is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku under the pen name Yuki Ikeda. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Magazine from May 2022 to June 2026, with its chapters collected in ten volumes. An anime television series adaptation produced by Unend aired its first season from July to October 2026. A second season is set to premiere in 2027.
Plot The "Small Three"—ordinary middle school students Pyontaro Tezuka, Hiroshi Ochanomizu, and Tsubame Azuma—accidentally discover a parallel world after playing a mysterious disc borrowed from their teacher, Doc. When a lifelike dragonfly emerges from their television screen, Pyontaro's younger sister, Futaba, and their pet dog chase after it, only to be pulled into the parallel world and captured by its alien inhabitants. The story follows the Small Three as they join forces with the humans of the parallel world to rescue Futaba and confront the extraterrestrial threats.
Characters
Media Manga Written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku, under the pen name Yuki Ikeda, Thunder 3 was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Magazine from May 6, 2022, to June 5, 2026. On September 24, 2026, Oku stated on his X account that he wrote the series under a pen name because he felt the plot twist in the first chapter would have lost its impact if his real name had been used, and he wanted to surprise first-time readers. Kodansha collected its chapters in ten volumes, released from October 17, 2022, to August 17, 2026.
In March 2024, Kodansha USA announced that they had licensed the manga for print release, with the first volume published on November 5 of that same year.
Volumes
Anime In February 2026, it was announced that the series would receive an anime television series adaptation. It is produced by Unend and directed by Keisuke Ide, with Hiroyuki Seshita serving as chief director, Hiroshi Seko handling the series composition and screenplays, and Yūki Moriyama designing the characters (with credited for original character design concepts), and and composing the music. The series aired from July 9 to October 1, 2026, on Fuji TV's +Ultra programming block. The opening theme song is , performed by Yuuri, while the ending theme song is , performed by .
A second season was announced after the first season's finale. It is set to premiere in 2027.
Netflix is streaming the series worldwide.
Episodes
Reception The series was nominated for the 2022 Next Manga Award in the print manga category. It was nominated for the Manga Award 2023. It ranked fourth on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2024 for male readers.
Writing for the Real Sound, Reiichi Narima praised the series for its premise and realistic and detailed artwork, comparing it to Oku's Gantz and Inio Asano's Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction. Mei Chan from the same website included the series on her top 10 manga series of 2022, calling it "definitely the most shocking and surprising work of the year."
Notes
References
External links