Among the many great Isekai genre anime series, Konosuba is certainly one of the best. With its amazing voice acting and fun characters, this series has gained a lot of popularity over the years. With all the great aspects of a popular anime, the fans are wondering why there still isn’t any news about Konosuba Season 3.
Without the release of the Season 3, fans will never be able to learn if there is hope for Megumin and Kazuma to get together as a couple or not. All of these and many other such questions can only be answered only by two ways. One is to read the original source material for the story, which is the light novel. As for the other way, it is to wait for the Konosuba Season 3 and many fans are willing to wait for this sequel. Now the main conundrum here is that there are no official announcements on the release of Konosuba Season 3 in 2020. Also, there are no rumors or speculations regarding the project being green-lit for future production.
How to Figure Out If There Is Going To Be A “Konosuba Season 3”?
After binging and following hundreds of animes from almost every genre, we have come to know of a certain method to determine the possibility for a season’s sequel. The method we have come up gives an answer by almost 95 percent certainty. The reason for this high percentage is we look through the franchise’s source material, its profit ad sales information as well as popularity among general audience. All this information, when combined gives a positive outlook of the bigger picture.
We took that same method and applied it to deduce if there will be season 3 for Konosuba or not. Without a doubt, this answer will be revealed at the very end of this article. So, to know this answer, keep on reading.
Section I: Source Material Info About “Konosuba Season 3”:-
A vast majority of the anime series are only adaption for the already existing source material. This source material can be in many forms such as mangas, light novels, visual novels, and games. As for the series at hand, Konosuba, this source material happens to be light novel.
Now we will see as to how many of the Konosuba light novel volumes have been released so far and also if this story is still ongoing. If, in the worst-case scenario, the story is concluded, the prospects for a Season 3 seem grim. This is the very same case due to which there will not be Air Gear Season 2.
We will also see how many of the volumes of this light novel have been used in making of the Konosuba Season 1 and Konosuba Season 2.
How many Light Novel/Manga volumes Does have?
At the moment, there happen to be 17 volumes of the light novel, all of which are released in Japan. Other than that, Konosuba got its own Spin-off series along with the manga adaptation on which the anime is loosely based upon.
The spin-off series covers the time of the story two years prior to the official series. This spin-off covers the lives of characters like Yunyun and Megumin.
Is it in Continuation?
The Konosuba main light novel series is concluded with the release of volume 17. Author of the series Natsume Akatsuki released this last volume in Japan on 1st May 2020. As for the spin-off series, it is currently ongoing. The author also revealed his pas to cover the lives of more Konosuba characters with this spin-off series. So, in short, we are looking at a considerable time frame to cover these characters in the spin-off.
Which volumes of light novel have been covered for anime?
Konosuba Season 1 was aired back in 2016 and the source material was volume 1 and 2 of the light novel. As for Konosuba Season 2, it was made using the material of light novel volumes 3 and 4. There was also a Konosuba movie titled “Densetsu” which used volume 5. This means for a sequel to happen, it will start from volume 6.
CONCLUSION:
With the amount of source material left of the light novel, there is plenty to make at least 6 of these seasons. Now the bad news here is that the light novel is already concluded which restricts prospects for a sequel happening in the future.
Section II: Information about Sales & Profit:-
Konosuba has a plus point and that is it is a relatively cheaper anime to produce as compared to other series in its league. Studio releases 10 episodes per season and the cost of them is around 2 million dollars. Now, keeping in mind this cost, we will be checking the profit and sales information of the Konosuba franchise. What we fear at this point is that with each sequel, the profits of anime franchises tend to get less and less. A typical estimate is a drop of 10 to 20 percent in profits with each season.
So, if there happens to be a significant drop in the profits of Season 2 as compared to Season 1, the franchise has lost profits and is deemed a liability by the investors. Fans are still waiting on Noragami Season 3 which is still waiting for decision due to not making enough profits for its 2nd season.
Blu-Ray sales:
Konosuba Season 1 had a sale of around 1200 copies of Blu-ray disks. As for Konosuba Season 2, it sold around 11000 blu-ray disks. For Season 2, this is a great number as only a few animes can hope to reach this number in 2019. Although these blu-ray sales don’t matter for elevating chances for a sequel happening, they still contribute a little.
Still, there are exceptions to even this case like why despite the great blu-ray sales, Accel World Season 2 never aired.
Light Novel sales:
Konosuba volume 16 of light novel was released back on 1st August 2019 with a sale of 100K copies. As for the last volume of the novel, it was released in 2020 and has sold 95000 copies so far.
Also, this novel is not listed in the list for Top 10 Best-selling light novels for 2019 but is certainly in the 2018 list with a record of selling 630000 copies. This franchise is raking in revenue primarily from its light novel sales. Any Isekai sires that sell copies 100K for each volume is considered a top-notch one. The series is doing better than a popular series like Wise man’s Grandchild which sells only 15K copies even after having anime. This raises the question about the future of Wise Man’s Grandchild Season 2.
Merchandise:
For the first 2 seasons of this franchise, 90 figurines were up for sale. Investors decided to provide figurines for all the major characters like Megumin, Kazuma, Darkness, and Aqua. Still, Megumin got most of these figurines as she alone has 50 of them.
Other than that, the franchise also released 1000 unique merchandise times which is more than what One Punch man has.
Both the movie and the first 2 seasons did great to boost production and sales of these merchandise items. This is a good omen because merchandise sales are a huge boost for the future of any anime series.
Konosuba Movie:-
The movie of the franchise titled “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Kurenai Densetsu” did a business of around 710 million Japanese yen or around 6.5 million dollars. It even sold around 20000 Blu-ray disks in Japan alone.
So as far as the movie goes, it performed outstandingly on both the box office and blu ray disk sales front. The film might have only cost around 2 million dollars so investors got a huge return on their investments.
Also, the success of an anime movie is a huge boost for a sequel’s prospects but there are still often exceptions. Like in the case of Goblin Slayer movie which despite performing well is still waiting on Goblin Slayer Season 2.
Konosuba Game:-
Back in February of 2020, the game of Konosuba was released in Japan which is now quite popular. This game even has plans on collaborating with Re: Zero. The game is even performing well compared to the Overlord game.
The game was, so far, downloaded for about 500K plus times and has earned around 1.5 million dollars till September on both Android and iOS.
The above-sated are only few of the main ways for an anime to earn money with lots of others. We cannot explain others in detail but they include OST tracks, opening ending songs, and international streaming licenses for Funimation & Crunchyroll, web radio, and others.
CONCLUSION:
As far as we can tell, everything related to Konosuba is making a decent turnover on the cost. This is a major plus sign for the chances of Konosuba Season 3 happening.
Section III: Information on Popularity of the Franchise:-
Now we will check if the series is still as popular among fans as it was 4 years ago when the first season was released. Or if this popularity has decreased or increased after release of 2nd season and the movie. Looking back on the profits from the movie we are sure that the popularity must still be holding the ground.
We will still look at the places like franchise’s official website, their social media account, Google trends, and print copies numbers to make an assessment. A decrease in popularity might mean an end like Tokyo Ravens whose 2nd season never got released.
Social Media:
The Konosuba official website had its last update back in 2020 related to the rebroadcast of its seasons. As for the Twitter account, it has a following of 290K with countless tweets made even to this date.
Google Trends:
With each passing season as well as the movie of the Konosuba franchise, the popularity seems to increase. This is shocking because normally it is the opposite of sequels. The latest searches are at their peak, which might be due to the recent end of Konosuba Season 2. This only means that everyone is looking for the franchise to see the news about Konosuba Season 3.
Light Novels:
As of November 2020, there are around 9 million+ copies of the Konosuba light novel. The series ended with its volume 17 and people are buying them like hot cakes so the official numbers are still waiting to turn up.
CONCLUSION:
The popularity of the Konosuba is at its all-time high in 2020. Its mobile game along with the release of the last light novel volume and movie, are all contributing to its popularity is not only Japan but in the entire world.
Is there going to be “Konosuba Season 3”:-
We would be really surprised if the Konosuba Season 3 does not get announced next year or the year after that. There is no way for us to doubt that the series cannot get a sequel considering how high profits it is raking in.
While the conclusion of the light novel means a bad end for its anime project, the case is the opposite for Konosuba. All the other revenue-earning sources are contributing more than enough to green-lit at least 2 future projects of this franchise.
So, our short answer is that with a certainty of 99.99 percent, there is a chance that Konosuba Season 3 will get announced in the future.
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