Six years after the ‘Ushio and Tora’ series wrapped up its second season, should you still expect more from the old-timey anime? Will there be a Ushio and Tora Season 3? Here is everything you need to know about the anime series and its potential third season.
What is ‘Ushio and Tora’ about?
‘Ushio and Tora’ is an anime television series that compresses thirty-three volumes of the Shōnen manga series written by Kazuhiro Fujita, and published by Shogakukan from 1990 to 1996. The dark fantasy anime series is about Ushio Aotsuki and his tiger-like monster frenemy, Tora. After stumbling into Tora who has been trapped in his dad’s basement with a magical spear called ‘Beast Spear’ for five hundred years, Ushio is forced to release the monster when its presence begins attracting other monsters.
Tora would like to eat Ushio but Ushio has the ‘Beast Spear’, a powerful weapon he can use against Tora. So throughout the series, we see Ushio and Tora constantly underestimating each other and having this love-hate relationship as they work together to defeat the Nine-tailed Fox. They even start enjoying each other’s company at a point even though neither of them would admit it.
Ushio and Tora combine peculiar Japanese mythology, thrilling fight scenes and heartfelt interactions in telling the story of two memorable characters that are so different yet united by a purpose. Toshiki Inoue and Kazuhiro Fujita wrote the scripts for the anime series, which was then directed by Satoshi Nishimura. ‘Ushio and Tora’ was produced by Hidenori Itahashi, Shinji Sekizawa, Shigeki Ozaki, and Kazuya Onuki under Mappa, and Studio VOLN production companies.
‘Ushio and Tora’ Release Dates
The first TV adaptation of Ushio and Tora was an eleven-episode original video animation directed by Kunihiko Guyana. The video animation, which was licensed by ADV films, was released from September 11, 1992, to October 1, 1993. Over twenty years later, an anime series was released. ‘Ushio and Tora anime series premiered in Japan on July 3, 2015, airing on several networks including Tokyo MX, Sun TV, KBS, TV Aichi, and BS Fuji.
There are two seasons in the anime series, the first having 26 episodes which were released from July 3, 2015, to December 25, 2015. Ushio and Tora Season 2 has 13 episodes released from April 1, 2016, to June 24, 2016, making a total of 39 episodes in the entire series. Both seasons cover all thirty-three volumes of the manga although with some slight changes and subtractions.
Will there be a Ushio and Tora Season 3?
As mentioned before, the previous seasons of Ushio and Tora cover all thirty-three volumes of the manga series so it is highly possible that there will never be a season 3. It has also been six years since season 2 wrapped up, if there was going to be a season 3, it would have already happened. There is no plot left to explore from the manga series, and the anime series had a bittersweet yet satisfactory ending where the Nine-tailed Fox is defeated, Ushio loses the Beast Spear and finds his mom, and Tora dies accepting his friendship with Ushio. So no, there will most likely not be a Ushio and Tora Season 3.
‘Ushio and Tora’ Cast
The main voice actors in Ushio and Tora are:
- Tasuku Hatanaka as Ushio, David Matranga for the English version
- Rikiya Koyoma as Tora, Brett Weaver for the English version
There were many additional voice actors involved as well.
‘Ushio and Tora’ Ratings
Praised for creatively keeping the ’90s anime vibe despite using modern technology, and for the heart behind the narration of Ushio and Tora’s story, the adventure series has pretty good ratings. With a rating of 7.7/10 on IMDb, 7.6/10 on MyAnimeList, and 4.6 out of 5 stars on Crunchyroll, Ushio and Tora is a must-watch for all anime lovers, especially Shōnens.
Where to Watch ‘Ushio and Tora’ Anime Series
You can stream seasons 1 and 2 of Ushio and Tora on Crunchyroll, and on Hidive for the English dub. Although not likely, you can look out for reruns on Tokyo MX, Sun TV, KBS, TV Aichi, and BS Fuji, if you are in Japan. Ushio and Tora are also available on Netflix. Each episode of Ushio and Tora is about thirty minutes long.
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