Would it be tacky to call this news “encouraging?”

Earlier today, the official Encouragement of Climb (Yama no Susume) anime website updated with a new key visual, as well as news that the upcoming third season will air in Summer 2018.

The visual features the show’s five leads, with a full body shot of Hinata taking the center of the shot.

(C) Shiro / Earth Star entertainment / “Encouragement of Climb” Production committee

Encouragement of Climb is based on Shiro’s manga of the same name. Yusuke Yamamoto (B Gata H Kei – Yamada’s First Time, Sgt. Frog) directed the first two seasons (plus upcoming OVA “Omoide no Present”) at studio 8-Bit, with Yuusuke Matsuo (The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls, Black Rock Shooter OVA) providing character designs.

(C) Shiro / Earth Star entertainment / “Encouragement of Climb” Production committee

The main voice cast includes:

  • Hinata: Kana Asumi
  • Aoi: Yuka Iguchi
  • Kaede: Yōko Hikasa
  • Kokona: Yui Ogura

The first anime season aired in Winter 2013, and ran for twelve half-hour episodes. The second season hit Japanese TV in Summer 2014, and ran for twenty-four 15-minute episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the first season of Encouragement of Climb on their digital platform. They describe the show as:

Aoi prefers indoor hobbies and is afraid of heights, but her childhood friend Hinata loves to show off her passion for mountain climbing. As young children they once watched the sunrise from the top of a mountain, and now they’ve decided to take up mountain climbing in hopes of seeing that sunrise again. They have cooking battles with mountaineering gear, climb small hills in their neighborhood, and meet new mountaineering friends as they learn the ropes of the hobby. When will they finally see that sunrise again?

The Encouragement of Climb manga originally launched in Earth Star’s Comic Earth Star Online magazine in 2011. The ongoing series currently spans eleven volumes, with the most recent hitting stores on March 12, 2016.

Source: Ota-suke