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‘Tiger And Bunny’ Season 3 Release Date: New Anime Revealed As 2018 ‘Double Decker! Doug & Kirill’

By Patrick Frye
Published on: 13:41 PST, Jan 5, 2018

Years in the making, the release date for Tiger And Bunny Season 3 is slowly hopping its way toward its revealing, but just like the tortoise and hare fable this bunny seems to be taking a nap. It turns out the new Tiger & Bunny anime project is actually an original “buddy series” called Double Decker! Doug & Kirill that will release in 2018. Both the original anime director and the director of the two anime movie sequels have already spoken out about the new anime project. What’s more, an English language, live-action Tiger & Bunny movie is in the works in Hollywood.

The first anime was an original story that aired in 2011 with two cours composed of 25 episodes (so some fans may refer to the third season as Tiger And Bunny Season 2). The story was written by Masafumi Nishida and animated by Sunrise, the studio which produced the anime original Code Geass (that series is also getting Code Geass Season 3 along with several recap movies).

Featuring the characters Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, aka Wild Tiger, and his young partner, Barnaby Brooks, Jr., the odd duo fought crime in a world where a reality TV show and superheroes were combined. A 2012 movie called Tiger & Bunny The Movie: The Beginning was simply a remake of the first several episodes that ended with an original story. A 2014 movie, Tiger & Bunny The Movie: The Rising, was a true sequel that showed what happened to Barnaby and Tiger after the events of the first anime.

According to the official website, the Double Decker! Doug & Kirill anime features a detective team where one is a veteran and the other is a rookie. So far, that’s the only similarity to the Tiger & Bunny anime since it’s uncertain if the duo’s story takes place in the same universe. Voice Actor Satoshi Mikami will play as Doug Billingam and Kohei Amasaki voices Kirill Vlueberry. Many of the staff members for the new anime project have worked on Tiger & Bunny.

The two main characters for ‘Double Decker! Doug & Kirill.’

Tiger & Bunny Season 3 Release Date

As of March 16, 2018, anime production company Sunrise has confirmed that the new anime project Double Decker! Doug & Kirill is in the works but it’s uncertain what they are planning next for the franchise. The announcement specifically says that the Double Decker! Doug & Kirill anime is just “one of Tiger & Bunny new animation series projects.” That could mean there will be multiple anime series set in the same universe or it could simply mean the Tiger & Bunny staff is working together on multiple projects that are unrelated storywise. Since Sunrise tells fans to “look forward to the next report, ” it could also mean that Tiger And Bunny Season 3 will eventually be announced in the future.

As such, Sunrise has not specified the exact time frame for the Tiger & Bunny Season 3 release date, although this article will be updated if and when the anime sequel’s premiere is confirmed. Anime series take years to develop, but it’s possible the series could air in Japan in 2019 or 2020 since these multiple projects have apparently been in the works for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2etm4BlmGxc

The hype for Tiger & Bunny Season 3 first began building in 2015 when the official Twitter account for the anime tweeted about the final performance of “The Sound Of Tiger & Bunny” concert series. It claimed that the “T&B Project will be continued,” but offered no solid details.

Hop forward to 2016 and Hirata Productions, the voice talent company managed by Tiger voice actor Hiroki Hirata, teased anime fans by tweeting out about a new anime project. It seemed pretty obvious that Hirata was referring to Tiger And Bunny Season 3 since the voice talent in the attached photo was all of the Tiger & Bunny characters for both the anime series and the two animated films. Hirata is also not part of the Double Decker! Doug & Kirill anime cast, so it’s possible he’ll be part of the next announced project.

This is what the tweet said.

“It’s been a while since all these folks last gathered, and Miss Minako is here, too. Now then, what work could this be? Have you figured it out? Say, have you figured it out? All right, everyone together now. One, two, three!”

In 2018, it seemed like Tiger And Bunny Season 3 was officially confirmed via Twitter and through the official website since the new project was specifically said to be related to the Tiger & Bunny anime franchise. Presumably, the original voice cast might return, but director Yoshitomo Yonetani has already announced that he will not be directing the new anime project.

Yoshitomo was the director of the two film projects, but did not receive an offer from studio Sunrise to do the third season. He says he will be offering up encouragement to the staff and cast as an “ordinary citizen.” It’s uncertain who would be the Tiger & Bunny Season 3 director if it happens, but the first two seasons were directed by Keiichi Satou.

Unfortunately, Satou will also not be directing the third season. Over on Twitter, the director said he is not involved in the current project, but he also claimed that he accepted an offer to direct the anime two years ago. Satou says his ideas for a Tiger & Bunny sequel were turned down and he apparently dropped out of the project.

While Satou is uncertain if the new project will use his story, he doubts that will happen. While he could not offer concrete details, he expected the franchise to expand in multiple ways, which was the first solid hint that something like the Double Decker! Doug & Kirill anime was planned. Satou is asking fans to “please love both the new work and the original” anime.

Tiger & Bunny Movie Being Created By Hollywood

In addition to Tiger And Bunny Season 3, Hollywood film studio Imagine Entertainment has been working on a live-action adaptation of the original story for several years now. The English-language film is being developed by Ron Howard and Brian Glazer. In 2016, SuperHeroHype reported that Imagine hired screenwriter Ellen Shanman. She is best known for adapting the young adult novel The Brokenhearted for New Line Cinema. As of this publishing, the release date for the live-action Tiger & Bunny movie has not been announced.

[Update March 16, 2018] Added news of the Double Decker! Doug & Kirill anime, which required updating all sections referring to the third season of Tiger & Bunny.

[Update January 10, 2018] Added confirmation from director Keiichi Satou that he will not be directing Tiger & Bunny Season 3 or any related new project.

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