Mohsin Lag 
Every season The Apothecary Diaries reminds us why it’s the smartest show on television — and it’s not the mysteries alone. It’s the people. A poison-obsessed apothecary who treats her own body like a lab rat. A “eunuch” so beautiful the whole rear palace loses composure when he walks by. A military strategist who is genuinely more terrifying than any villain in anime this year. With Season 3 airing right now, it’s the perfect time to rank every major Apothecary Diaries character, from the court’s most lovable gambler to the untouchable number one.
We’re ranking on a simple mix of screen presence, writing quality, and how much the story depends on them — not just popularity. The rear palace is full of schemers, and this cast makes every scheme worth watching.
If you’re new here, our Season 3 episode recaps will get you caught up. If you’re a veteran — argue with our ranking in the comments. That’s what it’s there for.
9. Lihaku — The Lovable Doormat of the Jade Pavilion
Lihaku is proof that a minor character with great comedic timing can outshine leads in lesser shows. A guard stationed at the Jade Pavilion, he’s friendly, gullible, chronically broke, and hopelessly in love with the courtesan Pairin — who treats him like a piece of furniture that occasionally amuses her.
What makes Lihaku work is how the show uses him: he’s the audience’s punching bag and the palace’s unofficial errand boy. Maomao borrows money he doesn’t have. His superiors dump work on him. Pairin dismisses him with a single raised eyebrow. And yet he keeps showing up, kind-hearted and unbothered. In a series full of schemers and survivors, Lihaku is just… a decent guy. That’s rarer in the rear palace than an honest courtier. And when it counts — when friends are in danger or the palace needs someone to run toward trouble instead of away from it — Lihaku shows up first, broke and terrified and still moving. The show never forgets to reward him for it, either: his small victories land harder because his losses are so frequent.
8. Pairin — The Courtesan Who Fears Nothing
Pairin is everything the rear palace pretends not to be: loud, blunt, strong, and completely uninterested in anyone’s opinion. One of the Three Princesses of the pleasure district, she drinks like a sailor, arm-wrestles guards for sport, and has zero patience for ceremony — but she’s fiercely loyal to the people she claims.
Her dynamic with Lihaku is the show’s most reliable comedy engine, and Season 3 gives her even more room to shine — her teasing of Jinshi in Episode 2 is already a fan favorite. But Pairin is more than comic relief. As a woman who built her own status in a world that sells women, she’s one of the series’ quiet feminist statements: unbothered, unapologetic, untouchable.
7. Xiaolan — The Heart of the Story
Xiaolan is the youngest and sweetest of Maomao’s friends — a junior courtesan with a sunny disposition and a habit of dragging the reluctant apothecary into helping people. If Maomao is the show’s brain, Xiaolan is its heart.
Her arc is also one of the series’ most devastating. Without spoiling specifics for anime-only viewers: Xiaolan’s storyline is where The Apothecary Diaries drops the comedy and shows you exactly how cruel this world can be to kind, unprotected people. Maomao’s reaction to it — the rare moments where her deadpan mask cracks — remains some of the best acting the series has ever put on screen. Xiaolan ranks this high because the story earns every tear she costs you.
6. Loulan — The Mystery in the Crystal Pavilion
Loulan, consort of the Crystal Pavilion, enters the story as a quiet, almost ghostly presence — and slowly becomes one of the most fascinating puzzle boxes in the series. Her background, her loyalties, and her true identity are all tied to the deeper conspiracies simmering under the imperial court, including the Shi Clan threads Season 3 is now pulling on.
What makes Loulan compelling is restraint. The show never explains her in a single speech; it lets you notice things — a practiced posture, a carefully chosen silence, an accent that doesn’t match her story. She’s the character who rewards rewatching more than anyone else on this list, and anime-only fans are in for a genuinely great revelation arc. Where most characters reveal themselves through action, Loulan reveals herself through the tiny gaps in her performance — and the show trusts you to catch them.
5. Gaoshun — The Most Exhausted Man in the Empire
Gaoshun is Jinshi’s attendant, bodyguard, and full-time babysitter of a man who refuses to act his age. Where Jinshi is theatrical and impulsive, Gaoshun is flat, dry, and perpetually one sigh away from early retirement.
Their dynamic is the show’s best buddy-comedy act: Jinshi drags him into disaster, Gaoshun deadpans through it, and somehow the empire survives another week. But don’t let the straight-man routine fool you — Gaoshun is razor-competent, quietly lethal, and arguably the most dependable person Maomao works with. Fans love him because he’s the person in the room saying what we’re all thinking, in the flattest voice imaginable.
4. Lakan — The Monstrous Military Strategist
Lakan is the answer to the question “what if a horror-movie character was actually on the protagonist’s side?” The empire’s greatest military strategist, he can read battlefields — and people — like a board game, seeing opponents as shogi pieces before they’ve made their first move. He’s brilliant, unhinged, deeply unsettling, and completely fixated on two people: Maomao and Fengxian.
Here’s the thing anime-only viewers will discover as the series continues: Lakan is Maomao’s biological father. Every creepy, over-the-top thing he does gets recontextualized into something almost (almost!) sympathetic. The anime adaptation handles his “monstrous” visual gags perfectly, and Kazuya Nakai’s performance gives him a voice you’ll never forget. He’s the show’s best proof that a character can be repulsive and magnetic at the same time. Every scene he’s in is a tightrope walk between comedy and dread, and the anime leans into both without blinking. When Lakan finally shares the screen with Maomao, the tension isn’t about danger — it’s about whether this monster can ever learn to be a father, and whether she wants any part of that.
3. Gyokuyou — The Jade Consort Who Plays the Long Game
Gyokuyou, the Jade Consort, is what royalty looks like when it’s also intelligent. Calm, warm, endlessly composed, she took Maomao in as her food taster and lady-in-waiting, and their relationship — a noblewoman and an apothecary who genuinely respect each other’s minds — is the emotional backbone of the series’ first act.
Gyokuyou’s kindness is never weakness. She navigates rear palace politics with a smile, protects her daughter Lingli without fuss, and sees Maomao’s brilliance before almost anyone else does. In a court full of masks, Gyokuyou’s mask is so gentle you sometimes forget she’s wearing one at all. She’s the standard every “good queen” character in anime should be measured against.
2. Jinshi — The Moon Prince in Disguise
Jinshi is the most beautiful “eunuch” in the rear palace — a fact the show milks for comedy in every single episode. Maids faint. Officials stutter. Maomao looks at him like he’s a mildly interesting fungus. That last part is the joke the whole series is built on, and it never gets old.
But Jinshi is far more than eye candy. As the administrator of the rear palace — and, as the story reveals, a man of extraordinary birth hiding in plain sight — he’s one of the smartest operators at court. He recognized Maomao’s talent instantly, promoted her, and has spent three seasons slowly, patiently, hilariously failing to win her attention. His smile hides calculation; his playfulness hides genuine loneliness. Season 3 pushes his true identity to the front of the story, and Jinshi finally gets to stop pretending. It’s about time. Watch closely how his voice changes when the mask slips — even now, the performance under the performance is one of the most carefully animated details in the show.
1. Maomao — The Best Protagonist in Anime Right Now
There was never any real competition. Maomao — the freckled, poison-loving, deadpan apothecary raised in the pleasure district and sold into the rear palace — is the best character this show has, and one of the best protagonists in modern anime, period.
What makes her special is that she’s written like a real person with a very strange hobby. She tests poisons on herself for fun. She gets visibly excited about rare herbs and visibly annoyed about almost everything else. She has no interest in court politics, romance, or her own beauty — she even hides her looks on purpose. Her intelligence isn’t a superpower; it’s the product of a lifetime spent learning medicine from her adopted father, Luomen, and sharpening it in the harshest environments the empire has.
And underneath the flat delivery is a character with real warmth: her protection of Xiaolan, her loyalty to Gyokuyou, her quiet grief over Fengxian, and yes — her completely unwilling, completely obvious softening toward a certain beautiful eunuch. She’s also the rare female protagonist who is allowed to be strange on her own terms: not cute, not aspirational, not trying to be anyone’s anything. She wants to study poisons, be left alone, and — occasionally, grudgingly — save the people around her. Three seasons in, Maomao still has layers the show hasn’t peeled back, and that’s exactly why she’s number one.
Bonus: Characters to Watch in Season 3
A few names that matter more as the story deepens: Chue, Jinshi’s sharp-eyed attendant; Shuei, Lakan’s son and a brilliant military officer in his own right; and Fengxian, Maomao’s birth mother, whose tragic story is the emotional core the whole Lakan/Maomao saga orbits around. No spoilers here — but trust us, keep your eyes on all three. Each one unlocks a different corner of the world: the military court, the pleasure district’s past, and the poison-soaked politics that Season 3 is only starting to expose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the best character in The Apothecary Diaries?
Maomao, without serious debate — but the fan-vote runner-up is usually Jinshi, with Gaoshun and Gyokuyou close behind for most-loved supporting cast.
Does Maomao end up with Jinshi?
Their slow burn is the show’s central romance, and the light novels take it much further than the anime has so far. Where exactly it stands in Season 3, we’ll leave for the recaps — check our take on why they’re the couple of the season in our 46 Most Iconic Anime Couples list.
Who is Maomao’s father?
Biologically: Lakan, the Monstrous Military Strategist. The man who raised her: Luomen, the physician of the pleasure district, who taught her everything she knows about medicine.
What order should I watch The Apothecary Diaries in?
Season 1 (2023) → Season 2 (2025) → Season 3 (2026, airing now on Crunchyroll). The story is continuous — no movies or OVAs required.
Is The Apothecary Diaries good for mystery fans?
It’s one of the best mystery anime ever made. Most arcs are self-contained cases solved through medicine and observation — a perfect gateway into the genre.
Read the Source Material
The light novels and manga run far ahead of the anime — if you want to know where these characters end up:
- The Apothecary Diaries light novels — Natsu Hyuuga’s original story, gorgeous prose, deep character work.
- The Apothecary Diaries manga — Nekokurage’s adaptation; the fastest way to catch up past the anime.
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Want more like this? Try our anime finder tool to discover shows with the same mystery-court-intrigue vibe — and catch every new episode with our weekly Season 3 recaps. Which character did we rank wrong? Tell us — Lakan defenders, we know you’re out there.
