I’ve been rewatching The Apothecary Diaries lately, and honestly, it just made me even more excited for Season 3. The new season is officially set to premiere in Japan on October 2, 2026, so we’re finally getting close.
If you haven’t watched it yet, the story follows Maomao, a young apothecary who ends up working in the Imperial Palace. She gets involved in all kinds of strange cases involving medicine, poison, illnesses, and palace secrets. What I love most is that Maomao isn’t your typical anime heroine. She’s much more interested in figuring out how a poison works than getting involved in palace drama, which somehow makes her even more fun to watch.
The first two seasons also slowly built up the relationship between Maomao and Jinshi. Their dynamic is probably one of my favorite parts of the show. Jinshi clearly has a soft spot for her, while Maomao is usually far more interested in whatever mystery happens to be in front of her. Season 2 also raised the stakes with the Shi Clan storyline and Jinshi having to face more of his responsibilities and identity.
From what we’ve seen so far, Season 3 looks like it’s going to expand the story quite a bit. Maomao won’t be spending all her time inside the palace anymore, and the promotional material has already teased locusts, a possible food crisis, and a mysterious woman named Bai Niangniang. I’m especially curious about the locust storyline because it sounds like one of those small mysteries that could turn into something much bigger. The season will also be split into two cours, with the second part coming in April 2027.
And apparently, that’s not all. The Apothecary Diaries is also getting its first theatrical movie, Bouhi no Hihou, which is scheduled to open in Japan on December 11, 2026. So 2026 is shaping up to be a pretty good year for fans of Maomao.
I also tried enhancing the latest Season 3 trailer just for fun. It looked a little soft on my monitor, so I ran it through HitPaw VikPea’s Animation Model and upscaled it to 4K. The character lines and small details looked noticeably cleaner afterward. Now I just want the actual season to come out already.
Now I just need October to hurry up.
Anyone else waiting for Season 3? I’m mostly here for more Maomao mysteries and, of course, the Maomao-Jinshi chaos.