The lead actors\u00a0came to Anime Expo 2026 in Los Angeles to promote the series.\u00a0\u00a0I interviewed them on July 3, with\u00a0Mikey McNamara translating.\u00a0\u00a0We talked about their roles, the appeal and uniqueness of their characters, what their recording sessions are like, and the advice they would have given to their younger selves.<\/p>\n
Bob Miller:\u00a0<\/strong>Thank you for your time today. When did you learn about\u00a0The Apothecary Diaries<\/em>\u00a0and that it was going to be adapted into anime?<\/p>\nAoi Yuki:\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s a genre of media called a drama CD, where you interact with the characters through audio. That was my first time I played the role of Maomao.<\/p>\nI discovered the source material, the manga comics. And reading the manga and performing on this drama CD, I thought how amazing this could be as an anime. Fnally, that day has come. The reaction from fans around the world was really, really just very passionate about the show. So it\u2019s been a very fun experience for me.<\/p>\n
Takeo Otsuka:\u00a0<\/strong>I never read the comics until I had the opportunity to audition for my character, Jinshi. But I knew that there was a franchise that was very popular,\u00a0The Apothecary Diaries<\/em>. Once I received the offer to audition, I began by reading the comics. And I think that\u2019s when it dawned on me why this content, why this IP was so popular. I understood. Fast forward a few years and here I am in Los Angeles interacting directly with fans from around the world and getting to witness firsthand how that passion has translated across the ocean.<\/p>\nBM:\u00a0<\/strong>What do you think is special about each of your characters? What sets them apart?<\/p>\nAY:\u00a0<\/strong>For a girl in her teens she seems very calm and collected. And she has this power of deduction that she applies throughout the series. That is something that makes my character very interesting and cool. She\u2019s very interested in medicine and comes off at first glance to be very indifferent to anything else. As I play the character and see her in the anime, I would argue that she\u2019s quite observant of others. To be observant, you have to have a certain level of interest in that person to be able to notice certain things. Herbs. Medicine. Yes, definitely.\u00a0\u00a0But I think her very studious nature is something that makes her character very charming and adorable.<\/p>\nTO:\u00a0<\/strong>Jinshi has many faces. There\u2019s many angles to him as a character. And I feel we get to see more and more of these as the story and the show progresses. First, when the audience and our characters are introduced to him, he comes across as this very mysterious character you can\u2019t quite put your finger on. But through different story arcs and character development, we see his different angles. Eventually his more personal side to kind of complete the character and help the audience understand what it is that he does and what he stands for. And I think this idea that his character is revealed in stages is what makes it very interesting for people to watch and makes it very attractive. And it becomes apparent he\u2019s in a very very high-ranking, much higher-ranking position than we all thought. Despite that, because his characters is so earnest and humble before these reveals that happen later on. It also shows a much younger childish side to his character, I would say, that he always carries with him. In many ways, he\u2019s very human. And I think he makes people relate to him in that sense.<\/p>\nBM:\u00a0<\/strong>Do you record from the studio together or individually? Do you record from home? What is the recording process like?<\/p>\nAY:\u00a0<\/strong>Unless there\u2019s a special circumstance, like a scheduling conflict, the entire cast records together in the studio. We don\u2019t record from home.<\/p>\nTO:\u00a0<\/strong>During recording sessions, Yuki-san takes the lead in creating a welcoming atmosphere. Even when someone is joining\u00a0The Apothecary Diaries<\/em>\u00a0for the first time, it\u2019s an environment where everyone can feel comfortable talking with each other.<\/p>\nBM:\u00a0<\/strong>Do you record your character before it\u2019s animated or after?<\/p>\nAY:<\/strong>\u00a0That depends on what stage of animation we record to. Usually we\u2019ll see character expressions and basic character movement on the screen when we\u2019re performing to them. The next phase in our pipeline is a video storyboard where the storyboard is put into a timeline and there\u2019s some movement to it and that\u2019s normally the stage at which we\u2019re brought in to record the dialogue. Most of the time, we\u2019ll have constraints on how long the dialogue should be. Our job then becomes, \u2018Okay, here\u2019s our script, here\u2019s the video storyboard we\u2019re watching on the screen, and here\u2019s the length we\u2019ve been given to put our performance into.\u2019 We try to do the best and the most natural performance we can within those constraints. Every so often we\u2019ll land this critical hit, so to speak, where we just stick a performance so good that might not fit into those constraints and that\u2019s when the animators look at each other and say, \u2018Okay, well, let\u2019s try and adjust the animation to match that performance.\u2019<\/p>\nBM:\u00a0<\/strong>So you have the freedom to improvise?<\/p>\nAY:\u00a0<\/strong>It really depends on the project how much improvisation is allowed.\u00a0The Apothecary Diaries<\/em>\u00a0is perhaps one of the more lenient productions that I\u2019ve worked on. There\u2019s a lot of trust that\u2019s been given to the cast because the cast knows the characters the best. It should be that the cast members drive a lot of that. That said, there are of course certain situations or certain scenes where the director or someone else has a very strong vision for hey this needs to be the right tempo or this is the intent or if we can match this timing, \u2018I think it\u2019s going to really land with all the other elements that I\u2019m directing.\u2019 You have a little bit of back and forth as we oftentimes love each other\u2019s ideas anyway. That\u2019s, I think. a very very nice production to be part of.<\/p>\nBM:\u00a0<\/strong>What kinds of reactions have you seen from the fans?<\/p>\nTO:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, of course, there\u2019s the source material, the manga. Fans who knew of certain story arcs or certain story beats from before the anime adaptation, so a common reaction that I would get is, \u2018I was so excited to see this scene in motion with performance and sound and animation and color, etc.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\nSome specifics are in Season Two. There\u2019s a little arc where the two of us are trapped in this cavern. That was one scene that a lot of fans were very much looking forward to. And another one towards the end of the season where my character leads this army into battle. So there are certain scenes that people react to and say, \u2018Hey, I was very excited to see this.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
But at the same time, seeing just how popular the series has become, I\u2019ve really come to realize that, in addition to the existing fans, there are also a tremendous number of people who discovered\u00a0The Apothecary Diaries<\/em>\u00a0for the first time through the anime.<\/p>\nBM:\u00a0<\/strong>What do you know now that you wish you had known when you began your career?<\/p>\nAY:\u00a0<\/strong>One thing that comes to mind is, oftentimes the scripts that I\u2019ll be recording off of in the booth are written in Japanese. There are three sets of glyphs and alphabets. There\u2019s the Chinese kanji characters that we\u2019ve kind of inherited from China. And then there\u2019s two phonetic ones, hiragana and katakana. Three writing systems that coexist that form the Japanese written language. Ironically, the Chinese characters are the ones that I can glance at and immediately know what the glyph is supposed to say. It\u2019s the more alphabet-like simpler characters that you have to sound out. Those sometimes trip me up. Because when you see a string of it, it\u2019s the way the information kind of carries over is different from the Chinese characters. So my pro tip is focus on the alphabets and then the Chinese characters and kanji will kind of automatically carry itself. You can act on that.<\/p>\nTO:\u00a0<\/strong>Let me see\u2026 This isn\u2019t exactly the most refined thing to talk about, but even now, I still find it really difficult to figure out when to go to the bathroom.<\/p>\nAY:\u00a0<\/strong>I know what you mean.<\/p>\nTO:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Learning when to use the restroom was a big pro tip I love to tell my younger self because when you\u2019re in production and in the sound studio, there\u2019s a lot of people there. All the other actors are recording together and off of each other. So when you go into recording, they close the door. You\u2019re in your vacuum and then you record for an hour straight or however long. After we record enough lines, we\u2019ll have a little break. And the director, the sound director and producers are deliberating. And sometimes this will last a very long time. Other times, this could be very quick. And the break will be over and we\u2019ll go into our next recording session. So understanding the timing and kind of reading the room of, \u2018Okay, Now is a good time to use the bathroom so I\u2019m not stuck there.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\nAnd the opposite was also true.<\/p>\n
One time I misjudged it. I went to the bathroom.\u00a0\u00a0The deliberation was so quick that when I got back they were already beginning the next session.\u00a0\u00a0I ended up locked out\u2014I couldn\u2019t get back into the studio.<\/p>\n
AY:\u00a0<\/strong>What did you do?<\/p>\nTO:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0There was a glass window in the door, so someone signaled to me, \u2018You can come in now!\u2019 and somehow I managed to get back inside without causing a problem.<\/p>\nThat was something that I learned over my years.<\/p>\n
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