The Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 anime TV show is officially greenlit for production.
This announcement was not too much of a surprise since Reincarnated as a Sword Episode 12 ended with a “To Be Continued”.
The 2nd season will have catgirl Fran and Shishou aka Teacher fighting against the Undead King in the Flying Island only to travel to the port of Seedrun where they unwittingly find themselves drawn into a conspiracy involving two special twins. But when exactly will Tensei shitara Ken Deshita Season 2 come out?
On December 14, 2022, anime news leaker Sugoi LITE claimed that the production decision was made for Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2. The 2nd season was publicly greenlit for production on December 21, 2022, but it’s uncertain whether the project already entered the pre-production phase.
Anime Geek is predicting a quick turnaround for the Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 release date depending on when the production decision was made by the producer. (Please see the predictions section below for more details.)
The main staff and studio making TenKen Season 2 haven’t been announced yet.
Reincarnated as a Sword Season 1 was animated by Japanese Studio C2C, which is best known for the 2021 Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy anime and the Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina light novels in 2021.
In the past, they’ve worked with Studio Satelight on the M3 anime, Aquarion Logos, and WorldEnd: What do you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us? By themselves, Studio C2C adapted the Harukana Receive manga into an anime in 2018, the Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu manga in 2019, and the Shachibato game in early 2020.
As for the future, Studio C2C is known for releasing two anime projects a year. The Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy Season 2 anime is confirmed to be in production while the Wandering Witch Season 2 anime is reportedly also in early production. The Handyman Saitou in Another World anime release date was in Winter 2023 while the Shangri-Law Frontier anime release date was in late 2023.
The first season of the TenKen anime project was helmed by director Shinji Ishihara (Fairy Tail series, EDENS ZERO Season 2, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero storyboard, Log Horizon Season 3), while Kazunobu Shimizu (Bleach episode director, Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy assistant director) was the assistant director. Writer Takahiro Nagano (Zoku Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru) wrote the series composition.
Artist Atsuko Saitou (Wandering Witch, Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy episode animation director) was the character designer and chief animation director. Composer Yasuharu Takanashi (Record of Ragnarok Season 2, BASTARD!!, Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy) created the music.
The Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
Want to watch Reincarnated as a Sword streaming? Unfortunately, the anime series became a HIDIVE exclusive beginning in 2022 since Sentai Filmworks is the streaming licensor. That means you can’t watch Tensei shitara Ken Deshita on Crunchyroll, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, VRV, or Amazon Prime Video.
The first season’s finale, Reincarnated as a Sword Episode 12, was released on December 21, 2022. (It should be noted that HIDIVE was streaming episodes internationally a week behind their release in Japan, so the finale came out in Japan via ABEMA on December 14, 2022.)
The 12 episodes were released as three Reincarnated as a Sword Blu-ray volumes, which were released on January 11, 2023, February 3, 2023, and March 3, 2023, respectively.
- Updated December 22, 2022: HIDIVE’s Reincarnated as a Sword English dub release date is confirmed for December 29, 2022!
- Updated December 21, 2022: Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 confirmed!
This article provides everything that is known about Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 (Tensei shitara Ken Deshita Season 2 / TenKen Season 2 / Ten Ken 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.
Tensei shitara Ken Deshita Season 2 release date predictions: Sequel coming quickly?
As of the last update, producer Nikkatsu, NBC Universal Entertainment Japan, Studio C2C, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 release date. However, the production of Tensei shitara Ken Deshita Season 2 was officially announced on December 21, 2022
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 the TenKen Season 2 release date will occur in the future.
The Reincarnated as a Sword reviews have been fairly good but not great. Considering that it’s competing with the overwhelming glut of isekai anime being released every season, it takes something extra to stand out from the crowd.
The story is an oddball mix of bloody Goblin Slayer RPG action and CGDCT (Cute Girls Doing Cute Things). While that combination sounds bizarre on the face of it, the anime makes it work by making it believable that a relatively weak yet cute catgirl with the driving desire to evolve strength could go on gory killing sprees in this fantasy world.
It’s also a coming-of-age story about prejudice since it’s made very clear that Black Cats are looked down upon by society since evolving is the pride of the Beastkin. Fran challenges the world with almost a Booker T. Washington philosophy since she ignores discrimination and strives to work hard to improve herself and achieve her parents’ dream regardless of societal pressure to fail.
Of course, she has a literal cheat sword in hand to pull off that stunning achievement, but her accomplishments are still her own since she doggedly (cattedly?) pushes her limits in order to achieve greater strength. In that regard, her motives could almost be likened to Dragon Ball’s Goku or Black Clover’s Asta since she’s seeking new levels of power and strength rather than being a battle junkie like Kelvin in the Black Summoner anime, although she is definitely still a battle maniac.
Hard work pays off. It’s also not effortless like many OP isekai protagonists. Sure, Fran is handed an immediate power boost to get her started, but she has to learn the rest.
And it’s not like she’s always handed easy victory as she found out when her hands were literally lopped off by a powerful foe! It’s scenes like this that give a sense of tension that’s sorely lacking in most power fantasies.
And even the eponymous OP sword has to work his way to the top by carefully defeating the powerful monsters living in the wasteland. Sure, having Shishou get stuck in mana-sapping dirt was just a literary excuse to bring the two protagonists together, but the incident still proved that the Intelligent Sword earned his status since he was always one mistake away from disaster.
The only negative about Shishou’s backstory is that it merely amounts to the stereotypical Truck-kun intro where his past life has zero bearing on the story moving forward. In typical isekai fashion, the light novels describe him as a “30-year-old salaryman and games enthusiast” but the only plot twist is that he’s reborn as a sword. While it’s teased early on that the goddess of Chaos placed Shishou in his forlorn pedestal, a better story would have Shishou pondering the meaning of life and what that meant for his new life.
Instead, he’s immediately staring at RPG stat screens like a gamer, absorbing magic stones, and zipping around on a murder spree to level up himself for the benefit of his future wielder without considering whether his previous actions in life landed him where he’s at. Shishou may lack the self-introspection of The Faraway Paladin or Mushoku Tensei (both Mushoku Tensei Season 2 and The Faraway Paladin Season 2 are confirmed), but it’s still a relief to be watching an isekai anime where the protagonist isn’t a self-insert potato-kun going on a harem-gathering trip as a form of wish-fulfillment for his degenerate desires.
Besides the RPG stats and the power dynamics, it’s the adorable relationship between the mismatched duo that keeps audiences coming back. They want to see Fran and Shishou prove their doubters wrong. It’s like an awkward father guiding an adorable-yet-bloodthirsty daughter… whose motivation is to become the world’s strongest.
Regardless of the reviews and the relative quality of the anime adaptation, the biggest issue determining why the anime production committee had Reincarnated as a Sword renewed is the financial success. Unfortunately, the anime didn’t give a big boost to volume sales of the manga series since it failed to make the Top 10 Oricon weekly charts in October 2022. The good news is that the light novel sales made the Oricon Top 20 in October 2022, but not November 2022.
In October 2020, the overall series had 1.3 million copies in circulation for both manga and books, including digital copies. A year later in September 2021, when the anime adaptation was first announced, the series reached 1.8 million copies. By September 2022 it was up to 2.3 million copies, so we’ll just have to see what the numbers are like by 2023.
As for streaming performance, HIDIVE recently began providing something similar to Crunchyroll’s popular anime list to judge the popularity of the anime’s first season. During Fall 2022, Reincarnated as a Sword Season 1 was often Top 10 in both the Trending Now section and the Most Popular section.
HIDIVE had a very strong set of anime exclusives in 2022, but it’s a fact that being available to watch on only one smaller streaming platform limits an anime’s exposure. Big titles like Made In Abyss, Call of the Night, The Eminence in Shadow, and DanMachi: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? might have contributed to HIDIVE’s subscriber growth.
It’s possible that Reincarnated as a Sword Season 1 got lost among the crowded Fall 2022 anime season since weekly popularity polls from October 2022 indicated that it barely managed to hang onto a spot in the Top 20.
In any case, the biggest issue is whether producer Nikkatsu planned out the production of a second season already now that it’s reportedly been greenlit for production. Considering that the first season essentially ended on a cliffhanger in the middle of a story arc it’s possible that the 2nd season is essentially like a split-cour anime season.
A split-cour anime is when a single season takes a broadcasting break and the producers typically plan it out that way in order to ensure the production schedule allows for maintaining good animation quality. In that scenario, Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 release date will be in 2023.
The second scenario is that the 2nd season was not decided by the producers until Fall 2022. Even if the second season is farmed out to a different studio that has a gap in their production schedule, anime projects need to schedule out the studios, the main staff, and the cast (who are often all independent contractors) years in advance. That’s what is called the pre-production phase and it takes place years before actual animation work and voice recording sessions begin.
Therefore, in the worst-case scenario, the wait for the Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 release date will only be a couple of years.
Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 English dub release date predictions
Here is the Reincarnated as a Sword dub cast:
- Melissa Molano as Fran
- Ty Mahany as Teacher
- John Swasey as Garrus
- Molly Searcy as Nell
- Cyrus Rodas as Donadrond
- Heath Morrow as Randell
- James Marler as Eustace
- Antonio Lasanta as Klimt
- John Gremillion as Elevent
- Natalie Rial as Lily
- Andrew Love as Rufus
- Mike Boike as Narrator
- Kelly Manison as System
The Reincarnated as a Sword English dub release date on HIDIVE was at noon EST on December 29, 2022. HIDIVE initially announced the dubbed version on October 28, 2022, which means the first dubbed episodes came out months after the series premiered in Japan.
The Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 English dub release date hasn’t been announced yet. Assuming that HIDIVE will be streaming the 2nd season, it’s likely that 2nd season’s dub will similarly come out weeks or months later.
Reincarnated as a Sword manga, light novel series compared to the anime
The story for the anime is based on the Tensei shitara Ken Deshita light novel series by author Yuu Tanaka and illustrator Llo. The Japanese fandom refers to the series as TenKen for short. The English fandom typically used SwordDad, SwordBro, and IsekaiSword.
Published by Micro Magazine’s GC Novels imprint since July 2016, the book series was up to Volume 14 as of September 30, 2022. Historically, a new light novel book has been published twice a year.
Ever since 2020 new books have been released in March and September. That means the Reincarnated as a Sword Volume 15 release date should be in March 2023, Volume 16 in September 2023, and so on.
Like many isekai books, the story first was self-published as the Reincarnated as a Sword web novel on the Let’s Become a Novelist (Shousetsuka ni Narou) website. Started in October 2015, the web novel’s ending hasn’t been finished yet despite exceeding 900 chapters by Fall 2022. A new chapter is uploaded every several days.
The light novel series expanded on the premise of the web novel by rewriting certain story arcs and introducing new content. Some volumes’ story arcs do not exist in the web novel. The new additions and changes became much more noticeable starting with light novel Volume 3.
Some anime fans may have noticed that the plot of the first season lacked any major overarching story arc. Even in the books, the plot does indeed start off fairly episodic in nature, but by Volumes 3 and 4, the story events begin to connect together between books.
Starting in December 2016, the original creator teamed up with artist Tomowo Maruyamawa to serialize the Reincarnated as a Sword manga. It was first serialized in Gentosha’s Denshi Birz magazine, but it switched to Comic Boost in 2018 when the first magazine stopped. As of September 24, 2022, the TenKen manga was up to Volume 12.
In June 2020, Tanaka teamed up with illustrator Hinako Inoue to create the spin-off series the Reincarnated as a Sword: Another Wish manga. As of September 29, 2022, the TenKen: Another Wish manga was up to Volume 5.
The newer story of Tensei shitara Ken Deshita: Another Wish is essentially a reboot of the original story that takes place in a parallel timeline so it doesn’t impact the main timeline despite sharing some of the same characters. In other words, you can go read the spin-off without spoiling the anime TV series.
The light novel series has already been translated into English, Korean, Thai, and Traditional Chinese.
North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment is handling the Reincarnated as a Sword English translation for the light novels, the main manga series, and the manga spin-off. By May 16, 2023, the print light novel books will be up to Volume 12 in English, whereas the main English manga will be up to Volume 10 as of April 25, 2023. The Another Wish English manga will be up to Volume 4 as of May 16, 2023.
When an anime adapts a light novel series it’s inevitable that dialogue and story events are condensed in order to fit into the time constraints of the episodic TV format. The only question is if the anime writer does a good job of keeping the heart of the story.
In this case, Reincarnated as a Sword Episode 1 was an improvement on the source material since the introductory story arc found a middle ground between the manga and light novel Volume 1: Chapter 1. The first 120 pages of the light novel series are just objectively terrible. The first light novel literally had Teacher wandering around and killing monsters for the first third of the book whereas the manga started with Fran meeting Teacher.
The anime improved on both by first showing Fran and Teacher together only to provide a flashback of the sword leveling arc combined with scenes showing Fran’s life as a slave. By showcasing her struggles and her desire for strength as a helpless kitten the anime made the duo’s fateful meeting even more impactful. Trimming the fat of the sword-only fights was necessary and probably should have been done by the light novel editor, as well.
Isekai anime have a tendency to tone down the violence and gore in order to appeal to a broader audience. For example, the Black Summoner anime drastically reduced the body count and rarely showed blood.
There’s a reason the fandom cheekily refers to the series as Murder Hobo and Sword Dad. Whenever Fran or Teacher realizes someone is a villain by scanning their stats her first impulse is to brutally murder them without saying a word… especially if they are a slaver. And that “kill first, ask questions later” mindset is fully justified based on her cruel experiences with slavery.
It’s also good that the story doesn’t limit racism and prejudice to only one race or species. Fellow Beastkin treats Fran the Black Cat horribly whereas her slaveowner and her friend Nell are both humans. The guild master elf Klimt and the Oni Donadrond weren’t exactly friendly since they wrongly assumed Fran to be weak. The dwarven armorer Gallus seemed like a threat at first due to his demeanor. Just like in the real world, objective truth is not always black and white.
In regards to gore and violence, Reincarnated as a Sword anime doesn’t hold back much as our spunky catgirl slashes and dashes through the battlefield. Never mind her enemy’s limbs being lopped off, Fran’s grievous wounds are gorily depicted along with the despair and horror on her face despite the scene in Reincarnated as a Sword Episode 5 showing gruesome violence against a child. (Made In Abyss has a challenger?!)
Spoiler: Since the first season fully animated the amputation and healing of Fran’s arms, Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 could adapt the tournament story arc where Fran’s guts are spilled out. She regularly gets split into pieces so audiences better prepare themselves mentally.
Still, the anime isn’t quite as graphic as the descriptions provided by the light novel and manga. For example, when Teacher rescued Fran from the slaver, the sword didn’t merely snap his neck. Instead, the intelligent weapon stabbed the slave trader through the skull and splattered his brains all over the place.
(Speaking of which, the one niggling issue I had with the anime was that Fran was cutting enemies into pieces at close range and yet her clothing remained strangely unsoiled by bloodstains. Based on how she obliterated certain foes she should be literally covered in blood.)
The anime also cut down on the fan service. That’s actually an improvement since the light novels have art showing FRAN changing into lingerie! Can we say, yikes!? The manga also had jokes about Sword Dad censoring Fran by blocking the readers’ sight during the bath scenes whereas the guild girl was left uncensored.
Another aspect of the story that is cut down is the importance of RPG stats in regard to the combat power system. The demon in Episode 5 doesn’t seem powerful in comparison to the enemies Teacher defeated in Episode 1, but the issue is that Fran and Teacher overly relied on the shared fire, poison, and sword master skills. In addition to having a list of special skills, the demon had resistance to both fire and poison, and then it took Fran’s sword skills.
The books spend a lot of time fleshing out the skill mechanics. Unfortunately, explaining a complicated RPG-like power system in the middle of animated combat is cumbersome for any anime TV series, so it’s no surprise that this issue didn’t translate well in the TenKen anime. The only thing the anime can do with this limited time is to explain that the Demon was a B-Rank threat with magic and intelligence whereas the area bosses in the wilderness like the Sabertooth Tiger were C-Rank at most, but it still comes down to Fran and Teacher rushing into the dungeon unprepared.
Speaking of rushing, thankfully the adaptation pacing of the anime was very good. While not as good as the 86 anime where a single cour adapted only one book and expanded the story with good original content, the Reincarnated as a Sword anime is one of the delightful few that doesn’t stick to the formula of adapting between 3 to 6 books in only 12 episodes.
To put the anime adaptation pacing in perspective, the goblin subjugation arc was finished in light novel Volume 1: Chapter 4, which corresponds to manga Volume 3: Chapter 13 and web novel Chapter 38.
All in all, the first season’s finale, Tensei shitara Ken Deshita Episode 12, unexpectedly found a stopping point corresponding to the middle of light novel Volume 2 (or manga Volume 6: Chapter 29).
It’s a decent stopping point since Anime fans also get to see A-Rank adventurer Amanda in action, never mind the introduction of fluffy companion Jet and the “Mamanda” scene was quite emotional. Arguably, the battle against the Undead King on the floating island would have made for an exciting, emotional climax to the first season, but it’s been pushed back to TenKen Season 2.
The other problem is that the first season didn’t move the plot forward in regards to Black Cat evolution and other issues that tie into the overarching story. Unfortunately, the light novels don’t get to the juicy stuff until Fran and Teacher reach the Kingdom of Ulmutt in light novel Volumes 5 and 6, which either means the adaptation pacing of the Jean du Vix, Seedrun, and Bulbola story arcs will be accelerated or Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 will have 2 cours (wishful thinking alert!).
The good news is that there is plenty of source material available for making Tensei shitara Ken Deshita Season 2.
Better yet, English-only book readers can jump straight to light novel Volume 2 to read ahead of the anime. Manga readers can start in Chapter 30.
TenKen Season 2 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
Fran and Teacher are still traveling to the Kingdom of Ulmutt. Along the way, they will have many adventures.
The first begins after encountering a strange dungeon in the sky that’s atop a floating island. After meeting the Necromancer Jean du Vix. Fran and Teacher explore the dungeon on the Sky Isle, but waiting for them within its depths is the Undead King, a Lich! But there may be more to this skeletal spectre than meets the eye…
After leaving the floating island, Fran and Teacher’s adventure continues in Seedrun as they enjoy a leisurely vacation in the port of Dars. But their fun is cut short when rumors of unrest lead the duo to uncover a large-scale slaving operation by pirates. There are prison breaks, betrayals, and revelations.
In their quest to liberate the kidnapped children, they find themselves unexpectedly playing guardian to a pair of twins from a very special Phyllius royal lineage: Prince Fult and Princess Satya. But this conspiracy is about to blow up and yank Fran and Teacher into a civil war!
The second adventure is a citywide cooking competition in Bulboa which begins when Fran is upset when the Bulbolan Chefs’ Guild disparages Teacher’s curry. Food Wars! fans might like this story arc since it takes a deep dive into the ins and outs of cooking. But everyone could end up with an upset stomach when Fran and Teacher have an encounter with a greedy alchemist… and a Fiend!
Note: It’s possible the following spoilers will pertain to Reincarnated as a Sword Season 3 (more wishful thinking!).
When Fran and Teacher finally make it to Ulmutt, they hear rumors of someone who might know how to unlock a Black Cat’s evolution. The catch? She lives at the very bottom of a dangerous dungeon in Ulmutt.
Meanwhile, the city is preparing for the arrival of the Beast King, the leader of all the beastmen tribes. With so many powerful names gathering in one place Fran needs to be careful about attracting the wrong kind of attention.
This dangerous stew bubbles over into the Ulmutt tournament. With the help of a special trainer, Fran desires to claim a spot as a champion, but there’s just one problem: as the duo advances the rounds they find themselves facing off against old friends and A-Rank adventurers like Amanda and Forlund!
And no one is going to hold back, not even against a cute catgirl. One A-Rank adventurer makes it their mission to defeat Fran completely and utterly. And this person is even willing to kill Fran… and succeeds!
Of course, there is a special artifact in play so the story won’t end there. But how will Fran respond to the sting of death?
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Reincarnated as a Sword Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!