Apothecary Diaries Mini-Anime Episode 52: Maomao's Brother Tries to Sell Her as a Product

The Apothecary Diaries Season 3's official mini-anime, "Maomao's Monologue," hit episode 52 on November 2 with its money-obsessed cast running true to form — this time it's Maomao's older brother Luhan trying to turn her into a mascot brand called "Green Maomao." The clip pulled in 129 comments, and the top one (168 likes) wasted no time pointing out the irony: last episode Maomao was scheming to make Jinshi her own personal cash cow, and now she's the one up for sale.

From there, Japanese viewers leaned hard into the sibling chemistry between Maomao and Luhan, traded praise for a single perfectly-pitched line read from voice actress Aoi Yuuki, and even got sent down a real-world tangent about mercury poisoning thanks to one of the episode's gags.

Stick around for the comment that calls this one the best mini-episode of the whole season.

The Apothecary Diaries Season 3's official mini-anime, "Maomao's Monologue," aired its 52nd episode on November 2 on the franchise's own TOHO animation channel. The short-form side series runs alongside the main show's broadcast episodes, following the same cast through lighter, more comedic beats, and this time the plot isn't a mystery for Maomao to solve — it's a scheme hatched against her. Her older brother Luhan, the family's resident numbers guy, decides she'd make a great mascot brand and starts pitching the idea of marketing her as "Green Maomao," while the rest of her found family looks on. The clip has drawn 129 comments, and almost none of them are arguing about whether the plan is actually a good idea. They're arguing about how perfectly it fits everyone involved.

The irony practically writes itself: last episode it was Maomao who was scheming to turn Jinshi into her personal cash cow, and now the tables have turned completely. Commenters didn't need much convincing that scheming simply runs in this family's blood.

None of that reads as genuinely mean, though — if anything, just as many commenters spent their time gushing over how well Maomao and Luhan bounce off each other. They're cousins by blood rather than full siblings, but the short treats them like the real thing, right down to the bickering, and several viewers said the pacing in their scenes together is some of the best in the whole mini-series.

One much smaller moment got singled out purely for the acting: the exact way Maomao's voice actress, Aoi Yuuki, delivered a single confused syllable when she first hears the "Green Maomao" pitch.

A separate, mercury-related gag elsewhere in the short sent part of the thread down a completely different detour — away from the siblings entirely and into real childhood memories of broken thermometers, plus a genuine piece of Japanese public-health history that one commenter brought up unprompted.

By the end, the comment section circled back to a shared verdict: hypothetically or not, "Green Maomao" sounds like a terrible business plan, and an extremely on-brand one for a family this obsessed with money.

• Luhan really is Rakan's kid after all lol35 likesJP羅半、やっぱり羅漢の子どもだな😅@yuk-h8y · 35 likes
• He's adopted, though9 likesJP養子だけどね@sabanomisoni143 · 9 likes

Fifty-two mini-episodes in, watching this particular family try to profit off each other is apparently still the whole appeal of the show — and, for at least one viewer, the best showing the side series has put on all season.