Aoi Yūki, Takeo Ōtsuka and Ryūmaru Tachibana Open the Recording Booth
The Apothecary Diaries stage was built around a box of talk topics. Aoi Yūki (Madoka Kaname in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Tanya in Saga of Tanya the Evil), who voices Maomao, Takeo Ōtsuka (Aqua Hoshino in Oshi no Ko) as Jinshi, and Ryūmaru Tachibana as Basen drew prompts like "a favorite character other than the one you play," "hardships unique to Apothecary," and "recording stories we can finally tell." That format carried them through a look back at the first two seasons, according to an event report from Japanese anime news site Anime Anime.
The venue was a rooftop stage at MIYASHITA PARK, a shopping complex in Shibuya, where Japanese streaming service ABEMA ran six free stages on September 20. The two-day festival, presented with e-book store Comic Seymour as its special supporter, also spread character panels for The Apothecary Diaries, Detective Conan and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4 around the neighborhood. A costumed Maomao joined the character meet-and-greet lineup at the Shibuya Modi department store alongside Takopi from Takopi's Original Sin and Shinnosuke from Crayon Shin-chan.
A Season 3 Trailer and a Film Recorded in Parallel
After the retrospective, the three watched the Season 3 trailer together and talked through the new season's highlights, the new characters to watch, and their own roles. Season 3 starts airing and streaming in Japan on October 2, 2026, and is produced by OLM with Akinori Fudesaka directing.
The film closed out the stage. The trio said recording for Gekijōban Kusuriya no Hitorigoto: Bōhi no Hihō (The Apothecary Diaries movie, opening December 11, 2026) ran alongside the TV recording for Season 3, and they singled out characters to watch for in the theatrical story. The report doesn't name those characters or quote the cast directly.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Slime and a January 2027 Date for the Elf Isekai
The Daemons of the Shadow Realm (Yomi no Tsugai) stage landed one day after the first season's finale and the announcement of a second season. Kenshō Ono (Yuru) and Yume Miyamoto (Asa) revisited season one with scene stills and the Season 2 teaser. For "the hottest scene," Miyamoto picked episode 17, where Gabu-chan explodes at Akio; she said Misaki Kuno's performance carried so much of Gabu-chan's feeling for Asa that it overwhelmed her in the booth. The pair then took a gyaru-culture quiz titled "Yuru's Social Studies in Shibuya," a nod to Yuru's upbringing in a mountain village.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4 brought Miho Okasaki (Rimuru), Megumi Toyoguchi (Raphael), Tomoaki Maeno (Veldora) and Manami Numakura (Hinata) to pick favorite episodes ahead of the second-cour finale. Okasaki chose episode 90, where Rimuru keeps the promise to Shizu; Toyoguchi went with episode 89 and the moment Shion and Diablo, rivals for the secretary post, finally acknowledge each other. Maeno picked the avatar-form training of episode 75, and Numakura chose episode 91 for its look at Hinata's scars and weaknesses. Episode 96, the cour finale, airs September 25.
The SHIBUYA ANIME BASE stage, an ABEMA regular program hosted by comedian Yūki Iwai of the duo Haraichi with Sora Tokui and Shūgo Nakamura, packed in the day's actual news. Hana Hishikawa presented the opening footage of episode one of Majutsu o Kiwamete Tabi ni Deta Tensei Elf, Moteamashita Jumyō de Ikeru Densetsu to Naru (listed by Anime News Network as The Reincarnated Elf Left on a Journey to Master His Magic) and confirmed a January 2027 broadcast. For Tensei Goblin dakedo Shitsumon Aru?, 水希凜 (likely Rin Mizuki) and Momoko Seto revealed their previously hidden roles as hereditary "named goblins": the sixth-generation Masamune and the eighth-generation Echigoya, respectively. Reiji Kawashima, Emiri Katō and Risae Matsuda promoted Kashita Maryoku wa Ribo-barai de Kyōsei Chōshū, and the cast of the Detective Precure movie rounded out the lineup before a tongue-twister "voice actor impersonation challenge" had the assembled voice actors competing across titles.
Two finales bookended the day. Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You opened the stage schedule with its cast previewing the September 24 last episode, and Though I Am an Inept Villainess closed it, with Natsumi Kawaida (Shu Keigetsu) and Hishikawa (Riri) walking through episodes one to ten and unveiling stills from episode 11, the finale that aired that same day.
Looking Ahead
The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 premieres October 2, 2026 and streams on Crunchyroll outside Japan, running as a split-cour with part two set for April 2027. The theatrical film opens in Japan on December 11, 2026; no international release date has been announced yet.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm streams on Crunchyroll, which has said it will carry the second season; no premiere window has been given. Though I Am an Inept Villainess returns with its second cour in January 2027, with the first cour available on Crunchyroll in select regions, Disney+ and Hulu in the U.S. and Europe, and Netflix in Asia. International streaming for the Tensei Elf and Tensei Goblin anime has not been announced.