‘The Apothecary Diaries’ Reading Order: All “Arcs” & Volumes
The Apothecary Diaries is a Japanese light novel series written by Natsu Hyūga. Originally published in 2011, the series was acquired by Shufunotomo, who published it in a hardcover volume released in 2012 and then republished it in 2014 as a light novel series. The work was adapted into a manga series published in May 2017. An anime produced by Toho Animation Studio and OLM has been broadcast since October 2023. Now, since neither the light novel/manga nor the anime are over, you can still enjoy a lot of material. To prepare you for that, here is a thorough guide to all The Apothecary Diaries volumes and arcs.
How many The Apothecary Diaries arcs are there?
Being originally a light novel series, The Apothecary Diaries is really not divided into narrative arcs, as manga series generally are. Building on that, we have to confirm that The Apothecary Diaries is currently divided into 14 volumes of the light novel, which have been split into 12 manga volumes as of the time of writing. This is why we are going to talk about the volumes of The Apothecary Diaries series in this article, rather than narrative arcs, as we usually do.
The Apothecary Diaries light novel volumes in order (at a glance)
In this section, we are going to bring you an overview of The Apothecary Diaries light novel volumes at a glance:
| No. | Original Release | ISBN (JP) | English Release | ISBN (EN) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 29, 2014 | 978-4-07-298198-6 | February 14, 2021 (ebook) May 14, 2024 (print) | 978-1-71-836118-8 (ebook) 978-1-64-609272-7 (print) |
| 2 | January 31, 2015 | 978-4-07-410821-3 | June 3, 2021 | 978-1-71-836120-1 |
| 3 | June 29, 2015 | 978-4-07-401176-6 | September 14, 2021 | 978-1-71-836122-5 |
| 4 | September 30, 2015 | 978-4-07-403100-9 | January 5, 2022 | 978-1-71-836124-9 |
| 5 | April 30, 2016 | 978-4-07-416947-4 | May 9, 2022 | 978-1-71-836126-3 |
| 6 | November 30, 2016 | 978-4-07-420788-6 | October 10, 2022 | 978-1-71-836128-7 |
| 7 | February 28, 2018 | 978-4-07-429772-6 | March 1, 2023 | 978-1-71-836130-0 |
| 8 | February 28, 2019 | 978-4-07-436884-6 | May 29, 2023 | 978-1-71-836132-4 |
| 9 | February 28, 2020 | 978-4-07-442420-7 978-4-07-441030-9 (LE) | October 9, 2023 | 978-1-71-836134-8 |
| 10 | January 29, 2021 | 978-4-07-447215-4 | — | — |
| 11 | April 30, 2021 | 978-4-07-448226-9 978-4-07-448440-9 (LE) | — | — |
| 12 | July 29, 2022 | 978-4-07-452400-6 978-4-07-452386-3 (LE) | — | — |
| 13 | February 25, 2023 | 978-4-07-454379-3 | — | — |
| 14 | September 29, 2023 | 978-4-07-455775-2 | — | — |
In what order should you read The Apothecary Diaries?
Fans of The Apothecary Diaries will need to start with the first volume of the light novel series, but they will then have to follow the release order of all the chapters in order to normally follow the evolution of the plot. It’s a lot of material, but the best way to approach it is to simply follow the release order, as it coincides with the evolution of the plot.
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