The Thunder 3 anime has a second season greenlit for 2027, announced after the first season finished its broadcast run. The source manga ended on June 5, 2026, and Hiroya Oku confirmed he created it under the pen name Yuki Ikeda.
The biggest change in Thunder 3 coverage is authorship. Hiroya Oku stated on X on September 24, 2026 that Yuki Ikeda, the credited author of the manga, is his own pen name. Oku said the alias protected a chapter 1 twist that his real name would have weakened for first-time readers. The reveal reclassifies Thunder 3 as an Oku work from its launch in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine in May 2022. The series reached its final chapter in the July 2026 issue, released on June 5, 2026, and the collected volumes total 10, with the last volume released on August 17.
The anime premiered on July 8, 2026 on Fuji TV's +Ultra block and streamed worldwide on Netflix the same day. Yuri performs the opening theme 'Thunderbolt' and Otoha-otoha- performs the ending song 'Shururerira.' At Anime Expo, director Hiroyuki Seshita and scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko said the mix of art styles is intentional and that each episode is built around a cliffhanger.
Episode reviews through the season were negative. The reviews criticized the pacing, the CG character models, and the sidelining of the main characters, The Small Three, with episode 7 called the worst CG anime since EX-ARM. Episode 11 finally reached the fight back teased since the start, but the review called it weightless and gave it a community score of 2.7.
On October 4, 2026, the staff announced a second season for 2027. The manga is already finished, so the continuation rests on the anime's own standing.
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The television anime of the Thunder 3 manga will return for a second season next year, the staff announced Thursday. Hiroya Oku confirmed in September that he created the manga under the pen name Yuki Ikeda. The adaptation premiered on Fuji-TV's +Ultra block on July 8 and streamed worldwide on Netflix the same day. Kodansha USA publishes the manga in English.
Hiroya Oku confirmed on social media Thursday that he created the Thunder 3 manga under the pen name Yuki Ikeda. He said the pen name kept a first-chapter surprise intact for new readers, one that the Oku name would have lessened. The series launched in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine in May 2022, entered its climax in January 2025, went on hiatus that March over Ikeda's health, returned in February, and ended on June 5.
Hiroya Oku, the manga artist behind GANTZ, stated on September 24, 2026 that Yuki Ikeda, the credited author of Thunder 3, is his own pen name. Oku posted the confirmation on his X account. He said the pen name existed because a chapter 1 twist would have been weakened if his real name had been attached, and he wanted first-time readers to be surprised. Thunder 3 began serialization in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine in May 2022 and reached its final chapter in the July 2026 issue, released on June 5, 2026. The collected volumes total 10, with the last volume released on August 17. The TV anime adaptation premiered on July 8, 2026 and its final episode, Episode 12, is set to air on September 30. Online speculation about the art style resembling GANTZ had circulated for some time before Oku's post.
Hiroya Oku revealed on X that he is Yuki Ikeda, the pen name credited as the author of Thunder 3. He said the alias protected the twist in Episode 1, so first-time readers would be surprised. Oku thanked the anime staff and said he watches every episode. Thunder 3 ran in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine, concluded in June 2026, and its anime streams on Netflix.
Thunder 3 episode 11 reaches the point teased since the start, where the cartoon boys fight back, but only after roughly half the episode of standing around while alien soldiers fail to hit them with colored laser beams. Segami is incapacitated by an Empoweral hangover and carried off-screen by a female colleague who appears to have gained temporary healing powers from the drug. Pyontaro worries about turning the boys into murderers, and the fight plays weightless. The episode has a community score of 2.7.
Anime News Network's episode 9 review of Thunder 3 finds the Small Three finally acting, but only in the final scene. The reviewer criticizes the slow adaptation pacing, notes the manga concluded in Japan with volume 10, and argues this season likely covers only the first half, which includes the weakest material in volumes 2-4.
Thunder 3 episode 8 is a slight improvement for the maligned adaptation, mainly because several plotlines finally start to converge. The teacher who lent the kids his PS5 game in the first episode returns to ask for his disc back, then lets other students into his house and drags another group of kids into the war-torn dimension. Futaba stays stuck on the alien spacecraft with Q-chan, and the Rebellion fighters begin using their nasal-spray powers, though the direction undercuts the spectacle.
Anime News Network's review of Thunder 3 episode 7 gives the series a community score of 3.0 and calls it the worst CG anime since EX-ARM and the worst manga adaptation since Ubel Blatt. The reviewer says the production is boring, poorly lit, and static, with character rigs that look cut and pasted into scenes. The episode's alien nasal spray plot device is introduced too late to save the arc.
At Anime Expo, Thunder 3 director Hiroyuki Seshita and scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko discussed the anime's intentional mix of art styles, their love of cliffhangers, and the inspiration behind the series. Seshita emphasized the strength of Japanese comic art, while Seko cited The Goonies as his entry into the industry.
Anime News Network rates Thunder 3 episode 6 at 2.8, criticizing the continued sidelining of the main characters, The Small Three, and the flat, emotionless portrayal of the real-world cast. The review calls the fight sequence boring and the pacing glacial, with the only saving grace being the opening scene featuring Futaba and her new friend Q-chan.
Anime News Network's review of Thunder 3 episode 5 finds the anime adaptation still falling short of its source manga's intensity. The episode is called a marginal improvement over the previous one, but the reviewer criticizes the slow pacing and the animation quality, particularly the still-frame flashbacks and poorly-rigged CG human models. The episode introduces a JSDF pilot's suicide attack and pushes protagonist Segami toward action.
Anime News Network's review of Thunder 3 episode 4 finds the series' second genre shift a failure. The episode sidelines the main characters to focus on Segami, a dull human whose only trait is wanting a girlfriend. The review criticizes the poor CG animation and stiff character models, calling the episode a potential drop point for viewers.
Anime News Network's review of the first three episodes of Thunder 3 calls it the strangest isekai of the Summer 2026 season, with an off-putting art style, a delayed central premise, and a weirdly structured first episode that adapts the manga's first chapter closely. The show's cutesy prologue and crude CG alien world may struggle to find an audience.
The TV anime adaptation of Thunder 3 began airing on July 8, 2026, on Fuji TV's +Ultra. The first episode features a shocking twist as the protagonists enter a multiverse. Non-credit opening and ending videos have been released. The episode faithfully adapts the manga's first chapter with added arrangements. Celebrity fans including Hanako Okabe Dai and Shinku Jessica Gaku praised the adaptation.
The Thunder 3 anime released a main promotional video and visual on Thursday, revealing seven new cast members for the rebellion faction. The video also features the opening theme song 'Thunderbolt' by Yuri. The anime premiered on Fuji TV's +Ultra block on July 8 and is streaming worldwide on Netflix. The manga by Yuki Ikeda ended on June 5.
The opening theme for the TV anime 'Thunder 3' will be Yuri's new song 'Thunderbolt'. The anime, based on Yuki Ikeda's manga, premieres July 8 on Fuji TV's '+Ultra' slot. A fan event in Shibuya will distribute lightning-shaped fans on the same day.
The TV anime adaptation of Yuki Ikeda's manga Thunder 3 will premiere on Fuji TV's +Ultra block on July 8 and stream worldwide on Netflix the same day. The second PV and ending theme information were also released, with Otoha-otoha- performing the ED song 'Shururerira.'