Maomao and Jinshi are speaking English again. Crunchyroll announced on October 15 that the English dub for the third season of The Apothecary Diaries begins streaming on Friday, October 16, two weeks after the season premiered in Japan. Emi Lo returns as Maomao and Kaiji Tang returns as Jinshi, reprising the roles they played in the dubs for the first two seasons.
Crunchyroll shared the news on X. Check it out below:
The English Dub Cast
The cast also includes Alex Hom as Gaoshun, Ricco Fajardo as Lakan, and Monica Rial, who pulls double duty as both the narrator and Ah-Duo. Here is the full English cast for Season 3:
- Emi Lo as Maomao
- Kaiji Tang as Jinshi
- Jad Saxton as White Lady
- Suzie Yeung as Shisui
- Anne Yatco as Kyou-u
- Nazeeh Tarsha as Guard
- Wendy Powell as Madam
- Oscar Seung as Ukyou
- Seth Fuentes as Lihaku
- Eli Farmer as Onsou
- Monica Rial as Narrator and Ah-Duo
- Rebecca Danae as Meimei
- Caleb Yen as Lahan
- Alex Mai as Emperor
- Ricco Fajardo as Lakan
- Reshel Mae as Lishu
- Charles Nguyen as Rikuson
- Seth Magill as Uryuu
- Phil Parsons as Gyokuen
- Adrian Godinez as Mr. Owner
- Tom Aglio as Niban
- Alex Hom as Gaoshun
- Ed Escamilla as Basen
- Monica Flatley as Joka
- Kit Lozano as Kanan
Paxton Lee, Nasim Benelkour, Mauricio Ortiz-Segura, Brandon Acosta, Daniela Valkova, and Elizabeth Hohman provide additional voices.
Crunchyroll is producing the dub in-house, with Shawn Gann as voice director and Kevin D. Thelwell as assistant voice director. Susie Nixon is the producer, and Justin Cook, Michael Harcourt, and Nathanael Harrison are the studio producers. Clayton Browning wrote the English adaptation under adaptation supervisor Macy Anne Johnson, with adaptation prep by Benjamin Tehrani. Tara A. Williams and Brittni Hurley handled talent coordination, Gino Palencia and Brandon Peters are the engineering managers, Derric Benavides is the engineer with assistant engineer Katie Saltkill, and James Baker mixed the dub.
Season 3 In Japan
The third season premiered on October 2 in the "Friday Anime Night" programming block on NTV and 29 affiliated channels, and Crunchyroll has been streaming it with subtitles as it airs in Japan. New episodes arrive on Fridays at 11:00 a.m. ET. The season is split into two cours, with the first running now and the second premiering in April 2027.
Akinori Fudesaka is directing Season 3 at OLM, with Wataru Nakagawa as assistant director. Norihiro Naganuma, who directed the first season and served as chief director on the second, is handling series composition, and Yukiko Nakatani is designing the characters. Satoru Kosaki, Kevin Penkin, and Arisa Okehazama are composing the music. OLM is now the sole animation studio on the series, since TOHO animation STUDIO, which shared the credit on the earlier seasons, is no longer listed.
yorushika performs the opening theme, "Kumo o Nukekazashimo e Watashidake" (I Am Alone, Breaking Through the Clouds Downwind), and Eve performs the ending theme, "AIYOU." Check out the official Season 3 trailer below:
How The Series Got Here
The anime's first season premiered in October 2023 with its first three episodes and ran for two cours. The second season premiered in January 2025 on Nippon TV's Friday Anime Night block and also aired for two consecutive cours. Crunchyroll streamed both seasons as they aired in Japan and offers both with an English dub.
The story is based on the light novel series by Hyuganatsu with illustrations by Touko Shino. In a land ruled by an emperor, Maomao is an unassuming girl raised by her apothecary father, until she is kidnapped and sold into service in the rear palace where the emperor's consorts live. She hides a quick wit and deep knowledge of medicine, but the head eunuch Jinshi sees right through her and makes her a lady-in-waiting to the Emperor's favorite consort, where her job is to taste the lady's food for poison.
Hyuganatsu began serializing the story on the "Shosetsuka ni Naro" (Let's Become Novelists) website in October 2011, and Shufunotomo started publishing it in print with Shino's illustrations in August 2014. J-Novel Club publishes the novels digitally in English, while Square Enix Manga & Books publishes them in print. The series also has two separate manga adaptations. Nekokurage's version launched in Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan in May 2017 and is released in English by Square Enix Manga & Books, while Minoji Kurata's The Apothecary Diaries: Maomao's Notes on the Inner Palace is published in English by Viz Media.
A Film And A Live-Action Series On The Way
Fans will not have to wait for April to see more of Maomao. The franchise's first film, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto: Bohi no Hiho (The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Empress' Treasure), opens in Japanese theaters on December 11 and features a brand-new story written by Hyuganatsu. A live-action series is also in the works and will debut worldwide on Amazon Prime Video in 2028.
Are you switching over to the English dub for Season 3, or are you sticking with the subtitled episodes as they air?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.