薬屋のひとりごと 1

Manga format makes it more approachable

Having never watched the anime or read the light novel, and approaching this knowing nothing about the story in advance, the manga felt like a good way for learners to be introduced to the series. The only things I felt were outright challenging were not related to the language level of the writing, which while it uses its share of formal and archaic forms, was mostly very clear and uncomplicated to parse. I don't consider this manga particularly good for learning with, just because the nature of the language and vocab used is not very broadly applicable, but it's enjoyable so far and feels worth reading if it's up your alley.

The challenge for me was almost entirely due to the setting; I'm not familiar with Chinese history or the culture of the Imperial Court at all, so I didn't understand the politics of the location or the dynamics between the characters very well, and I had to learn so many words at once for different people's roles in the palace that they all just kind of blurred together, and it was hard to remember who was being referred to when they were called by their titles. This is where I was thankful I was reading the manga and not the novel version, because without the visuals helping me understand who was who and where everyone was, I would have been pretty lost.

My other challenge was in the storytelling style, which sprinkles vague details while establishing situations and delays clarifying the most important information for understanding what's going on until later. This was mostly a problem for me because I was trying to understand every piece of dialogue in isolation before moving on, and it would have been easier if I had been more patient or read less intensively; I wound up confused by lines several times, sure I was misunderstanding what they were saying because they sounded nonsensical, only to be given more details two pages later and realize I had just been missing the key piece of context that made it make sense.

Story: If you've seen the anime, volume 1 is basically identical. (If you haven't seen the anime, I highly recommend it!!). 猫猫（マオマオ）is one of the most refreshing MCs I've run into in a long while. She's simultaneously very shrewd, matter of fact about her circumstances, and self-confident, while also having a wide-eyed with wonder childish side when it comes to anything apothecary related (or as a friend put it, 夢中すぎて周りを全然気づいていない)... all while keeping herself out of trouble (as much as possible). The story in vol. 1 is good, but it will really pick up in the next volume or two.

Language: In terms of vocabulary, the main challenges are 後宮 Imperial Court, 薬 Medicine, 花街 Pleasure District, and sometimes 食事 Food/Ingredient vocab. The story is set in a fictional land resembling ancient China - so lots of formal titles and period-specific positions. I ran into an occasional unfamiliar grammar pattern or two, but in general the grammar is straightforward (for its level), and it's always very clear who's speaking. It also has full furigana.