TOHO animation began streaming a character promotional video  for The Apothecary Diaries: The Late Lady’s Treasure (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto: Bо̄hi no Hihо̄), the upcoming anime film based on Hyuganatsu and Touko Shino‘s The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) light novel series, on Wednesday. The video highlights the consort Ruoqing and the lady-in-waiting Yinshan, and announces their voice cast.

The new cast members include:

Miyuki Sawashiro as the middle level courtesan Ruoqing, who died five years ago in the Emperor’s inner palace, and whose dying wish was to have her remains return to her homeland five years after her death.

Ai Mikami as Yinshan, Ruoqing’s former lady-in-waiting, and the current attendant of Mu Qing, and a general servant of the Bi clan.

The film features a brand-new story by the original novel series’ author Hyuganatsu. It follows Maomao and Jinshi as they travel to the hometown of a concubine who died five years ago in the imperial harem, to return her remains to her homeland. There, they encounter pirates, hidden treasures, the secret of the Empress’ remains, and a mysterious boy who holds the key to the story.

Mariya Ise joins the cast as key character and Bi clan son Mu Qing. Nobuo Tobita plays Bi clan head Birō. Kumiko Watanabe plays Birō’s wife Shūu. Hirofumi Nojima plays the Bi clan’s eldest son Bisen. (All name Romanizations not confirmed.)

Kenshō Ono plays Kajadan river pirate leader Suija, while Ryōta Takeuchi plays Suija’s subordinate Eishō, and Jirō Saitō plays the late former Kajadan leader Kaja. (All name Romanizations not confirmed.)

The film will open in theaters in Japan on December 11. Crunchyroll announced on Thursday it has acquired the North American and worldwide rights (excluding Asia but including India) to the film. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment will announce the release date at a later time.

The third television anime season premiered on October 2 at 11:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. EDT) in the “Friday Anime Night” programming block on NTV and 29 affiliated channels for its first cours (quarter of a year), and its second cours will premiere in April 2027.

The anime’s first season premiered in October 2023 with the first three episodes, and aired for two cours. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan and is also streaming an English dub.

The second anime season premiered in January 2025 on Nippon TV‘s FRIDAY ANIME NIGHT programming block, and aired for two consecutive cours
. Crunchyroll is streaming the second season, and it is also streaming an English dub.

J-Novel Club publishes the novel series digitally, and it describes the story:

In the East is a land ruled by an emperor, whose consorts and serving women live in a sprawling complex known as the hougong, the rear palace. Maomao, an unassuming girl raised in an unassuming town by her apothecary father, never imagined the rear palace would have anything to do with her—until she was kidnapped and sold into service there.

Though she looks ordinary, Maomao has a quick wit, a sharp mind, and an extensive knowledge of medicine. That’s her secret, until she encounters a resident of the palace at least as perceptive as she is: the head eunuch, Jinshi. He sees through Maomao’s façade and makes her a lady-in-waiting to none other than the Emperor’s favorite consort… so she can taste the lady’s food for poison!

Hyuganatsu began serializing the story on the “Shōsetsuka ni Narō” (Let’s Become Novelists) website in October 2011. Shufunotomo began publishing the novels in print volume with illustrations by Shino in August 2014. Nekokurage launched an ongoing manga adaptation in Square Enix‘s Monthly Big Gangan magazine in May 2017. Square Enix Manga & Books is releasing the manga adaptation in English. The company is also publishing the novels in print. Viz Media is releasing Minoji Kurata‘s separate manga adaptation titled The Apothecary Diaries: Maomao’s Notes on the Inner Palace.

Sources: Apothecary Diaries anime’s website, Comic Natalie

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.

Shueisha is listing new novel adaptations of Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu‘s The Promised Neverland, and Kōji Miura‘s Blue Box manga for release on December 4. Nanao is writing both the Yakusoku no Neverland ~10-nen-me no Okurimono~ (The Promised Neverland: A 10th Year Gift) and Ao no Hako Epilogue (Blue Box Epilogue) novels.

The Yakusoku no Neverland ~10-nen-me no Okurimono~novel, commemorating the manga’s 10th anniversary, depicts the story of Emma and the other children after the manga’s final episode. The novel will also include stories about Cislo and the other members of the Lambda group, and Phil and the rest of the younger children.

The manga’s first novel, Yakusoku no Neverland: Norman kara no Tegami (The Promised Neverland: A Letter from Norman, image right), shipped in Japan in June 2018. The second novel, Yakusoku no Neverland: Mama-tachi no Tsuisōkyoku (The Promised Neverland: Moms’ Song of Remembrance), shipped in January 2019. The second novel focuses on Isabella and Sister Krone.

The third novel, Yakusoku no Neverland: Senyū-tachi no Record (The Promised Neverland: Record of War Buddies), shipped in October 2020. The novel focuses on Yuugo and Lucas. The fourth novel, Yakusoku no Neverland: Omoide no Film-tachi (The Promised Neverland: The Films of Memories), shipped in December 2020. The novel contained stories told in the first anime season’s DVD booklet, and in the Jump Giga magazine, as well as a new short story.

Nanao also wrote all four previous novels.

Shirai and Demizu launched the manga in Shueisha‘s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in August 2016, and the series ended in June 2020. Shueisha published the manga’s 20th and final volume in October 2020. Viz Media publishes the manga digitally and in print in North America. MANGA Plus also publishes the manga digitally in English.

A new bonus one-shot chapter for the manga titled “War vs. Peace” was published in Weekly Shonen Jump on August 24.

The first anime adaptation of The Promised Neverland premiered in January 2019. Aniplex of America streamed the anime on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Funimation, and HIDIVE as it aired. The second season premiered in January 2021. Funimation streamed the series as it aired in Japan.

A live-action film of the manga premiered in December 2020.

The Ao no Hako Epilogue novel depicts stories before and after the manga’s final episode. Stories include Taiki and Chinatsu going out for a drive after Taiki gets his driver’s licence, and Hina being active in rhythmic gymnastics as a university student.

Blue Box manga’s first novel adaptation titled Ao no Hako Prologue (image right) shipped in Japan in December 2024, and included stories about the characters before the manga’s main story.

The second novel adaptation titled Ao no Hako Interlude shipped in Japan in December 2025. The novel includes a story about Kyō Kasahara’s own unrequited love and an episode about Taiki and Chinatsu’s first part-time job experience.

Nanao also wrote the two previous novels.

Miura first published the story as a one-shot manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2020. The magazine started the manga’s serialization in April 2021. The manga ended on July 13. Shueisha published the manga’s 27th compiled book volume on October 2, and the 28th and final volume will ship on December 4. Shueisha‘s MANGA Plus service and Viz Media publish the manga in English digitally and physically, respectively. Viz Media will publish the manga’s 22nd volume on November 3. The overall book franchise surpassed 10 million copies in circulation in May.

The manga’s vertical, full-color version launched on Shueisha‘s Jump TOON manga service in December 2024.

The anime adaptation’s first season debuted in Japan in October 2024. The first season aired for two consecutive cours (quarters of a year). The anime’s second season debuted on October 4 on TBS and 27 other channels. Netflix also streams the new season.

Source: Shueisha (link 2)

The first episode of Bless, based on the manga by Yukino Sonoyama and premiering in January 2027, had an early screening at the Kodansha House pop-up in NYC as part of an anime watch party on October 12 with three other anime titles. I must acknowledge this pop-up wasn’t the ideal venue for such a screening, as it was in the middle of a warehouse, surrounded by music from different activations and cars and motorcycles passing right outside the open doors. For full disclosure, all watch party attendees also received the first volumes of the four screened shows’ manga source material as gifts.

Bless centers around a pair of students at a fashion-focused high school: Aia, a model whose real passion is makeup artistry but has been discouraged from pursuing his dream, and Jun, a girl who’d make a perfect model if only she wasn’t so shy about being teased due to her freckles. Paired up for a transformation-themed runway show, the two classmates decide to help each other, with Aia doing one of his bold makeup designs for Jun’s modeling debut.

Aia initially assumes his job will be to cover up Jun’s freckles, but realizing it’s better to highlight her unique beauty rather than conform to traditional beauty standards, he instead showcases her as a “sunflower.” Jun’s confidence blossoms over the course of this first episode — a confidence which extends to her romantic pursuit of Aia, going from denying any feelings to already giving him an “accidental” kiss after their successful runway show. It’s so much character development in one episode that I’m curious how these arcs will play out over the full series.

Visually, the anime is distinctive. A gorgeous prologue sequence uses painted animation à la the Frieren Season 2 ending sequence. The main art style uses very angular character designs, with color highlights around shadows. Facial details like Jun’s freckles or bags under characters’ eyes are heavily pronounced, except for the details of characters’ pupils, which are more blurred out. The level of detail varies from shot to shot, and at times it feels like a little too much is going on visually, but it’s a well-animated show, and the detail fits a story about makeup. The use of color gives it a clear advantage over the manga in presenting its subject matter effectively.

Bless joins the list of shonen that people are almost certainly going to be shocked to realize is, in fact, shonen. It’s a Noitamina show that feels like what a “Noitamina show” used to mean before the block spent at least half the year on Jump adaptations and retro revivals. We’ll see where it goes, and if it can keep up the momentum from this eventful first episode, but it’s off to a promising start.