The Apothecary Diaries Fans Don’t Care It’s a Prank: They Want the April Fool’s Spinoff

The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 is currently airing in two cours or parts. Part 1 is already out, while Part 2 is all set to begin airing from April 4th. The series takes place in a fictional country based on Tang dynasty Imperial China and follows Mao Mao, a young girl working as an apothecary in the red-light district who is later kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace as an indentured servant.

But when strange events unfold in the Rear Palace, Mao Mao begins investigating and catches the attention of Jinshi, a beautiful eunuch who puts her skills to work.The series announced a high school spinoff, complete with a trailer from Toho, titled The Apothecary Diaries – School Diaries on April 1st, and fans couldn’t have been more excited. The spinoff seemed like a typical visual novel but featured The Apothecary Diaries characters and their official voices in an academy setting.



Unfortunately, before viewers could get too hyped up, the trailer explicitly announced the whole thing to be an April Fool’s joke. You can check this prank trailer out below.The Apothecary Diaries’ Spinoff PrankBut while The Apothecary Diaries’ school setting spinoff was confirmed to be a prank, that’s not what fans wanted to hear.

Unlike series like One Punch Man news that had fans heaving a sigh of relief when a rapidly circulated redraw announcement by a fan account was quickly dismissed, The Apothecary Diaries decided to prank their fans with something they would actually want. And now they must pay the price of teasing their fan base like that.Accounts like Anime News and Facts shared the news without hesitation, and while many viewers were quick to recognize it as a prank, many hoped that wasn’t the case.

X user @theanimechickx commented, “Please don’t be a joke.” Another user claimed it would “pass as an OVA episode in an alternate world.” Commentator @jctkatch pointed out how regardless of the announcement itself being a prank, it did mean new official artwork, which many fans have been grateful for.

I’ve always wanted to see the characters in a high school setting and they literally gave it to us...

we keep winning pic.twitter.com/qovgWgAQ7k— daily school diaries (@dailykusuriya) April 1, 2025Why The Apothecary Diaries School Spinoff Would Just Make SenseInterestingly, if The Apothecary Diaries was to now get an official school spinoff after starting out as an April Fool’s post, it would not be the first anime to do so.

Since April Fool’s Day in 2023, Tite Kubo’s Bleach has been steadily building its special alternate universe Bleach: The High School Warfare through a series of posts depicting what the characters would look like if they spent more time in high school instead of on the battlefield. A spinoff like that would make even more sense for an anime like The Apothecary Diaries, which has a mostly teenage character cast.Of course, the anime’s premise would still need to be modified to fit a school setting.

As per the prank trailer, The Apothecary Diaries – School Diaries would feature Mao Mao as a first-year high school transfer student aiming to be a pharmacist. Characters like Xiaolan, Jinshi, and even Gyokuyou are her fellow students, while the responsible Gaoshun would be their teacher. It’s an engaging vision, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing more of it, at least for now.

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