UPDATE March 31, 2022: Please click this link to the Arifureta Season 3 anime article for more details about the Arifureta 2022 OVA episode and the unaired Arifureta Season 2 Episode 13.
The Arifureta Season 2 release date has officially been confirmed to be scheduled for January 13, 2022, the Winter 2022 anime season!
The second season will have 13 episodes in total.
The announcement of the premiere date was made by an Arifureta – From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Season 2 trailer that was released on Christmas Day, December 25, 2021.
The opening theme was announced by a second trailer released on October 7, 2021.
On December 20, 2021, FUNimation also confirmed that it will be streaming Arifureta Season 2 during Winter 2022. It will stream on Funimation in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Peru.
Arifureta Season 2 is one of those animes where there is sharp disagreement within the fanbase. Readers of the Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest manga and light novel series are probably rightfully leery of Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Season 2, while anime-only fans who love the isekai harem genre are clamoring for more episodes.
Thankfully for the latter group, two new Arifureta OVA episodes have already come out. These unaired episodes were bundled with the Blu-Ray box sets. Volume 1 released on October 30, 2019, Volume 2 came out on December 25, 2019, and Volume 3 is scheduled for February 26, 2020.
(See below for more details on the Arifureta OVA episodes.)
These Arifureta OVA episodes were produced by the same animation studio staff, but for a time there was a real question when it comes to how Arifureta Season 2 would be produced.
Arifureta Season 2 will be produced by only Studio asread and Studio Mother, with Studio White Fox dropping out. Asread is best known for anime like The Future Diary (Mirai Nikki) and Shuffle! Studio Mother previously worked on the Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2202: Ai no Senshi-tachi compilation movie.
Director Kinji Yoshimoto is being replaced by director Akira Iwanaga (Corpse Party, Kingdom Season 2, The Morose Mononokean). Unfortunately, animator Katsuyuki Tamura revealed on Twitter that director Yoshimoto died at the age of 55 on November 5, 2021.
Writer Shouichi Sato is returning for writing the scripts and series composition. Character designer and chief animation director Chika Kojima is also returning.
Arifureta 2 also features a returning Japanese voice cast.
- Toshinari Fukamachi as Hajime Nagumo
- Yuuki Kuwahara as Yue
- Minami Takahashi as Shea
- Youko Hikasa as Tio Klarus
- Saori Ounishi as Kaori Shirasaki
- Yumiri Hanamori as Shizuku Yaegashi
New characters Liliana S. B. Heiligh and Noint will be voiced by Noriko Shibasaki and Rina Satou, respectively.
The Arifureta Season 2 OP (opening) theme song music is “Daylight” by MindaRyn, while the ED (ending) Gedou Sanka was performed by FantasticYouth.
For the first season, the Arifureta OP was “FLARE” as performed by Void-Chords, while the ED was “Hajime no Uta” was performed by DracoVirgo.
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Updated December 25, 2021: Added third Arifureta Season 2 trailer.
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Updated November 24, 2021: Exact Arifureta Season 2 release date confirmed!
- Updated November 15, 2021:
Director Kinji Yoshimoto dead at age 55.
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Updated October 7, 2021: Added new Arifureta Season 2 trailer and OP info.
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Updated April 18, 2021: Arifureta Season 2 release time frame confirmed!
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Updated March 9, 2021: Added Arifureta Zero Volume 5 release date and cover art.
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Updated January 2, 2020: Added new OVA 1 details.
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Updated October 8, 2019: Arifireta Season 2 confirmed! Revised analysis and comparison. Added Season 2 announcement visual, financial info, and more spoilers.
This article provides everything that is known about Arifureta Season 2 (Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Season/ Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou 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.
Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou season 2 release date set for January 2022
As of November 24, 2021, Shirakome and Studio Asread has officially confirmed the exact Arifureta Season 2 release date. The Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Season 2 release date is set for January 13, 2021.
It will premiere on Japanese TV channel AT-X at 11:30 PM (9:30 EST). The second season was only streaming on Funimation and Hulu (not Netflix, Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime Video, etc.).
Considering all the production and quality issues the Arifureta anime has suffered through, it’s surprising the first season of the anime found enough success to guarantee an anime sequel. But arguably there is money to be made and Arifureta book publisher Shirakome/OVERLAP is likely to eager to reap any rewards that can be gained.
Financially, the first season did well even before the Blu-Ray/DVD box sets went on sale. Reports claim that the first Arifureta season “ended up being one of the top-recorded late-night anime in Japan this season.” For example, Japanese TV stations like BS11 listed Arifureta’s ranking as being number 5 for recorded anime.
Unfortunately, it was difficult to gauge just how popular the Arifureta anime was on streaming platforms in 2019. Crunchyroll does not have the streaming rights to Arifureta. FUNimation Now has exclusive rights and the anime had 4.5/5 stars on that streaming platform, but the MyAnimeList score is slightly lower than average thanks to the production issues. But it’s also claimed that the Arifureta anime “was among the top shows on international streaming platforms, too.”
As a comparison, Kadokawa, the publisher of The Rising Of The Shield Hero, has been making so much money from isekai anime streaming revenue that they plan on funding at least one isekai anime per season, never mind how they greenlit The Rising Of The Shield Hero Season 2 AND 3 at the same time.
Since Shirakome and all the companies in the anime production committee greenlit a sequel the second season was produced fairly quickly. The turnaround time likely depended on the schedule of Asread.
After all, the anime industry is booked up years in advance and then suffered a pandemic in 2020.
FUNimation’s Arifureta Season 2 English dub release date
The first season had 13 episodes that were streaming with English subtitles and an English dub. FUNimation’s Arifureta dub was streaming in Fall 2019.
FUNimation’s Arifureta Season 2 English dub release date was on February 17, 2022.
Arifureta OVA episodes
Arifureta Episode 14: Yue’s Diary was released with Volume 2. Based on the title, it initially sounded like the OVA episode could be based on Chapter 110 of the same name. Based on reports of fans who bought the Blu-Ray box set, the first OVA episode is simply part of the main story from the vampire’s perspective. It largely serves as a recap episode with the addition of some extra animated scenes.
There is probably a good reason the second OVA episode isn’t airing on TV. When Yue’s diary is read it’s discovered that Yue’s desire to drink Hajime Nagumo’s blood or have sex with him practically borders on an addiction. Based on the episode’s title, the second OVA episode might be unaired due to sexual content.
Arifureta Episode 15: The Beginning of Love at the Hot Spring (or The Hot Spring Where Romance Blooms) will ship with Volume 3. The title alone has fans expecting fan service, although it’s possible the episode could show how Hajime and Yue made love for the first time in the dungeon (sex was usually implied in the web novel and light novels rather than being descriptive).
The troubled production of the Arifureta anime
The troubles with the production of the Arifureta anime is almost a story in itself. Originally announced in December 2017, the anime was supposed to come out in April 2018 but it was delayed until July 2019.
Anime projects will sometimes be delayed by months, but to be delayed over a year is quite notable. Especially when the project is being produced by animation studio White Fox, which is best known for creating the highly reviewed Re:ZERO anime (already, the producer is talking about the Re:ZERO Season 3 anime).
Director Jun Kamiya, character designer/chief animation director Atsuo Tobe, and series composition writer Kazuyuki Fudeyasu were some of the main staff at White Fox. When the anime’s announcement first took place, production had started and they may have even started doing key animation for the first several episodes.
Unfortunately for White Fox, the early character designs for Hajime and Yue in the very first key visual were highly criticized by fans. One anime fan wrote that the first key visual “looked like some low-budget side project from Silver Link’s interns.”
Worse, the author of the Arifureta web novel and light novel series, Ryo Shirakome, wrote on the Shosetsu ni Naro web novel site that “every time [he] was sent scripts and storyboards for the anime over these past few months [he] writhed in pain in [his] room.”
If I were an Arifureta fan, I'd be saying, "They shouldn't have replaced the character designer/chief animation director." It's arguably the single most important role in the production and so much pre-production/animation work would have had to be redone from scratch pic.twitter.com/2nZQO3KDi4
— 🐸🐸 Frog-kun 🐸🐸 (@frog_kun) July 10, 2019
So, mere months before the anime was originally supposed to premiere the delay to 2019 was announced. Although Shirakome did not directly state that he requested a staff change, it was clear the author was unhappy and the production committee changed most of the main staff. Shirakome did say that he hoped the delay would result in the anime becoming a “better work.”
White Fox stopped talking about the project publicly since the only remaining staff member related to White Fox was Shigeyuki Korewasa. But he continued work on the Arifureta anime under the name of his own company, Digital Noise.
Production shifted to studio Asread with White Fox providing support. Asread was built by former Xebec members and is probably best known for animating Shuffle! and Future Diary. Still, even though anime fans liked the later key visuals, they didn’t think the new main staff was necessarily better.
The Asread CEO became the producer and the new director Kinji Yoshimoto (Seven Mortal Sins) and character designer Chika Kojima (Big Order) are directly affiliated with Asread. They also brought on two new scriptwriters, Shoichi Sato (Shakugan no Shana) and Kinji Yoshimoto (Queen’s Blade, Seven Mortal Sins).
Unfortunately, rewriting the scripts most likely meant most of the existing work was scrapped. Rescripting the anime would require recreating storyboards and animations on a reduced budget.
Meanwhile, the clock was ticking so the schedule would be tightly-packed. It’s likely that Asread relied on time-saving measures like the highly-criticized CG-animated monsters that make even the Overlord anime’s 3D Dark Youngs look good in comparison.
“After watching 4 episodes of this show, I got to say that the story and character so far has been [going] really well,” wrote one MyAnimeList reviewer. “However, the way they use that ultra-cheap 3D animation on some enemies just ruins it all… I find it hard to look away when it all looks so goofy at times.”
Perhaps due to all these production troubles, the resulting product suffered and online reviews of the Arifureta anime reflect that suffering. But part of the reason reviews are not higher is due to the changes the anime made to the story.
Arifureta manga and light novel series compared to the anime
The story for the Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest series first began with the Arifureta web novel self-published by author Ryo Shirakome on the Shosetsuka ni Naro (Let’s Become A Novelist) website. English fan translations of the web novel are available online for free. The Arifureta Volume 12 release date was on January 25, 2022.
The main story ended in Chapter 179, but the “After Story” is still ongoing, with the author releasing new chapters weekly on Saturdays. It’s a collection of sequel chapters focused on random characters and it’s set years after the main events (for example, a certain bunny girl, Shea Haulia, loves speeding on her motorcycle). As of September 2019, the After Story story is about as long as the original story.
Starting in June 2015, the web novel began being adapted into the Arifureta light novel series by the original author and illustrator Takayaki. That means characters are developed more and plot points expanded upon while some details are changed.
At the rate at which the web novel’s story is being adapted, the original creator has confirmed that the light novel series will finish adapting the main story in Volume 13. Volume 8 of the light novel series is based on story arc 6 in the web novel. The ending of light novel Volume 9 lined up with web novel Chapter 149, while Volume 10 left room for two more light novels based on how the story was expanded.
The story has also been expanded by the Arifureta Zero light novel series, which is set thousands of years before Hajime was summoned to Tortus. The spin-off series already finished in Arifureta Zero Volume 6, which came out on December 25, 2021. At the time, the final book of Arifureta Zero had revealed that the main story was in its climax.
J-Novel Club is releasing the official English translations for both light novel series. The main series is already up to Volume 11 in digital eBook format, but the physical print copies are several volumes behind. The English Arifureta Volume 12 is being released in eBook format on June 22, 2021.
Similarly, the digital eBook release for the English Arifureta Zero was already up to Volume 4 by July 2020. The physical print of Volume 4 released in December 2020.
Both the main story and the Zero spin-off have been adapted into Arifureta manga series. The main story is written by RoGa and it’s up to Volume 5, while the Zero manga that’s written by Ataru Kamichi is up to Volume 5. The series has also spawned audio dramas and a comedic, 4-panel manga spin-off called Arifureta: I Love Isekai that’s written by Misaki Mori.
Seven Seas Entertainment is handling the official English translation of all the Arifureta manga series. Thankfully, the English version of the main manga is not too far behind the Japanese releases. The publisher plans to begin releasing the English translation of the Arifureta Zero manga starting September 10, 2019, and the comedy spin-off beginning in December 2019.
Fans of the light novel series have been critical of the Arifureta manga series since it skips a lot of content and changes certain details. Character development is skimpier and the progression of the romance, including Hajime and Yue’s “first” time, is changed. However, those criticisms are probably par for the course since many manga writers are forced to condense a light novel series by focusing on only certain details.
And then there’s the anime. Not only did it condense content, but it completely reordered the story events from Volume 1 in an apparent attempt to draw audiences in by introducing Hajime to us in his darkest moment.
Introducing the story in non-linear order left audiences confused since the first episode is missing the worldbuilding and character motivations. Instead, elements of the first skipped story parts are brought back via flashbacks. Even an entire recap episode is used, which is unusual after only several episodes.
The manga at least spent three chapters building up the characters before dropping Hajime into the dungeon abyss in Chapter 4. The light novel went even further, using over 100 pages to establish Hajime as a normal guy and showing his relationship with his classmates. Readers learn how Hajime is being bullied and how he’s working hard to build up his mediocre transmutation abilities.
When Hajime is cast into the abyss during the battle with the Behemoth, his classmates were genuinely upset at the apparent loss of their comrade. The anime tried to build up the conspiracy angle by hiding the identity of the betrayer, but the light novel flat out told readers who it was.
This attempt at mystery was short-lived since the anime showed the culprit muttering to himself only a few episodes in, anyway. But anime audiences don’t really know who this guy is or why he was motivated to kill Hajime so it’s hard to care about Hajime’s revenge or feel anger toward the betrayer.
In its quickness to have the main protagonist become overpowered, the anime failed at conveying Hajime’s character transformation. In the anime, it’s not made clear that he’s been stuck in this hole for many days. He’s starving so it’s not a light decision to eat a monster.
Hajime’s transformation in the anime is very quick, with his muscles building up and hair turning white. In the light novels and manga, it’s made more clear that Hajime suffered a psychotic break since he went through a long process of being torn apart and healed. Destroyed and rebuilt in an almost endless cycle, his traumatization is symbolized by Marie Antoinette Syndrome, where his hair turned white.
Otherwise, once the anime brought Yue in, the anime’s story more or less followed the linear progression of the manga version. Studio Asread also wisely gave five episodes to adapting the first volume since a well-paced intro is important for developing Hajime and Yue’s relationship.
But the pacing more than doubles starting with Episode 6, leaving not nearly enough time for developing the characters adequately. “Worthless rabbit” Shea has her story arc limited to a series of comedic beats with her literally acting like a punching bag. Hajime rejoins his classmates starting in Episode 8, but no major time is spent reconnecting with these classmates who might as well be nameless since audiences are given little insight into their personalities or why we should care.
Of course, the anime made sure to give plenty of screen time to the literal arse-reaming that Hajime gives Tio Klarus. Similarly, the manga gave a good number of panels to that joke since it was the manner by which the fiery dragon is forced to transform into a fair maiden.
This increased pacing meant that characterization was skimmed over and some book content was outright skipped. For example, Episode 10 skipped the last 60 pages of Volume 3 in order for Episode 11 to make the jump to Volume 4.
The finale, Episode 13, skipped some funny content, including when Kouki became upset at Hajime after hearing Kaori declare her love for Hajime. In the light novels, Kouki challenged Hajime to a duel where the winner kept the girls. In response, Hajime trapped Kouki in a pitfall and surrounded him with non-lethal grenades.
The most disappointing change was when Hajime finally confronted Daisuke, the classmate that betrayed him by knocking him off the bridge at the beginning. Earlier in the anime, Hajime warned his teacher that he would kill Daisuke the next time he saw his former tormentor. So, anime fans were rightly expecting some sort of encounter.
Instead, this confrontation was a letdown since Daisuke simply seemed shocked and scared to see Hajime still alive. In the light novels, when Daisuke tried to convince Hajime to make Kaori stay with her classmates, Hajime hinted that he knew Daisuke was the one who betrayed him in order to get him to back off. The fact that Hajime didn’t immediately kill his betrayer showed how far he’d progressed as a person.
Prospective Arifureta manga or light novel readers probably want to know where the anime leaves off. Here’s a guide based on modified info from Reddit user breakerztm.
Volume 1
- Anime Episodes 1 – 5
- Manga Chapters 1 – 14.5
- Web Novel Arc 1 Chapter 0 (Prologue) – 26
Volume 2
- Anime Episodes 6 – 7
- Manga Chapters 15 – 25
- Web Novel Arc 2 Chapters 26-49
Volume 3
- Anime Episodes 8 – 10
- Manga Chapters 26 – ?
- Web Novel Arc 3 Chapters 50 – 65
Volume 4
- Anime Episodes 11 – 13
- Web Novel Arc 3 Chapters 66 – 81
Volume 5
- Anime: Arifureta Season 2
- Web Novel Arc 4 Chapters 82 – 98
Volume 6
- Anime: Arifureta Season 2?
- Web Novel Arc 4 Chapters 99 – 110
Volume 7
- Anime: Arifureta Season 2?
- Web Novel Arc 5 111 – 121
Volume 8
- Anime: Arifureta Season 2?
- Web Novel Arc 6 122 – 135
Volume 9
- Anime: Arifureta Season 3?
- Web Novel Arc 7 136-149
Volume 10
- Anime: Arifureta Season 3
- Web Novel Arc 7 150-152
Volume 11
- Anime: Arifureta Season 3?
- Web Novel Arc 7 153 – Arc 8 ###?
As you can see, by the time Arifureta Episode 13 airs in Japan, the anime will be quite far ahead of the Arifureta manga series, which hasn’t even finished adapting book Volume 3. The good news is that English-only light novel readers can immediately start reading ahead by picking up Volume 5.
Better yet, there is plenty of source material available for creating the Arifureta Season 2 anime. Assuming that the light novel series finds an ending in Volume 12, it’s possible a two-cour anime sequel could finish off the entire main story assuming the anime maintains the same pacing. But it’s also possible the final books could be lengthier and need to be adapted by Arifureta Season 3.
Readers who are interested in a detailed comparison between the anime and light novels should check out this guide by Reddit user aruseus493.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest season 2 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time we watched the Arifureta anime, Hajime defeated the demon and rescued his classmates. Hajime’s classmate Kaori Shirasaki joined the party and now it’s time to travel to seek out more labyrinths and find a way home to Earth.
Hajime and his friends head to Myu’s hometown, the coastal city of Erisen. While crossing the Gruen Desert, they save a young Ankajian man from a sandworm attack.
This man is named Bize and he was searching for a cure to the mysterious disease that has cause great suffering for his people. Bize’s investigation led him to conclude that a mineral known as stillrock holds the key to saving his country.
The problem is that stillrock can only be found inside the Grand Gruen Volcano, a labyrinth far too dangerous for an average adventurer. Hajime agrees to help Bize procure this stillrock and so the party begins their quest to conquer yet another labyrinth. They also conquer the underwater Sunken Ruins of Melusine and there’s some interesting… sub action.
After that adventure, he runs into Heiligh princess Liliana who reveals that his Earth teacher Aiko has been kidnapped. He runs to her rescue, which ends up being a bigger battle than expected since the demons have been conspiring to kill this would-be hero of Tortus. Worse, Hajime will face his biggest challenge ever on the Divine Mountain… which can brainwash someone into serving Ehit!
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Arifureta Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!