‘Shingeki No Bahamut’ Season 3: ‘Rage Of Bahamut’s’ Third Season Not Guaranteed, ‘Shadowverse’ Anime Possible?

Plans for Shingeki no Bahamut Season 3 largely depend on the success of Rage Of Bahamut: Virgin Soul. The second anime series will come to an end with episode 24 on September 29, 2017, but will the popular mobile game spawn the third season of Shingeki no Bahamut?

An anime called Rage Of Bahamut: Genesis, which was a prequel to the story events in the game, first aired during the 2014 fall anime season. The sequel anime, Rage Of Bahamut: Virgin Soul, takes place 10 years after the first game and it’s exclusive to Amazon Anime Strike. Since the story is an anime original, it is uncertain whether the source material will provide an incentive to continue the adventures of Favaro Leone and Kaisar Lidfard.

The main issue is the declining popularity of the mobile game series. Wired reported that the Rage Of Bahamut game had over 10 million players back in 2013, but in February of 2016, Cygames shut down the English version of the game. Worse, by January of 2017, Crunchyroll News reports that Cygames was forced to pull the plug on the iPhone/iOS version of the game because of the waning numbers of iOS players. Android players can still continue playing, but it seems like the writing is on the wall.

That’s not to say the game series won’t continue in an alternative form. Cygames released a game called Shadowverse which reuses the art from the numerous Rage Of Bahamut cards. By October of 2016, the new mobile game had achieved over five million downloads according to Anime News Network. In 2017, the single player main story mode was expanded and the number of downloads had increased to seven million.

Shadowverse Anime Next In The Cards For Cygames?

Even if Shingeki no Bahamut Season 3 never happens, creating a Shadowverse anime seems to be the next logical step. Assuming such an anime is not a prequel or sequel, the story would focus on Arisa, Erika, and Luna, who are working with “the mysterious Nexus who promised to bring harmony to the world by opening up the Infinity Gate.” The story has yet to be finished in the game, so it’s uncertain how it will end. Since it’s a different story set in the same overall universe, there’d be no direct connection with the current Rage Of Bahamut story, although there’s always the crossover potential.

It’s also possible that both Shingeki no Bahamut Season 3 and a Shadowverse anime could happen in the same time frame. After all, the A-1 Pictures-produced Granblue Fantasy anime sold very well in Japan during the time frame of Virgin Soul‘s initial episodes. Let’s just hope that the Rage Of Bahamut anime continues even if the mobile game ends.

Shingeki no Bahamut Season 3 Release Date

As of this publishing, anime production company MAPPA has not announced anything official about the Rage Of Bahamut Season 3 release date, although this article will be updated as soon as the anime sequel is confirmed. However, there can be reasonable speculation about when, or if, the Shingeki no Bahamut Season 3 air date may occur.

Besides advertising the declining mobile game, the continuation of the anime series might be determined by the financial success of the anime’s Blu-Ray/DVD disc volumes and other related merchandise. The first Blu-Ray volume of Shingeki no Bahamut is scheduled to be released on September 21, 2017, so it will be interesting to see how it does on the Oricon anime charts. Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis made the top 10 back in 2015, which bodes well for the current season.

Even if Shingeki no Bahamut Season 3 is green lit, the next question is when MAPPA will have time to produce it. The much more popular Yuri On Ice movie is probably top priority, and a new anime called Vanishing Line is coming out in October of 2017. MAPPA is also recruiting for a new untitled project directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Assuming MAPPA follows historical trends, it seems like fans will have to wait at least two years for the third season of Shingeki no Bahamut.

[Featured Image by MAPPA/Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis]