Maomao, an apothecary from the pleasure district, is kidnapped and sold into the emperor's rear palace as a lowly servant. Her knowledge of medicine and poisons soon drags her into the medical mysteries and quiet political intrigues playing out behind the palace walls.
The Apothecary Diaries → Season 2 → Season 3 → Season 3 Part 2 → The Deceased Empress’ Treasure
48 episodes + 1 movie / ~19 hours (movies not counted)
Watch the two TV seasons in order first — they run 24 episodes each and lead directly into one another. Season 3 arrives as two broadcast cours in different years, and a standalone film opens in December 2026. The short companion ONAs are optional extras you can skip entirely.
Start here. Season 1 runs 24 episodes and introduces Maomao, an apothecary who is sold into the imperial rear palace and ends up solving cases inside it. Every character and running thread the later seasons build on is set up here.
Picks up directly where Season 1 left off and runs another 24 episodes. Nothing needs to come between the two.
The first half of Season 3, scheduled to begin in October 2026. It has not aired yet, so hold off until it does.
⚠ This season has not aired yet. Check back closer to October 2026.
The second half of Season 3, scheduled for April 2027. Watch it straight after Part 1 — the two cours form one continuous season split across two broadcast slots.
⚠ This has not aired yet. It is scheduled to begin in April 2027.
A standalone film with an original story written by Natsu Hyuga, the author of the light novels. Maomao and Jinshi travel to the homeland of a concubine who died in the rear palace five years earlier, in order to return her remains. It is not a continuation of the TV seasons, but it assumes you know the cast, so watch it after Season 2 at the earliest.
⚠ This has not been released yet. It opens in Japanese theaters on December 11, 2026.
A short companion series released on TOHO animation's official YouTube channel alongside Season 1. Maomao and Jinshi explain the herbs, poisons and other items that turned up in the main show, with small after-the-fact scenes mixed in. Purely supplementary — watch each short after the Season 1 episode it refers to, or skip them entirely.
The shorts return alongside Season 2 with an expanded cast, in the same format — item explanations and brief epilogue scenes tied to the main episodes. Still supplementary, still safe to skip.
The Apothecary Diaries is straightforward to follow once you know one thing going in: each TV season comes with a separate short ONA series called Maomao no Hitorigoto. These shorts are supplementary — Maomao and the others explain the herbs, poisons and other items that showed up in the main episodes, with brief epilogue scenes attached. The main story makes complete sense without them, so treat them as a bonus rather than part of the sequence.
Seasons 1 and 2 are both finished and run back to back, 48 episodes in total. Season 3 is where the schedule gets awkward: it is split across two broadcast cours, the first beginning in October 2026 and the second in April 2027. They form one continuous story divided by a production break, so plan to watch them together once both are out. Separately from the TV run, a standalone film titled The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Empress' Treasure opens in Japanese theaters on December 11, 2026, based on an original story by the light novel author. It is not a continuation of the seasons, but it assumes you already know the cast, so save it until after Season 2 at the earliest.
Nothing beyond Season 2 has been released yet, so for now the practical order is Season 1, then Season 2, with the shorts as an optional detour along the way.
Where each part of the anime lines up with the source, so you know where to pick up reading.
Only spin-offs that tie into the main story are listed here — anthologies, fan books and the like are left out.
The anime continues from Volume 5 of the light novel.
Start with Season 1 from October 2023. It runs 24 episodes and introduces Maomao, an apothecary sold into the emperor's rear palace as a servant. Every character and running thread the later entries build on is set up there, so there is no earlier entry point to worry about.
No. Each short has Maomao and the others explain a herb, poison or other item that appeared in a main episode, with a brief scene set afterward. They add flavour rather than plot, and the TV seasons make complete sense without them. Watch each short after the episode it refers to, or skip them entirely.
No. Season 2 picks up directly where Season 1 ends and assumes you know the full cast and everything that happened across those 24 episodes. Finish Season 1 first.
Season 3 is one story broadcast as two cours in different years. The first begins in October 2026 and the second in April 2027. The split is a scheduling decision, not a story break, so watch them back to back once both are out.
The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Empress' Treasure opens in Japanese theaters on December 11, 2026. It is an original story written by Natsu Hyuuga, the light novel author, in which Maomao and Jinshi travel outside the capital to return a dead concubine's remains to her homeland. It is not a continuation of the TV seasons, but it does assume you know the cast, so save it until after Season 2 at the earliest. Its exact position relative to Season 3 has not been confirmed.
Season 1 covers Volumes 1 and 2 of the light novel, and Season 2 covers Volumes 3 and 4, so Volume 5 is where the story continues. The English light novel runs to the same volume numbers as the Japanese edition, published by J-Novel Club digitally and Square Enix in print. The manga adaptation sits behind the anime, so the novels are the only way forward right now.
Two separate manga adaptations run in parallel. The one illustrated by Nekokurage, published in English by Square Enix, is the more widely read of the two and leans toward the character drama. The other, The Apothecary Diaries: Maomao's Notes on the Inner Palace, is illustrated by Minoji Kurata and published in English by Viz Media, with more emphasis on the mysteries. Neither is a sequel to the other — they adapt the same novels.
