The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 release date is in July 2023, the Summer 2023 anime season.
The anime sequel will have Bocchan/Duke and Alice continuing in their quest to break the curse. But with The Duke of Death and His Maid manga’s ending released in May 2022, how will that affect the anime’s second season?
During Anime Japan 2023 on March 25, 2023, two new voice actors were announced. Zachou will be played by Japanese voice actor Masaaki Mizunaka, while Amelia will be voiced by Reina Ueda.
The time frame for the Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid Season 2 release date was announced by a new teaser trailer PV and a key visual on February 2, 2023.
The anime TV series was initially confirmed to be in production shortly after the first season ended on September 19, 2021. The announcement included a short teaser trailer.
On July 9, 2022, a proper trailer PV was released.
On May 10, 2022, which is Maid Day 2022 in Japan, the anime series teased that there will be an announcement on May 12, 2022, which is also the day that manga Volume 12 is released. Eventually, the time frame for the Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid Season 2 release date was announced through a teaser visual on May 16, 2022.
This article provides everything that is known about The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 (Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid Season 2) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The next time we watch the anime, the Duke and Alice are trying to figure out a plan for breaking the curse, but they have many fun adventures along the way. For example, they’re sucked into another magical book based on Little Red Riding Hood.
Another slice-of-life story that’ll probably be adapted comes from Chapter 73, where Cuff brings in a magically warmed swimming pool during winter and Cuff and Alice don bikini swimsuits.
The second son Walter wants to figure out a way to get the Duke out of the way. Viola “helps” by suggesting that Walter cross-dress as a cute girl while everyone is playing golf indoors. Walter’s plan is to seduce the Duke and then spread fake rumors to generate a scandal that’ll cause the Duke to give up his rightful inheritance as the first son.
Viola also finds herself transformed into an older version of herself. Can she use these unforeseen circumstances as an opportunity to make her own Cinderella story and finally express her feelings to the butler Rob?
Meanwhile, a flashback shows how Cuff and Zain came to be working at Circus Gemini. They wanted to stay in town since it makes it easier to stay close to the Duke and Alice, but then they see an opportunity when the circus is suffering from money problems. Adding Cuff and Zain to the big show added more customers, but they’re concerned that their identities as witches might be exposed so it’s just a matter of time before they’ll need to end the charade.
Eventually, Daleth approaches the Duke with a request. The witch wants him to convince Zain to use secret magic, the ability to manipulate time!
It turns out that Zain is a magical prodigy capable of using time powers since he was a child. When Zain and Cuff met as children he used to bedazzle her with his abilities. But when Cuff’s parents are killed Zain tries over and over to change fate but fails.
When Bocchan refuses to convince Zain to use his time powers, Daleth attempts to bribe the Duke by sending to the estate a witch named Amelia who specializes in disenchantments. This “witch” has octopus tentacles for legs, although it’s more accurate to say that she’s an octopus born with magical powers.
Amelia believes she’s capable of removing the curse, but Bocchan doesn’t want to be indebted to Daleth. Still, Bocchan is tempted into allowing Amelia to touch his curse, but that’s when she flinches upon realizing exactly which witch had cast the spell.
The powerful witch who cursed the Duke is revealed to be Daleth’s older twin sister, Sade, who has been dead for years. What’s more, Amelia has never once been able to beat Sade’s magic. Unfortunately, even in death Sade is too powerful and Amelia quickly realizes that she’ll be unable to lift the Duke’s curse.
After this revelation, the magical octopus demands that she be put back in the ocean since she’s literally dying from being out of the water. Looking out over the ocean together, Bocchan and Alice make a promise together to one day visit Alice’s hometown once the curse is broken.
Meanwhile, the witches plan on bringing Zain home. Daleth hopes to revive Alice’s mother, Sharon Lendrott, from the enchantment that has her trapped like a sleeping beauty in a coffin.
It turns out that many years ago that Sade had slashed Daleth’s face with a nail for simply looking like her sister. Ever since then Daleth has worn her mask and hates for anyone to see her without it.
Bocchan and Alice find themselves joining a circus, but the Duke has difficulty figuring out a performance. He ends up taking up juggling even though it’s obvious he should have used his curse to his advantage.
Cuff and Zain are still wading through their relationship. How will the witches use the circus as their stage for dragging Zain back to their world?
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!
FUNimation’s The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 English dub release date
The first season of The Duke of Death and His Maid anime was streaming with English subtitles on FUNimation (not Netflix, Crunchyroll, Hulu, or VRV). FUNimation’s Simuldub schedule for Summer 2021 initially listed the anime as only being a Simulcast, but eventually a dubbed version was released.
Here is the English cast:
- Clifford Chapin as The Duke
- Kristen McGuire as Alice
- Kayli Mills as Viola
- Kent Williams as Rob
- Sarah Wiedenheft as Cuff
- Ricco Fajardo as Zain
FUNimation’s The Duke of Death and His Maid English dub release date was on September 11, 2021. Since then, Sony announced that Crunchyroll and Funimation would be merging their content onto the Crunchyroll platform.
Presumably, Crunchyroll’s The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 English dub release date will be announced within several weeks of the second season’s premiere in 2023.
Why the Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid Season 2 release date is in Summer 2023
As of the last update, NBC Universal, Studio J.C. Staff, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the exact The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 release date. However, the production of an anime TV sequel was announced on September 19, 2021. On May 16, 2022, it was confirmed that The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 release date is in 2023. On February 2, 2023, it was confirmed that the time frame was Summer 2023.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information.
The Duke of Death and His Maid reviews were fairly good. However, some of the review scores were lower than they could have been simply because the TV show used 3D CGI animation at all, not due to the quality of the animation itself. Studio Orange has pretty much set the standard for 3D anime, but while the animation in the Duke anime doesn’t reach those heights it arguably pulls it off without being distracting from the story.
Unfortunately, The Duke of Death and His Maid manga sales didn’t get a huge boost that pushed it up onto the Oricon Top 30. But that’s not too much of a surprise since that list was pretty much dominated by the various Tokyo Revengers manga volumes during Summer 2021.
It’s possible the anime was popular enough on FUNimation streaming for the anime production committee to justify renewing a sequel.
Considering that the sequel was immediately announced it’s possible the production was pre-planned. Still, anime projects are always scheduled years in advance based on the availability of the studio staff and cast, which is why The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 release date is only 2 years later in July 2023.
The Duke of Death and His Maid manga ending in May 2022
The story for the anime TV series is based on The Duke of Death and His Maid manga by Koharu Inoue. The series is sometimes known as The Duke of Death and His Black Maid due to the dark victorian outfits worn by the characters.
Serialized in Shogakukan’s Sunday Webry magazine app since October 2017, the weekly manga had over 200 chapters by the end of 2021 and was up to Volume 16 as of July 12, 2022.
In early November 2021, publisher Shogakukan had announced that manga Volume 14 would contain the climax of the story. In Japanese narratives, there is a four-act structure known as Kishōtenketsu.
- Ki : Introduction
- Shō : Development
- Ten : Twist (complication)
- Ketsu : Conclusion (reconciliation)
During the Twist phase, the story turns toward an unexpected development, and it contains the yama, or climax, of the story.
On February 15, 2022, Chapter 227 was released and the Sunday Webry app announced that The Duke of Death and His Maid manga’s ending was coming out in only six chapters. Thus, the final Chapter 233 came out in May 2022 and Volume 16 contained the ending.
In July 2021, North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they were going to publish the official English translation of The Duke of Death and His Maid manga. The physical Volume 1 release date was on May 24, 2022, and Volume 7 is scheduled for July 25, 2023.
The Duke of Death and His Maid manga compared to the anime
For the first season to have a solid conclusion related to the overarching plot, the anime did trim the manga’s story back a bit. Most of the elements that were skipped were comedic moments or short slice-of-life stories that weren’t necessary for moving the plot forward.
By Episode 6, the anime had already adapted up through manga Volume 3: Chapter 40, the end of the Witch’s Sabbath story arc. But then Episode 7 went backward to adapt some slice-of-life chapters.
Episodes 8 and 9 adapted some of the more serious story arcs, including the Christmas party that ran from Chapters 50 through 54. Episode 10 then bounced all over the place since the singing of The Owl And The Pussycat song came from Chapter 41 and the scene where Rob reminiscences over becoming a surrogate father to the Duke came from Chapter 72.
Episode 11 then adapted Chapters 59 through 62 but made a major change which introduced foreshadowing pointing to The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2. Originally, Alice’s mother Sharon was not revealed to be in Daleth’s coffin until Chapter 85. Also, the manga had Zain flipping the bird toward Daleth in the final scene where she was spying on him via the alley cat.
The overall somber tone of the ending in Episode 12 was very different from the source material. While the manga’s story was still serious and dramatic at times, there were many comedic beats that the anime skipped. For example, Chapter 63 had Alice bathing with Bocchan bathing with Bocchan to cheer him up before the big confrontation at the main estate.
When Bocchan was brought before Mother he had his brother and sister at his side in the manga. Mother chastised Viola and Walter for secretly visiting Bocchan in the past and forbid them from doing so again in the future.
To increase the dramatic impact, the anime shifted the revelation that Bocchan’s Father was in the hospital toward the end at the final dinner confrontation. Father’s deteriorating condition is the reason why Mother is needing to decide whether to make Bocchan or Walter the family head, but the manga mentioned this major detail very early on making it easier to forget while reading.
The chapters that were focused on Alice’s time at the main estate were skimmed by the anime. At the same time, the anime made certain to emphasize how Mother’s personality greatly changed after Alice’s own mother, Sharon, “passed away”.
All in all, the after-credits scene in Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid Episode 12 found a stopping point corresponding to manga Volume 5: Chapter 68.
It’s the best stopping point in the story since it had Bocchan being summoned to the main estate. Mother gives him an ultimatum, demanding that he break the curse by springtime or she will put the Duke’s brother Walter in charge of the family. But the Duke fights back and declares to his mother’s surprise that he will marry Alice!
Ending on this note resolves the thematic conflict that had been introduced during the last several episodes. Alice felt that if the curse was broken that the Duke would leave her behind, but now he’s found the renewed strength to not only break the curse but also take on his family head-on. The after-credits scene greatly condensed Chapter 68 so it could focus on the Duke revealing his decision to Alice.
The good news is that there is plenty of source material in the manga for making The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 anime TV series. The only question is if the second season will complete the manga’s finished story by heavily condensing the plot into a single cour of 12 or 13 episodes. Of course, it’s also possible the anime could finish the story with two cours or with The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 3.
Manga readers who wish to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to Volume 6: Chapter 69. But it’s still recommended to start from the beginning and read the skipped slice-of-life chapters.
The bad news is that English-only manga readers who wanted to read ahead of the anime TV series needed to wait until the English Volume 6 came out on May 30, 2023.
The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 studio, staff, and theme song music
The first season of the anime TV series was produced by Studio J.C. Staff, a Japanese animation studio, with the help of Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment, which provided the 3D animation. Studio J.C. Staff is returning to make the 2nd season.
Studio J.C. Staff is known for the original Sorcerous Stabber Orphen anime, the KonoSuba movie, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, A Certain Scientific Railgun, One Punch Man Season 2 (and, hopefully, One Punch Man Season 3), and the Food Wars! anime series.
In 2021, Studio J.C. Staff was working on the Date A Live Season 4 anime, Combatants Will Be Dispatched! anime, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, and Netflix’s EDENS ZERO anime.
Netflix’s The Way of the Househusband Season 2 is out on Netflix. Studio J.C. Staff also scheduled the DanMachi Season 4 release date for 2022 and it’s likely that DanMachi Season 5 will come out by 2024 or 2025.
The Date a Live Season 5 anime is confirmed to be in production. The EDENS ZERO Season 2 release date was in Spring 2023.
A new KonoSuba anime project was announced in July 2021, but it turns out that Studio Drive will be making KonoSuba Season 3 instead of Studio J.C. Staff. The KonoSuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World! release date is also confirmed to be in April 2023.
The main staff that is making The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the anime project was helmed by director Yoshiki Yamakawa (B: The Beginning, DanMachi). Writer Hideki Shirane (Date A Live, DanMachi) wrote the series composition.
Artist Mitsuru Kuwabata (High Score Girl) was the character designer. Composer Gen Okuda and Takeshi Watanabe (Otherside Picnic) created the music.
The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 OP “Kimi to Revue” will be performed by Bocchan (Natsuki Hanae) and Alice (Ayumi Mano), while the ED (ending) “Hoshikuzu Requiem” will be performed by Nasuo.
For the first season, The Duke of Death and His Maid OP “Full Moon and Silhouette’s Night (Mangetsu to Silhouette no Yoru)” was performed by voice actors Natsuki Hanae and Ayumi Mano, who played Bocchan and Alice, respectively. The ED “Nocturne” was also sung by Mano.
The first season’s finale, The Duke of Death and His Maid Episode 12, was released on September 19, 2021. The 12 episodes were released as six Blu-Ray/DVD volumes, with the first volume having released in Japan on September 29, 2021.
- Updated February 2, 2023: The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 release date is confirmed for July 2023.
- Updated July 9, 2022: Added trailer PV.
- Updated May 16, 2022: The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2 release date confirmed for 2023.
- Updated February 15, 2022: The Duke of Death and His Maid manga ending in 6 chapters.
- Updated November 19, 2021: The Duke of Death and His Maid manga climax announced.
- Updated September 13, 2021: Added The Duke of Death and His Maid dub info.