The Medical Anime You MUST Watch This Season (That Isn’t Apothecary Diaries)

While fans of The Apothecary Diaries are rightfully excited about the series’ return with season 2 on January 10, a brand-new medical series has emerged this Winter 2025 anime season that might just scratch the same itch as the aforementioned. Ameku Takao no Suiri Karte, literally “Ameku Takao’s Mystery Medical Record” but known in English as Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective, is an exciting new medical mystery anime available on Crunchyroll that both fans of The Apothecary Diaries and of medical shows like the multiple Emmy Award-nominated Fox TV series, House, will enjoy watching this season.

Here’s a breakdown of what to expect from Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective and why it’s a series worth watching.

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What is Ameku M.D. About?

Plot and Background Information

Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective is a medical mystery anime series based on the Ameku Takao’s Detective Karte novel series written by Mikito Chinen and illustrated by Noizi Ito (character designer, illustrator, Shakugan no Shana series). The novel was originally published Shinchosha’s Shincho Bunko nex imprint, running for thirteen volumes from September 2014 to August 2022. A manga adaptation illustrated by Hiroki Ohara was serialized in Shinchosha’s seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic @ Bunch from April 2016 to March 2018, and it was collected into four volumes.

In October 2023, a new version of the novel series by the same author and illustrator began publishing under Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha in their Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha Bunko imprint. The Ameku M.D. anime series is produced by staff at Project No.9 (Senpai Is an Otokonoko) and releases new episodes every Thursday.

Production staff includes director Kazuya Iwata (storyboard, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl), series composer Satoru Sugizawa (series composition, Love After World Domination); who writes the series’ scripts alongside original creator Mikito Chinen and Yūko Kakihara, scriptwriter for The Apothecary Diaries, as well as character designer Yuka Takashina (chief animation director, Mieruko-chan).

The cast of Ameku M.D. includes Ayane Sakura (Ochaco Uraraka, My Hero Academia) as Takao Ameku, Kenshō Ono (Floch, Attack on Titan) as Yū Takanashi and Manaka Iwami (Tōru Honda, Fruits Basket 2019) as Mai Kōnoike. Ameku M.D. also boasts a soundtrack featuring songs by Japanese instrumental band fox capture plan. The series premiered with a double-episode special as an introduction to the series’ pace and themes. Ameku M.D. follows Dr. Takao Ameku is the brilliant yet eccentric director of investigative pathology at Tenikai General Hospital, where her job is to diagnose patients that other departments cannot; however, due to her curiosity and love of mystery-solving, Dr. Takao finds herself involved in the investigations of mysterious deaths while dragging her assistant, Yu Takanashi, along for the ride.

Why Is Dr. Ameku Worth Watching?

The Series Had a Strong Start With Its First Case

Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective premiered its first two episodes together when began airing on January 2 in order to give viewers a good taste of what to expect from the series and show the first case to its conclusion. The series follows a similar format to most shows of this particular niche, with the brilliant medical savant Dr. Ameku as the brains behind each solved case. With her incredible medical knowledge and ability to identify diseases almost at a glance, Dr. Ameku is a protagonist akin to many before her, particularly the protagonist and titular character of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack. Each episode presents its own B-case and a main case, which, in the first episode, was that of a young man with a severed leg who was bleeding blue blood.

The construction of the mysteries, based on the first one, is particularly interesting because it finds ways to connect the impossible with the possible, and Dr. Ameku’s approach to problem-solving is very “House-esque”. In many ways, Dr. Ameku is similar to The Apothecary Diaries main character Maomao, particularly with their passion for deduction and inability to step away from a mystery. Both are brilliant medical practitioners, but Maomao’s situation has the edge when it comes to being compelling due to the historical setting and associated lack of medical knowledge characteristic of such a time; however, the scriptwriter of The Apothecary Diaries is also involved in writing the scripts for Ameku M.D., which also adds to the reasons why the series is a must-watch. The fact that both episode 1 and 2 aired on the same day shows the intent of garnering interest in the series, and better yet, the possibility of a well-paced medical mystery series is very exciting, especially with the rise of anime series that have medicine and healthcare as central themes in recent years.

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Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective