A main trailer, key visual, and October 2 broadcast start date have been revealed for The Apothecary Diaries Season 3. It was also announced that Yorushika‘s “Kumo o Nuke Kazashimo e Watashi dake” is the opening song, and that Reina Uena has been cast as the mysterious Pai Niangniang.
See Niangniang’s character design below:
Like Season 2, the production credits for the new season include:
• Director: Akinori Fudesaka
• Assistant director: Ko Nakagawa
• Series composer: Norihiro Naganuma (was also chief director on Season 2)
• Character designer: Yukiko Nakatani
• Color designer: Misato Aida
• Background art director: Katsumi Takao
• Compositing director: Mayo Suzuki
• Music composer: Satoru Kosaki
• Music composer: Kevin Penkin
• Music composer: Alisa Okehazama
• Animation production: OLM
For Season 3, Nanako Okazaki (Umamusume: Cinderella Gray, A New Dawn co-color designer) is joining as color designer, while TOHO animation STUDIO no longer shares the animation production credit with OLM
The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 was confirmed last October with a movie, which received a trailer and December 11 release date in July. The new season will have two split cours, with the second to begin in April 2027.
The Apothecary Diaries is based on the Shufunotomo-published light novel series by Natsu Hyuga, with the premise seeing the young Maomao (Aoi Yuki) whisked off to the rear palace. There, she uses the knowledge gained from her apothecary father and her smarts to navigate its complicated relationships and problems, and gets entangled with individuals like the enigmatic and formidable Jinshi (Takeo Otsuka), who becomes drawn to her.
The light novel series, which is illustrated by Toko Shino and published under the Hero Bunko label, began in 2014 and has 16 volumes as of May 2025. There are two manga, one published by Square Enix and the other by Shogakukan. The story started as a web novel on Shosetsuka ni Naro in 2011.
Update: Corrected Pai Niangniang’s spelling and description.
Sources: The Apothecary Diaries anime website
