'Tokyo Ghoul' season 3 release date news: Popular anime may return in 2017

Change may be coming to the dark fantasy anime series, "Tokyo Ghoul," if and when it airs its rumored third season late 2016 or early 2017. Just as production for the anime series is allegedly passing on to a new company, so is series protagonist Ken Kaneki moving on to a new life.

There are no confirmed details about "Tokyo Ghoul" season 3 at the moment but rumors about Madhouse Productions taking over from Studio Pierrot have been making rounds. If this turns out to be true, fans are hoping that season 3 will follow the source material more closely than the first and second seasons did.

There have also been speculations that Kaneki will be taking on a new identity. The second season of the anime series titled "Tokyo Ghoul √A (root A)" may have deviated from the manga's storyline by making Kaneki join Aogiri Tree instead of creating his very own group to protect those he cared about; but the finale episode ended in quite a familiar way that perfectly set the stage for a possible anime adaptation of the manga's sequel, "Tokyo Ghoul:re."

Although it was merely hinted at in the anime, Kaneki ended up fighting the Commission of Counter Ghoul's (CCG) Reaper, Kishou Arima, and he ended up losing like in the manga.

Fans of the series note similarities between the scene where Arima stuck his weapon, Owl, into the snow and the bloody frame in chapter 139 of the "Tokyo Ghoul" manga where Arima stuck Owl in Kaneki's eye.

The rumored third season of the anime will reportedly be based on "Tokyo Ghoul:re," which follows an amnesiac Kaneki, who will first take on the name and identity of Haise Sasaki, an Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigator, until he regains his lost memories.

There are conflicting reports about a possible "Tokyo Ghoul" third season. Some reports are saying it may still begin airing this year, while others speculate a more likely 2017 release owing to the ongoing productions of the "Tokyo Ghoul" live-action movie adaptation.