I can appreciate subtlety, but honestly, I’d watch an even less unambiguous “Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but they’re all hot chicks” story that Ikki Tousen was playing with.
Alternative Titles:
- Battle Vixens
- 一騎当千
Year Anime Premiered: 2003
Animation Studio: JC Staff; Arms
Number of Seasons: 3 + 7 OVAs
Source Material Country of Origin: Japan
Source Material Available: Manga
Is It Officially Licensed Past Where The Anime Ends?: No
Is It Fan Translated Past Where The Anime Ends?: Yes
Entry Last Updated: May 21st, 2025
Where To Start The Ikki Tousen Manga After The Anime?
The Ikki Tousen anime started off as a fine enough adaptation, changing a number of small things in the setting and altering the events in ways that lightly change them, but didn’t change the plot.
That said, the longer Ikki Tousen goes on, the more it disregards the manga story, so while there are indeed three seasons of Ikki Tousen and OVAs that continue the story, you only really have two options to continued forward.
If you watched the Ikki Tousen anime and want to continue the story from the beginning, you can either:
- Start from the beginning, as is recommended due to all the changes
- Or at least start from Volume 5, Chapter 31 where Season 1 ends (and lightly changes)
Past Season 1, the Ikki Tousen anime only takes inspiration from the manga, even inventing its own original characters to further its increasingly more anime-original plot. What happened is that Season 1 was handled by JC Staff and the other seasons were handled by Studio Arms, which is not a studio known for diligently adapting stories from the source material.
The manga is not only more graphically violent (and similarly, if not more ecchi), but it also takes the story more seriously, slows down the pacing compared to the anime, and ultimately doesn’t have as much lesbian subtext to it.
Is The Ikki Tousen Manga Over?
The Ikki Tousen manga is complete. It ended in 2015 with Volume 24, Chapter 116.
There is also the Shin Ikki Tousen sequel manga that is still ongoing, but slow-going. Since starting in 2015, release has been pretty sparse, with Volume 5 being released in 2023.
Will There Be A Ikki Tousen Season 4?
While they did an OVA for Shin Ikki Tousen in 2022, they have now truly exhausted any source material to base anything on. However, as the anime plays fast and loose with the actual manga story, there is always a chance they will just freestyle it completely.
