Nekokurage, artist of the comic series The Apothecary Diaries, shared with fans that doctors discovered a brain aneurysm after persistent headaches. He said: “I've had headaches for a long time and recently they became particularly bad so the other day I went to the hospital and they discovered a brain aneurysm💦. But it doesn't seem like he's in any immediate danger or anything so I'm fine! I will try not to break it or get bigger!” A brain aneurysm refers to “a bulge in a blood vessel due to weakening of the blood vessel wall, usually where it branches.” (NHS)
Nekokurage recently celebrated the announcement of the anime's second season, and the entire The Apothecary Diaries series has surpassed 33 million copies in circulation – 16 million of which are for the Square Enix version. He illustrated this while original author Nat Hyuga wrote the manga alongside Itsuki Nanao. Readers can check out Nekokurage's commemorative artwork, which features a dancing Maomao, and the cover of the newly released manga Volume 13 below.
Check out the cover for The Apothecary Diaries Volume 13 in Itsuki Nanao's congratulatory post below:
The recent anime adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries has been a huge hit with fans, currently ranking 18th on MyAnimeList with a score of 8.93. The series ranked highly in Anime Corner's Best Mystery and Suspense Anime of 2023 and now fans can check out the newly released soundtrack. It contains 77 songs, with compositions by Satoru Kosaki, Kevin Penkin and Alisa Okehazama.
Square Enix licensed the manga in North America, describing it: Maomao, a young woman trained in the herbal arts, is forced to work as a lowly servant in the inner palace. Although she yearned for life beyond the scented rooms, she did not yearn for a life of drudgery! Using her intelligence to break the “curse” that befalls the royal heirs, Maomao attracts the attention of handsome eunuch Jinshi and is promoted to caterer. But Jinshi has other plans for the former apothecary, and soon, Maomao is back to making potions and…solving mysteries?!
Source: Nekokurage on X (formerly Twitter), via @violetheart08 via X© 2017 Nats Hyuuga/Imagica Infos Co., Ltd. © 2017 Nekokurage © 2017 Itsuki Nanao