Noragami Season 3 – Confirmed!? – Latest Updates & Release Date

Are you waiting for Noragami Season 3? You must read this post!

Noragami is a very famous supernatural shounen Japanese anime series. One of the most successful anime studios, Bones, created it. Kotaro Tamura directed this series.

Noragami, also known as Stray God, is a program based on the Japanese manga of the same title by Adachitoka.

The first manga series was published in December 2010. The manga currently holds 21 volumes. It has the next book of the English variant, scheduled to be published in November 2020.

The latest season of Noragami was released on October 9, 2015. It’s been a long time since viewers have been anticipating the third season to know what happens next in the anime.

So, will there be Noragami Season 3? Here’s everything you need to know. But, before diving deep into the details, let’s have a quick recap of Noragami season 1 and 2!

Contents

Noragami – The World of Gods

The famous anime studio Bones produced this anime adaptation of the manga set in 2014.

The series gained so much recognition around the globe among anime fans. It narrates the story of a girl named Hiyori Iki. Her life takes a twisting turn when she rescues a stranger from an accident.

Let’s understand how!

The Narrative of Noragami Season 1 and 2

Hiyori Iki is a common schoolgirl, but her life changed when she meets with an accident while saving a stranger. Because of the event, her soul moves out of her body. She becomes Ayakashi and gains an understanding of the two parallel worlds.

With the help of the recently found powers, she can move to both sides of the world more often. For instance, in the afterlife world, where individual souls and devils roam around, and in the human world, where creatures, ordinary people, and other animals live.

While moving from one place to another, Hiyori Iki gets introduced to a Yato, an unknown god. He does not have his temple, so he charges a fee of five yen for allowing the mortal’s requests.

He raises money to make his own temple where people could worship him. Hiyori asks him to fix her body as she doesn’t like it when her soul leaves her body from time to time.

She desires to live a regular life again. But Yato has some other stuff planned in his head. She also meets Yukine, who is Yato’s Regalia. They become good friends and goes on many adventures.

The manga also has a series adaptation. The first season had 12 episodes. While Noragami season 2 had 13 episodes.

The producers released the first season between January to March 2014. The second season ran between October to December the following year.

Now that there have been almost five years, the fans are eagerly waiting for Noragami season 3.

Will Noragami Ever Return?

Looking at the truth that season two came in 2015, and since it has been a very long time, fans have been expecting the third season. The viewers are eager to know what happens next in the series.

The second season didn’t have a clear end. It leads to many theories that the third season will have a different storyline with great adventures.

Bones anime studio has neither approved nor denied the third season.

If there are no other seasons for the anime, the fans won’t get to know if Yato manages to get his worshippers to get his magnificent shrine.

To understand how the narrative runs, one has to read the manga series. But, there are possibilities that the Bones studio might come back with season3.

How to Figure Out the Possibility of Noragami Season 3

We’ve discovered that the most authentic way to find out if a sequence will get declared is to look at the source material and the popularity of previous seasons.

Let’s explore both separately!

Source Material

Most popular anime series are adaptations from existing reference material like manga, visual novels, light novels, or mobile games.

In the case of Noragami, the material is the manga series, so figuring out the status of the manga series becomes necessary.

We need to check how many manga books got published so far and if the manga is continuing. If the narrative ended or is nearing an end, that might be the reason for Noragami to have the third season.

The other scenario could be like the Classroom of The Elite anime. That show is just in the beginning, which implies the release of Classroom of the Elite Season 2 makes sense.

The following step is to see how many manga books got adopted for the first two seasons of the show. There are times when the anime uses all the available content, like in the instance of No Game No Life Season 2.

The first two seasons of Noragami only used the first three volumes of the manga. The second season adopted four to nine volumes. This means Bones Studio has enough content to produce not one but two seasons of the show.

 If they follow this course, Noragami season 3 will include books from ten to fifteen. They’ll still have seven more volumes for the other seasons.

Let’s see how popular the previous seasons were!

The Popularity of Season 1 and 2

Since the first season did get a sequence, you may say that it was successful, but what about the next season?

There is no point in producing the third season for Noragami if the second one failed. That’s why we have to see how popular it was and hope it’s more like in the Overlord.

Overlord Season 4 is arriving because the interest is rising from season to season.

By observing Google trends, social media, copies in print, and stuff like that, we can learn more about the current popularity and movement of the Noragami franchise for 2020.

Let’s now see what is holding the third season from arriving?

Why There isn’t Noragami Season 3 Yet?

The main reason for delaying the third season is that the second season was not as good as the first. The manga sales were also a little the second time. Noragami is not a huge seller that doesn’t require to care about the manga sales boost.

Noragami sells less volume than Goblin Slayer. Goblin Slayer Season 2 has fewer possibilities of ever coming back with such small sales after the show, and it doesn’t seem good for Noragami also.

The second reason for the delay could be the busy schedule of the anime production studio. Bones Studio, which created the first two seasons of the series, is one of the most famous and most active studios in Japan.

It is behind many popular animation shows like My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and many more. These titles are enough to explain the excellence of this animation studio. Hence, it is always occupied with various projects.

After delivering the second season of Noragami, the studio got involved in My Hero Academia production. It became one of the most successful new-gen anime series.

Along with MHA, the studio gave many successful animes, movies, and video games as well. And their hectic schedule won’t let them work on the production of Noragami season 3.

What to Expect From Noragami Season 3?

As the story continues, Yota will resume his adventure to be a god with millions of followers in the third season. According to the manga series, the season will reveal many of Yato’s past, emphasizing his father’s connection with him.

In the third season, Yato’s actual identity and dark history get exposed. The man who kisses Hiyoru is none other than Yato’s father.

This season will also describe the relationship between Yato and his father. Bishamon pardons him for killing his family. Yato wishes to become a god with millions of followers.

He starts finding associates, and on the other hand, Nora is coming after him to take vengeance. Nora was her former Regalia.

Unaware of the dreadful side of Nora, Yato has made a new rival. Ebisu, the Lord of Fortune Ebisu, was using the Phantoms for the amelioration of the world. It is declared a convict, and all the gods do not like his actions and decide to execute him. With the help of Yukine, Yato manages to become the God of fortune.

Noragami Season 3: Characters

As a series, the third season might return with some major characters like:

Yato: He is a stray God who describes himself as a delivery god. Yato is the God of disaster and wants to build his shrine.

Hiyori Iki: She is a girl who later converts into a phantom. Hiyori has an interest in Yota and a sisterly connection with Yukine.

Yukine: He is a guy who died young and became Yota’s Regalia.

He is of the form of katana and has a direct influence on Yota.

Rabou: He is Yota’s fellow calamity God and is recognized for handling phantoms.

Daikoku: He is also a Regalia of a Goddess Kufoku. Daikoku calls himself her husband, while he is a sort of a fan.

Bishamonten: She takes the figure of a woman with long blonde hair and is the God of warfare.

Kuraha: He is Bishamonten’s Regalia with a figure of a male lion.

Nora: She is Yato’s previous Regalia. Other gods often use her for different reasons.

Release Date of Noragami Season 3

Many anime series made its come back even after a long break of five to six years. However, in the case of Noragami, it’s already been five years, and even the production has not started yet.

And according to rumors, it won’t even begin by the end of the year because of the hectic schedule of Bones Animation Studio.

Noragami season 2 was telecasted on October 9, 2015. Since then, the followers of Noragami have been anxiously waiting for Noragami season 3.

Season two had concluded on a cliff-hanger, so the wait has become even more intense.

There have been considerations that the third season will include a new plot and have more action. Because the 20th volume of Noragami was published on February 15, 2019, we can be assured of the release date for Noragami season 3 to be announced at the beginning of 2021.

Last Thoughts

Neither the manga’s authors nor the anime studio has made an announcement verifying or disproving a season three.

With the manga back in complete production after a long pause, the chances for an anime adaptation is always there. The viewers have to wait till the official statement from the makers.

Amy Klein
Author

Amy Klein

Amy Klein is an accomplished writer and editor with years of experience in the anime and manga industries. She brings a unique perspective and deep understanding of the otaku subculture to her insightful and engaging writing, featured in various publications.

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