Genshin Impact (Season 3)

The third season of the British-Japanese Shonen anime series *Genshin Impact* aired from February to November 2022, for a total of 40 episodes. The season was broadcast on TV Tokyo in Japan, and was released digitally on Netflix internationally. The season is based on the Prologue and first 3 acts of Chapter 2 of the miHoYo action-roleplaying video game of the same name, and was directed by Jay Stevenson, being produced by J-Animations. The season's soundtrack was produced by HOYO-MIX, featuring songs from the video game, in collaboration with Shiro Sagisu. The season features four theme songs: "Battling" by Gesu no Kiwami Otome and "Dive Into You" by NCT Dream serve as the first opening and ending themes respectively that ran for the first 20 episodes; "Brand New Civilization" by Tokyo Incidents and "Image Senryaku" by Gesu no Kiwami Otome serve as the second opening and ending themes respectively that ran from the remainder of the season.

*Genshin Impact* follows Aether, a teenager from another world who arrives with his twin sister Lumine in a world called Teyvat, where they fight Asmoday, an unknown god who watches over Teyvat. The siblings are separated and Aether, alongside his companion Paimon, travels through different regions in order to re-unite with Lumine, who landed 500 years prior to Aether and is a leader of the Abyss Order. The third season follows Aether as he becomes a crewmate aboard The Alcor, a ship captained by Beidou, and joins ex-Inazuman samurai Kaedahara Kazuha as they attempt to sail into the closed-off group of islands collectively known as Inazuma, ruled by the Electro Archon Raiden Shogun. When the pair manage to reach Inazuma, Aether is greeted by Thoma, house-servant for the Kamisato clan, who helps smuggle Aether into Inazuma City. There, Aether meets firework maker Yoimiya, and the 'People's Princess' of the Kamisato clan, Kamisato Ayaka. Here, he discovers Ayaka, Yoimiya and Thoma are part of a rebellion against Raiden Shogun, who has imposed a law called the 'Vision Hunt Decree' which involves ordinary citizens being stripped of their visions (items which grant the user elemental powers). Aether and his new allies travel to the different islands of Inazuma in order to assist in the rebel efforts. After multiple run-ins with the Kujou clan, led by Kujou Sara, Thoma is eventually taken to have a public confiscation of his vision by the Shogun, however Aether steps in to save him. Raiden sees Aether lacks a vision and thus deems him a threat, so Aether and Thoma escape to Watatsumi Island to meet with the leader of the rebellion, master strategist and warrior Sangonomiya Kokomi, who assigns Gorou, her second-in-command, to train the pair in addition to Kazuha who arrives at the island looking to become stronger so he can defeat Raiden Shogun, who killed Kazuha's closest childhood friend Tomo and forced him to flee the country. Raiden Shogun is not alone in leading the country, and is assisted by a group of close associates: Yae Miko, who is the Shogun's closest friend and loyal servant; Kujou Sara, leader of the divided Kujou clan that serve as Raiden's military force; Kamisato Ayato, head of the Kamisato clan who publicly endorses Raiden Shogun despite his own personal reserves about her motives and actions; and later Scaramouche, a failed model of a mortal body the Electro Archon planned to use who was abandoned and left to fight his way back to Inazuma city in order to prove his worth to Raiden.

The season began development in early 2021, just as the second season began airing. It sees major differences compared to the critically panned Chapter 2 of the video game, most notably: Kaedahara Kazuha's backstory is significantly altered to change Tomo's death and to include Sakura, Kazuha's old girlfriend who was part of a trio with him and Tomo, and who Kazuha abandons when he flees Inazuma, only to return and re-unite with her where she reveals she is suffering from a terminal illness and later dies; Kazuha's fate is also altered, where he is killed trying to avenge his two closest friends by Raiden Shogun; Raiden Shogun's "puppet" self is removed from the story and thus Raiden is not in self-imposed solitary confinement; Yae Miko's character is changed to become Raiden's right-hand woman, and her fate is changed when she is defeated and killed in a fight with the Shogun after it is revealed Raiden planned to replace her role with Scaramouche; Scaramouche's character has been almost completely re-written, changing his origin, motive, and goals- Scaramouche is also not a Fatui Harbringer in the anime and the Fatui as a result have a smaller role in the story - Scaramouche also dies by committing suicide after realising he will never be good enough for the Shogun following his defeat by Yoimiya; Kujou Sara dies in the anime after she is killed by Kokomi; Kamisato Ayato is evil in the anime, although is presented as a morally-grey character whose loyalties conflict with his sister's ideologies - the pair end up battling eachother; and many story events in the game are altered and re-arranged.

Zach Aguilar reprises his role as Aether, as does Corina Boettger for Paimon. The main cast for the protagonists is made up of Mark Whitten as Kaedahara Kazuha, Erica Mendez as Kamisato Ayaka, Risa Mei as Sangonomiya Kokomi, Cory Yee as Gorou, Christian Banas as Thoma and Jenny Yokobori. The supporting cast includes Lily Ki as Sayu, Max Mittelman as Arataki Itto, Kira Buckland as Kuki Shinobu and Kieran Regan as Shikanoin Heizou. The main cast for the antagonists is made up of Anne Yatco as Raiden Shogun, Ratana as Yae Miko, Jeannie Tirado as Kujou Sara, Chris Hackney as Kamisato Ayato and Patrick Pedraza as Scaramouche.

The third season of *Genshin Impact* was released to widespread critical acclaim. As with the previous season, the changes made to the source material proved controversial amongst critics and fans, especially as they were viewed as far more significant changes to the point where many reviewers noted the season re-told the Inazuma storyline in its own way as supposed to adapting it. Despite this, the narrative received critical acclaim: the Inazuma storyline in the video game had received mixed reviews partly due to the Gacha format of the video game reducing the stakes and how insignificant the storyline felt by the end. Whilst most edits were praised, especially praising Kazuha's "tragic" character arc, as well as Kamisato Ayato's "interally conflicted" role as antagonist, heavy criticism was drawn to the changes made to Scaramouche and the reduction of importance the Fatui held in the story. Many also appreciated that Raiden Shogun's character was not fully redeemed: rather, her character quest's adaptation near the end of the season saw her learning of her mistakes and devoting herself to becoming a better leader, with or without forgiveness. The pacing for the season was also praised throughout the series: many saw that character arcs and quests were integrated into the main plot and spread across multiple episodes, as opposed to devoting entire episodes to a specific character's side story which the previous two seasons had received criticism for. The pacing was also seen to have been helped by not including Act 4 of Chapter 2, which involves Dainsleif (this Act had been confirmed to be adapted as a two-part storyline in the next season). The season's art direction received unanimous applause for its use of colours to depict the "majestic" landscapes of Inazuma seen within the game. The animation was also praised as being smooth and fluid, especially in fight scenes. The season's soundtrack received monumental acclaim as being "emotive" and "dynamic". The voice cast also received significant praise, most notably Zach Aguilar, whose performance had previously seen mixed reviews, but who in this season was seen to have found comfort in the role as protagonist. When compared to Chapter 2 of the video game, critics and fans mostly agreed that the Inazuma arc in the anime was the superior story.

The season's critical acclaim as well as the increase in popularity of its source material resulted in major commercial success for *Genshin Impact*. The season commonly finished in the top 3 most-viewed programs each week in Japan, averaging around 10 million viewers per episode. The season was also inside Netflix's Top 10 most-viewed programmes for 9 consecutive months, and finished in the year-end top 10 for the streaming service. The commercial success saw the season nominated for a variety of awards at the International Anime Awards in 2022: these included Best Soundtrack, Best Characters, Best Art Direction, Best Animation, Best Adaptation, Best Opening Sequence (for "Battling") and, most notably, Anime of the Year. The season ended up winning in all categories, becoming the fourth J-Animations series to win Anime of the Year and the studio's sixth win overall (after *Elixir* in 2009 and 2010, *The Happiness Patrol* in 2016 and *Chequered Flag* in 2018). The season was also nominated for Best Ending Sequence (for "Dive Into You"). Retrospectively, the season is viewed as one of the best from the series, commonly finishing first or second in popularity polls from fans alongside season 5. The season was collected into 4 Blu-Ray volumes of 10 episodes each, which became the best-selling physical anime product in 2022. A fourth season, beginning with 6 one-hour-long specials, released in 2023.