Thunder 3 Returns for a Second Anime Season in 2027
The first season debuted on Fuji-TV’s +Ultra block in July and streamed exclusively worldwide on Netflix.
The staff of Thunder 3 announced a second season for 2027. Manga creator Yuki Ikeda drew an illustration to mark the announcement.
The staff behind the television anime adaptation of Yuki Ikeda’s Thunder 3 manga announced Thursday that a second season will arrive in 2027. Ikeda marked the news with a new illustration.
The anime debuted on Fuji-TV’s +Ultra programming block and other channels on July 8 at 24:45 JST, effectively July 9 at 12:45 a.m. JST. Netflix began streaming it exclusively worldwide on July 8.
Kodansha USA publishes the manga in English. Its synopsis follows three ordinary schoolboys who obtain a DVD said to open a portal to a parallel universe.
While the boys are distracted, Pyontaro’s younger sister Futaba enters the portal. Aliens occupying that alternate Earth kidnap her. The boys discover that their cartoonish bodies give them superhuman abilities in the hyper-realistic world and set out to save her.
Ikeda began the manga in Kodansha’s Monthly Shonen Magazine in May 2022. It entered its climax in January 2025, then paused that March because of Ikeda’s health. Serialization resumed in February, and the manga concluded on June 5.
Kodansha released volume 10 on August 17. Kodansha USA shipped the eighth English volume on February 10.
On September 24, Hiroya Oku confirmed on social media that he created Thunder 3 using the pen name Yuki Ikeda. Oku’s other works include:
- Gantz
- Inuyashiki
- GIGANT
Oku explained that the pseudonym preserved a first-chapter surprise for new readers. Having his own name attached would have reduced that surprise.
In an August interview with Courrier Japon, Oku said he plans to retire after completing his latest manga, The Sweet Sixty Princess (Kanrekihime).
He launched that series in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Superior magazine in December 2025. Shogakukan released its first collected volume on May 29.
Oku’s Gantz ran from 2000 to 2013, and Dark Horse Comics published it in North America. It inspired:
- A television anime
- A CG anime film
- Two Japanese live-action films
- Two spinoff manga
Oku and artist Jin Kagetsu launched the historical spinoff GANTZ:E in January 2020. In July 2025, Shueisha’s Jump TOON vertical-scrolling manga service debuted GANTZ: T, a new full-color, vertical-scrolling edition of Gantz.
Deadline reported a Hollywood live-action adaptation of the manga in November 2021.
Source: ANN
