Hyūganatsu Says The Apothecary Diaries Is Not an Ancient China Story
In a group interview at Anime Boston, The Apothecary Diaries author Hyūganatsu corrected the common description of the series as a story set in ancient China. She said the palace is based on Japanese imperial castles, not Chinese ones. She also discussed using children's homework as inspiration for mysteries, the historical grounding of medical details like alcohol for cleaning wounds, and the decision to base a character on Empress Wu Zetian while acknowledging possible bias in historical records.