2022 will be the fifth year when the third season of Ao No Exorcist does not come out. The last the viewers heard of the franchise was in March 2017, when the second season came to a halt. Since then, a lot has come and left the news market, only excluding the announcement of a fourth season. So, what happened after Season 2? What is the picture behind the constant breaks of the manga? When is Blue Exorcist Season 3 coming out? The following subheads will provide all about the return of the franchise.
The Blue Exorcist manga first rose to fame in April 2009, right after the launch of the manga. Kazue Kato, the author of the manga, was heavily praised for his work. As of 2022, the text has serialized around twenty-seven volumes in total. Much later, in 2011, the first anime adaptation by Studio A-1 Pictures came out. In no time, the series became a fan favorite. After a one-movie leap, the second season came out in January 2017. And now, fans have been left hanging with no official news from the makers.
Blue Exorcist Season 3: Renewal Status
As of the last update, which was probably almost five years ago, there has been no news of a renewal from the side of the makers. While the manga wing of the franchise keeps updating its readers with regular updates, the same cannot be said for anime. Neither any staff member nor Studio A-1 Pictures has said anything in regards to the return of the third season. However, 2022 is the year when fans are speculating the return of Blue Exorcists Season 3. This is due to the fact that Season 1 and Season 2 also had a long gap of five years between them.
Thus, this is the high time when the anime could possibly return with the new season. Many a time, studios tend to halt anime wings only to give a boost to the manga counterpart. With the Blue Exorcists manga going on constant break, it might be possible that A-1 Studio is delaying things with a purpose.
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Production Details
With as many eyeballs awaiting a new announcement, Blue Exorcists Season 3 certainly has a large audience to please. However, much to the dismay of the fans, Studio A-1 Pictures is not working on the animation of the third season. In fact, it is believed that the studio might not begin production anytime soon. After the recent pandemic outbreak and the follow-up crunch in the anime industry, it seems unlikely that there will be an announcement.
But judging by the reception and popularity of the anime, Blue Exorcists Season 3 is a project that A-1 Pictures might not deem to skip or pause. The rating of the last two seasons has reached as high as 7.5 stars in the last ten years. Moreover, more than a million fans have voted Ao No Exorcist to be above 7.5 stars. Thus, fans can be assured that the third season is bound to come back. Only the timing of the release will be hindered.
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Is There Enough Source Material?
Kuzue Kato’s ongoing manga consists of more than twenty-seven volumes. However, after the release of the 132nd chapter, which is a part of the twenty-seventh volume, the manga went on an untimely hiatus. In July 2021, it was announced that Kazue Kato would be halting the manga for eight months. The break was called in due to a separate project which would be occupying her time. Kazue was working on the Eizen Karukaya Kaiitan manga by Fuyumi Onot.
It was also clarified that the manga would be returning in the April Issue of Shueisha’s Jump SQ Magazine. This issue was slated to release in May 2022. Now, talking of the availability of the source material. Fans can be assured that Blue Exorcist Season 3 has plenty of source material to adapt the story from. Even though a lot of the anime ended up creating an original plotline, a lot was picked up from the manga volumes.
Towards the end of the second season, the anime ended up adapting only the first nine volumes of the manga. Thus, there are more than 18 volumes left up for the new season. In fact, this material can provide for an entire franchise scaled up like Bleach or One Piece.
Blue Exorcist Season 3: What Will Happen Next?
Ao No Exorcist Season 3 will continue after the conclusion of the Kyoto arc of the story. The next in line is the Terror of the Kraken Arc. This arc will follow the events of the battle against the Impure King. As soon as the dust settles after this match, the teams from the True Cross Academy journey to the Atami Sunrise Beach. However, these young students are welcomed by a giant Kraken that is vandalizing the people of the island. According to Fandom’s Wiki, it is suggested this arc alone would span over eleven episodes.
Thus, it should be assumed that Blue Exorcist Season 3 might deal with this arc. However, as it was seen in the final nine episodes of Season 1, fans are also assuming that the story can delve into an anime-exclusive plotline. Towards the end of the season, fans can also expect to see a slight beginning of the next arc in line, which is the Academy Seven Wonders storyline.
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Previous Season Recap!
The overall storyline of Blue Exorcist deals with a young boy named Rin Okumura. Rin and his Twin brother Yukio find out that they are both the sons of Satan. Their mother was a human, and they had inherited most of the powers of the devil. However, when they are faced up with the realities of being a devil, they decide to take the opposite road. And so, the two brothers join the True Cross Academy in order to become professional exorcists and fight their father in the final fight. With the first season setting up this outline, the second one picked up with a fully-forged team standing up against the deeds of Satan.
So, the next season picks up after Rin comes back from his probation period. It was after Grigori learned that he was the son of Satan, he was sent to serve a punishment for feeding lies. With many original additions to the season, there were multiple flashback sequences setting up the family life of Yukio and Run. The final few episodes of Season 2 almost ended the Kyoto arc of the story.
Blue Exorcist Season 3: Release Date
Summing up all the facts and speculations stated in the former subheads. It can be said that no new episodes of Blue Exorcist Season 3 will be coming out. Even if the series is renewed this year itself, it will take one year at the least for the makers to forge a new season. Thus, fans can expect a long break of around a year and a half until 2023, before expecting an official announcement. Since the third season has not been canceled at the moment, it is safe to say that this anime is still up for a return. We will be sure to update this section with relevant updates. Thus, keep an eye on this space to get more timely updates.