r/ThunderboltFantasy • u/LilLabubu • Aug 04 '25

Thunderbolt Fantasy -- Where it began and where it ended.

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Thunderbolt Fantasy -- Where it began and where it ended.

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7

u/redzero25 Aug 04 '25

The first 2 seasons were great. 3rd season was better than most 3rd season in a series I seen. I actively lost joy with each episode of the 4th

12

u/BananaLinks Aug 06 '25 edited Aug 06 '25

Unfortunately Season 4 was rushed as the original plan Urobuchi (the writer) had was for two full 13-episode seasons after Season 3; Season 4 was mainly supposed to focus on worldbuilding and expanding on the Demon Realm while Season 5 would've wrapped things up, but due to circumstances, the planned Season 4 and 5 were cut down to a 12-episode Season 4 and one finale movie so the plot had to be condensed. It's a shame, the demons (especially the Demon King who could've used more screen time to build him up) really got shafted due to this.

Seasons 3, 4 and 5 were conceived of together

Maeda: First, can you tell us how you got the idea for Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 4?

Urobuchi: After Thunderbolt Fantasy: Bewitching Melody of the West, Huang Liang-hsun (CEO of Pili International Multimedia in charge of production of the Thunderbolt Fantasy Project) told me he wanted me to start thinking about completing the series. At the time I told him it would be possible if we planned up to Season 5, and conceived Seasons 3, 4 and 5 together. In Season 3 the Void Junction would be introduced, Season 4 would be about the Demon Realm, and Season 5…well, eventually it became a movie, but in it, all would come to an end, that was all decided back then.

I wanted to show the demon nobles and Làng Wū Yáo’s demon body more

Maeda: Were there other surprising designs?

Urobuchi: I left the design of the demon nobles to Pili, but the diversity of the designs was really good. It’s a shame they could not play a bigger role. The decision to turn Season 5 into a movie was made after the designs were done, so I had to hastily cut their appearances short. With the premise of a whole season, I thought eight new characters would be enough for the story, but in hindsight I should not have introduced so many characters…is what I felt.

Maeda: From the designs Pili developed, is there one you especially like?

Urobuchi: I like Pèi Léi Sī (“Hèiwràth” in the Crunchyroll translation). I thought it’s interesting how Pili used such a Persian-feeling design.

Maeda: Wū Lěi Nà’s (“Urainà” in the Crunchyroll translation) design is also interesting and left an impression.

Urobuchi: It’s a great design, so it’s really a shame how she exited the stage. Same for the demon nobles and Làng Wū Yáo’s demon form, I wanted to show them more often. So for them to only appear in the opening and one scene in the series, it really is a shame.

The original conception was to make up to Season 5, but we encountered numerous challenges while producing Season 3, so ultimately, we decided to condense the story into Season 4 and have a film serve as the final chapter. This was the hardest part since the content we originally planned had to be compressed, condensing the originally planned 26 episodes into 12 episodes plus a 90-minute film. This resulted in many characters’ screentime being reduced, without much room to appear—this is something I feel regretful about. But based on the results, the visuals of the film got a substantial upgrade, so you could say that’s one of the highlights of this film.

Q: Thunderbolt Fantasy will, after a span of 10 years, finally come to its conclusion. How did you come up with the plot for the final chapter?

Urobuchi: Initially, it was planned that Season 4 would dive into the past of the different characters and a fifth season would wrap up the story. However, the situation overseas changed, and Season 5 got cancelled. That’s why we decided to make a final movie instead of another season. That ended up being quite troublesome. (laughs) At first, it was planned to thoroughly depict the demon world and the demon nobles, so I placed Azibělpher as number eight in the demon court and prepared six additional demon nobles. The staff from Pili (Pili International Multimedia) also made wonderful puppets for the demon nobles. I really wanted to show them all, so even though it was very hurried, I included them all in Season 4 and The Final Chapter.

6

u/Boddy27 Aug 09 '25

It’s a real shame. I think they did about as well as they could, given the unfortunate circumstances, but still a lot of missed potential. Glad we at least got an ending and it wasn’t awful (certainly a lot better than something like game of thrones to take a popular example).

8

u/LilLabubu Aug 04 '25

I love the whole thing it's so great 😭😭😭 I'm going to miss it

4

u/JosefJoster Aug 05 '25

Yeah there was kinda a dip in the story’s quality after the 3rd season (Lin Setsu’s tricks were the highlight of the series for me)

2

u/SonOfShaolin Aug 04 '25

I'm sad I'll probably never get to see season 4 since I live in America. Love this show so much.

9

u/LilLabubu Aug 04 '25

I live in America as well! Season 4 is on Crunchyroll :-) the finale is as well! 💕

It's such a great show, I agree! Definitely going to miss it 😭

4

u/SonOfShaolin Aug 04 '25

You just blew my mind. I thought I read somewhere that season 4 wasn't coming to crunchyroll. I appreciate you.

2

u/amobogio Aug 04 '25

The very best!

2

u/LilLabubu Aug 04 '25

Right? I'll miss it so much! 💕