The Apothecary Diaries Season 3

The Apothecary Diaries is one of the biggest mystery franchises in anime today. By August 2026, its books and comics had more than 57 million copies in circulation. It began as a light novel series by Hyuganatsu, with art by Touko Shino, first published in 2014. Toho Animation Studio and OLM make the anime. Season 1 aired from October 2023 to March 2024, and Season 2 from January to July 2025. This third season premieres on October 2, 2026. It is split into two parts, and the second part is planned for April 2027.

The story takes place in Li, a made-up country that looks and feels like imperial China. Our heroine is Maomao, a young woman who learned about medicine and poisons from her adoptive father, an apothecary. (An apothecary is someone who makes and sells medicine.) Maomao is smart, blunt, and very curious. She loves testing poisons, sometimes on herself. In earlier seasons, she was taken to work in the palace and ended up solving many strange cases there with her sharp mind and her knowledge of plants and drugs.

One of the most important people in her life is Jinshi. He is a beautiful and powerful young man at court who kept giving Maomao hard problems to solve. The two have a funny and slowly growing bond. Maomao often acts bored by him, while he clearly cares about her.

Season 3 starts after a large rebellion by the Shi clan, a powerful family, has ended. Life has become calmer. Maomao is back in the pleasure district of the capital, working again as a pharmacist near the Verdigris House, the fancy house where she grew up. But Maomao cannot leave a puzzle alone. Something about a breakfast served there feels wrong to her, and she starts to look into it.

Jinshi's life has changed a lot. The truth about who he really is has come out, and he now has the heavy duties of a member of the imperial family. He is also worried by a last warning he received near the end of the rebellion. It said that a great disaster would hit the country. On top of that, people start talking about a mysterious shrine maiden, a kind of religious woman, who is said to be fooling the public. These worries point to new trouble for the nation.

This season makes the world bigger. The story moves from the hidden rooms of the palace, to the busy city streets, and even beyond the country's borders. The show keeps its best parts: clever small mysteries, facts about old medicine, rich costumes and settings, and the dry humor between Maomao and Jinshi. A film, The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Empress' Treasure, is also set for December 11, 2026.