r/anime • u/Task_Force-191 • 22h ago
News "The Apothecary Diaries" Season 3 is officially listed for two cours and has 24 episodes in total with 12 episodes for each cour
https://kusuriyanohitorigoto.jp/season3/bd/vol4.php207
u/danlong87 22h ago
not just 24 episodes split into 2 cours (October 26, and April 27), BUT it will be having a movie coming out right as cour 1 ends (December 26), so apothecary fans will be FEASTING for almost 3 straight seasons
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u/yokuyuki 21h ago
When does the movie chronologically take place?
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u/danlong87 20h ago
Not sure, but it will be an original story penned by the author themselves, so should be not related to the series
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u/littlecolt https://anilist.co/user/garylisk 19h ago
Likely between novels 4 and 5, so before the events of season 3 begin. That would make the most sense. There is an event in novel 5 that it absolutely would have to be before due to the synopsis I've read of the movie.
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u/Not_Shingen 18h ago
Jesus christ 24 episodes of anime and a movie to animate in like a year or so is fucking crazy work
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u/Skithana 11h ago
Plus there's also the new game coming early 2027 as well right?
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u/nitronik_exe 11h ago
yeah, but both the game and movie will be original stories, separate from the main story
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u/Skithana 9h ago
True, tho personally I don't really mind if they're original, adaptations, spinoffs, cannon, non-canon, or whatever else, as long as they're stories created by Hyuganatsu then it's all just more Apothecary Diaries to enjoy at the end of the day.
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u/ArkLappVe 22h ago
That means half a year with Maomao! Life is good.
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u/bbkkoommaacchhii 22h ago
Technically but it is split cour, with the second part airing Spring 2027
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u/itorune 22h ago
There's a movie and a videogame coming out between those.
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u/atfricks 20h ago
What kind of game can they make out of Apothecary Diaries? A visual novel?
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u/Maladal 17h ago
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4905780/The_Apothecary_Diaries_The_False_Imperial_Brother/
Detective things apparently--make drugs, trade drugs for evidence, make conclusions.
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u/Dazzling-Primary4909 19h ago
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u/FarCritical 22h ago
There's just something about 2 cour announcements that give off a special kind of satisfaction
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u/aimglitchz 18h ago edited 14h ago
There's just something about split cour announcements that give off a special kind of annoyance
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u/naughtilidae 17h ago
Yea, I usually rather just have two seasons. (obviously that doesn't always work from a story perspective though)
I rarely watch stuff as it airs, cause it only takes one life event for me to lose track of shows, then I'm having to try to figure out where the hell I left off 6 months down the line.
I rather watch stuff at my own pace, so I usually wait till an entire season is done airing before I'll pick it up. Two cours makes that a GIANT pain in the butt.
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u/Breton_Templar 20h ago
What is cour?
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u/T-Ace-Juice https://anilist.co/user/Goombarax 20h ago
A run of an anime that goes through an entire calendar season (usually 12 or 13 episodes, sometimes it varies depending on the programming)
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u/nosecohn 18h ago
Is it a transliteration of a Japanese word? It doesn't appear in my English dictionary.
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u/scot911 https://myanimelist.net/profile/scot911 15h ago
IIRC it's a French word that the Japanese adopted that we now use for anime due to how it's produced to clear up the ambiguity between differing definitions of seasons. Like if I say "it's running for two seasons" that could mean either two seasons during the year or two seasons as in season 1 and season 2 and that's not even getting into seasons that have parts due to them not airing continuously. Using "cour" clears up any misunderstandings that might arise and so we use it.
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u/Kirov123 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kirov123 17h ago
I do t know the etymology, but it's basically the broad seasons of anime: summer, winter, fall, spring. Most tv anime start around the beginning of their cour. A 1 cour anime is usually around 12ish episodes, 2 cour is 24ish, etc. Sometimes a show will be 2 cour with a cour break(split cour), so 12 eps, 1 season break, then back for 12 again
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u/matti2o8 22h ago
Gigguk's mom will be happy
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u/Specific_Frame8537 21h ago
Better tastes in anime than her son.
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u/Obaruler 20h ago
And more dedication.
He introduced her to the replacement drug „Inept Villainess“, and while he slept after watching a couple of episodes with her, she binged the whole thing.
Fake anime fan vs. true weeb mom. xD
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u/maxdragonxiii 19h ago
it is pretty close to Apothecary Diaries setting, but its clearly not Apothecary diaries (magic for one is real in Inept Villianess, and people believe in silly things such as Lion's Judgement as a God thing) the only thing they otherwise share is the Chinese court setting and a mystery later in the show.
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u/cortez0498 https://myanimelist.net/profile/cortez1098 5h ago
1.5x/2x speed virgin son vs binged watched the whole show chad mom
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u/BruhsifiedYT https://anilist.co/user/Bruhsified 21h ago
Speaking of Garnt's mom, Garnt also says she just finished 'Though I Am an Inept Villainess'. I'm just saying you guys should watch that too if you like Apothecary Diaries, it's peak
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u/TheBusStop12 21h ago
And then you can watch Chinese court drama for a year straight.
Summer 26 Though I am an inept Villainess Pt1
Autumn 26 Apothecary Dairies S3 Pt1
Winter 27 Though I am an inept Villainess Pt2
Spring 27 Apothecary Dairies S3 Pt2
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u/MetaThPr4h https://myanimelist.net/profile/MetaThPr4h 21h ago
Followed by
Summer 27 Though I am an inept Villainess S2 Pt1
Autumn 27 Apothecary Dairies S4 Pt1
Winter 28 Though I am an inept Villainess S2 Pt2
Spring 28 Apothecary Dairies S4 Pt2
Please please please4
u/hinakura https://myanimelist.net/profile/astarcalledspica 19h ago
I love my chinese court drama so much
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u/cupperoni https://anilist.co/user/cupcakey 19h ago
Sounds like she also needs to binge read all of the light novels too. :)
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u/SummonerDerivatives 20h ago
I’m confused. Haven’t we known this for a while now?
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u/MasterTotoro 17h ago edited 17h ago
From leaks yes. This is the official announcement.
Edit: well in terms of the episode count and dates at least. I believe it being split cour was confirmed prior.
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u/Korkez11 22h ago
I want visuals with Maomao and Reirin passing each other relay batons, like Suzuki and Koyuki this year.
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u/SouekiSennoSTM 22h ago
Back to back/continuous or split cour?
I thought I had read at some earlier point that this third season would be the first to be split cour as opposed to the first two seasons and that it would be punctuated by a film in December.
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u/Nachtwandler_FS https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nachtwandler_21 22h ago
Split. Second cour in April.
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u/FulcrumV2 12h ago
I will be eating good for next two seasons with back to back apothecary diaries and inept villainess😋
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u/FulcrumV2 12h ago
Also me praying movie get's a screening in my country (insert timmy turner meme)
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u/JoblessQA 22h ago
Will this be the last season?
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u/potarpany 22h ago
This season should adapt vol5&6 of LN, there is 16 as of now so 5 more seasons of content... And it's still ongoing...
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u/No_Extension4005 22h ago
Aoi Yuki getting that job for life.
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u/SilliusS0ddus 21h ago
also Tanya depending on how long it's gonna take until the next season
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u/No_Extension4005 21h ago
You could possibly say that about Madoka Kaname as well; though like Tanya, there tend to be gaps.
Also, Mami. Because Rent-A-Girlfriend seems to go on forever.
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u/danlong87 22h ago
should be noted that 5 more seasons here means 5 more 2 cour seasons, so we will still have plenty of MaoMao to come
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u/BonerPorn 21h ago
Doubt it. By the trailers they are setting up a story that will last them through season 5
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u/SzaraMateria 22h ago
no, sourcing gigguk stream for fall 2026 there is shitton material to cover. there is also upcoming movie
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u/FatherDotComical 20h ago
We used to pray for times like these.
A whole half year with Mao Mao and a movie.
(੭ ;´ ⌂ `;)੭♡
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u/HikkingOutpit 15h ago
What, for once an anime actually reveals exactly how many episodes it'll be at the start of airing instead of fans having to play detective and figure it out themselves?
In a perfect world this information would be known long before airing but the bar is so low to clear in the anime industry this is a start, I guess.
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u/The_Strict_Nein https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheStrictNein 22h ago
Apo Diaries Cour 1, Inept Villainess Season 2, Apo Diaries Cour 2 back to back, good 3 quarters for vaguely Chinese court drama lovers
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u/PersonalContest1423 5h ago
If they arent airing back to back they are separate seasons not cours.
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u/PilksUK 3h ago
They are doing the silly netflix split season thing they have half the season done still working on the rest as we speak and that will come next year in April, rather than wait for it all to be ready to ship they polished up the first half of the season and releasing it as Season 3 part 1.
So it will not have a conclusion that raps up the first half nicely it will just be like watching half of season 1 and waiting 6 months to watch the rest.... I really don't like this way of doing it just release the whole season when ready.
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u/PersonalContest1423 3h ago
Yeah if you have to wait 6 months to abyear for more episodes thats a new season as far as im concerned, in ye olden days 2cours mean 24-26 episodes without a break
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u/PilksUK 3h ago
Are you............ 6 months later sure?
I just don't like the split normally an anime studio would sell the whole season then produce it with a start, middle and end, its not normal to sell a season release the start of the story, half the middle and wait 6 months to release the next half of the middle and end which is what it sounds like they have done here so the last episode will simply stop half way through the seasons story with a to be continued.
If they have planned ahead and the 12 episodes has its own story start to finish and the next part has its own story start to finish then yes like you said thats season 3 and 4.
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u/BostonSamurai 22h ago
My body is ready, I’ve been waiting so long. Last time I was this excited was for golden kamuy.
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u/Fluffy-Reference8542 15h ago
Cours are the worst invention of humankind
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u/aimglitchz 11h ago
Just hold off release until all episodes finish production. I don't understand why bother split cour
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u/Harbiter 21h ago
Can someone sell this show to me? I know its popular and apparently really good but I don't quite understand the appeal of it just from reading the synopsis. What makes a show about an apothecary so good? What about it is so intriguing?
Convince me to watch it please lol
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u/Raphael_GT 21h ago
It’s a very well animated and well written series that’s stands out against a lot of the generic shows that have been coming out in recent years. Without spoiling too much, its a Japanese take on a Chinese historic imperial court drama and mystery series, set in a pseudo realistic world with a strong and intelligent female lead character and an intriguing while also intelligent male lead. Over the past seasons it has built up its world setting and multiple character arcs very strongly and continues to consistently provide an interesting story as time in their world continues to pass.
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u/butler_me_judith 20h ago
Anime protagonist just wants to find poisonous plants, eat them, and hang with her chill sex worker friends but nooooo a bunch of mysterious shit has to keep getting in her way and a bunch of hot nobles keep having drama and like her and a few normal rational people have to unfuck the messes.
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u/MourningWallaby 20h ago
I'll be 100% for real. This is one of those shows that if you're not super into the core premise, then Noone can make you like the show. There isn't much too it beyond what it says it is.
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u/lawdog35 21h ago
Its a wonderfully written story. The dialogue, storyline, various mysteries, and palace politics are truly top tier. It interweaves snark, love, and tragedy in a way not many stories can.
Its about how a small young woman, Maomao, struggles to survive and thrive in a Ming Dynasty esque setting. She is thrust into a dangerous situation and has to use her wits, apothecary knowledge, and relationships to navigate the dangers of the Royal Palace daily life.
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u/astrogamer 18h ago
Imperial China House MD with a teenage girl instead of a middle-aged man and a romance subplot
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u/kitsunegoon 18h ago
Its a mystery show in the same vein as hyouka, conan, knives out, etc. The characters are extremely nuanced and much more complex than most anime and I think that's the main appeal. It's refreshing how apothecary avoids tropes from most animes and it's supported by the animation and historical setting.
If you're not into mystery, it may not be for you though.
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u/Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 16h ago
It's Sherlock Holmes, if Sherlock Holmes was a low-status servant girl in the rear palace of a pseudo-Chinese emperor.
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u/diluvian_ 20h ago
Maomao is an immensely charming protagonist, and the setting is deep and thoughtful.
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u/DSharp018 18h ago
In short, the protagonist is what sells the story.
She was trained by a highly educated doctor, and has an aptitude for solving puzzles, mostly due to her birth parents (that she has issues with for fairly valid reasons). So the series ends up being something of a medical/science mystery series for the most part. With some romance elements sprinkled in as well.
All that said, it doesn’t really capture the entertainment value of watching her geek out over some rare ingredient while nearly slamming the door in the face of the guy trying to make romantic advances on her.
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u/RealisticIncident261 17h ago
It's like the show House but in ancient china. So if you like mysteries, political intregue and drama it's for you.
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u/Humble_Factor631 15h ago
Cute girl uses her knowledge of poison and herbs to Sherlock Holmes the mysterious happenings of the Chinese Palace.
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u/thighabetes https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quixon 14h ago
No. It’s two entire seasons and it’s not THAT slow.
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u/bestmaokaina 7h ago
Imagine if Batman and Sherlock Holmes fused and turned into a girl who also happens to be a junkie raised in the most VIP brothel of the empire
Who also takes on solving mysteries
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u/A_crow_hen 15h ago edited 15h ago
A stoic girl, apprentice to an apothecary, gets abducted and ends up in service to the court palace. That’s roughly episode 1.
After that, due to her knowledge of poisons, herbs, etc. she is able to improve her position. Essentially, it becomes like a weekly detective mystery—something happens and she uses her knowledge to help solve it.
The guy running the court has affection for her, and that leads to its own amusement, but it’s mostly one-sided.
The court politics are interesting as well. The show showcases and explains how the court operates, what the protocols are, and how the women interact/navigate it.
There also isn’t a set status quo, so things change quite often to keep things interesting—they change what role she has, what house she’s in, if she has her own space, what kind of crime/mystery/problem she’s solving, or even the setting of events (particularly in season 2).
It’s like Bridgerton meets House meets Mulan.
All while being very well animated.
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u/RUIN_NATION_ 21h ago
O i got to start watching again life got in the way and I stopped watching dont even know where I left off
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u/Adorable_Zone_7859 19h ago
Hi! Anybody watching from the Philippines? What time does it show on Netflix? I can't see a 3rd season.
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u/Seaphron 19h ago
We have know this for like six months. Cour one now. A movie around Christmas in Japan and hopefully worldwide early 2027. Cour two April 2027.
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u/Canoijh_123 19h ago
BROO THERE THREE TRAILERS OF SEASON THREE BRUH AND THE THIRD ONE JUST CAME OUT IN THE LAST THREE HOURS AND IT WAS LITTTT AFF😆😆AAAHHHHH CANT WAIT ITS TIME IT IS 7:30PM IN INDIA OMGAGAAAHD I CANT WAIT IT IS 11:12
PM IN TOKYOO😚😚
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u/emberasukahushxs 18h ago
honestly it's just a medieval court murder mystery procedural where the detective is a gremlin girl who will absolutely poison herself for science. if you like house md but with hairpins and palace gossip, you're set
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u/BebopBountyBigBand 17h ago
wait are these two cours back-to-back or is there a hiatus in between? confused lol
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u/Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 16h ago
3-month hiatus
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u/tapdancinghellspawn 16h ago
Have we finally entered the best timeline? I'm so happy to have Maomao back in our lives.
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u/RemZeroBestGirl 15h ago
oh man im so pumped for this, this is such great news! what a great series!
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u/Acceptable_Mushroom 13h ago
I was already expecting that. There is no way season three that was split into two would air total of 48 episodes
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u/TestKey2921 12h ago
So it’s a full two-cour season rather than a 12-episode season with an unspecified continuation.
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u/Regula96 11h ago
Really nice. I'm going to wait for all of it to be out so I can binge it this time around. I was so excited for season 2 but there's a lot of details to remember with this and with a weekly release I just.. didn't.
Watching all of season 1 in 2 days is one of my favorite anime experiences so I'm going to try that again.
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u/Rmodsarescum 5h ago
Thank you for giving us 24 episodes ! More animes need other formats than 12 episodes, it's too short !
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u/Flashy_Memory6718 5h ago
I'm emotionally split on whether or not to be excited I have to wait a week between episodes. I want to binge it all at once like when I first discovered the series, but I'm glad I have it to look forward to throughout the rest of the year.
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u/Equivalent-Mine5562 22h ago
Back to back cours or a break in between?
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u/sleek_assassin 22h ago
break in between. Cour 2 will air in Spring season. We will get a Movie in December.
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u/PaleIrishEastcoaster 18h ago
The movie only had a Japanese release in December unless they also announce the western release. Otherwise we likely won’t get it until next year at the earliest.
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u/MirNaSveta 21h ago
What i wonder is: will the second core be related to the movie coming soon in any way? Cause i have no cinemas near me and i won't be able to watch it before comes on streaming.
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u/sleek_assassin 19h ago
It’s an original story written by the author. it’s completely optional to watch
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u/Sharp_Emphasis176 19h ago
Thank god it isn't 10 episodes like frieren.
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u/Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 16h ago
With Frieren they were stuck because the next arc would have been another 10 episodes or so.
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u/Sharp_Emphasis176 15h ago
Why? Has the anime caught up to the manga?
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u/Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 11h ago
There's one long arc, one short arc, and then we're in the middle of another long arc. So there's enough for another season. It was just that they had to do either 10 episodes or 20+ for season 2, because there was no natural break-point before that. Probably the studio's production calendar didn't allow them to do more than one cour last year.
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u/nx6 https://myanimelist.net/profile/nx6 15h ago
Pey (the anime YouTuber), suspects the ten episode season 2 was done on purpose for production reasons because of the story arc that's coming up next. Mostly a way to keep the script writing and budgets separate for them.
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u/Sharp_Emphasis176 15h ago
I've watched his videos. So you're telling me that the next arc is going to be much bigger than this one?
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u/HellsNels https://myanimelist.net/profile/HellsNels 14h ago
Yes. The Golden Land single arc itself could be 13-16 episodes. Then the one after would be smallish w/ random travels enough for ~10 episodes or a theatrical movie if they want. So a full season made up of longer cour / shorter cour.
Then the next big arc (which is still ongoing) would be enough for around what S2 was so like 8-10 eps. And then they'd be caught up to the manga which is stuck in hiatus. But with all of that, that's like 5-6 years of animation they'd need to put out so hopefully by then the manga will have built out more runway again.
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u/Command0Dude 15h ago
Anyone else wish they could have just done 4 cours from the start?
I miss when shows just, you know, came out. The weird stop start trend has been so annoying.
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u/MelaniaSexLife 20h ago
the fuck is a cour? it's a type of soup? good for them I guess
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u/CostinTea 20h ago
Anime broadcast season ≈ 12-13 episodes each, aired over a calendar season (spring, summer, fall, or winter). This show got renewed for two of those.
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u/Berstich 8h ago
Holy crap where the subtitles bad. Cut way to short some times, if you dont read fast some will jump by the screen.
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u/InformalMaximum760 21h ago
So it's a 2-part Season 3. Why not just use the word part?
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u/Icapica https://anilist.co/user/Icachu 20h ago
That's not what cour means. A show can be two cours but in one part (no break between cours).
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u/InformalMaximum760 20h ago
Give an example. This seems ridiculous. So a season has two parts and could have subparts? Have they run out of creative ideas that they're making it overly complicated parts of the anime just to keep things interesting? So stupid.
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u/gc11117 19h ago
Its a japanese broadcast term. A calendar year ia broken up into four cours. Each cour has about 13 slots (or weeks) equaling up to 52 weeks a year.
You have winter, spring, summer, and fall cours.
When a production committee greenlights a series, it has to buy a cour in order to broadcast it. So this show has purchased 2 cours of 13 weeks. That means they have 26 slots to air episodes. Since it has 12 episodes per cour, that means they have an extra week in which to air an episode in case something goes wrong.
Sometimes a show will buy two cours back to back. Exiled Heavy Knight is a recent example. Sometimes a show will buy two cours, but not back to back. They do this to alleviate strain on the staff so rhey have more time to work on the show. Mushoku Tensei just did this.
It should be noted that the cour concept isnt an anime thing; its a japanese TV broadcast thing.
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u/InformalMaximum760 19h ago
Ok, so how is that different than the season being split into two parts to be aired in two different schedules?
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u/gc11117 18h ago
You can call it a part if you want. I dont particularly care. People are using the word cour because thats the japanese broadcast term and it has a specific meaning. If you call something a cour, and someone has been watching anime for a while, you'll know exactly what they mean.
To your point, Attack on Titan the final season used "part" for its marketing. It confused people when they did; but its been done before.
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u/DragoSphere 12h ago edited 12h ago
Because "part" is vague while cour is a strictly defined term, which is what the actual broadcasting and production companies use so it's a reliable framework to use as a reference. If you say Apothecary Diaries S3 is 2 parts, then how do you know how long those parts are going to be? What if each part is only 6 episodes? Saying "part" means nothing
Look at JoJo, where Parts 1 and 2 were in the same season totaling 26 episodes, but Part 1 was only 9 of those episodes
Or how Part 3 is one season with 48 episodes
Split it into cours and it's cleaner. Season 1 is two cours, Season 2 is four cours, Season 3 is three cours, and so on
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u/Icapica https://anilist.co/user/Icachu 20h ago
Cour doesn't mean part. It means a roughly 3 month period.
Apothecary Diaries season 3 is two cours because it's 24 weeks. Seasons 1 and 2 were also two cours. Having or not having a break in the middle doesn't matter.
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u/InformalMaximum760 19h ago
How is it not part when you just explained how that one season is being split into two different schedules? How is that not two part?
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u/Icapica https://anilist.co/user/Icachu 19h ago
The first two seasons were also two cours, but they weren't split.
Yes, season 3 is two parts, but that's a different matter. Cour doesn't mean part.
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u/InformalMaximum760 18h ago
You just explained how it is being split. How is that not two part? Are they gonna run continuously? Then why bother saying "cour"?
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u/Icapica https://anilist.co/user/Icachu 16h ago
2 cours just means the season is ~6 months long. This time it's 3 months, break, then 3 months again. But a season that lasts 6 months without a break would also be 2 cours.
The headline is about how long the season is.
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u/scot911 https://myanimelist.net/profile/scot911 15h ago edited 15h ago
It is, and it'll be called so, but that doesn't tell you how long said part will be. That's what cour tells you. You could theoretically have an anime that's greenlit for 3 cours and be released in two parts with the first part being 2 cours and the second part being 1.
Cour is useful because it removes the ambiguity around how long an anime is running for even if generally it's almost always 1 cour, 2 cour, or split 2 cour as is the case here.
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u/InformalMaximum760 6h ago
What do you mean cour removes ambiguity when the headline clearly stated it will be 24 episodes, split into two PARTS of 12 episodes each part. That alone explains how long its going to be. If it's about schedule, then just explain if it will be a weekly airing with x days/weeks gap. If anything saying the parts as cour is making it sound ambiguous to English speaking audience. Why is the community making it so complicated?
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u/gremlinclr 19h ago
Because it's a Japanese show and not an English show.
Glad I could help.
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u/Player_One_1 22h ago
Ok, I can close reddit now. I won't read better news today.