‘Date A Live’ Season 3 Release Date: SS3 Anime Focused On Kurumi Tokisaki And ‘Date A Bullet’ Light Novel?
The Date A Live Season 3 release date is on the radar now that a new Date A Live anime series has officially been confirmed to be in the works. But will it be a continuation of the main story or an anime adaptation of the Date A Live Fragment: Date A Bullet light novels, a spinoff series that focuses on the popular character Kurumi Tokisaki?
Back in October, Kadokawa-owned book publisher Fujimi Shobo began teasing Date A Live 3 with a website labeled as “Date A Time.” The website featured a large clock and Roman numerals counting down to an announcement. The art for the countdown clock notably looked like Kurumi’s left eye.
On October 21, 2017, the new Date A Live anime was officially announced at Fantasia Bunko Big Thanks Festival 2017, but there were not many details made available. The website for Fujimi Shobo only says that the planning stages for a new series is in progress, but they are not specifying the title as Date A Live SS3 or Date A Live 3. Similarly, light novel series author Koushi Tachibana’s Twitter account only stated that a new “anime series project [is] underway!”
Date A Bullet Anime Or Date A Live 3?
The lack of details has caused some fans to speculate that the new anime series will be a Date A Bullet anime. After all, the announcement does not specifically say the project is the third season to Date A Live. The idea also makes sense since Kadokawa loves producing anime to promote sales of new books.
It just so happens that the timing of the announcement came shortly after the Japanese release of Date A Live Fragment: Date A Bullet 2 in August. Written by author Yuichiro Higashide under Tachibana’s supervision, the Date A Bullet light novel series tells the story of how Kurumi became a Spirit and why she has a fixation on killing the First Spirit that appeared 30 years ago. Even in the main series, Volume 16 has focused on the reappearance of Kurumi.
Date A Bullet 3 has yet to be announced, but given that the first two books were published five months apart, the third novel’s release date probably will be in early 2018. The fourth novel could be released by late 2018. Anime series take years to develop, so the Date A Bullet novels should have enough source material for an anime adaptation by the time the newly announced project goes into production.
However, the DAB anime rumor seems to be unlikely based on the available evidence. The art for the announcement did not feature Kurumi prominently despite the countdown clock being modeled after her eye. Instead, the announcement’s key visual shows Tohka Yatogami and the Spirit form of Origami Tobiichi. That type of marketing would make more sense for Date A Live Season 3 rather than a Date A Bullet anime. (There’s another reason to believe the anime project is the third season, but since it contains spoilers, you’ll need to read the spoilers section of the article.)
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Date A Live Light Novel Series Enough Source Material For Date A Live Season 4?
Author Koushi Tachibana has been publishing the Date A Live novel series since March of 2011. As of August of 2017, the main series is up to Date A Live Volume 17, which is entitled “Kurumi Ragnarok.” The Date A Live Volume 18 release date has yet to be announced.
An official English translation of the novel series has yet to be announced, although there are fan translation projects available. There’s also a Date A Live manga that ended in 2013 with Volume 4 due to the artist’s health problems.
The story has been adapted into anime twice. Studio AIC Plus+ did the first adaptation in 2013. A year later, a different studio, Production IMS, handled the second season in 2014, and then in 2015, the anime movie Date A Live: Mayuri Judgement was released. There are 22 episodes in total, including the two Date A Live OVA episodes.
The first season adapted the first four novels while Season 2 covered the events of novels five through seven. The Date A Live movie was an original story written by Tachibana. Funimation has produced an English dub for the anime series.
The number of episodes for Date A Live Season 3 have not been announced, but fans are hoping the studio will adapt novels eight through 11 with 12 episodes. Those books cover the story arcs of Natsumi and Origami. However, there is currently enough source material for the Date A Live SS3 anime to be 24 episodes long. The light novel series is also long enough to cover Date A Live Season 4 assuming the third season is a single-cour season.
Date A Live SS3 Release Date
As of this publishing, publisher Fujimi Shobo has not announced anything official about the Date A Live SS3 release date, although this article will be updated as soon as the exact date for the anime sequel’s premiere is confirmed. However, there can be reasonable speculation about when the Date A Live Season 3 air date may occur.
The animation studio staff and cast for Date A Live SS3 has not been announced by the publisher. Assuming it is Production IMS again, the animation company is mostly known for providing production assistance to other studios. They are currently working on the anime adaptation of the four-panel manga Takunomi, which comes out in January of 2018.
The entire Japanese anime industry is currently experiencing a boom, but the studios are already producing at full capacity due to a shortage of workers. Most studios are already scheduled several years out. Assuming the new anime project has just started, it seems reasonable to predict that the Date A Live 3 release date will not be in 2018.
Date A Live Season 3 Spoilers
The beginning of the third season of the Date A Live anime series should focus on events that take place shortly before Halloween. A very witchy Spirit named Natsumi has the ability to transform her appearance and masquerade as any other character she wishes. Poor Shido is faced with the challenge of finding and dating the disguised seventh Spirit even as people begin to disappear!
Worse, Natsumi transforms Tohka and the other Spirits into very needy children. Shido must figure out how to help Natsumi deal with her mental complex even as Deus Ex Machina Industries (DEM) try to capture her. The plot also heats up due to infighting within the DEM and an assassination attempt.
Life gets even more complicated when Origami joins the DEM in order to gain more combat power against Spirits. She tries to kill a once again fully-powered Tohka but is defeated. This setback only causes her to embrace even more drastic measures. Although Origami hates Spirits because her parents were killed by a Spirit five years ago, she ends up becoming the eighth Spirit.
The plot for Volume 11, Tobiichi Angel, is also another reason why the newly announced anime project is probably going to be Date A Live Season 3. The announcement’s references to time and clocks are relevant to Kurumi, but the upcoming story arcs from the novel involve time travel.
Kurumi sends Origami back into the past to kill Phantom and prevent the entity from turning humans into Spirits by giving them Sephira Crystal, but there are unintended consequences to Origami’s actions. Kurumi also sends Shido to Tenguu City five years into the past in order to bring Origami back from her despair.
Needless to say, Date A Live Season 3 will be interesting. Let’s just hope fans don’t have to wait too long until the release date of the new anime!
[Featured Image by Production IMS/Date A Live Anime TV Still]
