Zatch Bell! season 3

The third and final season, titled level 3, of the Zatch Bell! anime series was directed by Tetsuji Nakamura and Yukio Kaizawa and produced by Toei Animation. Based on the manga series by Makoto Raiku, the Mamodo Rioh brings Faudo into the tournament, presenting an existential threat to Zatch Bell, his human partner Kiyo Takamine, and all their friends; and Zatch confronts his begrudging twin brother Zeno Bell. The third season of the TV series, known formally as lit. "Golden Gash Bell!!" (金色のガッシュベル!!), aired in Japan from April 3, 2005, to March 26, 2006, on Fuji TV. The season adapts volumes 18 through 22 of the manga. Toei proactively scripted a portion of the season's plot as a delay resulted in the manga lagging behind the anime; this truncated plotline is roughly parallel to volumes 23 through 29.

Shogakukan collected the episodes into seventeen DVD compilations released from July 7, 2006, to March 7, 2007. Only the first four episodes of the season were edited and dubbed in English, and they premiered on YTV's programming block Bionix in Canada from November 15, 2008, to December 6, 2008. The dubbing was provided by Viz Media. After the fourth episode (104th overall), the English broadcast of the show was discontinued, leaving the remainder of the series exclusive to Japan. Viz ceased the English translation of the manga series less than one year later after twenty-five volumes. The four dubbed episodes streamed on Crunchyroll in 2016.

Four pieces of theme music are used in the episodes: one opening theme and three closing themes in the Japanese episodes, and one opening and closing theme for the dubbed episodes. The Japanese opening theme throughout is lit. "Invisible Wings" (見えない翼) by Takayoshi Tanimoto. The first Japanese ending theme is lit. "Tomorrow will be better than today" (今日より明日は) by Echiura, used until episode 125; the second ending theme is lit. "★Play Fever 2005★" (★遊Fever 2005★) by Tomoe Shinohara, used until episode 149; and the third is lit. "Scab" (カサブタ) by Hidenori Chiwata, used in the finale—this piece was also played as an opening theme during the first season of the series. For the English release, the opening theme is "Follow the Light," and the ending theme is the instrumental remix of "Zatch Bell! Theme"—both tracks were composed by Thorsten Laewe and Greg Prestopino.

Summary
Set shortly after the events of the previous season, a Mamodo-made kaiju-like superweapon called Faudo emerges on Earth. It was brought along by a seditious Mamodo named Rioh, who plots on utilizing it to win the Mamodo tournament while also risking carnage on Earth's civilization. However, because Faudo is in a hibernation-like state, Rioh requires spells of several Mamodo to power it up. He coerces these Mamodo into his allegiance by instilling a curse on their human partners, including Li-en, that will kill them if Faudo is not reanimated in time.

With newer allies, Zatch, Kiyo, and their friends mount an all-out offensive on Rioh upon learning about his scheme. They manage to break his curse, saving Li-en and the affected humans, but are unable to prevent Faudo's release. When Kiyo's plan to stall the giant fails, Rioh sends it toward Japan to test its capacity, resulting in a frenetic clash between Zatch's allies and Rioh's forces during which Wonrei is sent back to the Mamodo world. At the height of the conflict, Zatch's twin brother Zeno Bell and his partner Dufort dispatch Rioh and take control of Faudo, with Dufort desiring to use it to wipe out humanity. Despite their numbers, Zatch and his allies are grossly surpassed by Zeno's spells and Dufort's telepathic ability. However, a miracle entity within Zatch arises, allowing him to overcome Zeno and return him to the Mamodo world, but not without losing control of Faudo. Zatch and Kiyo take the matter into their own hands and use this newfound power to destroy Faudo just off the shores of Japan, saving the world from doom.

In the season epilogue, Zatch and Brago, now the only Mamodo left on Earth, are about to battle each other for the crown of their world, but the series ends before a true winner is determined.

Production and release
While airing the second season of Zatch Bell!, Fuji TV renewed the series for the third season. Toei Animation handled the animation of the season with Tetsuji Nakamura and Yukio Kaizawa continuing their posts as co-directors of the anime. Actress Ikue Ōtani, the Japanese voice of Zatch, left production for maternity leave after 140 episodes and was replaced with Konami Yoshida. Season 3 aired from April 3, 2005, to March 26, 2006, for 50 episodes, with the final two (episodes 149 and 150) debuting back-to-back in a one-hour slot.

Season 3, like the previous seasons, is adapted from the Zatch Bell! manga, but some episodes were broadcast before the corresponding chapters were released. Author Makoto Raiku paused the manga to recover from a hand injury he sustained while writing the pages for volume 23. Toei was unwilling to wait out the disruption and turned to raw outlines sent early on to create its own storyline. By the time the season neared the conclusion, Raiku had resumed the manga, while Toei began shifting its resources toward other anime projects, precluding additional seasons of Zatch Bell!. Thus, the finale’s post-credits closing scene featuring Zatch and Brago displays a message urging viewers to finish reading the manga to find out who wins the tournament.

Although Raiku himself praised the third season overall, he was dissatisfied with Toei’s approach on the struggle over Faudo and sought to make his version darker and more convoluted. In one notable case, Rioh murders Kiyo, who then comes back to life with a mysterious psychic ability that would become a crucial component for the manga. However, Raiku balanced the story. Zeno gives up his bid for the crown with compunction for battling Zatch, contravening the season in which Zeno tries to kill Zatch by inflicting certain apocalypse on Earth. Faudo’s fate was also lightened from the anime: Zatch’s strongest spell lifts it back into the Mamodo world rather than annihilates it.

In Japan, Shogakukan, the publisher of Zatch Bell!, licensed Pony Canyon to distribute season 3 through seventeen DVD compilations from July 7, 2006, and March 7, 2007, under the subtitle "level 3". Viz Media provided the English dub for only the first four episodes of the season (episodes 101-104), which aired on YTV’s programming block Bionix in Canada from November 15, 2008, to December 6, 2008. This comes after Cartoon Network removed the series from its TV lineup in the United States midway through the previous season. By 2008, Viz stopped adapting the anime as Raiku had pulled out of Shogakukan, so the season would be incomplete for English-speaking audiences. This was likewise due to the fact that Shogakukan owns a stake in Viz, and that Raiku’s departure meant that his manga would no longer be available outside Japan after volume 25. In 2016, the season's dubbed episodes were added to the streaming service Crunchyroll along with the previous one hundred episodes.

Episode list
All episodes are directed by Tetsuji Nakamura and Yukio Kaizawa.