Gate Season 3: Is it Renewed?

Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri or Thus the Japanese Self-Defence Force Fought There, is a Japanese fantasy novel, manga, and anime series.

Fusing real-world events and fantastical characters, Gate has been one of the most awaited anime series since it ended its run in March of 2016.

Gate opens in present-day Ginza, Japan where a portal i.e., Gate, suddenly opens.

Monsters and Soldiers wearing medieval armor get across this portal attacking innocent civilians and anything that comes their way.

It would later be known as ‘The Ginza Incident’.

Until the Japan Self-Défense Forces push the throngs of alien armies back through the portal.

The JSDF sent a team to establish peace talks with the civilization from the portal.

The Gate is home to a majority of creatures such as dragons and humans, posing as armies.

As the JSDF begins to initiate a conversation with the leaders of this other world, the other nations become wary of Japan’s access to what they call a “Special Region”.

Everything we know about Gate so far

As of 2022, there are a total of 17 volumes released by AlphaPolis.

The manga series began its serialization in 2010.

The anime series was later released in 2015 and completed its “second season part 2” in 2016.

Many anime enthusiasts are predicting the season 3 launch around 2023, some experts also think that it can come around 2022, but nobody knows the actual date.

What the fans need to understand here is the series was launched in the cour format (technically speaking it’s a double cour since it has 24 episodes).

So essentially it’s just one season that’s been broken into two parts, so for our understanding, we shall call Season 1 Part 1 and Season 2 Part 2.

The main story of the anime focuses on Lieutenant and Otaku Yoji Itami of JSDF who is sent through the portal to learn about the mysterious creatures this new region inhabits.

Using his knowledge of the fantasy stories he’s read, Itami makes his way around the Empire.

With his research and having successfully brought his team back alive, the JSDF managed to initiate peace talks and even establish a forward base of operations to protect the earth.

To make these negotiations a cakewalk, Itami takes help from his friends who are old but teenage-like goddesses, and even Princess Pina Co Lada, who is an Otaku as well.

In Episode no. 24, Pina is rescued by Itami and the others as they reach the Imperial Capital with the help of the 3rd re-con team.

Zorzal is exiled by Itami and The Emperor announces Pina as the heir and is crowned the Queen of The Empire.

Meanwhile, Zorzal and his supporters flee the land but want to get their revenge on Japan.

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Official Announcements and Release Date of Gate Season 3

GATE Season 2 Part 2 ended in 2016. It’s been 5 years already and A1 Pictures has given no solid confirmation about a release date for Season 3.

The VFX team who worked on the first two seasons has also been hired for the third season. In 2017, Sentai Filmworks stated that they were overwhelmed by the response to the show.

They were hoping to finish the script in the Fall of the same year, but nothing was heard later. Many websites claimed that anime would return with the new season in 2019 and 2020, but we know it never happened.

It is a common trend that popular anime series do take huge gaps between seasons but the manga has enough story to build on further.

So, with no official words, we need to look at the resources available to us and see if there is any particular reason for the delay.

We will first look at the source material and see if enough of it is available or not.

Source Material Information for Gate Season 3

Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri, was initially a self-published web novel by Takumi Yanai on Arcadia, a self-publishing platform.

Takumi Yanai is a former member of the JSDF, he published his content on the website between 2006 and 2009 under the pen name of Todoku Takusan.

But later in 2010, AlphaPolis picked up the web novel and offered Yanai to print it. A total of five volumes were published between April 2010 to December 2011. The covers for these novels were done by Daisuke Izuka.

After the printing work was published, the content was removed from Arcadia and as of July 2015, five volumes of the side stories have been published.

AlphaPolis then 2 began reprinting the novels as light novels splitting each volume into tankobon format with new cover illustrations by Kurojishi.

Now, there is a sequel to the novel series, known as Gate: Weigh Anchor which does not feature the JSDF but the Maritime Self-Defense Force.

A gate opens in this four-part novel series as well where the JMSDF are managing both land and terrain politics and peace whilst maintaining the international monopoly of the Special Region.

The series was launched between 2017 to 2019 with Daisuke Izuka resuming cover illustration duties during the same.

As you can already guess, the crux of the story is very political and has a strong sense of nationalism.

But, with fantastical creatures which the JSDF or the JMSDF protects the earth from.

Manga

As established, the plot of the novels and the manga series is the same.

Yoji is accompanied by the Taku Luna Marceau, Lelei La Lalena, Rory Mercury, and Yao Haa Dushi to save their world.

He also meets Princess Pina Co Lada of the Special Region, who is the successor to The Empire’s throne.

There are a total of 5 manga series based on Gate.

The manga series is drawn by Satoru Sao, which began publishing in 2011 and has been continuing until 2020 with a total of 17 volumes.

Volumes	Release Date
Volume 1	June 15, 2012
Volume 2	January 25, 2013
Volume 3	July 18, 2013
Volume 4	April 20, 2014
Volume 5	September 22, 2014
Volume 6	March 30, 2015
Volume 7	June 23, 2015
Volume 8	December 1, 2015
Volume 9	June 1, 2016
Volume 10	December 1, 2016
Volume 11	April 1, 2017
Volume 12	December 1, 2017
Volume 13	June 1, 2018
Volume 14	December 30, 2018
Volume 15	June 30, 2019
Volume 16	December 30, 2019
Volume 17	June 30, 2020

In 2018, Sekai Publishing had only two volumes translated and later cited quality problems with the Volume 2 copies.

2021 saw the Sekai Project dropping the entire project completely.

Sekai did not anticipate the ordeal of the series and abandoned the series from their roster.

A four-panel comedy strip was created for the second manga drawn and a third manga titled 14-year-old Pina Co Lada and The Rose Knights of the Gate Empire began in 2015.

A fourth manga titled Gate: Featuring the Starry Heavens’ depicting the three female characters wanting to become music idols also began in 2015.

The same year saw a spin-off manga series based on the in-universe manga in the Gate anime series.

The source material has a lot more content than what was shown in the series.

Those who have read the written works have access to information about the series such as Itami’s mother’s background and many side stories, that seem to deviate from the main story.

Fans should know that five volumes of the series are Gaidens, which as mentioned just side stories.

At the end of the manga series, Japan quite obviously wins the war against the Empire and Pina becomes the Ruler of the now-fallen Empire.

Tyuule also dies at the end before mortally wounding Zorzal and an attempt to kidnap Lelei is made by Diabo and China.

The Gate structure is also destroyed.

But, in the spin-off series Gate: Weigh Anchor, the gate is reopened in that world.

There is a tonne of content for the new season that A-1 Pictures handpicks from, but we just have to wait and see for some concrete news.

Anime

According to MAL (My Anime List), it was announced in Dec 2014 that Gate would get a TV Anime Adaption with characters based on the light novels’ illustrations.

The official website of the Gate was launched announcing its broadcast in 2015 with the domain name being registered in October.

The television series is produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Takahiko Kyogoku.

With Original Credits given to Yanai, the scripting was done by Tatsuhiko Urahata, Taaki Suzuki, and Kurasumi Sunayama each contributing to different episodes.

Character designs and Chief Animation Director duties were handed to Jun Nakai.

The show had some big production houses’ names attached to it like Warner Bros Home Entertainment, Genco, and of course AlphaPolis.

Japanese Voice Actors greats such as Junichi Suwabe lent his voice for Itami, Risa Taneda as Rory Mercury, Haruka Tomatsu for Pina, and Hisako Kanemoto as Tuka Luna.

For the Dubbed version of the series, David Wald played the role of Itami while Molly Searcy was the voice for Rory Mercury and Juliet Simmons for Tuka Luna.

The first 12 episodes of the cour were released between July to September 2015 with a three-month break and returned with another 12 episodes from January to March 2016.

Season 1 Part 1 focuses on Yoji establishing contact with the Special Region and its rulers earning the respect of the people there as well.

Season 2 Part 2 focuses on the political theme but with a darker nature.

Despite Yoji having initiated peace negotiations, both worlds end up waging a war against each other.

The internal politics in the Special Region is failing and Zorzal is dead set on waging a war on Japan.

He ends up betraying his own family including his sister Pina for power.

In a heated battle, Yoji manages to intimidate Zorzal and forces him into exile.

The end sees Pina being the crowned queen of the now-fallen Empire.

The anime has adapted the story until Volume 5 of the light novel.

If you observe, the other volumes are mostly-sided stories that were published at the same time. This may be the cause of the missing links in the anime’s timeline, which the authors might fill up.

If you’ve seen the anime series, you know it ended on a cliffhanger.

So, what will Season 3 or Part 3 hold for the series?

Expected Plot of Gate Season 3

What you need to understand before we get to the expected plot is that Gate as a story is not everyone’s cup of tea.

It’s even considered as a JSDF propaganda series, which we think could be the reason why the anime series per se isn’t getting rebooted.

So, then what could the next season’s / part’s plot you ask?

The light novels cover so many different arcs and a storyline that can be explored in the new season/part.

Zorzal may have been exiled but his intentions to end Japan are still alive.

Especially as he wants to seek revenge on Yoji.

On a lighter note, Yoji is yet to confess his love for Tuka and the whole Rory and Hardy angle was just starting to get interesting.

So, we could see a battle between Zorzal and the Japanese army.

The series will be action-packed but we have no confirmation from A-1 Pictures on anything.

Another theory making quite a bit of sound on the internet is, that the third season could be based on the Gate: Weigh Anchor novels.

The series of events in this novel are based 4 years after the events from the Gate being closed.

The interesting bit about this novel is that it ventures into a Xenomorph homeworld that infests the Special Region.

Sci-Fi fans out there might know what Xenomorph is but we can’t tell if A-1 Pictures will be able to get the rights from the popular movie franchise unless Disney is willing to experiment.

All this speculation sounds exciting, but give us fans some concrete news already!

Popularity Information on Gate Season 3

Sentai Filmworks cited that they received an overwhelmingly positive response for the series and even hinted that Season 3 was in its scripting phase and wanted to conclude the series.

But it’s been 5 years already, so clearly something stopped the pre-production of the series.

The storyline is a plus as well since it doesn’t use too many clichés such as a teenage hero and instead uses a protagonist in his mid-thirties leading a whole army to an unknown world with armed reinforcements.

Along with the amalgamation of fantastical creatures and tank porn that may seem to be a little too much even for a seasoned fantasy Shonen genre lover.

Google Trends

A good way to understand the popularity of the show is by checking how it has been trending on the most popular search engine.

The above Google Trends chart shows an increase in search interest during the period the anime series aired and later.

Of course, given the fact that there has been a delay in releasing the series, fans may not be interested in checking regularly.

Later the anime popularity started tanking but then again it peaked colossally in August 2023, but since then sadly it has started to fall and there is no sign of redemption until the fans get the news for the third season.

Fans from the United States, Phillippines, Singapore, Norway, Malaysia, and Indonesia are amongst the top when it comes to still looking for the third season of Gate.

Search Around The Globe

Google is the most popular search engine so looking at the number of monthly searches on it about season 3 will give us how many people are interested in the next season.

Searches for the gate season 3 have decreased in the past few months drastically.

It has fallen to 7.1K from 20K in just a few months indicating the fact that fans are disappointed due to the lack of official announcement.

Having some idea about search details, we can look at the online reactions of people on popular platforms like Twitter, quora, and Reddit.

Online Reactions for Gate Season 3

Anime News Network has a great rating for Season 1 Part 1 and Season 2 Part 2 with a total of 1,456 people rating it with 59 voting Season 1 Part 1 as a masterpiece while 51 voted Season 2 Part 2 for the same.

Twitter

The official Twitter handle for the anime is around 30K. It’s not much and we need to have more followers.

Quora

Quora is filled with eager fans asking about a possible new season.

Some claim it was due to be released in 2019 but there was no official word.

Some fans claimed they were waiting for Yanai to finish the source material for the creators to continue with the animated series.

But alas, all answers are cliffhangers, just like the series left us.

Some have even commented with Steins; Gate updates for the Gate series.

Of course, there is a subreddit for Gate.

Various topics discuss spoilers and potential storylines.

Some fans have even attempted to write their version of the story and publish it online.

The topmost topics you will see talk about the Sekai dropping the project in its entirety.

If you want to keep yourself updated with the latest speculations about the series, this is the place you want to be.

Online Streaming

Gate is currently available to watch on Netflix, Crunchy Roll, and Amazon Prime Video.

So, if you have a subscription to any of these OTT platforms you are good to watch the previous two seasons

The average rating on Crunchyroll for the series is 4.3/5 which is great!

Gate Anime Ratings and Reviews

Rating scores are indicators of how much love the series gets.

Let’s see what is the case with Gate.

IMDb

Gate has an IMDb score of 7.5. This rating is quite good but not compelling enough to force the creators to announce the next season alone on this metric.

There are a total of 12 reviews on the page, there are some who have given it a 9/10 rating while some have even given the series a 2/10.

As we said, the show is not something everyone can digest.

My Anime List

A great place to see the rating and receive all anime updates is MAL.

Season 1 Part 1 has a MAL score of 7.74 with a popularity ranking at #181.

Season 2 Part 2 has a score of 7.77 with the popularity ranking at #327.

The manga has a score of 7.85 and stands at the #2120 popularity ranking.

If you read the reviews for both the seasons and the source material, it’s a mixed bag again.

Some claim it to be lacklustre a show while some loved the concept of military personnel fighting aliens invading their world through a portal.

Top 5 Best-Rated Episodes

Episode Name and Number	Ratings (MyAnimeList)
Japan, Beyond the Gate (Episode 8, Season 1)	4.7/5
Decisive Battle (Episode 5, Season 2)	4.7/5
Ride of the Valkyries (Episode 6, Season 1)	4.6/5
The Imperial Capital Quake (Episode 2, Season 2)	4.6/5
The Fire Dragon, Once More (Episode 4, Season 2)	4.6/5

Gate Manga, DVD/Blu-Ray Sales and Merchandise

Sales are one of the most important factors in booking profit.

Anime is made for charity so if the series does not deliver profit to creators then there is no point in carrying it forward.

But do we have an exact number that tells whether anime was successful or not?

No, it’s difficult to get the exact number as the anime industry does not disclose profit information publicly.

We can just look at a few indicators like DVD/Blu-ray sales, merchandise available, and manga sales to understand profitability.

So, let’s go ahead and see for ourselves what these indicators say.

Website & Merchandise

If one were to check the news section of the website for any new updates, it would turn out to be a complete dud.

The website was last updated in 2017.

Surprisingly the only collectable item for the series that the website has is only Blu-Ray and DVDs.

However, if you click on one of those volumes you can see that t-shirts with the anime’s logo have been bundled with the sets along with some booklets.

While some other volumes have first aid kits as a bonus item.

Guess it makes sense to give fans a taste of military life packaged in the form of their favourite anime series.

Manga

As of 2017, the Gate novel series sold a whopping 4.2 million copies in Japan alone!

According to the AphaPolis website, a banner indicating that Gate the manga series has sold over 5 million copies.

The fans want to know more hence they’ve been purchasing the source material because the animated series stalled and they don’t know the reason why.

So how did the DVD/Blu-Ray sales do?

DVD/Blu-Ray Sales

With the Blu-ray and DVD Box sets from Vol. 1 until 12 listed on the website, the sales for the anime series have been great. 2015 saw Blu-Ray Discs sales in the Top 10 of Japan’s Sales with a total of 4696 copies sold.

The Gate Blu-Ray Box-1 (First Edition) ranked at #7 on Japan’s Animation Blu-ray Disc Ranking for Nov 2017, with a total sale of 889 copies sold for a whole straight week.

In a 2016 list for Japan’s DVD rankings, Gate Vol. 12 (Limited First Pressing) ranked at #14 selling 798 copies.

The Blu-Ray Discs for Vol. 12 sold a whopping 3,822 copies in its initial week itself ranking at #10!

In another 2016 list, the Blu-Ray sales for Gate Season 2 had big numbers, selling 4999 copies!

All these indicate what a great show Gate was and why these numbers indicate the yearning of the fans for a new season.

Production Cost for the new season

The two main issues for the series have to be money and the confusing source material.

Now given the numbers above, clearly creating a new season would mean a great financial incentive for the creators, so why the delay?

This high-budget anime series must have cost them approximately 500 million yen to create since it features heavy VFX work and numerous character and world designs.

Plus, the show does have some huge production houses’ names attached to it, so it’s safe to say there should be no hurdle to creating a new season.

Popular Gate Characters

Unlike most anime series, we could potentially see all the characters return, let’s take a look at some of the most popular ones.

Yoji Itami

Of course, the protagonist of the show is a much-loved character from the Gate universe.

Itami is great at one-on-one fighting, extremely proficient in detecting danger before it occurs, and possesses superior intelligence and great leadership skills.

It was due to his personality that peace talks could be initiated with the Special Region.

His motto in life is, “Eat, sleep, play, repeat. And the life in-between”.

Oh, and did we mention, that he’s an otaku?

Rory Mercury

A demigoddess, an apostle of Emroy, the goddess of darkness, war, and death, Rory Mercury.

That’s a pretty heavy description of her character portrayal.

Rory is a key character in the series and is beneficial in the war against the Special Region.

Rory has superhuman strength and immortality. She is capable of using Hex-based spells and is exceptionally intelligent.

She keeps a very prominent love interest for Itami.

Pina Co Lada

The 19-year-old daughter of the Emperor is in line to ascend the throne.

Despite her name being linked to the drink, she’s very far from it.

In the anime series, Pina is shown as a less aggressive and mellow personality compared to her manga character.

She is an excellent swordsman, understands, and can play the game of politics well.

Pina also has high charisma which leads her into becoming the Queen of the fallen Empire towards the end of the anime series.

After meeting with Itami, Pina also becomes an otaku.

Pina also features on our Top 50 Anime Princesses List!

Zorzal El Caesar

Zorzal is the crown prince of the Empire and also happens to be Pina’s brother.

Zorzal is a villain in Itami’s and Pina’s eyes.

He wants to wage a war on Japan even though he does not possess the manpower and technology Japan possesses.

He is your typical delusional tyrannical leader who wants nothing but power, even if it means betraying his own family.

Tuka Luna Marceau

Tuka is an elf and also one of the protagonists of the series.

Tuka is a cheerful young girl but can be a little reserved as well due to some traumatic events in the past.

She uses Spirit Magic and is an efficient Archer.

She also plays the lute and is a beautiful singer.

Like Rory and the others, Tuka is attracted to Itami and even declares that she wants to get married to him.

Other Decisive Factors for Gate Season 3

Given the sales figures above, money is not the concern, it’s the source material.

The numerous amounts of volumes (novels, light novels, spin-offs) but half of the content goes into side stories.

This is probably why they cannot seem to create a detailed story for the animated series.

But if they are potentially using Gate: Anchor Weigh as a storyline for the new season.

It shouldn’t take too long either because the story is similar and has the same meat as the earlier one.

Some of the stories took place in between events already shown in the anime unless A-1 Pictures does flashback episodes for each character’s development.

We can’t exactly pinpoint everything going wrong here, just that there’s a tonne of confusion in terms of where Yanai is heading with the story and what the purpose of the side stories for Gate to continue.

Madhouse and Sentai Filmworks have shown keen interest in the new season/part.

Gate Anime Ending Explained

In the ending, we saw Pina be crowned as queen of the imperial.

On the occasion of this, she vows to give her heart and soul to protect the kingdom and bring peace and prosperity.

The ending also revealed many secret loves and confessions.

We saw Bozes and Tomita have married, Beefeater and Shunya are in a relationship as well as Sugawara and Sherry.

But what about Itami?

Well, he skips the Pina crown ceremony because he decides to attend a doujin convention which he missed earlier.

The Ending looks like a happy one but many serious questions are left unanswered.

One is the future of Itami, and what will become of him.

Controversy

The Gate series has been criticized for promoting political and military propaganda, but that hasn’t dulled the show.

It is considered by many a right-wing nationalist propaganda for the JSDF.

Countries like the US, Russia, and China have been shown in a bad light.

If you can’t take such sort of content, just don’t bother going through this title.

The JSDF used the anime as a recruitment campaign and even used the characters as mascots for the same.

Another confusion about the series as we have already addressed above is whether it does have two seasons or not.

As per a MAL report, it was announced that the series was going to be aired in a split course format covering the Fire Dragon Arc.

So that means, it’s one season that was released with a gap of a few months but Anime News Network considers both releases as two different seasons.

That just adds to the confusion the source material has already created.

Some even confuse the Gate series with Steins; Gate, which is very odd, both series are completely different stories with only one common word for confusion.

Hardcore fans and manga fans of the show are waiting for a new season.

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