Grand Blue Season 2 is desired by fans who want to see where all the romantic teasing between Iori Kitahara and Chisa Kotegawa is leading. Drunken joking trumps romance in this story, and Iori always falls prey to misunderstandings when it comes to Chisa, her sister Nanaka, Aina Yoshiwara, and Azusa Hamaoka.
Will the Iori x Chisa ship ever set sail? But the real question is if there is even enough source material for the second season of Grand Blue Dreaming.
The anime’s story is based on the Grand Blue manga (also known as Grand Blue Dreaming) written by Kenji Inoue and illustrated by Kimitake Yoshioka. Serialized since April 2014, a new chapter releases every 6th or 7th of every month. As of July 6, 2018, the Grand Blue Dreaming manga is up to Volume 11.
Kodansha USA provides the English translation for the manga series. The Kindle edition is already up to Volume 9, but the printed paperback edition is only up to Volume 2 as of September 2018. Grand Blue Volume 3 is scheduled for release on November 27, 2018, Volume 4 on January 29, 2019, Volume 5 on March 26, 2019, and Volume 6 on May 21, 2019.
Fan-made scanlation projects are already translating chapters that will eventually be part of Volume 12. The English Volume 1 and several of the most recent chapters are also available via Crunchyroll.
This article provides everything that is known about Grand Blue 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.
Grand Blue manga compared to the anime
Every episode of the anime started with a disclaimer stating how it does not promote underage drinking, even though that’s pretty much the point of the entire manga series. The Peak A Boo diving club is almost an afterthought. It’s as if the mangaka really wanted to create a story about college frat life, but an editor asked for a school club manga concept.
Manga readers will be happy to know that the anime adaptation followed the source material faithfully. The manga was well known for delivering humor with expressive dysmorphic faces, and director Shinji Takamatsu (known for School Rumble and Daily Lives of High School Boys) did a great job of keeping the manga’s spirit alive.
The pacing was good, and the timing of the gags was snappy since each episode adapted slightly less than two chapters. Thankfully, the titles of episodes matched up with the names of some of the chapters, so it’s pretty easy to see which chapters were adapted.
- Grand Blue Episode 1: Named after Chapter 1 “Deep Blue”
- Grand Blue Episode 2: Named after Chapter 4 “Underwater”
- Grand Blue Episode 3: Named after Chapter 5 “New World”
- Grand Blue Episode 4 “The Male Beauty Pageant”: Chapter 7 “Miss Izu Contest”
- Grand Blue Episode 5 “Too Late”: Chapter 9 “The Festival Afterparty”
- Grand Blue Episode 6: Named after Chapter 11 “First Buddy”
- Grand Blue Episode 7: Named after Chapter 12 “Doubles”
- Grand Blue Episode 8: Named after Chapter 14 “A Man’s Cocktail”
- Grand Blue Episode 9: Named after Chapter 15 “Shopping!”
- Grand Blue Episode 10: Named after Chapter 16 “Okinawa Landing!”
- Grand Blue Episode 11: Named after Chapter 18 “It’s A Misunderstanding”
- Grand Blue Episode 12: Named after Chapter 21 “Otori”
For those wanting to read ahead of the anime adaptation, it’s recommended that you read the whole manga from Chapter 22. However, if you desire the full experience, it’s worth starting from the beginning. Due to time constraints, some events changed in the anime, and some of the jokes were omitted. The ages of certain characters were raised for legal purposes, and there were all sorts of odd little changes.
For example, when Tokki, Bukki, Azusa, and Nanaka entered Okinawa in Episode 10, they forgot their driver’s licenses, but in the manga, they couldn’t drive because they got drunk as soon as they arrived. You would think that detail would have been left in since it showed them being semi-responsible by not drinking and driving.
The good news is that there are currently enough manga chapters available for creating Grand Blue Season 2. By the end of 2019, there will even be enough chapters for Grand Blue Season 3. Better yet, English-only readers can dive right into manga Volume 6 if they wish to read more of the story.
Grand Blue Dreaming Season 2 release date
As of the last update, NBCUniversal, Studio Zero-G, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Grand Blue Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a 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 Grand Blue Dreaming Season 2 premiere date will occur in the future.
Studio Zero-G is known for doing second seasons. For example, they took over One Room Season 2 from Typhoon Graphics, and that anime aired in the same season as the Grand Blue anime. Zero-G has one anime project announced for 2019 so far, but it remains to be seen if the Grand Blue Dreaming anime will be popular enough to justify a sequel.
Grand Blue Season 2 spoilers
The second season will jump right into it with more alcohol-fueled shenanigans. Audiences have already been introduced to some of the girls of Oumi Women’s University school, but this time, the guys will be traveling to their school! The girls’ school is holding a festival featuring a voice actress concert. Tickets are limited, causing the guys to compete for the right to go pick up chicks attend the festival.
This new story arc also allows audiences to finally see the sister of Kanako Iida, Kaya Mizuki, whose real name is Maya. She was briefly mentioned in the first season by otaku Kohei Imamura, who absolutely adores her since Maya is a famous voice actor, model, and an idol. So, needless to say, Kohei is practically on death’s door from hyperventilating from excitement when he finally meets Maya in person.
The biggest new addition to the cast will be Shiori Kitahara, Iori’s little sister, who is in middle school. Shiori is being groomed to take over her parent’s inn, but she does not want it. Per her parent’s wishes, Shiori always wears kimonos and outwardly she seems sweet-natured. Inwardly, she’s cunning and manipulative, using a nanny cam to spy on Iori. She even fakes a brother complex in order to force Iori to take over the family inn… or is she truly a brocon?
The relationship between Iori and Chisa continues to develop. They may be faking being boyfriend and girlfriend per her wishes, but then they find themselves watching the house alone together during a stormy night. Chapter 30 of Volume 8 also finds Iori awkwardly trying to express his feelings about all of the girls to hilarious results. Nanaka is creeped out at first, but then she realizes Iori simply views her like a sister (who just happens to be “intensely erotic”).
Iori finds himself bumping heads with professors as the semester comes to a close, and during the summer break, he reunites with Sakurako Busujima, a college girl he met during the Oumi Women’s University school festival. Now, they’re co-workers at a diner, and she submits him to sadistic work training and hazing rituals.
The ending of Grand Blue Season 2 will probably have the gang traveling to an uninhabited island for a camping trip. Even Maya joins them because she can avoid the adoring crowds.
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Grand Blue Season 2 release date to see how that comedic drama plays out. Let’s just hope the wait for the second season isn’t forever. Stay tuned!