‘Shingeki no Kyojin’ Season 3 Discussed By SnK/AoT Director Even As Blu-Ray/DVD Sales In Japan Flop [Video]

The Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 release date can’t come any sooner for AoT fans looking to sate their Titan-like hunger for more anime. Fans had to wait four long years for the continuation of Attack on Titan, and most people are not willing to wait any longer to hear more details. Director Tetsuro Araki knows this, and he sat down for an interview where he briefly discussed the third season of Shingeki no Kyojin.

“We really enjoyed making the anime and felt it turned out well in the end. Although the anime takes a break here, we’re still working on it. We will put our best efforts into making [Shingeki no Kyojin] Season 3,” Araki said during his YouTube interview with fans.

The SnK anime producer has already officially confirmed that the Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 release date will be in 2018, but a precise date has yet to be announced, nor have the number of episodes in the third season of SnK been discussed. However, assuming Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 is a two-cour (24 episode) season, most likely it will air starting in Spring or Summer 2018 and continue through Summer or Fall 2018.

Araki did not answer any of these unsettled questions, but he did tease anime watchers about what to expect in the third season of Shingeki no Kyojin.

“Will the person wearing glasses at the end of Season 2 play a part in [Shingeki no Kyojin] Season 3?” the director said. “Will everyone be able to survive? Will somebody die? It’s hard to know. Look forward to the next season. We’re still having fun making Shingeki no Kyojin. Thank you for listening.”

Without getting into any Shingeki no Kyojin spoilers (which can be found in previous articles), Araki is referring to the bearded, bespectacled Titan Shifter who was seen crawling out of the Beast Titan during the ending of the last season. This character will play a critical role over the long term, but the story for Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 is likely to shift inward rather than focus on the outward threat from the mysterious Titan Shifters.

Shingeki no Kyojin Blu-Ray Sales In Japan A Relative Flop

Anime production company WiT Studio may be used to giving watchers shock endings, but are they receiving a surprise of their own when it comes to Shingeki no Kyojin Blu-ray sales in Japan? The release date for the first volume of Attack On Titan was on June 21, and despite the series’ international popularity, the Blu-ray discs only sold 5,486 copies in the first week, with DVD sales even worse at 1,117, according to MyAnimeList.

To put the Shingeki no Kyojin Blu-ray sales in perspective, the first week sales for the first volume of SnK sold a combined amount of 56,793 copies, while SnK eked out 6,603 copies so far. Similarly-themed anime like Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress performed better, and that was also produced by WiT Studio. The situation can’t be blamed on poor disc sales in general since Granblue Fantasy Volume 1 recently sold 41,874 copies in its first week, never mind the continuing popularity of every Yuri on Ice disc set. It’s possible many Japanese fans simply grew weary of waiting on the SnK anime to release and have already bought and read the manga.

What does this mean for Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3? Probably nothing. The production committee will, of course, be disappointed, but those numbers are not enough to get Shingeki no Kyojin canceled. Let’s just hope the adaptation of the manga continues into Season 4 and beyond!

[Featured Image by WiT Studio]