretty much everyone's problematic. [laughter] Um, Ginshi is a red flag by today's standards, but in the Apothecary Diaries timeline, a green flag. And what I mean by that is I don't think people realize

[08:22] when he bought out her contract from the Verdigree house. He essentially bought her like he essentially owns her for a lot of the show and yet he allows her to

[08:34] kind of do what she wants. He can order her to do anything and she has to do it. But he doesn't because he cares about her. He loves her in a way where he

[08:46] wants to make sure she continues to have that freedom. I think that there is doesn't always make the right decision and he does sometimes do things that's just like bro like give it up. Like you need to back off on her. But I think

[08:58] that he is doing his best. And I'm going to put him an S because if Gausian's going to be an S, we better put Ginhi right next to him. Okay. The three other lady in waitings. I am going to be

[09:12] names right off the top of my head, nor can I match them to each girl. I'm going to put each one of these girls in C because they're cute, but they don't on me because I don't even remember their names. And now we have Shiui/Lan.

[09:29] I actually voted for her in the anime awards a couple times for like side character. So, her entire story line is very flushed out and I really like her storyline and the back and forth and like the political uprising and like

[09:43] where she found herself even though she's just a child. Like so many of the people within this show, they truly are just products of the timeline that they live in, right? With her father and mother, mostly her mom being the way

[09:56] that she is and her just kind of having to be the doll that she dressed up and it wasn't until she was a little bit older that she started to really see the problematic thought process of her mother and her doing what she can,

[10:13] knowing that she is a part of the rebellion and knowing what happens to anyone who rebelss against the Imperial family and still trying her best to like protect the kids. Like she gave them that medicine that made them seem dead

[10:26] and then brought them back to life. And then she very smartly kind of talked to Ginshi in very vague terms that allowed for them to live. I really liked her story. I felt that it was a very good story from start to finish. Do I care

[10:40] about her as a character a ton? Not really. Like I didn't get enough time to really care too much, but I think that she's one of the most like well-ritten characters, mostly because we already pretty much know her story from start to

[10:53] finish. I'm going to put her in a right next to Gyokuo because I did really like her, but I just I can't bring myself to put her next to two of my favorite characters. Which brings me to her sister.

[11:05] So, also a very well-ritten character, very tragic character. We originally think she's very cunning and very evil in season one when she was there and she

[11:18] like died and then she came back and then she kidnapped Malmouth. So like we're led to believe that she is this villain but then we very quickly see she's also a victim in the whole situation with the she clan. Also very

[11:33] beautifully done. I pretty much will just echo the sentiments that I had for Shiui/Lon with Su and just say that she goes in a very well done character. I just don't have like a ton of like oh my gosh I'm

[11:48] I'm I'm totally and completely like obsessed with this character. I think like when it comes to tier listing these characters like I I try to be as like okay here's some objective writing stuff but here's also just my feelings. It's a

[12:02] mix of the two with where I put these characters. So, that's where she's gonna go. Which brings me to Sui Ren, [laughter] who is Ginshi's like I I guess she's the

[12:14] lady in waiting. She's like the only one that really works there. Love her. Interested to know more about her. She's kind of sassy. She's really kind, but kind of sassy. She's really kind, but takes no prisoners when it comes to like

[12:27] being tough on like Ma and that sort of thing. Love her. I'm going to put her in B because that's where I feel like she belongs. Grandma, does she even have a name? All I know her as is like the old lady. The greedy old lady. That's like

[12:43] how Mau refers to her. She's funny. She's hilarious. I mean, she's really smart. She knows how to run a business. That's her. I'm putting her in C because I I'm again kind of struggling to have a feeling towards her, but so far, no

[12:58] I'm waiting for a character where I feel like I'm like, "Oh, I don't really like this character." And so far, I don't know if there's anyone like that. I'll wait. No, there is. We'll we'll see who that is. Lumen, which I think is how you

[13:12] say his name. It's hard to say for him. He's very like mysterious. He has an interesting story that we're getting little bits and pieces of, which I feel like a lot of the characters feel that way. Like there's so much story to go.

[13:25] Even from like my standpoint of where I'm at in the story, I'm only like halfway through what's out right now cuz I believe there's a total of 16 volumes that are out. Loman, he's just like a gentle soul and he's probably the

[13:39] [laughter] Um, I love his relationship with Malmau. It was kind of funny to me how she just like disappeared for a few months beginning of the show and then like he she came back and he's like, "Ah, there

[13:53] she came back and he's like, "Ah, there you are." He's almost so calm that it's frustrating. [laughter] I'm like, "Bro, can you like care a little bit, but he's also been through like so much in his life that I feel

[14:05] like at some point he's just is like, I I can't I can't care too much." But he definitely took Mau under his wing when she was obviously born into a very difficult situation that has nothing to do with her. Like, she was just the baby

[14:19] that was born, right? She had no choice in what family she was born into and that sort of thing, but he really helped her out. I'll put him in a that feels that feels correct. Lan, I have never experienced such a switch up from

[14:34] thinking that this character is like a bad guy to crying for him because of his story. I think Lan is a great example of a narrative that they take with the story is that Mao is the narrator, but

[14:48] she is an unreliable narrator. And I love it when stories do that where it's like we're seeing the story from her perspective, but when we take a step perspective, we now get the opportunity

[15:00] to choose if we agree with the main character or with this other character. And in Lan's case, yeah, he's a little crazy. He's a little cuckoo. He's a little insane, but he genuinely loves Mao and his situation also was tough.

[15:14] So, I really like his character. I think he is one of the most well-written characters so far. But then again, a lot of my ideas on who's the most well-written is going to change as the story progresses. I'll put Lan next to

[15:29] Lumen. Mao's adopted dad and biological dad being next to each other. It makes sense. Speaking of Lon, his wife, Mao's biological mother.

[15:45] She's fine. I guess she'll go and be. I'd like to know more, like a lot more ever find out more about her, though. So, the Emperor, I I'm a little s for

[15:57] So, the Emperor, I I'm a little s for him. I'm not going to lie. [laughter] I think that the Emperor as of right now is kind of one of those like super gray that's how they're trying to write him. What's interesting about the Emperor is

[16:13] you can argue like a lot of what he does like with the whole concubines and the way people are treated and how clans are just completely annihilated for even she clan what they did was a small thing. I'm just saying. but he is also

[16:29] thing. I'm just saying. but he is also still like a very progressive emperor. They very much explore the idea that the emperor while he is like technically the top dog in the country. He is a slave to like the world of politics and how

[16:45] easily a war can start by just making a couple of small changes. So he has I believe he's the one who started the banning of Unix. I don't remember if that was him or the empress Daajager. I can't remember exactly, but he is

[17:01] can't remember exactly, but he is definitely trying his best to move the country forward and understands, but also is like his hands are tied in a lot of situations. He is also just like Yokuyo, like Ginshi and Malmo's biggest

[17:14] shipper. He's like teasing Ginshi. He's like, I don't know. I could make her my I could make her my my concubine just to tease Ginshi because he knows that Jinshi is in love with her [laughter] and he wants them to like find happiness

[17:28] together. I really like the Emperor. I will put him also in a Lan. I'm going to reserve a lot of my opinions on him because he was barely present in the character in the light novels, but as of right now in the anime, he hasn't really

[17:42] been introduced a whole lot. So, based off of my like anime preference for him, fully just anime, I'd probably put him in C, but I can't put not put him in B

[17:54] because of what I know in the future. Like, he he's a pretty interesting character. Lihaku, our favorite golden retriever, just total dog. And what I mean by that is that's what Mao calls him. Like, he's literally depicted as a

[18:08] dog a lot. [laughter] He's funny. I like him. He's like an enjoyable character that uh doesn't have a ton of development. Like he's just kind of around, but he's cute. He's funny. He's in love with her. I don't know exactly

[18:23] hard cuz I watch everything subbed. So, anytime I watch something where the names are not Japanese, I'm like, I don't think I'm getting this name right. We'll put Lihaku in B because is there a lot of substance to his character so

[18:37] far? No. But he's just like adorable and I love him. like affection. [laughter] Um, Bosan, love him. I I'm going to put him next to Lihaku because I feel like these two are just like your muscle muscle boys that are just like I feel

[18:54] very affectionate towards these two, but that's about it. So, we have the three that's about it. So, we have the three sisters. We have I believe this one is Yeah, this one's Parin. This one's Maymay. This one's Yoka. I love all

[19:08] three of them equally. They all have their own unique ideals and that sort of thing, but for the most part, they all feel very like similar to me as characters who could get some writing in the future, but like they're not very

[19:21] prevalent to the story outside of like the occasional Mamau dealing with them and like her affection towards them because they helped raise her and that sort of thing. I'm going to put these three in B because I love all of them. I

[19:34] want more though. Okay, these are the three new ladies in waiting for Guyoku. Don't know much about them yet. They're fine. I'll put them in C because I don't fine. I'll put them in C because I don't feel any dislike for them.

[19:49] They're just kind of there. Lady Lihoa. My feelings on her are complicated and I feel like that's because she is just kind of I feel like Gokuo has a lot more development and that's mostly because Mao is assigned to her as a lady and

[20:04] waiting for majority of the first season. So I feel like we've gotten just a lot more time with her. Lihua has had these great moments but not as many to

[20:16] there was a battle between these two because they both bear children for the emperor, so there could be a battle for who who becomes the empress, right? Well, at the end of season 2, Yokoyo already became the empress, but Lihua

[20:32] believe. If these two were to battle it out, I would naturally lean towards And I think her character is just like a little bit more interesting and fleshed little bit more interesting and fleshed out. So, I'll put Lihua and B. I can't

[20:45] remember which one is which. Why am I blanking on who this is? I think this is one of the other concubines that left midway through. Or was she a lady in waiting? I I can't remember who this is. So, naturally,

[20:57] I'm going to have to put her in see who is that. I literally cannot remember. going to be like, "You don't know any of these characters." I warned you all. I warned you all that I've only watched the show and some of these characters

[21:10] remember. Leu. Okay. I have a lot of thoughts on her light novel-wise. Holy moly, there's a light novel that's pretty much dedicated to her. I love her. She's really adorable. I'm going to put her in a cuz I do genuinely love

[21:24] her. That's the main four. So, who's this chick? I cannot remember who that is. Is she the lady in waiting? Who's Leehua's cousin? I remember who this is. She deserved that slap. That was one of the most satisfying moments ever when

[21:38] the most satisfying moments ever when she got that slap. Girl, girl, girl. This is Leu's lady in waiting poison tester. She's okay. I'll put HER IN C. MAU. OKAY, MAU. We all know where Mau's

[21:52] going. Mau is my favorite character. Mau is one of the reasons why I love the Apothecary Diary so much because I feel like so many times there's so few stories that have like really good main female leads. Last year at Anime Expo

[22:05] when I went to the Apothecary Diaries panel, I was in cosplay. I was in Mao Cosplay. So, one of the people like the hosts during the pre-show called me up to the front of the room and I was like, "Hello, good thing I public speak for a

[22:20] my favorite character. I said, "Yes." And they're like, "What do you love about her?" And I just like completely blanked. I was like, "Well, um, she's smart and she's funny and she's strong." And I [laughter] was like

[22:33] because at the end of the day when people ask me like why do you love this character so much I don't always have the answers I feel even that way with Tonido sometimes I'm like it's hard to explain I just feel affection like I

[22:46] love this character that that's really all I can say but Mao also is one of my first experiences with like a really welldone female lead. She what I love welldone female lead. She what I love about her is how smart she is, but she

[23:01] knows when to feain stupidity, which makes her even smarter. But like some just not like that smart." But she knows. She knows 100% what is happening. constantly, but she's just like pretending to not know because she knows

[23:18] like how the world works. However, she and the emperor are pretty much homies with murder, I think. and he wouldn't put her to death at this point. Like execute her. I guess we could like that could be one of the final arcs is like

[23:33] the emperor does something or whatnot. But Mao is just like such a good character because she also is in the romance department and like in other areas of life just like not smart at all. like she she kind of reminds me of

[23:49] I don't want to say myself because I'm not as smart as her and I don't think I'm as cool as her, but the way she talks about how she is really, really, really, really knowledgeable in the medicine and poison department, but is

[24:05] anything else. And that's because when she is presented with something that she doesn't want to learn about it. But when she's presented with something that she hours upon hours learning about it. And if I don't feel represented by that, I

[24:20] don't know what I would feel represented by because that is how I feel about so many things. I can turn on a camera and talk forever about my favorite animes, but if you ask me to turn on my camera and talk about something that I may be

[24:34] knowledgeable in, but it's not my passion, I'm going to be like, I I don't want to. I feel so seen in that aspect of MMO where she just has zero interest in anything she doesn't have interest in and she focuses in. She's like a

[24:48] hyperfixation queen and I'm like I feel so seen. So I love that about her and I'm interested in finding out more. Like she talks a lot about like her childhood trauma but I feel like we only know like surface level information

[25:02] about it. So Mau best character. One of the reasons why I love the show so much. Love her. The Quack. Does he have a name? I don't know. He's funny. He's name? I don't know. He's funny. He's fine. We'll put him in

[25:15] C. All right. Lady Aduo Da. I've heard so many have no idea how to say it. She's so cool. She is one of the characters where

[25:28] I feel like there's not a ton a ton that we know about her. We do know a decent quite a bit in the anime. We're going to explore it a lot more later, but I just love her. Like I think she's just so cool. So I'm going to put her in a

[25:41] because I that's all I have to say about her is I just like I love her. Like I think about her I'm like I love Adua. I want to cosplay her which would pretty much mean cosplaying cuz they look like copy and paste of each other. This is

[25:55] Empress Daajer. Love her. She's really cool but I don't know enough about her to have like that much of an opinion on her. So we're going to put her in B. The former emperor belongs in the depths of hell. I hate him with the utmost

[26:12] passion. He belongs next to Giloko. So, because I don't have enough room to be recording this, he's going in D, but we'll just

[26:24] put an asterisk next to him and say he belongs in Z. Cool. Cool. The lady of the Shin clan hate her. Both of these girls don't like hate her. Both of these girls don't like them. Chuo or Choo, however you say it.

[26:39] He's super cute, but he's a little bit on the like I mean, he's a child. this child because they're annoying." I'm like, "They're a child." [laughter] Like, they're a little bit over the top and silly. Let's put him in C. It's like

[26:53] he's he's cool. I don't know who any of these girls are and I don't really like [sighs] So, So, this is Adul's former lady in waiting.

[27:06] She belongs in sea because she had an interesting story. Pretty sure she got executed. No, 100% sure she got executed. This is like the princess girl at the beginning. I think I should have like put more of these characters in

[27:20] there cuz we're going to get rid of all of these very quickly. She's fine. I don't like dislike her. I don't know who you are. Don't like you. This is like the former former empress. Don't like her.

[27:36] This is a child. So, I'll put them in C. Who are these people? Is this the guard? This is the guard. Okay, I'm putting him in C just because of some future knowledge. You'll know when the next season is animated. He's funny. This is

[27:49] Rickson. He like just got introduced in the anime. Like, I don't know if he's the anime. Like, I don't know if he's even had any major scenes anime wise. He probably belongs in C, but I do like him in the light novels.

[28:03] So, without saying spoilers, I'll put him in B because he's fun. I don't remember who this guy is, but I don't feel hatred towards him. This lady was like her story was really sad. Like very traumatized. And honestly, I kind of

[28:17] understand why she like helped out. So, I'm actually going to put her in B because I feel like the whole ShinClan thing, like there were so many victims of the former emperor and like all of these other people and she was

[28:30] definitely one of those victims. Sure, she was conniving. Sure, she did some executed along with the whole thing because she was part of the reason why Mao got kidnapped. But I found her story to be very, very sad and very

[28:45] to be very, very sad and very interesting. This is Shisho. I thought he was interesting. So, I'll put him in I'll put him in B. I kind of felt bad for him. I'm not gonna lie. I I felt like he was just his wife was the reason

[28:58] why he even tried to do anything. This chick don't even know who you are. All right, so there's my list. Funny how I got through those last few so quickly. interesting to do this again when I get like caught up in the light novels and

[29:12] talk about that because there are a lot of characters in the show that anime wise especially have not gotten a ton just because it's a big cast but the anime is only done with its second season. Like there's so much more to go

[29:26] and this is definitely on all fronts a slow burn story. It's not that the pacing is slow by any means. It's just that the story itself is built in a way where it just like everything takes a while. Like you just you learn about the

[29:42] characters, we take a little bit of a side step to talk about this and that done. And that's one of the things I like about it, but it does take a while of these characters I feel like have a

[29:56] has not happened in the anime or I have not even seen yet, even though I'm like halfway through the series. So, that's my list of Apothecary Diaries characters. I love this show so much. I feel like having so many characters in C

[30:10] makes it seem like I don't, but like all the characters in C are like, and honestly, now that I'm looking at it, I'm I'm promoting Xiaolong because she doesn't deserve to be with all of those other no-name characters that I can't

[30:23] even like remember who they are. So, she got she got promoted. But that's my list. If you want to see more Apothecary Diary stuff from me, please let me know. I would love to make more content. I have theories. I have things that I want

[30:37] the comments below. But that is going to be it for today's video. If you liked subscribe to the channel, leave a comment, your thoughts, and I will see comment, your thoughts, and I will see you all for the next one. M