Kusuriya no Hitorigoto manga reaches volume 22 on June 18, 2026

The Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries) manga will publish its 22nd volume on June 18, 2026. Publisher Shogakukan announced the date; the series runs under its Sunday GX Comics imprint with the full title Kusuriya no Hitorigoto ~Maomao no Koukyuu Nazotoki Techou~.

Nekokurage's work, based on Natsu Hyuuga's light novels, has surpassed 45 million accumulated copies across the franchise. The figure comes from the publisher's statement, which also confirms the volume 23 date: it will release on December 9, 2026, barely six months later.

Cover of volume 22 of the Kusuriya no Hitorigoto manga.collabo-cafe.com

A night circus and a letter from Jinshi

The arc that closes in this volume begins with a traveling circus arriving in the capital at night. Among its members is a white-haired, red-eyed woman called a "fairy." They say she reads minds, creates money, and prepares an elixir of immortality.

Maomao goes with Luomen, her adoptive brother, to check how much truth there is in those rumors. What they find there is left open at the end of the previous volume, and the synopsis Shogakukan teases does not reveal the outcome.

Meanwhile, Jinshi —who has already presented himself publicly as the emperor's brother— sends a letter to Maomao. The contents of that missive are the other unknown this volume resolves.

"What did Jinshi write in the letter he sent to Maomao?" the publisher asks, without giving further clues.

From the court to the pleasure district

The story of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto follows Maomao, a young apothecary raised in the pleasure district who ends up serving in the imperial palace. Her skill with poisons and medicinal plants makes her a key piece in solving the mysteries surrounding the court.

At the current point in the manga, Maomao has returned to the pleasure district and is looking for a way to stop the locust plague threatening to destroy the country. To do so, she tries to obtain the last of the atlases kept by the Zi clan in their fortress. The location of that document is another thread the series keeps open.

The anime adaptation already has a third season and a film confirmed. The manga is the most popular version of the franchise, although Natsu Hyuuga's original novels are still being published in Japan.

A steady release pace

The manga's schedule has stayed constant for years. Volume 21 went on sale in December 2025, and the calendar Shogakukan now confirms makes it clear the series is not stopping: volume 22 in June, volume 23 in December.

Shogakukan's Sunday GX imprint has published Nekokurage's work since 2017. The adaptation departs from the original text in some points, but keeps the historical mystery novel tone that defines the series.

Volume 22 will arrive in Japanese bookstores on June 18, 2026. The Spanish edition of the manga is handled by other publishers, though there is no confirmed date for this volume outside Japan yet.