Before I Knew I Loved You — Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Toshikazu Kawaguchi has delivered another collection of short stories that would tug at your heart. If you're new to this series, it revolves around people attempting to travel back to the past and occasionally glimpse the future in order to resolve past regrets, make informed decisions, or address their doubts. In the course of events, they find meaningful resolutions and newfound determination. One of the stories, that of the patient man, felt like a page out of a manga or a storyline from an anime — first loves, old regrets, and everything in between. The woman who wanted to look into the future is probably my favorite, though definitely the most heartbreaking. More than her story, I especially liked that since she visited the future, we see a different but happy Kazu. They're short, but they fill the heart.
The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 16 — Natsu Hyuuga
Volume 16 is densely packed — brimming with mysteries, plot developments, and a little bit of everything. Maomao and Jinshi are back to solving a mystery together, Yao and En'en reappear, we get a snippet of Maomao's family dynamics, and the volume culminates in a smallpox outbreak with a significant moral dilemma at its heart. Seeing them work together again reminded me of when we first started this series — and despite their primarily business-oriented interactions, the little snippets of affection feel like a sweet candy given to a child. The haunting idea of Kokuyou as a "mirror" resonated deeply: the thought-provoking notion that we sometimes treat people the way they treat us, especially when we're on defense mode, genuinely made me stop and reflect. The slow-burn romance between Basen and Lishu, though, is quite frustrating — Basen is an idiot, and I really felt for Chue and Maamei. And Maomao's heartbreak deeply saddened me — the kind of emotional gut-punch that reminds you why you fell in love with this series in the first place.
The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 15 — Natsu Hyuuga
This volume doesn't ease you in — it goes straight into surgical territory, and somehow makes historical medical procedures genuinely gripping. The pacing is almost whiplash: one moment you're laughing at a character interaction, the next your heart is quietly breaking over Ah Duo's arc. What holds it all together is Hyuuga's confidence in shifting tones without warning — and pulling it off every time. The one small complaint: Jinshi and Maomao barely share scenes, which will sting for anyone invested in them. But even with limited page time, the weight of how he loves and values her still comes through. By the last page, my heart was full in the best way — this series keeps finding new ways to earn it.