Apothecary Diaries Season Three Debuts Today With a New Studio Split

Season three of The Apothecary Diaries premieres on Friday, October 2, in Nippon TV's Friday Anime Night slot, with Crunchyroll streaming the episode for viewers outside Asia, Anime News Network reported. The return of Maomao and Jinshi opens a split-cour run for the Apothecary Diaries season three, with part one airing this fall and part two scheduled for April 2027.

The new season leaves the rear palace behind. After the Shi clan rebellion, Maomao is back at the Verdigris House in the pleasure district, while Jinshi resumes his duties as the emperor's younger brother, according to TBS News. Their latest investigation starts with something odd about a meal and escalates fast: locusts swarming farmland, whispers of famine, and a pale, mysterious woman stirring trouble out in the western regions.

A quiet production split behind the premiere

The first two seasons were a joint production of TOHO animation STUDIO and OLM. Season three of the Apothecary Diaries is credited to OLM alone, while the franchise film, The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Empress' Treasure, is being produced by TOHO animation STUDIO and opens in Japanese theaters on December 11, the series' episode listings show. The two projects were announced together in October 2025, and the calendar now has one studio on the television series and the other on the film.

Akinori Fudesaka directs the Apothecary Diaries season three, with Norihiro Naganuma handling series composition and Yukiko Nakatani on character designs, the fall broadcast schedules note. Yorushika performs the opening theme, and Eve performs the ending theme, "AIYOU," Anime News Network reported. Reina Ueda joins the cast as Bai Niangniang, a pale and mysterious nymph, the same report said. Aoi Yuki and Takeo Otsuka return as Maomao and Jinshi.

The franchise has come a long way from its start as a serialized web novel in 2011, which became Natsu Hyuga's light novel series and then one of the most-watched mystery anime of the decade, CBR reported. The first season ran twenty-four episodes from October 2023 through March 2024, and the second ran another twenty-four from January to July 2025, the fall broadcast schedules note. Hyuga has said the setting borrows costumes, buildings, and customs from about a thousand years of Chinese history rather than copying any single dynasty, CBR reported. That mix of forensic puzzle-solving and palace politics is what the Apothecary Diaries season three now carries into new territory.

The December film is not a recap of anything viewers have seen. The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Empress' Treasure tells a brand-new story written for the screen by Hyuga herself, Anime News Network reported, with Aoi Yuki and Takeo Otsuka reprising Maomao and Jinshi. It opens in Japanese theaters on December 11, right in the middle of the television season's first cour.

Where and when to watch

Episode one airs October 2 at eleven p.m. Japan time, which is ten a.m. Eastern, in the Friday Anime Night block on NTV and its affiliates, Anime News Network reported. Crunchyroll carries the Apothecary Diaries season three simulcast outside Asia, Netflix streams the show in select Asian regions, and Prime Video starts in Japan on October 3, per the season's streaming announcements. Radio Times published a full fall schedule with new episodes each Friday through December. The Deceased Empress' Treasure arrives December 11, between the episode runs, and the second cour of the Apothecary Diaries season three lands in April 2027.

New viewers can catch up on both prior seasons before the Apothecary Diaries season three premiere; Crunchyroll and Netflix stream them across dozens of territories, anime.com noted. The bite-size spinoff Maomao no Hitorigoto also returns this season, with new shorts streaming each Monday on TOHO animation's YouTube channel, the same outlet reported. A live-action series is also on the way, set to debut on Amazon Prime Video worldwide in 2028, Anime News Network reported.

This premiere lands inside one of the busiest anime weekends in years. Our fall 2026 watchlist breaks down everything arriving alongside it, from Black Clover's return to Blue Box. Crunchyroll's slate got even bigger this week, with nine more series added to the fall lineup. And for another returning franchise, Prince of Tennis hit Crunchyroll on September 30.