After five long years of waiting, the Log Horizon Season 3 release date has been confirmed for January 13, 2021. The third season will have 12 episodes in total.
The Log Horizon sequel is officially being named Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table (Log Horizon: Entaku Houkai), which is also the title for Volume 12 of the web novel series by author Mamare Touno (real name Daisuke Umezu).
Animation company Studio DEEN (famous for the KonoSuba anime series) is returning to produce the Log Horizon Season 3 anime. The first season was animated by studio Satelight while the second season was animated by Studio DEEN.
The original Japanese voice cast and most of the Studio DEEN staff are returning for producing Log Horizon S3. Helming the project will be director Shinji Ishihira, who is best known for directing the Fairy Tail anime series.
Light novel illustrator Kazuhiro Hara is credited with the original character designs. Writer Toshizo Nemoto is overseeing the script with Syouji Masuda once again providing story supervision. Sound director Shoji Hata and composer Yasuharu Takanashi are also both returning.
The Log Horizon Season 3 opening (OP) theme song music and ending (ED) have not yet been announced.
Updated September 23, 2020: Exact Log Horizon Season 3 release date confirmed!
Updated June 15, 2020: Log Horizon Season 3 release date delayed!
Updated April 1, 2020: Number of Episodes for Log Horizon Season 3 confirmed.
This article provides everything that is known about Log Horizon Season 3 (Log Horizon: Entaku Houkai) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Log Horizon manga/light novel series compared to the anime
In the past, the anime series has been based on the Log Horizon light novel series by writer Mamare Touno (check out his Twitter account) and illustrator Kazuhiro Hara.
The Log Horizon Season 3 anime stands out in comparison to almost all anime since the third season will largely be based on the Log Horizon web novel series self-published on the website Shosetsuka ni Naro (So You Want to be a Novelist).
The web novel started in April 2010, and Japanese publisher Enterbrain picked up the series for a light novel adaptation starting in March 2011. As of March 2018, the light novel series was up to Volume 11: Krusty, Tycoon Lord.
Volume 12 was originally slated for a September 2019 release, but it’s been put on an indefinite delay by the publisher.
The story also spawned multiple Log Horizon manga series, but they are spin-off side stories. The longest-running manga, Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, finished up in 2018 with Volume 11.
The licensing rights for the official English translation of the Log Horizon light novel and manga series was picked up by Yen Press. The English Volume 11 was published back in January 2019, while the English manga finished in March 2019.
Unfortunately, light novel fan translation projects such as skythewood and MountainOfPigeons stopped at Volume 7 back in 2016 when Yen Press licensed the work.
The problem is that Log Horizon’s ending in the web novel series is nowhere on the horizon despite the light novels being on a long hiatus.
In fact, by 2017 Mamare had already finished Volume 12: Destruction of the Round Table (which can also be translated as Log Horizon: Fall/Collapse of the Round Table) and Volume 13: Nightingale’s Song, but Enterbrain or Kadokawa have not yet announced any plans for continuing the light novel adaptation.
What’s more, Volume 14: Twilight Orphan is nearing completion, although the last chapter update was way back in March 2018. Regardless, Mamare announced at a May 2018 Re:Fraction event that he was already planning on writing Volume 15: Coppelia, Tiered Islands and Volume 16: Thelsdesia’s Friday.
This preview of Volumes 15 and 16 included a chapter snippet and draft art illustrations.
On Reddit, some users have speculated that these previews “indicate that Mamare has overhead from Kadokawa prohibiting him from publishing any of his drafts online, and so we haven’t gotten any progress on volume 14 even though he has stuff far beyond that done. … At this point, the only (reasonable) explanation I can think of as to why Kadokawa refuses to make progress is to stall until Mamare gets official clearance for his charges.”
Long-time fans of the series might object at this point and point out that Mamare had originally planned on finishing the entire story with Volume 15. And they’d be right.
“I intend to make Log Horizon a 15 volume series, with some small things on the side,” Mamare said. “I should be able to complete it with your support.”
Of course, Mamare made this comment back in 2013 during a 4chan discussion. Since then, plans changed, and he began integrating important side stories into the main plot, including Kanami’s story, which was covered by Volumes 9, 11, and 15.
Therefore, it’s likely that the final ending won’t be adapted into anime until Log Horizon Season 4 or beyond.
The first season of the anime series adapted the story of the first five volumes. The second season followed suit by adapting Volume 6 through 10.
It seems very likely that the Log Horizon Season 3 anime will only adapt three books at most since Volume 14 remains unfinished. It’s possible Mamare has been quietly writing more books without publishing the chapters on the web novel site, but that’s speculation.
At the same time, since the third season is named after Volume 12, it’s possible the Log Horizon Season 3 anime will only adapt two books. That’d be the best plan since Studio DEEN is only producing a single-cour season composed of 12 episodes.
A “cour” is a three-month unit of TV broadcasting based on the physical weather seasons.
After all, the pacing of the second season was definitely rushed. While it’s common for light novel stories to be condensed to fit the limited time constraints of episodes, Volume 9 was literally squished down into a single episode.
Now, Volume 12 is a direct continuation of the story events of Volume 10, while Volume 11 continued Volume 9’s side story set in the Chinese server. Therefore, it makes sense for the third season to be named after Volume 12.
Let’s just hope Studio DEEN decides to back the story up and adapt the skipped story events from Volume 9.
The bad news is that no matter how Studio DEEN adapts the third season there will probably be a long wait for Log Horizon Season 4 unless the creator picks up the writing pace.
In the past, Mamare used to produce a web novel in quick bursts of several months before taking breaks. Volume 14 was written from July 2017 through March 2018 before stopping completely.
But it’s possible Mamare will continue his old progress rate now that the Log Horizon Season 3 anime is being developed.
English-only book readers are also out of luck. Yes, you can go buy the Volume 11 light novel right now, but until the light novels begin publishing again it won’t be possible to read ahead of the anime.
Log Horizon Season 3 anime TV series delayed due to the author’s legal problems?
Many anime fans have long suspected that the long delay for the Log Horizon Season 3 anime was due to the personal problems of the author. The anime adaptation caught up with the light novels in 2015, but then Mamare ran into legal problems.
As previously mentioned, Mamare’s real name is Daisuke Umezu. In April 2015, he was charged with tax evasion for neglecting to file income taxes for $1 million in royalties over three years.
A year later, he was found guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in prison, but he ended up under house arrest.
The author eventually paid back his taxes in full, including all fines. The progress on the manga spin-offs and web novel chapters were not noticeably delayed during the house arrest.
However, there was a huge time between the releases of light novel Volume 10 (September 2015) and Volume 11 (March 2018).
For a time, there was a popular rumor that the Log Horizon Season 3 anime wouldn’t happen since Japanese companies would not want to be associated with criminal behavior.
After all, the primary producer and financier of the Log Horizon anime series had been NHK, the government of Japan’s national public broadcasting organization.
So, it’s quite notable that the initial announcement of the Log Horizon Season 3 anime was made by the NHK website. The only remaining question is whether Enterbrain will resume adapting the web novel into light novel volumes.
Log Horizon S3 release date was delayed to Winter 2021
As of the last update, anime producer NHK has confirmed that the Log Horizon Season 3 release date is scheduled for January 13, 2021, the winter 2021 anime season.
The Log Horizon Season 3 anime was originally scheduled to premiere in October 2020 before being postponed due to the effects of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus pandemic.
It could be argued that the Log Horizon Season 4 anime has a good chance assuming the web novel progress resumes. The Blu-Ray/DVD sales in Japan were just decent, averaging 4,026 and 2,438 in sales according to Oricon, but the series has been internationally popular thanks to streaming platforms like Crunchyroll.
In fact, the Log Horizon anime is always lurking on Crunchyroll’s popular anime. That’s a big deal since streaming revenue is now the largest factor determining an anime’s financial success.
Log Horizon Season 3 spoilers (Destruction of the Round Table plot summary/synopsis)
Note: The story events of Volume 10 and 11 take place concurrently. It’s possible Log Horizon S3 could adapt skipped events from Volume 9 so Volume 11 can be adapted while making more sense. Spoilers for Volume 13 and 14 can be found here.
Krusty finds himself completely lost with nothing to do in the enchanting lands of the Chinese server. The last time we watched Krusty he seemed to be dead, swallowed by a magical weapon, but he survives.
Still, Krusty is suffering from amnesia, and he ends up recuperating in a mountaintop retreat run by magical weasels. The story delves down into Krusty’s personality, showing us what makes him tick.
As it happens, Kanami and her party are also nearby, hoping to explore the Sirius Grotto dungeon. Traveling with them is Elias, the lead NPC hero of Elder Tales.
However, Elias is deemed “too powerful,” which prevents him from entering and participating in the dungeon raid!
Elias begins to harbor doubts about the value of his existence after learning that he was essentially a pawn created by otherworldly beings.
Due to gameplay reasons bestowed upon him by his game backstory, Elias can’t strike a killing blow, angered by the limitations that this world has set on him.
Despite being a high-level warrior, Elias’ mental makes him easy prey for the manipulations of the Enchantress Youren’s manipulations. And it’s not long before she sends Elias on a collision course with none other than Krusty!
Meanwhile, continuing where the anime’s second season left off, Shiroe and Akatsuki are discussing Honesty’s research on Fairy Rings, which can magically teleport players to a specific destination.
This destination used to change every month, but now the destinations are changing every six months.
Adventurers are also suffering from a development called log reave, where they just up and disappear without any trace. They can’t even be reached via Telepathy. Six month months after the Catastrophe, there have been 36 cases documented cases of log reave, and it’s become a cause for concern.
Speaking of problems, in Akiba the magic barrier is down, and Rayneshia and Elissa are talking about the situation. Rayneshia’s mother, Sarariya, comes with the news that Rayneshia is to be engaged to a merchant from the Eastal League!
Of course, Rayneshia is opposed to an arranged marriage and Elissa starts creating a plan to get Rayneshia out of the engagement.
Even more problems begin to accumulate at the next Round Table meeting. Members butt heads over competing ideas, and Krusty’s whereabouts come up as a matter of concern. Eins is especially confrontational.
When the quibbling begins to become too much, Shiroe reminds Eins that the Round Table is a self-governing body, not a governing body. Krusty may have represented the Round Table to the public, but if Akiba’s people didn’t want something, then the Round Table can’t force a decision on them.
Eins conceded the point during the Round Table meeting, and Shiroe assumed the matter was closed. However, the next morning they awoke to the announcement that Eins had taken the title of Akiba’s Duke.
Needless to say, events are culminating toward a confrontation. Unfortunately, anime fans will need to wait until the Log Horizon Season 3 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!