Xelphos III

Xelphos III is an Japanese animated action-adventure fantasy series created by Chaossy. It was in development since October of 2016, with the announcement in the summer of 2017. Most of the writing and directing staff of City of Bright Lights helped with the production of the new series.

Following the announcement, it was reported that the airdate tentatively will be January 8th, 2018. It may start airing earlier if production is running smoothly.

In October of 2017, it was announced that December 2017 will be the official airdate, and that Studio Acesky will be taking over production after episode 56. The series officially premiered in Japan on December 2, 2017 and will air in the United States on December 16, 2017.

Production
After the financial loss of Chronicles, Chaossy was hesitant of making another series. Although a few months later, he met Egusa Yoriyuki and they talked about stories that they could make, including a rebirth of Xelphos's homeworld. Xelphos liked the idea, and appointed Yoriyuki as the head writer of the show, with Chaossy as director and producer of the show, while writing a few key episodes as well. Writing for the first two arcs took almost the whole 2016 year, as they wanted the show to be in top quality for the fans. As with the first show, this is planned to take multiple years to finish, but not as long as Adventures. Chaossy and Yoriyuki said that they'll aim for 120 episodes if the budget is there. A fourth arc is said to be in the writing phase in 2018, which will be the final arc of the series and franchise.

A film is also in production as of April of 2018, with a release in March 2019 for Japanese cinema, and a Vision Movie Month English premiere in 2019.

A trailer was released on October 29, 2017, showing off the first arc.

At New York ComicCon, it was announced that the series will go on longer than expected and that they now plan about 150-160 episodes. New episodes will air on TV Surge Nippon starting in January 2019, with a repeat on SurgeAnime afterwards.

English language version
The production of the English dub is set to start in September once all of the 56 episodes that were ordered are fully dubbed. Funimation Entertainment is set to produce the dub.

Plot
The first arc takes place in the wide open ocean as pirates battle other pirates, Xelphos, Kalos, and Tiffany get stuck in the action.

The second arc takes place on a uninhibited planet, where Xelphos aims to rebuild Unferth from the ground up.

Cast

 * Xelphos - Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)
 * Female Xelphos - Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese), Erica Mendez (English)
 * Tiffany - Marina Inoue (Japanese), Glynnis Talken Campbell (English)
 * Kalos - Marina Inoue (Japanese), Alexis Tipton (English)

Xelphos III: Unearthing
Unearthing is a 2019 film written by Kōnosuke Uda in his writing debut and directed by Chaossy. The film will take place between episode 90 and 91. Typewriter Productions West holds the license and will sub-license the home media rights to Funimation.

The film was animated by Madhouse, Production I.G., and Venga Shanghai and was released in Japanese theaters in March of 2019 and was shown on Vision Movie Month in 2019.

Xelphos III: Fighting Honor
A second film is planned to be released in June of 2020, with a English release produced by Typewriter Productions, which will air later that year on Vision's Month of Movies.

The film will be animated by Studio Acesky, Madhouse, and Venga Shanghai.

Setting
This production will take place twenty years after Xelphos Chronicles and will feature many planets, including a rebirth of Xelphos's homeworld later in the series.