Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 is the anticipated sequel of the popular isekai-fantasy anime which first premiered in the Fall of 2019. It has been a year since the last season ended and the viewers are still desperately hoping for its new instalment. So, when will viewers be able to see more of this show?
Well here’s everything we know so far regarding whether or not Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 will happen in 2023, as well as the likely release date.
The Japanese anime Ascendance Of a Bookworm also as “Honzuki no Gekokujou” in Japanese is an adaptation of the light novel series written by Miya Kazuki and illustrated by You Shiina.
The story follows Urano Motosu, a book nerd who dies after being crushed under a pile of books. She finds herself reincarnated into another world where books are scarce and only available to the elites. So she decides to create and print her own books.
Studio Ajia-do Animation Works produced the anime’s first season, officially running for 14 episodes from October 3, 2019, to December 26, 2019, on various local networks in Japan followed by a second season airing from January April 5, 2022, to June 21, 2020, for 12 episodes. The production of a third season was announced on July 12, 2020, which ran for 10 episodes and aired from April 12, 2022, to June 14, 2022
Crunchyroll streamed the anime outside of Japan with both sub and dub, and it received a positive reception from viewers and critics alike. Most praised it for being a well-thought-out isekai story with a fresh take on the genre and rich world-building.
Overall it was considered a hit among isekai and fantasy anime fans.
CONTENTS
- So will there be a Season 4 of Ascendance Of a Bookworm?
- Is there enough material available for “Ascendance Of a Bookworm” Season 4?
- Light Novel Sales
- Blu-ray/ DVDs and other Merchandise sales
- Popularity in Japan and the West
- Light Novel’s Popularity
- Multiple Manga, fanbooks and Junior Collection Adaptions
- Overseas popularity
- Why 2023 is the best time to announce season 4?
- Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 Release date and Countdown
- Honzuki no Gekokujou Season 4 Countdown:
- Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 Trailer
- What will happen in Season 4?
- Final Words !!
So will there be a Season 4 of Ascendance Of a Bookworm?
As of writing, Studio Ajia-do, the publisher T.O Entertainment, or any other member of the production committee has not officially renewed the anime for a fourth season.
A lot of anime manages to get a new season right after the first season finale but unfortunately, Ascendance Of a Bookworm wasn’t one of them.
| SEASON | RELEASE DATE |
| Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 1 | October 3, 2019 |
| Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 2 | April 5, 2022 |
| Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 3 | April 12, 2022 |
| Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 | Yet to be announced |
However, it is possible to speculate whether an anime will get a new season or not by carefully evaluating these three factors:
- Availability of source material
- Sales
- Popularity
We will now examine these factors to see if Ascendance Of a Bookworm anime will get a sequel or not.
Is there enough material available for “Ascendance Of a Bookworm” Season 4?
Ascendance Of a Bookworm is a direct adaptation of the light novel series penned by Miya Kazuki with illustrations drawn by You Shiina.
It started publication online as a web novel in September 2013 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shosetsuka ni Naro (Let’s Become Novelist) and was later acquired by T.O Entertainment who published the series in physical form.
The first volume of the light novel was released on January 25, 2015, and the latest issue come out on December 10, 2022.
A total of 31 volumes have been released so far, and the light novel is still ongoing.
The first three seasons of the anime only covered the first 7 volumes, leaving behind 24 volumes worth of content to adapt which is plentiful to create not only one but four more anime seasons.
Conclusion: Currently, there are 24 volumes of content available to adapt, which is good news since the series has more than enough material for Studio Ajia-Do Animation Works to immediately start working on a new season.
Moreover, the series is still ongoing with a consistent release of new volumes, so that’s a big plus for getting a sequel.
Light Novel Sales
Before we proceed, it’s important to understand that most of the anime we watch today are created primarily to promote and boost the sales of its source material (in this case a light novel).
Sales from the manga and related merchandise are the main source of income for the producers, while revenue from advertising fees, online streaming licensing, and Blu-ray sales are considered secondary
Typically, a 12-episode anime television series costs around $3,000,000 to produce.
Therefore, an anime has to make back this much money through merchandise sales and licensing fees to ensure a new season from the producers.
As of November 2022, Ascendance Of a Bookworm had reached a circulation count of 8 million across light novels, manga and digital downloads.
The anime has had a significant impact on the sales of the series, resulting in a major boost. In march 2019 when the anime adaption was first announced the series had a cumulative total of 1 million copies in circulation for 17 volumes.
However, as of July 2020, a month after the second season ended the number had increased to 3.5 million copies, an impressive jump of 2.5 million copies in just 15 months.
By March 2022 a month before the third season premiered, the cumulative circulation of the series, including the electronic version, finally reached 6 million and by August 2022, the count finally exceeded 7 million.
So while it took the series 4 years to reach 1 million copies in circulation, the anime adaptation played a significant role in boosting its popularity by 8 times in the same span of 4 years. As a result, the number of copies in circulation increased to 8 million, which is all thanks to the positive reception the anime received.
Conclusion: typically, a manga with 500,000 to 1,000,000 copies in circulation is considered successful, so Ascendance Of a Bookworm is performing extremely well with these sales numbers.
Moreover, the anime has proven itself to be successful in increasing its sales, making it even more likely for the series to receive new seasons.
Blu-ray/ DVDs and other Merchandise sales
While Blu-rays and DVDs are no longer key players in determining anime success as they used to be back in the 2010s, they are still a great tool to understand a show’s popularity among the general Japanese audience. In general, if an anime’s disc sales are over 3,000, a second season would be promising.
As for Ascendance Of a Bookworm, the numbers don’t look good.
While the light novels are doing well, it appears that the Japanese fans are not very fond of the anime adaptation and do not find it collectable enough to buy its home release. The first season only managed to sell an average of 750 copies per disc, despite coming with two special OVA episodes.
Similarly, the second season continued this trend where the first volume only sold 601 copies in its first week, and subsequent volumes performed similarly.
The third season was released as a single Blu-ray set containing all ten episodes along with some bonuses, which debuted at the second and fourteenth place on the Anime Blu-ray and Anime DVD charts, respectively.
However, it’s important to note that Blu-ray sales are no longer the only measure of a show’s success, as streaming fees have become a more significant factor in the industry.
Conclusion: Based on the sales numbers, it appears that Ascendance Of a Bookworm anime failed to generate a profit for its producers through the home video release, which is not a promising sign for the show’s future.
However, it is possible that the show managed to recoup its production costs through licensing fees and merchandise sales, so there may still be hope for its continuation.
Popularity in Japan and the West
Ascendance Of a Bookworm light novel is one of the most popular isekai light novel series in Japan which continues to outsell itself with the release of each new volume.
Light Novel’s Popularity
The series is one of the best-selling titles for TO Entertainment with multiple volumes topping Oricon’s weekly and monthly sales charts.
The series has received multiple nominations and has won awards in prestigious competitions, such as:
- The series ranked 5th in 2017, 1st in 2018 and 2019, 2nd in 2020 and 2021, and 3rd in 2022 in Takarajimasha’s annual light novel guidebook Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, in the tankobon category.
- 2nd top-selling series for 2020 for E-book store BOOKWALKER
- 4th Best-selling Digital Light Novel on BOOKWALKER 2022
- “Best Fantasy” anime award at Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2021
Multiple Manga, fanbooks and Junior Collection Adaptions
The light novel series also inspired a separate junior collection meant for children. The children’s edition began publication on July 1, 2019, and is ongoing. The story is the same as in the main light novel series but includes new illustrations. A total of 12 volumes and a short story collection volume have been published so far.
The series also has released two short-story collections and three fanbooks.
Moreover, thanks to the success of the light novel, Ascendance Of a Bookworm also has inspired multiple manga adaptions.
- The first manga adaptation by Suzuka started publication in October 2015 and is still ongoing. It covers Part 1 and Part 2 of the novel.
- The second adaptation is illustrated by Ryo Namino which started sterilization in April 2018. It covers Part 3 of the light novel and is still ongoing.
- A third adaptation by Hikaru Katsuki began in December 2022 and covers Part 4 of the novel.
- The comic anthology series consisting of short, fan-made manga was launched in July 2109. It features Ryo Namino and Suzuka as illustrators.
All of these multimedia adaptations represent the hige popularity of the series and the large demand for more inspired projects.
Overseas popularity
The debut run of the Honzuki no Gekokujou anime adaptation received a positive reception from the fans in the west, with many viewers and critics praising it for being even better than the source material in some aspects.
The series has garnered positive reviews from viewers around the world, earning a solid score of 8.0 on MyAnimeList and ranking at #804 in popularity, with more than 271k members in its MAL group. The second season is rated 8.12, while the third receive a score of 8.08.
It has also received a strong score of 7.9/10 on IMDb and a 78% approval rating on AniList. This shows that the show’s popularity is very high even though it is a young series.
Why 2023 is the best time to announce season 4?
2023 is the best time to announce Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4, considering the light novel series is set to end later this year.
A new anime season can significantly contribute to boosting its sales as fans, who have already invested time in watching two seasons of their favourite anime, would eagerly look forward to seeing what happens next in the story.
This can potentially lead to an increase in novel and manga sales as fans will want to find out how the story concludes and who ends up with whom. Therefore, announcing a sequel at this moment is the best time.
Alternatively, even a single OVA episode could generate significant interest among fans
In conclusion, the series has gained a significant following in both Japan and the West and generated a ton of revenue from merchandise sales, indicating that it has a strong and loyal fanbase.
With enough source material and the potential to make even more sales, it is inevitable that Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 will be announced. It is no longer a question of if it will get a new season, but when it will get a new season.
Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 Release date and Countdown
As of February 2023, Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 doesn’t have a release date as it is not confirmed yet. However, if a new season is confirmed, it is likely to air sometime in late-2024, or possibly in early-2025.
This is cause the third season premiered from April 2022 to June 2022 and it typically takes around 1-2 years to produce a new season.
As of now, no official announcements have been made yet, hence the readers need to keep in mind that these are just speculations.
But, keep an eye out for this space as we will update it as soon as something official is announced. We can expect the announcement in the next few months.
Honzuki no Gekokujou Season 4 Countdown:
Based on the following information, here is the countdown to the premiere of Honzuki no Gekokujou‘s fourth season.
CountdownAscendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 Trailer
There is no trailer for Ascendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 available yet to watch, but we will update this page if one gets released on their official youtube channel.
On the other hand, here’s a trailer for the first season, which you should watch to recall how mind-blowing the third season was over the previous ones.
What will happen in Season 4?
Since the first season only adapted contents of the seven volumes, the next season of Ascendance Of a Bookworm will begin with adapting volume 8.
Volume 8 is the first volume in Part 3 in the story Adopted Daughter of an Archduke Vol.1
J-Novel club the English distributor of the series describes the story of volume 8 as such:
“Following a disastrous encounter with a noble, Myne finally resolves to say goodbye to her family and friends in the lower city, changing her name to “Rozemyne” and beginning her new life as the adopted daughter of Ehrenfest’s archduke.
However, her days as an archnoble in a noble society are brutal, as she is put through rigorous etiquette and magic training on top of her duties as High Bishop and forewoman. It all proves too much for a weak little seven-year-old girl… Or it would have, had the High Priest not offered her the keys to the temple’s book room as a reward.
If she could get her hands on those, she’d be able to read all sorts of precious books! Her name may have changed, but Rozemyne’s passion for books remains the same as she charges into a whole new world!”
Final Words !!
This article will be updated again next year, and we will see if something has changed. In the meantime, you can check out our article on Worlds End Harem season 2 and Tomodachi game Season 2.
I hope this article helped you understand what are the chances that we will geAscendance Of a Bookworm Season 4 or not.
