Jinshi Steps Out From Behind the Rear Palace
The second promotional video, posted to the TOHO animation YouTube channel, is built almost entirely around Jinshi. Season 3 returns him to his true standing as the emperor's younger brother, and the footage has him facing two problems at once: a "disaster striking the nation" and the mystery of an immortal woman who has the whole city talking. Maomao is right there with him for both.
The map expands to match. The first two seasons kept most of the casework inside the rear palace. Season 3 pushes out into the streets of Li, and then past its borders into a neighboring country. The trailer cuts between the immortal woman's unsettling smile and fragments of whatever the disaster turns out to be. It also hints at the obligations Jinshi cannot dodge now that he is openly a member of the imperial family again.
It ends on a line from the current emperor about it being time for Yue to choose a flower, followed by a whisper from Jinshi that carries both resolve and sadness. The name Yue is written with the character for "moon," which suggests the remark is aimed squarely at Jinshi's own prospects. What the disaster actually is, who the immortal woman is, and how Maomao and Jinshi's relationship shifts are all questions the broadcast will have to answer.
Eve Writes the Season's Quieter Half
The ending theme is "AIYOU" by Eve, the singer-songwriter behind "Kaikai Kitan," the first Jujutsu Kaisen opening. Japanese anime news site Anime Anime describes the track as gentle with an undercurrent of melancholy, written to sit close to Jinshi as new duties land on him.
In a comment carried in the same report, Eve said the song grew out of the idea that a person's heart does not come undone the way a mystery does, and that feelings nobody can put into words can open up a distance "as wide as the universe" between two people standing right next to each other. Eve added that the hope is for the track to become a moment of quiet listening once an episode finishes.
That pairs with the opening theme, Yorushika's 「雲を抜け風下へ私だけ」, already confirmed in the Season 3 staff credits. Music duties again go to Satoru Kōsaki, Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss) and Alisa Okehazama.
Maomao no Hitorigoto Comes Back Too
The mini anime "Maomao no Hitorigoto," which ran alongside the first two seasons, is confirmed for Season 3. Each short has Maomao and company break down a key item from that week's episode, so it doubles as a recap and a footnote. New episodes go up Mondays at noon Japan time on the TOHO animation official YouTube channel, and Season 3 versions of the chibi designs for Maomao, Jinshi, Basen, Lahan, Rikuson and Chou-u have been revealed.
The series adapts Natsu Hyūga's light novels, published under Imagica Infos' Hero Bunko imprint, which have passed 57 million copies in circulation worldwide. It is a mystery series set in the imperial rear palace, following Maomao, a girl working as a food taster, as she picks apart one difficult case after another. Aoi Yūki voices Maomao and Takeo Ōtsuka voices Jinshi, with Katsuyuki Konishi as Gaoshun and Reina Ueda joining as Bai Niangniang. Tatsumaru Tachibana (Basen), Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Lahan), Kōki Uchiyama (Rikuson) and Natsumi Fujiwara (Chou-u) all return, with Sumi Shimamoto on narration.
Akinori Fudesaka directs at OLM, the studio behind Pokémon and Odd Taxi, with Norihiro Naganuma on series composition and Yukiko Nakatani on character design.
Looking Ahead
Season 3 starts October 2, 2026, airing Fridays at 11 p.m. across 30 Nippon TV-affiliated stations in the FRIDAY ANIME NIGHT block, with streaming rolling out after each broadcast. It runs as a split season: the first cour from October 2026, the second from April 2027. Crunchyroll streams The Apothecary Diaries worldwide outside Asia.
There is a movie on the way as well. The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Empress' Treasure opens in Japan on December 11, 2026, built on an all-new story conceived by Natsu Hyūga. No international release date has been announced for it yet.
The light novels are available in English digitally from J-Novel Club and in print from Square Enix Manga & Books, which also publishes the manga adaptation in English.