The Ascendance of Bookworm Season 4 anime TV show will have Myne changing her name to Rosemyne and beginning her new chaotic life as the adopted daughter of the nobility. But when will Honzuki no Gekokujou Season 4 come out?
The studio and staff making Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen Season 4 hasn’t been announced yet.
The first three seasons of the Ascendance of a Bookworm anime was produced by animation Studio Ajia-Do, which also animated the 2021 anime Kemono Jihen, 2018’s How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord anime, and the 2016 Izetta: The Last Witch.
The main staff has mostly remained the same for the first three seasons.
Director Mitsuru Hongo (World Trigger) helmed the project with the help of Assistant Director Yoshiki Kawasaki (episode director for Monster Hunter Stories: RIDE ON). Writer Mariko Kunisawa (Orient, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Celestial Artifacts) handled the anime’s scripts.
Yoshiaki Yanagida and Toshihisa Kaiya were the character designers. In the past, they were both credited as chief animation directors. For the third season, the chief animation directors were Noriko Otake and Emiko Endo. A third character designer, Haruka Matsunae, also joined the staff.
Composer Michiru (Dance Dance Danseur, Virgin Road: The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Tomodachi Game) wrote the music for all three seasons.
The Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
The Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 OP “Ano Hi no Kotoba” was performed by Nao Toyama, while the ED “Kotoba ni Dekinai” was performed by Maaya Sakamoto.
It should be noted that the third season’s announcement was officially worded as Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3 (第3期) rather than Season 3 (第3シーズン). However, for this news site’s purposes, we began treating the anime’s ongoing cours as if it was Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 2 and 3 since that is how it’s been commonly labeled by streaming services like Crunchyroll. Plus, referring to the anime seasons as Parts becomes confusing when comparing the TV series against the light novel/manga series, which also has Parts.
The first season had 14 episodes in Fall 2022. The second season had 12 episodes in Spring 2020. The third season was the shortest thus far with only 10 episodes in Spring 2022.
The two Ascendance of a Bookworm OVA episodes (which were labeled as Episode 26.5 Part 1 and 2 by Crunchyroll) were initially released with the limited edition of light novel Volume 22 (or Part 5: Volume 1). Crunchyroll also began streaming the OVA episodes with an English dub.
The third season’s finale, Ascendance of a Bookworm Episode 36 (Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 Episode 10), was released on June 13, 2022.
This article provides everything that is known about Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4 (Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen Season 4) 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.
Honzuki no Gekokujou Season 4 release date predictions: Is 2023 possible?
As of the last update, Studio Ajia-Do, producer KlockWorx, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4 release date. Nor has the production of another 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 Honzuki no Gekokujou Season 4 release date will occur in the future.
The ending of the third season scared a lot of viewers since it blatantly stated, “The story to be told is over.” But before everyone could explode the anime quickly calmed everyone by saying that the story is “to be continued” since it’s the ending for Myne’s story and the start of Rosemyne’s story.
The anime continued to be featured on Crunchyroll’s popular anime list during Spring 2022. But it was hardly a breakout hit like SPY x FAMILY Part 2 and The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2.
In Spring 2022, sales of the book series continued to be steady but did not receive a huge boost. The series did not make the Oricon Top 20 manga or the Oricon Top 20 light novels for April 2022.
As of early July 2021, the book series (which includes light novels, manga, and digital copies) reportedly had around 4.5 million copies in circulation. By March 2022, the series was up to 6 million copies in circulation.
The anime industry is scheduling projects years in advance and most studios are completely booked up. To put things in perspective, the production of the third season was announced in July 2020 but it wasn’t released until Spring 2022.
Historically, Ajia-Do has only produced one or two anime projects per year. Besides Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2, the only projects they had in 2020 were the anime adaptation of the Hidden Things (Kakushigoto) manga series and the Incredible Zorori (Kaiketsu Zorori) children’s book series.
For 2021, the studio worked on the Kemono Jihen anime. The 2020 Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori anime received a Motto! Season 2 in 2021, and a Motto! Season 3 in 2022.
Currently, Studio Ajia-Do has not been officially connected to any projects for 2023.
Therefore, assuming the producers have already begun pre-production on the fourth season, it’s possible that the Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4 release date will be in 2023. Otherwise, it’s expected that new OVA episodes could be released in 2023 and then the full season would come out in 2024.
Ascendance of a Bookworm manga, light novel series compared to the anime
The story for the anime is based on the Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen light novel series by author Miya Kazuki and illustrator Yo Shiina.
But the story first came to life in 2013 when the writer began self-publishing the story as a web novel series on the Shosetsuka ni Naro website.
Finished in March 2017, the web novel is 677 chapters and divided up into five parts. In January 2015, the web novel began being adapted into a light novel series by publishers TO Books.
The light novel adaptation has revised the web novel significantly by adding scenes and shifting the order of events around with some chapters. There are also narrative perspective changes that were introduced.
The first four parts, or 460 chapters of the web novel, were adapted by 21 light novel volumes, with the last having released on December 10, 2019.
Volume 22 was released on March 10, 2020, and began to adapt Part 5, which has 217 web novel chapters left to cover. As of August 10, 2022, the light novel series will be up to Volume 30 (or Part 5: Volume 9).
Based on the length of the final part, Part 5 could easily be over 10 books by itself, possibly ending with Volume 32. The Ascendance of a Bookworm Volume 31 release date is expected to be in 2023.
Artist Suzuka is illustrating the Ascendance of a Bookworm manga adaptation. Began in October 2015, Part 1 has finished with seven manga volumes.
Both Part 2 and 3 of the manga started being adapted concurrently in 2018. As of April 15, 2022, Part 2 by artist Ryo Namino had 7 volumes, and Part 3 by Hikaru Katsuki had 5 volumes as of March 15, 2022. Katsuki launched Part 4 later and it’s up to 4 volumes as of May 14, 2021.
J-Novel Club has licensed the official English translation for the Ascendance of a Bookworm manga series and light novel series.
The English light novels were only up to Volume 19 (or Part 4: Volume 7) as of June 15, 2022.
The English translation was finished for manga Part 1 in May 2021. The English Part 2: Volume 5 came out in May 2022, while the English Part 3 and 4 haven’t been announced yet.
Like all anime adaptations of a book series, the story is condensed, and some content is skipped to fit the story within the limited time constraints of the episodic format. Some of that skipped content was skipped by the OVA episodes so book readers have been overall happy with the adaptation.
However, light novel readers have taken issue with some of the changes. For example, the anime opens with Ferdinand using a magical mindreading crown on Myne. This scene immediately reveals that magic exists whereas in the books it was a surprise plot twist since this isekai world had otherwise been mundane and feudal.
At the same time, this scene worked wonderfully as bookends for the first two seasons. The opening connected to one of the final scenes in Episode 26, closing the loop.
The difficult part about the third season was that Season 2 ended in a way that made it hard to continue. It changed some of the events so that there was a satisfying conclusion to the emotional arc. The problem is that this overarching emotional story arc directly continued into the final chapters of the Part 2 story arc, which left the third season feeling somewhat disconnected.
The third season also had some minor reordering of events since Dirk originally got sick shortly after being dropped off at the orphanage and the ink making was shortly thereafter.
Regardless, the overall pacing is good, diligently telling the story in a fashion that retains the heart of the books. But it’s hardly a perfect adaptation since some side characters were not given the attention they were due. The anime skips a lot of world building and descriptions that flesh out the characters in ways that become very important in interpreting later events.
For example, Season 3 Episode 1 had to introduce Johann by giving a mini-recap just so anime-only audiences understand where he fit into Myne’s past. The Italian restaurant was referenced by the anime but the Hugo and Ella romance was skipped.
On the other hand, Damuel was given extra attention by the third season since details from the Damuel Side Story were used in Season 3 Episode 3. Myne’s interactions with Sylvester were also handled perfectly by the anime.
The first season adapted the three volumes of the book series’ Part 1 with 14 episodes. To maintain the same pacing, the anime’s second season would have needed around 19 episodes to adapt the four volumes of the book series’ Part 2.
Rather than increasing the pacing to a horrible degree, the second season only adapted the first two books of Part 2 (light novels 4 and 5), which corresponds to web novel chapters 78 through 133. The final scene in Episode 26 corresponds to the prologue of Part 2: Volume 3.
The third season retained this pacing adaptation by adapting the second half of Part 2. Here is a guide to how the anime has been adapting the entire series.
Warning: Just reading the titles for Parts 2 through 5 reveals significant spoilers.
- Part 1: Daughter of a Soldier
- Light Novel Volumes 1 – 3
- Web Novel Chapters 1 – 77
- Manga Volumes 7
- Anime Episodes 1 -14
- Part 2: Apprentice Shrine Maiden
- Light Novel Volumes 4 – 7
- Web Novel Chapters 78 – 172
- Manga Volumes 7+ (unfinished)
- Anime Episodes 15-36
- Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke
- Light Novel Volumes 8 – 12
- Web Novel Chapters 173 – 277
- Manga Volumes 5+ (unfinished)
- Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4 and 5? (Episodes 37 – 50)
- Part 4: Founder of the Royal Academy’s So-Called Library Committee (The House of Lords’ Self-styled Library Assistant)
- Light Novel Volumes 13-21
- Web Novel Chapters 278 – 460
- Manga Volumes 4+ (unfinished)
- Ascendence of a Bookworm Season 6?
- Part 5: Incarnation of a Goddess
- Light Novel Volumes 22+ (unfinished)
- Web Novel Chapters 461 – 677
The third season’s finale wrapped up the majority of the story but left some things hanging. They didn’t clean up the evidence and Silvester’s entry was changed. Veronica didn’t even earn a mention.
Oddly enough, the origin of Rosemyne’s new name didn’t warrant an explanation. A new character named Elvira will apparently wait to show in Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4. The finale also did not adapt most of the side stories.
The reason that the final point is important is that the ending of light novel Part 2: Volume 4 concluded with many character perspective chapters that are necessary for understanding the characterization as the story transitions to Part 3. Hopefully, Benno’s, Sylvester’s, Arno’s, and Fran’s stories will be adapted as OVA episodes that’ll work as a bridge to Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4.
The good news is that the source material is being adapted in such a way that Ascendance of the Bookworm Season 4 and 5 could faithfully adapt the book series’ Part 3 with two cours, or around 24 episodes.
The tricky part is adapting the final two Parts. The nine volumes of Part 4 would require at least three anime cours with 14 episodes each (or 42 episodes in total). It’s hard to say how many episodes Part 5 will require since the light novel series is currently unfinished.
English-only readers who wish to read ahead of the anime can read Part 3: Volume 1 right now. By the end of 2020, the English light novel series should have reached Part 3. Unfortunately, English-only manga readers will have to wait a while before the English manga catches up with the anime episodes.
Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
Following a disastrous encounter with a noble, Myne finally resolves to say goodbye to her family and friends in the lower city. She changes her name to “Rozemyne” and begins her new life as the adopted daughter of Ehrenfest’s archduke.
However, her days as an archnoble in noble society are brutal, as she is put through rigorous etiquette and magic training on top of her duties as High Bishop and forewoman. Her list of problems just keeps on growing since she needs to help prepare for events like the Harvest Festival, the baptism ceremony, and the Dedication Ritual.
On top of all those responsibilities, she has to take care of new orphans and deal with the dissatisfaction of a neighboring town. She even has her hands full teaching kids too young for the Royal Academy and even tutoring guard knights with bad grades!
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. Encouraged by meetings with her lower city family and friends, she recharges by reading books in the temple!
Her name may have changed, but Rozemyne’s passion for books remains the same as she charges into the world of nobility. With the backing of the archduke, she’s now free to launch her Gutenberg printing industry.
But all these advances attract the wrong type of attention from the surrounding areas. Will Myne be able to survive the battles of winter, complete her new printing machine, and launch the start of the very first printing industry in this world?
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 4 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!