The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 – Fall 2026 Anime Preview Guide

What is this?

The rebellion is over, but peace and quiet rarely last in Li. As Maomao returns to her life as a pharmacist, a strange breakfast draws her into a new mystery. Meanwhile, Jinshi fulfills his responsibilities as an imperial brother, haunted by a warning. As rumors speak of an immortal maiden in the midst of an impending famine, the search for answers extends far beyond Li’s borders.

The Apothecary’s Journals Season 3 is based on the light novel series by author Hyūganatsu and illustrator Touko Shino. The animated series is streaming on Crunchy roll on Friday.

How did the first episode go?

Rebecca Silverman
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Here’s a tip for you: If a mysterious woman offers you a panacea for your and the world’s ills and then she smiles creepily, maybe don’t accept it. In the world of The Apothecary’s Journalsthere’s a greater chance that it’s a terrible drug, known to harm people, and it will inevitably be up to Maomao to save the day.

This is, however, just one of the plot points introduced in this first episode of the third season, and one that isn’t even on Maomao or Jinshi’s radar yet. Following the events of the previous season, Maomao left the back palace and returned home to the Pleasure Quarter, taking with her Chou-u, one of the few survivors of the Shi clan. Chou-u may have lost some of her memory and the use of one arm, but her personality is completely intact, which means Maomao has gained a rambunctious younger brother, although I’m not sure she would phrase it that way. In essence, she does for him what was done for her: just as her father and grandmother took her in when her mother couldn’t care for her, Maomao took Chou-u under her wing, eager (and perhaps even determined) to give her a good life. He’s mostly settled in Verdigris House, as is Maomao, although she definitely keeps in touch with at least Lihaku, the puppy soldier she set up with her sister. Being Maomao, she is also very willing to use Lihaku when she needs to – although whether she would admit that it ultimately helps not only her, but also Jinshi, is up for debate.

Although she is out of the palace, it is clear that she still thinks about living there. When Chou-u notices that the “empty” locusts he has been feeding are probably signs of a terrible harvest season to come, Maomao’s first thought is to tell Jinshi. When she discovers that Shi clan books are being sold in town, she calls Lihaku, as she knows he will report the problem. Part of her is still inside the palace walls, although I’m sure she would be reluctant to admit it, and that’s probably good news for Jinshi. He is now fully known as the younger imperial brother, and the emperor’s remark about “finding a flower in Yue” is probably not what he is hoping for. I dare say he’s more interested in a cat.

Although this episode is largely about setting up the next arc and reminding us how the previous one leads up to it, there’s still a lot to enjoy. The stakes seem very high, both politically (making Gyokuyou empress is a definite risk, given her family history) and existentially, because a famine will affect everyone, whether or not they live in the disaster zone. And there’s always poor little Lishu, whose father is clearly not happy with her, a moment that seems very important given the amount of screen time devoted to her – we almost get more of her than Lihua and Gyokuyou. Whether Maomao is at the palace or not, they will surely need his expertise, and I’m sure it won’t be long before a certain moon prince comes calling.

Caitlin Moore
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This is how to transition between arcs!

This season seems pretty weak, but there was one shining light that kept me going: new episodes of The Apothecary’s Journalsa rare example of an anime that is both popular and good. When we last left Maomao and Jinshi, they had just stopped a potential uprising, resurrected a child from death, then welcomed him in and went about their business. Today, the emperor prepares for a political marriage with his concubine Gyokuran, Maomao introduces Chou-U to the ups and downs of life in the pleasure district, and everyone eats locusts.

The new season doesn’t take any time to recap last season, but it does a great job of helping us get into it. It begins with the characters settling into their new normal, the gentle pacing giving us the space to remember what happened previously without outright restating it. As always, new conflicts gradually arise; Maomao’s powers of observation allow him to detect impending disaster before it happens. There’s something wrong with the locusts that people are snacking on, and when she tries to look into it, the book she wants to use for her research has disappeared. She wants to mind her own business, but is constitutionally incapable of doing so. His intellectual curiosity keeps him from staying out of things.

I admit that the domino game is a little more obvious than usual for the series. An imminent invasion of locusts and famine is a real disaster that the emperor will have to face. A mysterious woman also offers “medicine” at the very beginning of the episode. I know she’s mean because the animators drew all of her teeth individually. There is no longer any definitive sign of villainy in the anime.

As an anime-only fan of The Apothecary’s JournalsI can’t wait to see how this plays out. The story has explored love, betrayal, sex and many other topics, but natural disasters take on a new dimension. It’s a perfect subject for a semi-historical show like this.

Jairus Taylor
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Maomao’s Reluctant Detective Diary is back to give us another season, and its web of mysteries looks as compelling as ever. Between the Maomao hostage crisis and everything we learned about Jinshi’s true identity, a lot went down towards the end of last season, so it’s not too shocking that this premiere is quick to jump right into court politics. The palace is still putting itself back in order after the fall of Loulan’s family, and the biggest upset is that Gyokuyo is finally seeking to be elevated to empress, which seems to only add to her list of enemies, as many don’t seem thrilled about having a foreign empress. However, while this rise in power is bound to lead to plenty of political machinations later in the season, I’m just as curious to see how this change will ultimately affect Maomao, as his desire to avoid getting involved with the court will only become more difficult if his level of importance rises alongside Gyokuyo’s.

As for Maomao herself, while she’s managed to avoid getting drawn into new mysteries to solve so far, she’s dealt with last season’s fallout in her own way by continuing to care for one of the Shi clan’s few survivors, Chou-U. Given his generally dour personality, it’s quite funny to see Maomao be reluctantly forced to play the role of big sister to him, and while Chou-U doesn’t add much to the series on his own beyond making it a little easier for Maomao to get drawn into new situations she doesn’t want to deal with, giving her someone new to bounce off of for most of the episode at least makes it a little easier to swallow that Jinshi is usually nowhere around here. Chou-U’s presence also helps set up what appears to be this season’s central conflict: when he decides to munch on locusts, he can’t help but notice that the taste could indicate that a locust invasion is approaching, one that could sweep the entire nation.

Given that the extermination of the Shi clan has already put the Emperor in a difficult situation, dealing with a plague will only make his situation worse, and since it seems that the incoming plague might share a connection with the immortality drug that Maomao is seeking, it seems that all the pieces are in play for this to inevitably become his problem. Still, while this all seems like a good setup for the rest of the season, if there’s one big thing missing from this premiere, it’s Maomao bickering with Jinshi, and given that she can no longer stay in denial about who he really is, I’m really looking forward to seeing how their relationship develops from here. For now, though, it’s good to have this show back, and as long as there are compelling new mysteries for Maomao to solve, I’m sure it will be one of the biggest highlights of the fall season.

Kevin Cormack
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Huzzah! Maomao, everyone’s favorite misanthrope/gremlin/poisonous drug addict catgirl, is back, and this time the locusts are munching on everyone. No, this isn’t a new diet craze. The locusts devour all the crops in the provinces, and all that remains is crunchy insects, with long legs and hollowed-out intestines then roasted in sugar. Or, I suppose it is; why else would anyone eat a huge plate of these things for breakfast?

It turns out that grasshoppers taste bad; who would have thought it? For a true entymological culinary delight, eating the locusts that have been munching on the crops is far preferable. But these idiot city dwellers don’t know that; only those associated with the now-destroyed Shi clan appreciate such knowledge. Like Kyou-u, who, despite what appears to be nasty brain damage from last season’s near-death experience causing unfortunate memory loss, can still remember…