The Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3 anime TV show will have Shinichi Sakurai finally confronting his feelings for Hana Uzaki… but that lovey-dovey atmosphere is spreading to family and friends! But when will Uzaki-chan Season 3 come out?
Based on the current status of the manga and the scheduling of the animation studio, Anime Geek is predicting that the Uzaki-chan Season 3 release date could be in 2024. (For more details, please see the release date predictions section below.)
The official title of the second season is Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Double or Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! ω. The “ω” is pronounced as “double.” Thus, it’s possible that Uzaki-chan Season 3 will have a similarly themed title.
The main staff and studio making Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! Season 3 hasn’t been announced yet.
The first two seasons of the anime TV series were produced by the animation studio ENGI. A relatively new company, the studio was established by Kadokawa in 2018. Their first project was the wrestling anime Kemono Michi: Rise up.
Studio ENGI also released the 2021 Full Dive: The Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life! anime, the 2021 The Detective is Already Dead anime, the 2022 Trapped in a Dating Sim anime, the 2022 Management of a Novice Alchemist anime, and the 2022 KanColle Season 2 anime. The studio also provided CGI production assistance for the So I’m a Spider, So What? anime.
In June 2022, it was announced that the TanMoshi: The Detective Is Already Dead Season 2 anime was in production.
The Uzaki-chan anime project was helmed by third-time director Kazuya Miura, who also directed Kemono Michi: Rise up. He’s also done storyboarding for popular anime such as D.Gray-man, Food Wars!, and Juuni Taisen.
Writer Takashi Aoshima (Aho Girl, No Game No Life, Strike Witches: Road to Berlin) handled the series composition. Artist Manabu Kurihara (episode animation director for Bleach, Hellsing Ultimate) was the character designer. Composer Satoshi Igarashi (Astral Chain, Bayonetta 2) created the music.
The Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! OP (opening) theme song music was “Negotiation by Comforting” as performed by Kano and Naomi Ozora (Japanese voice actress for Hana Uzaki). The ending was “Kokoro Knock” by YuNi. The Uzaki-chan Season 2 OP “Ichigo Ichie Celebration” was performed by Kano and Uzaki-chan (Naomi Ohzora), whereas the ED “Happy Life” was sung by MKLNtic.
The 2nd season’s finale, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 2 Episode 13, was released on December 24, 2022.
The 13 episodes of the second season will be released as three Uzaki-chan Season 2 Blu-Ray and DVD volumes.
This article provides everything that is known about Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3 (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! Season 3) 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.
Uzaki-chan Season 3 release date predictions: Is 2024 likely?
As of the last update, Studio ENGI, publisher Kadokawa, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3 release date. Nor has the production of the Uzaki-chan Season 3 anime sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Uzaki-chan Season 3 release date will occur in the future.
Although a second season was greenlit for production relatively quickly, a third season is not necessarily inevitable.
While the Uzaki-chan Season 2 review scores were an improvement on the first season, the ending was infuriating to manga readers since everyone was impatiently waiting for a big moment to be animated only for the 2nd season to stop short just one mere episode away from greatness. Certainly, they’re now demanding that Uzaki-chan Season 3 (or at least a special OVA episode) be made, but it’s still not a good idea to anger the fanbase.
Another negative data point is the 2nd season did not give a huge boost to the sales of the Uzaki-chan manga or light novel series. The series did not make the Oricon Top 20 manga for October 2022 or November 2022.
Still, the manga series has continued to sell fairly well in between the anime seasons. In August 2021, the manga series had 1.9 million copies (including digital) in circulation for the first 7 volumes. By September 2022, the Uzaki-chan manga was up to 2.5 million copies in circulation after Volume 9 was released.
The 2nd season was also regularly featured in the Top 10 on Crunchyroll’s popular anime list in Fall 2022, but it’s not a shoo-in for renewal like SPY x FAMILY Season 2, Chainsaw Man Season 2, My Hero Academia Season 7, or even Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Season 4.
When the first season came out, the biggest issue at the time was that the anime had almost caught up with the manga. By mid-2022 the situation had changed, but even with another original anime original episode providing filler content, the 2nd season adapted 7 out of the 9 manga volumes that had been released by Fall 2022.
Therefore, it’s predicted that the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3 release date will be in 2024 at the earliest.
Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3 English dub release date predictions
The first season of the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! anime was streaming on FUNimation Now in Summer 2020. After Sony purchased and combined Funimation and Crunchyroll, the 2nd season was streaming in Fall 2022 on both Funimation Now and Crunchyroll (not Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HIDIVE, Funimation, or Amazon Prime Video).
Presumably, now that Funimation is being phased out by Sony, Crunchyroll’s Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3 English dub release date will be announced in the future after Uzaki-chan S3 has first premiered with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
Here was Crunchyroll’s Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! dub cast:
- Monica Rial (Alice in Combatants Will Be Dispatched!) as Hana Uzaki
- Ricco Fajardo (Taiju in Dr. STONE) as Shinichi Sakurai (with David Matranga voice matching for Episode 1)
- Jad Saxton (Chika in Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 4) as Ami Asai
- Kent Williams (Noi in Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer) as Akihiko Asai
- Terri Doty (Kyoko in Interviews with Monster Girls) as Tsuki Uzaki
- Daman Mills (Goriki in ODDTAXI) as Narrator
- Nazeeh Tarsha (Kamioka in Horimiya) as Itsuhito Sakaki
FUNimation’s Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! English dub release date for the first season was on September 11, 2022, which was over a month after the first season premiered. As for Crunchyroll’s Uzaki-chan Season 2 English dub, it came out on October 15, 2022, which was only 2 weeks behind the 2nd season’s premiere on October 1, 2022.
Hopefully, future English dubbing will be faster once the COVID pandemic winds down and becomes endemic. In order to protect voice actors from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, they were forced to temporarily pause production or take extra safety precautions that resulted in slowed work.
Many English dubbing houses have experienced delays since voice actors often travel to the recording studio. By mid-2022 Crunchyroll began switching from remote recording to in-studio recording again (most of the work is done in their Texas studio).
Uzaki-chan manga compared to the anime’s 2nd season
The anime is based on the Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! manga series by creator Take. Serialized since December 2017, the Uzaki-chan manga is up to Volume 9 as of September 9, 2022. Uzaki-chan Volume 9 includes up through Chapter 85.
Historically, new manga volumes are released twice a year, once in February/March and once in July/August/September. Thus, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Volume 10 will come out in Spring 2023, Volume 11 in Fall 2023, and so on.
The official English translation of the manga is being published by Seven Seas Entertainment in North America. Already caught up to Volume 8 as of December 13, 2022, the English manga will be up to Volume 9 by June 20, 2023.
While it might be just another rom-com at its core, the manga created one of the best character dynamics seen in recent years. Similar to Rent-A-Girlfriend, the plot is not just about gags since the character development shows off its sugoi dekai (super big) heart.
The anime has stayed true to the manga’s story but events have been reordered. This is not unusual for an anime based on a rom-com manga since similarly themed chapters with self-contained gag stories will often be grouped into one episode. But when a series of chapter events progress directly into the next as part of a major story arc the anime will adapt the chapters straight through out of necessity.
Besides the reordering of events, the adaptation has been fairly straightforward with the notable addition of some extended scenes. Arguably, the anime improved on the manga by adding foreshadowing in earlier episodes.
The anime even expanded on many chapters with animal original scenes and jokes. For example, in Season 2 Episode 4 the anime added a where Hana fed the cats while cooking and she also imagined Sakurai’s fame.
Uzaki-chan Season 1 Episode 10 was definitely an anime-original episode considering that it basically played out like a tourism ad for Tottori. The crossover between Uzaki-chan and the Detective Conan/Case Closed series was certainly unexpected since it wasn’t in the manga, but the reason for all the references was that the Case Closed author, Gosho Aoyama, was born in Tottori prefecture and his hometown is Hokuei.
Similarly, Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 9 was an anime original story advertising a water park. As previously mentioned, the 2nd season ended before a big moment, so if this ad episode did not exist then the seasonal finale would have been much better.
The first season ended by adapting Volume: Chapter 34, but Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 1 picked up the story again by flashing forward to “the hug” in order to hook audiences with the upcoming romantic progression right away that’s in the Christmas Party story arc. Season 2 Episode 1 then backtracked to adapt Chapter 28, which was skipped by the first season, only to finish with Chapters 35, 37, and 38. That was slightly confusing for anime audiences since the episode jumped back and forth between winter and summer.
Volume 5 is when the Uzaki family was finally introduced. Manga readers agree that’s when the series really began hitting its stride.
Here’s a guide to how Uzaki-chan Season 2 adapted the manga:
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 1: Chapters Flash-forward, 28, 35, 37, 38
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 2: Chapters 36, 39, 48 (partial), Volume 4 Bonus 42.5
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 3: Chapters 40, 41, 42
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 4: Chapters 43, 44, 45
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 5: Chapters 46, 47, 48
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 6: Chapters 49, 50, 51, Volume 5 Bonus 51.5
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 7: Chapters 52, 53, 54, 61.5
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 8: Chapters 55, 56, 57
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 9: Anime Original
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 10: Chapters 58, 59, 60
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 11: Chapters 61, 62, 63
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 12: Chapters 64, 65, 66, Anime Original
- Uzaki-chan Season 2 Episode 13: Chapters 67, 68, 69
The biggest negative to the 2nd season was that it dragged things out with slow adaptation pacing for the first 11 episodes, never mind the vacation advertisement episode that didn’t move the main plot forward at all. It was almost like it was a hard rule that each episode only adapted a little over 3 chapters per episode.
Normally, that’s a good trait in an anime adaptation, but in this case, Episode 12 began changing the Christmas party arc, which should have been the highlight of the season, not the part that’s quickly skimmed over in order to reach the biggest moment of the manga series thus far.
Yes, that means the quasi-confession scene where Shinichi admits his feelings and Fujio-san realizes that the young man truly loves his daughter was completely anime original. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got since Episode 13 did not skip and/or condense around 8 chapters in order to provide proper plot resolution for the 2nd season.
The only good news is that Episode 13 did not skip the hilarious scene where Fujio-san stepped out to pick up some store supplies only to return home to find the very drunk girls (including his wife!) stripping off Shinichi’s clothing! Episode 13 even circled back to explaining the penalty game gag so audiences would be just as surprised as the dad. They even take hot pics of a shirtless Shinichi and Ami offers cash to buy them after Yanagi teases her with the photos.
All in all, the 2nd season’s finale, Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! Season 2 Episode 13, found a stopping point corresponding to manga Volume 7: Chapter 69. (Anime Geek totally got it wrong this time since we had originally predicted the ending would correspond to the first half of manga Volume 8: Chapter 74.)
Chapter 69 was hardly the best stopping point since it only shifted the narrative forward a tiny bit only to slam the door shut in the faces of anime-only audiences. Episode 13 closely followed the three manga chapters that it adapted… right up until the New Year’s sunrise where Shinichi chickened out. In the manga, right after Hana talked about having another great year, Shinichi thought to himself, “I love you, Uzaki.
While the anime’s final scene expressed a similar sentiment and even had Shinichi hold Hana’s hand the episode quickly hit the brakes by having Shinichi also think, “We’ve still got lots of hanging-out to do!” Yes, it was an anime-original ending to the 2nd season that did not provide any satisfaction (unless you count lewd hand-holding). Manga readers were probably just as shocked-looking as the cat since the anime took the story right up to the finish line only to take 2 steps back.
Still, it could have been worse since the finale could have crammed Chapter 74 into the last 5 minutes. It’s a special moment in the story that should not be rushed. And the 2nd season technically did offer limited romantic progression with the anime-original “drunk confession” and the hand-holding scene. (Please see the spoilers below if you really want to know what happens next.)
The only good news is that English-only manga readers who want to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Volume 8.
The bad news is that the anime had adapted the majority of the source material when the second season ended. However, by the end of 2023, there will be over 100 chapters, which should be enough for creating Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3.
Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! Season 3 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
While Shinichi had talked about just hanging out in the new year, it’s not very long at all before he finally confesses his love to Hana in an unguarded moment. And although Hana played with his emotions per usual she couldn’t be happier to be his girlfriend! (Did the fist-pumping give it away?)
Everything is fully revealed as Shinichi and Hana publicly show others that they are finally dating. There’s a lot of fainting going around, and Fujio-san “died”, but everyone is generally supportive of their newfound relationship.
Of course, Hana still loves teasing Shinichi by forcing him to announce out loud that they’re girlfriend and boyfriend. But Shinichi wants to know where their relationship will go from here.
Hana talks about hanging out, going out to eat, and playing video games, but Shinichi points out that they’ve been doing all of those things before they began dating. Hana believes that doing the same thing will become more meaningful now that they’re a couple so they come up with a list of places to visit just by themselves on romantic dates.
When Shinichi realizes that plans like camping and a hot springs resort imply that they’ll be staying the night together he becomes startled and claims they shouldn’t rush things. But a nervously fidgeting Hana reminds him that they are dating now… and that they are adults… so that must mean…
As if both of them couldn’t feel more awkward, this tense moment is interrupted by… Shinichi’s mother, Haruko Sakurai!? Hana will have to fight hard and put on an act in order to make a good first impression on her potential future mother-in-law.
And it’s not just the (sometimes violent) mother-son dynamic that’ll make life interesting for the newly-minted couple. Shinichi doesn’t want to return home to see his father, Shirou Sakurai. But who can blame him after he discovered his baby sister Nodoka during the last time he returned home in years?
And, of course, there’s poor Fujio-san, who has been resurrected from the dead only to transform into a gym zombie. He just can’t get over the fact that his darling little girl Hana is all grown up and dating a boy. Now he’s bringing his personal problems to work… which is something that mama Uzaki simply can’t ignore.
But the way Tsuki Uzakichooses to distract her husband through naughty cosplay like bloomers and maid outfits ends up erecting a new problem of sorts. And poor Kiri just wants to erase his memories after he walks in on his parents in the act…
Yet, at the same time, after talking it over with big sister Hana, Kiri realizes that he really wants a girlfriend. And it just so happens that it’s love at first sight when he realizes his “ideal woman” is exactly like Ami Asai!
With all the lovey-dovey talk going around, the futsal boys are doing their best to find girlfriends and some are feeling jealous. It turns out that Hamada already has a new girlfriend and Kawakami is already halfway there since he has a Tsundere childhood friend named Akemi that cooks for him (“We’re not like that at all, Okay!” they both claim and no one believes them).
Poor Sasamoto feels completely left out so he decides to set up a mixer with Sakaki acting as the “girl bait”, but even Shinichi is dragged along to a group date at the cafe in order to increase the number of boys under false pretenses. Hana gives her permission for her boyfriend to attend since she’ll be secretly observing him from across the room.
How will Hana handle this creeping jealousy when the girls start openly hitting on her new boyfriend? And what will Ami do now that she’s caught the eyes of love-hungry boys Sasamoto and Kiri? And how will the Uzaki family handle all these changes?
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until The Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 3 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!