The Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 anime TV series will have Izumi and Micchon Shikimori wanting to make a special memory during a Kyoto school trip. But when will Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san Season 2 come out?
The studio and main staff making Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the anime project was produced by Japanese animation Studio Doga Kobo, which is best known in recent times for the Ikebukuro West Gate Park anime, the My Senpai is Annoying anime, and the Osamake anime. The studio is best known for adapting manga slice-of-life comedies like Asteroid in Love, How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift?, and New Game!
In 2022, Studio Doga Kobo also released the (delayed) Technoroid Overmind anime and the RPG Real Estate anime. In the future, they’ll be working on the Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle Season 2 anime.
The first season of the Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie anime was helmed by director Ryouta Itoh (My Senpai Is Annoying) and assistant director Shouhei Yamanaka. Writer Yoshimi Narita (My Senpai Is Annoying) wrote the scripts.
Artist Ai Kikuchi (New Game!, Love, How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift?) was both the character designer and chief animation director. Composer Hiroaki Tsutsumi (Tokyo Revengers Season 2, Ahiru no Sora, Devil May Cry, Dr. STONE, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Monster Musume, By the Grace of the Gods, My Senpai Is Annoying) created the music.
The Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music haven’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie OP “Honey Jet Coaster was performed by Nasuo, while the ED “Route Blue” was performed by Yuki Nakashima.
The first season of Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie was streaming in Spring 2022 with English subtitles on Crunchyroll and Netflix Japan (not Netflix USA, Hulu, VRV, Funimation, or Amazon Prime Video).
During Spring 2022, Studio Doga Kobo experienced a fast spread of COVID-19 among members of the studio staff. To contain the spread of the virus, no staff was permitted to enter the office while a deep clean was performed from April 6th through April 17, 2022.
Due to this reason the Technoroid Overmind episodes were delayed. On May 13, 2022, the studio confirmed that multiple Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie episodes will similarly be delayed due to the COVID pandemic.
Here is the currently planned TV schedule:
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 6 release date: May 14, 2022
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 1 rebroadcast w/ cast commentary: May 21, 2022
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 7 release date: May 28, 2022
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 8 release date: June 4, 2022
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Recap Episode w/ cast commentary: June 11, 2022
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 9 release date: June 18, 2022
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 10 release date: June 25, 2022
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 11 release date: July 2, 2022
Assuming no additional delays for the first season’s finale, the Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 12 release date will be on July 9, 2022.
This article provides everything that is known about Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 (Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san 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.
Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san Season 2 release date predictions: Renewal possible?
As of the last update, Studio Doga Kobo, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Shikimori Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san Season 2 release date will occur in the future.
The Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie reviews have been good but not great. The main issue is that the early chapters of the Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie manga, and thus the anime it’s based on, overly relies on generic rom-com tropes, never mind the main gimmick of Izumi’s bad luck and the tough Yandere girlfriend who constantly defends her cinnamon bun boyfriend.
The same basic scenario is rehashed over and over without any major character progression taking place in the Izumi x Shikimori relationship dynamic. The entire premise was offputting for the first several episodes since the story never bothers to explain how Shikimori became Izumi’s girlfriend in the first place, never mind their unconditional love.
The anime itself even raises the question of “why would such an amazing girl date such a dull boy?” and yet never answers the question. And it’s an ongoing problem in early episodes since (other than the bad luck quirk) Izumi seems to be purposefully written as a boring protagonist just to make Shikimori shine brighter. To a certain extent, the first half of Season 1 almost feels like the self-insert wish-fulfillment of many fantasy/isekai anime.
To be fair to the anime, there technically is character progression for Izumi in the manga related to his insecurities and feelings of inadequacy, and the question of how they began dating is eventually answered, but it’s dragged out over so many chapters that the anime’s first season needed many episodes before reaching a major turning point. The reason for this is that the story started as Pixiv drawings that got turned into a 4-koma webcomic self-published on Twitter. Then it was finally serialized as a full manga, so it’s not until later chapters that the writing became more polished.
In addition, it’s almost a relief for an anime TV show to feature a Rom-com couple that’s so wholesome, especially in comparison to the Girlfriend, Gifrliend anime, Domestic Girlfriend, or Rent-A-Girlfriend (Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 is confirmed). Shikimori might have a dark Yandere side but it’s always expressed in a positive manner rather than the excessive obsession typically characterized by the term (Yandere is literally derived from yanderu, which means insane or sick).
Despite the negative criticism, the anime’s first season managed to make it onto Crunchryoll’s popular anime list on a regular basis next to more popular Spring 2022 anime like SPY x FAMILY and The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2.
More importantly, the anime gave a significant boost to Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie manga sales according to the Oricon manga Top 20 list for April 2022. Not even the Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3 anime can make that claim since that other Rom-com’s respective manga failed to make the Top 20 despite the anime’s third season being well-reviewed.
Therefore, despite the mid reviews, it seems possible that the anime production committee will have Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie renewed for a second season.
However, it’s unlikely that the producer secretly greenlit a second season in advance since they’d want to test the waters first. Since it’s not already scheduled and the anime industry is booked out years in advance, fans should expect a multi-year wait for the Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 release date.
Crunchyroll’s Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 English dub release date
Crunchyroll’s Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie English dub release date for the first season was on April 23, 2022, which was only several weeks behind the series premiere on April 10, 2022.
Here was Crunchyroll’s Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie dub cast:
- Macy Anne Johnson as Shikimori
- Bryson Baugus as Izumi
- Clifford Chapin as Inuzuka
- Michelle Rojas as Nekozaki
- Molly Zhang as Hachimitsu
- Lydia Mackay as Motoko
- Mark Stoddard as Akisada
Presumably, now that Funimation is being phased out by Sony, Crunchyroll’s Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 English dub release date will be announced in the future after Shikimori Season 2 has first premiered with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
Hopefully, future English dubbing will be faster once the COVID pandemic winds down and becomes endemic. Many English dubbing houses have experienced delays since voice actors often travel to the recording studio. In order to protect voice actors from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, they were forced to temporarily pause production or take extra safety precautions that resulted in slowed work.
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie manga compared to the anime
The story for the Shikimori anime series is based on the Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie manga by creator Keigo Maki. Serialized in Kodansha’s Magazine Pocket online webzine since February 2019, the manga is up to Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Volume 13 as of May 9, 2022. Shikimori Volume 13 includes up through Chapter 123.
North American publisher Kodansha USA began printing the official Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie manga’s English translation starting in October 2020. As of April 5, 2022, the Shikimori manga’s English version was up to Volume 9, with the English Shikimori Volume 10 release date presumably scheduled for later in 2022.
The Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie manga didn’t pull any punches in launching into the story by merrily skipping past content and tying it all together with anime original content. Like similar Rom-com manga series, the chapters were adapted out of order and the story was expanded on greatly in order to form a coherent story based on the anime’s episodic format.
Notably, earlier manga chapters tended to have self-contained short stories focused on just Shikimori x Izumi while later manga volumes began to develop short story arcs like the sports festival arc and the Kyoto school field trip (yet another Rom-com trope!). In those cases, the anime adapted the related chapters in consecutive order, but later episodes also pulled scenes from the earlier Izumi x Shikimori chapters rather than depict them based on the manga’s timeline.
Arguably, these changes resulted in the anime version being better than the original manga. If the studio had stuck to a panel-by-panel adaptation the earlier episodes would have been even more repetitive and certain important characters wouldn’t have been introduced until the middle of the season.
The biggest change was actually the beginning of Shikimori Episode 1 since Izumi’s parents were originally not introduced until Chapter 16. Otherwise, once Izumi reached Shikimori it adapted the Chapter 1 story where Shikimori saved Izumi from being turned into yet another dull isekai protagonist by Truck-kun (why the manga/anime didn’t have Shikimori yell, “You could have been isekai-ed!” I’ll never understand since it’s such an obvious gag setup).
Volleyball player Kamiya-senpai was originally not introduced until Chapter 39 when she became a romantic rival during the Cultural Festival Arc and the Sports Festival Arc. Introducing her early in Shikimori Episode 2 was an anime-only change (in addition to the Izumi soccer gags) that provided foreshadowing.
Shikimori Episode 3 actually removed some content. Originally, Chapter 17 had everyone celebrating Izumi’s birthday whereas the anime changed the scene to a regular meal. At the end of the day, Shikimori kissed Izumi on the forehead and whispered, “I love you… good night.”
Shikimori Episode 4 expanded a short story about Izumi and Shikimori talking about stars and their date to the planetarium. Nekozaki’s backstory and Shikimori’s cooking class were pulled from bonus (omake) chapters. Similarly, Shikimori Episode 5 pulled scenes from Chapters 15 and 64 to round out the river episode.
Shikimori Episode 5 also made a small change that reflected better on Izumi’s character. In manga Volume 3, Izumi tries to rescue a little girl alone on the river, but when his foot cramps up, Shikimori has to rescue them both. In the anime, Izumi successfully saved the child before the leg cramp started, which meant Shikimori only saved him and not both.
The following is a guide to skipped chapters and the order in which the anime episodes adapted the manga:
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 1: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6.1, 15, 18 (scenes from 4, 13, 14)
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 2: Chapters 13, 19, 20 (clinic scene from 11)
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 3: Chapters 4, 16, 17 (many anime original scenes)
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 4: Chapters 25 (partial), 26, 27, 28, 45.5, 26.5
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 5: Chapters 29, 30, 31, 15, 64
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 6: Chapters TBA
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 7: Chapters TBA
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 8: Chapters TBA
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 9: Chapters TBA
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 10: Chapters TBA
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 11: Chapters TBA
- Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Episode 12: Chapters TBA
All in all, it’s predicted that the ending of the first season’s finale, Shikimori Episode 12, will find a stopping point corresponding to manga Volume 7: Chapter 70.
It’s the best stopping point since the school semester is over, including final exams, and all the friends are discussing things they want to do before graduation. From a character development standpoint, Shikimori won over her romantic rival as a friend, and Izumi finally faces Shikimori’s mother, Miyabi Shikimori, and admits the truth. More importantly, in Chapter 69 Izumi finally expresses to Micchon Shikimori how he wants to get to know all the sides of her personality, not just when she’s cute.
The good news is that there will be plenty of source material for making Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 by 2023. Better yet, English-only manga readers who wish to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to manga Volume 7.
Shikimori Season 2 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
Note: This article was initially published before the Shikimori Episode 12 release date and will be updated (if necessary) with additional spoilers over time. These spoilers currently assume that Shikimori Season 2 will start by adapting Volume 7: Chapter 71.
It’s the winter break and Shikimori joins Izumi to shop for a jacket. As Christmas approaches, Kamiya prepares to enjoy the holiday quietly but joins the other girls for Christmas gift shopping. When Nekozaki invites Kamiya to an all-girls Christmas Eve karaoke party she’s pulled out of her comfort zone, but with the right friends, perhaps she’ll be able to enjoy some Christmas cheer?
Of course, nothing can dampen the Izumi x Shikimori love fest. They see Christmas lights together, exchange Christmas gifts, and even watch a movie at Shikimori’s home with her mother. Izumi’s mother and Shikimori’s mother even meet during a shopping trip.
While the gang is flying kites, Izumi manages to lose his kite but it’s recovered by a woman named Rika Isana. She’s Shuu Inuzuka’s senpai at his part-time job. Isana wishes to start a coffee shop of her own one day.
The third semester will start with a school trip to Kyoto. For the Kyoto trip, the class will be split up into groups and Izumi is made the group leader. But they need an extra boy for their co-ed group, so Izumi ends up picking the painfully shy Saruogi to join them.
During the Kyoto trip, Shikimori wants to make a special memory with Izumi. He also wants to make a memory… that’s just for the two of them.
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!