Anime & Manga News

'Strike the Blood' Gets Final OVA Season

by Vindstot
Jun 29, 2021 10:36 AM | 28 Comments

The official website of the anime series adapting Gakuto Mikumo's Strike the Blood light novel announced a fifth and final original video anime (OVA) season on Wednesday. The new OVA season will adapt the 22nd and final volume, Akatsuki no Gaisen (Akatsuki's Triumphant Return). Warner Bros. Japan also posted an announcement promo.

The cast members are reprising their roles. Production staff returning from the previous anime installments are as follows:

Staff
Director: Hideyo Yamamoto (Strike the Blood, Hataraku Saibou Black)
Series Composition: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Trinity Seven, Toaru Majutsu no Index III)
Character Design: Hideki Furukawa (Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?, Stella no Mahou), Keiichi Sano (Absolute Duo, Isekai Shokudou)
Music: Assumed Sounds (Strike the Blood: Kieta Seisou-hen)
Sound Director: Jin Aketagawa (Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song, Darwin's Game)
Studio: Connect

Mikumo began publishing the school action fantasy novel through Dengeki Bunko in 2011, featuring illustrations by Manyako. The 15th volume marked the ending of the series' first part in May 2016, and the second part followed with the 16th volume in December that year. Kadokawa published the 22nd and final volume on August 7 last year. Strike the Blood has a cumulative 3.2 million copies of its volumes in circulation.

Dengeki Daioh serialized a manga adaptation by TATE between June 2012 and December 2016. The tenth and final volume was published in February 2017.

The first anime season, adapting the first six volumes, aired over two quarters beginning Fall 2013. A two-part OVA based on an original story by Mikumo shipped in 2015.

Silver Link. and Connect returned to co-produce a second OVA series, which was distributed between November 2016 and May 2017. The eight-episode series spanned four home video installments and covered volumes nine through twelve.

The third OVA season, entirely produced by Connect, was released from December 2018 and September 2019. The third series ran for ten episodes, adapting up to the 17th volume, as well as the Seisen-hen (Holy War arc). The fourth and latest OVA season debuted in August 2020 and ended with 12 episodes on Wednesday. The fourth season covered volumes 18 through 21.

Discotek Media licensed the television anime in North America and released it on home video in November 2016. Yen Press licensed both the light novel and manga adaptation in English in January 2015 and published the 18th light novel volume on June 1. The tenth and final manga volume shipped in April 2018.

Announcement


Source: Dengeki Online

Strike the Blood Final on MAL

20 of 28 Comments Recent Comments

StalkerFairy said:
KiliianSleipnir said:


it is all Connect my friend, Silver Link quit working on it with them a few 'seasons' ago.

as to if it is so 'rushed'? read the article more closely about how many books each 'season' covered. then look at how many episodes are in each 'season'. :)

as the article says, Season 5 will only cover ONE BOOK! the final one, volume 22. :>


Season 2 had 8 episodes, 3 arcs with 3, 2 and 3 episodes respectively.

We went from the introduction of a new Black Sword Shaman to to Kojou running away from Natsuki to Kojou's father being some badass to the formal introduction of Tank Loli and a child of the 2nd Progenitor.
And I'm not sure how they all flowed into each other.
Checked abit of S3 and that one Prison Island guy went down so easy, despite alot of build up to his threat level. Every arc in S3 is also 2-3 episode long?
It wasnt this hard to follow in S1 where each arc had 4 dedicated episodes to themselves.


the thing is 'STB' after the TV season is ALL is OAD... original animation disk(s)... if you go back to the 1990's... like i do with anime... yes i'm over 40... OAD was much MUCH more the standard than TV anime for HOME VIDEO RELEASES. either on VHS tapes or DVDs.

2 of my favorite examples are 'Tenchi Muyo' the 1st OAD series Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki which was only 6 episodes long and came out on (i think!) 6 VHS tapes released around a month apart in '92 and '93. NO sequel OAD or TV series for Tenchi's fanbase came out until 1995! two YEARS after the final VHS tape was released. :> the 1st manga? that started in '94. kind of interesting that some original anime with no source materials spawned a light novel, manga, TV, OAD/OVA franchise, merchandise etc. fandom spanning 29 YEARS! with new ONAs released ... oh one came out just this year.

the 2nd one is 'Oh! My Goddess' Aa! Megami-sama! which was only 5 episodes and also was on 5 VHS tapes in '93 and '94. OMG got a 'chibi comedy' TV anime next in '98-'99 Aa! Megami-sama!: Chichaitte Koto wa Benri da ne OMG! manga started printing in 1988! how'd you like to wait for an anime of your fave manga for FIVE YEARS! and only get FIVE EPISODES! :> oh and that manga concluded in 2014 :> plus it got a theatrical release movie, 2 more TV seasons, and i think 3 OVAs of 1 episode on each disk released after the final TV season aired. so yeah, the franchise was popular for 26 years. :D

an OAD/OVA ONLY! anime production budget is TIGHT! they gotta pinch their Yen till they squeal like tweenybopper girls at a boy-band concert. the number of episodes is SERIOUSLY limited because EACH DISK has to make an INSANELY HIGH PROFIT! for the anime studio and production committee. check out the 'STB S4' disk 6 commercial here on MAL. the disk came out June 30, 2021 for a MSRP of 7,480Yen.... at today's conversion rate (1 July) that is... 56.59Euro and $67.04US Dollars. that is for ONE DISK with TWO episodes ... and probably some extras... on it. if you look back at the other five disks' commercials each one is MSRP for the same price. so to get all six disks in Japan? 44,880Yen or $401.54US Dollars or 338.96Euro.

for a comparison? there's boxed sets of English dubs here in the US with 2 BR disks and 3 DVDs in it of a WHOLE TV SEASON (12-ish episodes) for sale ... right now... FOR LESS THAN THAT ONE 'STB S4' DISK 6 COSTS IN JAPAN! and we're not talking five year old shows... that're so unpopular the dub companies gotta GIVE the boxed sets away. released on August 4, 2020 'DanMachi S2', two BluRay disks in one pack, English dub of all 12 episodes, from Sentai Filmworks is being sold on Amazon for $45US Dollars right now. released April 30, 2019 'High School DxD Born' aka S4, 2 BR & 2 DVD in one pack, AND a code for a Funimation Digital Copy, English dub of all 13 episodes, from Funimation right now on Amazon $40.51.

so as you can see, that one disk with 2 episodes on it in Japan of 'STB S4' costs a LOT more than what the US marketplace (Amazon is the BIGGEST online retailer in the US) will sell a whole SEASON for.

so yeah, OAD gotta make some 'original source cuts' in Japan. the more eps you make, the more Yen ya gotta invest, and the more disks you gotta print. if you look backwards to 'STB S2' the first release (of four in total) back in November 23, 2016 was TWO disks! each one only containing 2 episodes, so that package was 4 episodes long and MSRP back then was 6,800Yen. today, five years later that's 51.45Euro or $60.93US Dollars.

now would you spend 56.59Euro or $67.04US Dollars or whatever denomination your location uses for TWO episodes of anime? i know i wouldn't. i STILL haven't bought that 'DanMachi S2' boxed set i mentioned! i don't know what the average Japanese otaku's monthly income is today, but if he/she wants to get all 6 disks for 'STB S4'? i bet you they're going to have to spend 1 or more MONTHS worth of income on those 6 disks.

Jul 1, 2021 10:19 PM by KiliianSleipnir

Attackonfiller said:
KiliianSleipnir said:


as the article says it will only cover ONE book! :> so i don't expect there to be more than 2 or 3 disks in this one. :> you won't have to tell your adult kids, "Hey, I'm going to the anime store to buy 'Strike The Blood Season5' final disk today. So I can't babysit." LOL! :D

Oh, damn. I should've read the article lol. I was really prepared to go through the next stage of life alongside this release lmao.



aha, you just had a Homer Simpson 'DOH!' moment there didn't you? :> allllways read the article BEFORE you start commenting! :> research research research! :> yeah the final 'season' only covers the last book in the light novel series Vol22. :>

Jul 1, 2021 7:29 PM by KiliianSleipnir

KiliianSleipnir said:
Attackonfiller said:
Sweet! I wonder where I'll be in life by the time the release is finished tho lol


as the article says it will only cover ONE book! :> so i don't expect there to be more than 2 or 3 disks in this one. :> you won't have to tell your adult kids, "Hey, I'm going to the anime store to buy 'Strike The Blood Season5' final disk today. So I can't babysit." LOL! :D

Oh, damn. I should've read the article lol. I was really prepared to go through the next stage of life alongside this release lmao.

Jul 1, 2021 11:47 AM by Attackonfiller

KiliianSleipnir said:
StalkerFairy said:
Nice.
Still need to catch up on S3 and S4(why do they take so long to come out, yet are so rushed, Silver Link T_T)


it is all Connect my friend, Silver Link quit working on it with them a few 'seasons' ago.

as to if it is so 'rushed'? read the article more closely about how many books each 'season' covered. then look at how many episodes are in each 'season'. :)

as the article says, Season 5 will only cover ONE BOOK! the final one, volume 22. :>


Season 2 had 8 episodes, 3 arcs with 3, 2 and 3 episodes respectively.

We went from the introduction of a new Black Sword Shaman to to Kojou running away from Natsuki to Kojou's father being some badass to the formal introduction of Tank Loli and a child of the 2nd Progenitor.
And I'm not sure how they all flowed into each other.
Checked abit of S3 and that one Prison Island guy went down so easy, despite alot of build up to his threat level. Every arc in S3 is also 2-3 episode long?
It wasnt this hard to follow in S1 where each arc had 4 dedicated episodes to themselves.

Jul 1, 2021 6:52 AM by StalkerFairy

I like the anime because of its unique art, the characters look very good too and fights too. I was pretty sure it's not so popular to cover all light novels, but looks like my prayers are heard. I'm more than overjoyed to watch one of my favourite animes to the end. Yipee🥳🥳🥳

Jul 1, 2021 2:46 AM by GauravKG

Attackonfiller said:
Sweet! I wonder where I'll be in life by the time the release is finished tho lol


as the article says it will only cover ONE book! :> so i don't expect there to be more than 2 or 3 disks in this one. :> you won't have to tell your adult kids, "Hey, I'm going to the anime store to buy 'Strike The Blood Season5' final disk today. So I can't babysit." LOL! :D

Jun 30, 2021 11:32 PM by KiliianSleipnir

VanishingKira said:
GrenadeJ said:
How has this managed to get a 5th season? Honestly, I can only respect it

Because the OVA series sold mad good compared to most seasonal anime. It average between 8-13k units sold on BD, most anime fail to even reach 1k sales (if you exclude outlier series that become massive hits).

This series literally was carried by it's ecchi in OVA format, it no wonder they never made another tv series where they would have to restrict what they could show on tv.


actually original poster is slightly off.

1 the average TV anime disk sales 'benchmark' (for ONE SEASON/12 EPISODES) to hit is 5,000 units. if a show can sell each 12 episode season above that 5K point it is considered above average in sales. here's a prime example of a single disk sales that is CRAZY HIGH! the 1st day 'Demon Slayer' movie went on sale in Japanese stores, 800,000 units were sold! it topped ONE MILLION disks sold in Japan BEFORE the 3rd day of sales completed.

check this page out 2000-Present, Average Sales of 10,000 or More Updated: 2021-06-13 at the top of that page it gives you the series/seasons that have hit or topped the 10K unit sales in the past 21 years. there's only 191 entries.

2 original poster also forgot to mention how many DISKS each 'season' of 'STB' had in it. i do believe the chart used only lists the particular 'season' TOTAL disk sales.

3 remember folks, Japan SELLS INDIVIDUAL DISKS BEFORE a 'season boxed set' comes out. they do this even for TV series with HUNDREDS of episodes in the can or ones like 'One Piece' that are still ONGOING. some shows in the past have even put the 1st disk in a 'set' out to the stores in Japan BEFORE the TV season has finished airing! most 'sales in Japan' lists of disks do NOT place a boxed set released in Japan on them UNLESS that list specifies it as a 're-release'. as i said previously the 1ST RELEASE in Japan is by individual disk. a 'boxed set' EVEN THE 1ST TIME!!! a boxed set is released is considered a re-release in Japan.

4 i do pretty much agree with original poster's final point. STB DOES have more than its fair share of anime tiddies, asses, and suchforth since it went to OAD format.

Jun 30, 2021 10:57 PM by KiliianSleipnir

MoonStar9 said:
I cannot believe this anime is this successful. I remember trying it back in 2013 when it first came out and couldn't get past episode 4. I found it too generic and boring. It didn't seem particularly popular either on Crunchyroll at the time.


actually the 1st season on TV in Japan was crazy popular over there AND it got an English dub disk set that sold like hotcakes. :>

Jun 30, 2021 10:46 PM by KiliianSleipnir

StalkerFairy said:
Nice.
Still need to catch up on S3 and S4(why do they take so long to come out, yet are so rushed, Silver Link T_T)


it is all Connect my friend, Silver Link quit working on it with them a few 'seasons' ago.

as to if it is so 'rushed'? read the article more closely about how many books each 'season' covered. then look at how many episodes are in each 'season'. :)

as the article says, Season 5 will only cover ONE BOOK! the final one, volume 22. :>

Jun 30, 2021 10:42 PM by KiliianSleipnir

Finally the shit adaption after season 1 , it getting finish You shove under bed and stay like pile of somenthing.

Jun 30, 2021 1:55 PM by LexTyler

I don't blame them that they keep making these, the story is nothing special but it has great character designs and great waifus.

Jun 30, 2021 6:39 AM by Ramkec

I can't even remember the past 3 ova's.

Jun 30, 2021 4:59 AM by imapleb

ahhh yesss.. new STB anime

Jun 30, 2021 1:26 AM by Cowfeebeat

I only watched the first season but it's one of my most favorite harem animes. Glad to see it going this far.

Jun 30, 2021 1:25 AM by VenomEmperor

I have not watched this but it has been on my rader for years now.

You have to give it respect that it managed to adapt all of its story as not many ln adaptations ever reach that far.

It also a bit unique in the sense as far as i know it is the only series i know that has been fully adapted like this in ova format. as the Ova format has pretty much mostly consisted of bonus episodes for most series these days.

Once this last ova season comes out i got to binge watch it.

Jun 29, 2021 11:09 PM by -ShadowClaw-

I cannot believe this anime is this successful. I remember trying it back in 2013 when it first came out and couldn't get past episode 4. I found it too generic and boring. It didn't seem particularly popular either on Crunchyroll at the time.

Jun 29, 2021 8:51 PM by MoonStar9

need to marathon the final season

Jun 29, 2021 8:11 PM by EcchiGodMamster

Not many anime get to complete their story nowadays, this is fantastic news!

Jun 29, 2021 4:52 PM by bhaktivinoda

Damn! I love this anime. Too bad it’s ending soon

Jun 29, 2021 4:40 PM by 0Unknown0

GrenadeJ said:
How has this managed to get a 5th season? Honestly, I can only respect it
it sells more than most seasonal anime consistently.

Jun 29, 2021 3:29 PM by moodie

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