BNA Season 2 release date on Netflix U.S.: Brand New Animal Season 2 predictions and Studio Trigger interview

The BNA Season 2 anime could continue the story of Michiru Kagemori and Shirou Ogami in Anima City, but how could animation studio Trigger extend the plot based on the way the finale, BNA episode 12, played out?

The story is already being extended since a BNA Zero novel and a BNA manga adaptation have already been announced (see below for more details). The question is whether or not Trigger will produce a Brand New Animal Season 2 anime series.

Director Yoh Yoshinari is helming the project at Studio Trigger. Writer Nakashima Kazuki wrote the script, and he’s known for creating the stories for Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, and the Promare movie.

Space Patrol Luluco artist Yusuke Yoshigaki is the character designer. Musician mabanua composed the music, and he’s known for creating the music of the Megalo Box anime (Megalo Box Season 2 has been confirmed to be in production).

The BNA Season 2 opening (OP) theme song and ending (ED) has not yet been announced.

The first season’s opening was “Ready To” as performed by Sumire Morohoshi, the Japanese voice actress playing Michiru Kagemori while the first ending was “Night Running” as performed by AAAMYYY.

• Updated June 30, 2020: BNA English dub details. Cyberpunk 2077 anime announcement.

• Updated May 29, 2020: BNA manga announced.

• Updated May 15, 2020: Added BNA Netflix U.S. release date.

• Updated May 7, 2020: Added Brand New Animal Episode 12 analysis and BNA Zero plot summary.

• Updated May 5, 2020: BNA Episode 12 release date on Netflix Japan announced.

This article provides everything that is known about BNA Season 2 (Brand New Animal 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.

BNA release date on Netflix U.S.

The BNA (Brand New Animal) release date on Netflix Japan occurred on March 21, 2020, which is when the first six episodes became available for streaming. Episodes 7 through 12 were released on Netflix Japan on May 6, 2020 (or May 5, 2020, in the United States).

When BNA Episode 12 was released, director Yoh Yoshinari, producer Naoko Tsutsumi, and storyboard writer Masahiko Ohtsuka celebrated the “completion” of the anime. The number of episodes was confirmed to be 12 episodes in a single cour.

A “cour” is a three-month unit of TV broadcasting based on the physical weather seasons. Most anime seasons are composed of 12 or 13 episodes per cour.

Netflix Japan was streaming the remaining BNA episodes as they air on Japanese TV. Netflix U.S. typically delays the release of anime to North American and other regions until the final episode is released.

The BNA Netflix U.S. release date was eventually confirmed for June 30, 2020. But how will the streaming giant handle the Spanish, French, German, and BNA English sub/dub release?

When a tanuki girl and a wolf boy meet, beautiful things can happen. BNA arrives June 30th. pic.twitter.com/njQ3eeBAt7

— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) May 15, 2020

After all, it’s possible the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus pandemic delayed the BNA Netflix U.S. release date by months. Netflix has stated for other anime such as the Drifting Dragons anime that the dubbing process for certain languages has been delayed in order to keep voice actors safe.

It’s notable that the Brand New Animal trailer that the NX twitter account used English subtitles rather than showing off a BNA dub. Fortunately, an official BNA English dub was available on the first day of the international premiere on Netflix.

Still, some major language dubs seemed to be missing. The initial BNA dub only included English, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and the original Japanese audio.

Brand New Animal Episode 12’s ending leaves opportunity for a BNA sequel

Studio Trigger is known for producing popular anime such as Darling in the FranXX, Little Witch Academia, the very Fire Force-like Promare movie, and SSSS.Gridman, which is receiving a sequel called the SSSS.DYNAZENON anime.

The SSSS.Gridman sequel will be a first for the studio. Otherwise, they’re not known for producing second seasons for their original works. But that pattern could be changing in the coming years.

Inferno Cop Season 2 was announced way back in 2017, but so far, there’s been no new updates.

In 2017, Little Witch Academia director Yoh Yoshinari (who is also directing BNA) discussed some ideas for Little Witch Academia Season 2 (which would be labeled as Little Witch Academia Season 3 by Netflix U.S.). Despite the director apparently desiring to create a LWA sequel, the production of another season still has not been confirmed.

Instead, Trigger is known for creating complete standalone stories with a max of two cours. A “cour” is a three-month TV broadcasting unit based on the physical seasons, and anime seasons usually have between 10 to 13 episodes per cour.

As an example, in June 2020 Trigger announced that they were creating a Cyberpunk 2077 anime called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners that will be 10 episodes, which is a single cour.

The critical factor is Netflix’s involvement in BNA (Brand New Animal). Netflix anime exclusives seem to have a solid history of being renewed.

For example, BEASTARS Season 2 was renewed even before the series’ first season premiered on Netflix U.S. There are many other upcoming Netflix anime sequels, including The Seven Deadly Sins Season 5, Ultraman Season 2, Grappler Baki Season 2, and Aggretsuko Season 3.

Netflix also pays better in comparison to anime industry standards. So, Studio Trigger has a financial incentive to create BNA Season 2, 3, and beyond.

Unfortunately, BNA’s ending in the first season was not similar to ID:INVADED, which set up the conditions necessary for ID:INVADED Season 2 and a manga sequel.

Warning: The following contains major spoilers for Brand New Animal’s ending.

Instead, Brand New Animal Episode 12 seemed to rush to a climax by providing a villain with a plot twist straight out of the Promare movie. Depending on how you view it, the villain’s motivation with the purebred plot element either came off as an interesting plot twist or contrived since it was brought up last minute rather than being developed through the full season.

(Sing this was a Trigger anime the biggest surprise was the lack of a space battle at the ending. Still, no can argue that the final fight with the golden Cerberus form was not gorgeously animated with Trigger’s trademark style.)

Even the plot’s main conflict is resolved quickly when a miracle cure for Nirvasyl Syndrome is suddenly found. It turns out Michiru and Nazuna became Beastmen as a result of a blood transfusion mishap. Their blood is also used to create the serum that saves Anima City from being destroyed by Nirvasyl Syndrome.

One major plot point left unresolved was Michru and Nazuna’s condition. While it’s possible to transform normal humans into super Beastmen thanks to Sylvasta Pharmaceuticals’ research, the cure for turning Michiru back into a normal human still hasn’t been developed.

BNA Episode 12 seems to have left some openings for Brand New Animal Season 2 to explore. Pic credit: Studio TriggerThat issue could be resolved in BNA Season 2 since Shirou states, “The cure for your beastman disease is near, too.” But would Michiru ever want the cure?

During the first season, Michiru struggled with whether she truly desires the “cure” or whether she accepts her new identity even though she might still suffer from prejudice. By the first season’s ending, Michiru has come to terms with being both human and beastman and accept herself as she is now. But would her human family be so accepting?

Speaking of Shirou, there’s potential for a redemption story arc since Michiru desires to stay with him and help change Anima City. And Michiru is already a component in him finding acceptance for who he is as the legendary silver wolf, Ginrou.

Alan may have resigned from Sylvasta Pharmaceuticals, but pure breeds supposedly controlling the world from the shadows for generations definitely adds plot potential for BNA Season 2. And humanity’s various militaries would certainly be enticed by weaponizing the creation of artificial super beastmen with transformation powers.

In addition, the basic premise of bestmen and Anima City is pretty open-ended, like Zootopia, and leaves the opportunity for more storytelling. The central theme of the conflict between humanity and beastmen was never resolved.

Trigger writer Nakashima Kazuki has stated in an interview (see below for more of the interview) that he limited the story to Anima City since writing about the human world would spread things out too far. But the events in Anima City do affect the whole world.

So, it’s possible the scope of the story could be extended for a Brand New Animal Season 2 anime to discover whether coexistence will be possible. Would humanity even accept them if a “cure” is made available, and what if some do not want to take the drug?

Studio Trigger interview: BNA (Brand New Animal) director discusses taking inspiration from Osamu Tezuka for the story

The Brand New Animal anime may have action, but it’s the absurd comedy of the 2012 Inferno Cop that seems to be making a comeback with Trigger’s latest effort.

It’s certainly a tossup on whether the Dorohedoro anime‘s baseball game was better than BNA’s MMA-style “baseball” game from BNA Episode 5.

Thus, the BNA anime could be considered a return to the “old Trigger” from when they first began eight years ago. And, at least in the coming years, it seems like they would prefer to focus on original works.

Shortly before BNA was announced in 2019, Promare director Hiroyuki Imaishi was asked whether Trigger had any specific story adaptations they wanted to work on if they preferred to work on original content.

“While there are many properties I’d like to adapt I find much joy in creating something from nothing,” Imaishi replied, according to LRM Online. “I get much happiness from world-building. This is why I will focus on original projects for now.”

(Oddly enough, Imaishi said this and then in less than a year it was announced that he was directing Trigger’s Cyberpunk 2077 anime.)

But just how original is this new BNA story? Considering the timing of BNA’s release in 2020, it’s tempting to think Trigger’s inspiration came from the BEASTARS anime, which features anthropomorphized animals. But BEASTARS’ story is a whole ‘nother animal entirely.

Yes, 17-year-old Michiru suddenly finds herself turned into a Beastkind and then suffers from prejudice against the human-animal variants.

A central theme of BEASTARS is the prejudice between carnivore and herbivore. But, overall, the two stories are very different.

Since anime projects are planned years in advance, it’s likely just a coincidence that BEASTARS and BNA came out in the same time frame. However, the two anime do share a connection.

Female screenwriter Nanami Higuchi was on Trigger’s BNA staff to ensure that they depicted teen girls realistically. She just happens to have written the script for Studio Orange for the anime adaptation of the BEASTARS manga.

Otherwise, the creators at Trigger have made it clear that they drew their inspiration from older Japanese animation that’s over 50 years old.

The core theme of BNA’s story is transformation. BNA director Yoh Hoshinari said in a 2020 Newtype magazine interview that his original proposal was similar to the old Marvelous Melmo TV show by Osamu Tezuka, which had a young girl character who could transform into an adult.

Yoshinari says screenplay writer Nakashima Kazuki became involved in the project halfway through developing the initial concept. The writer wanted to draw inspiration from non-fictional events and changes taking place in modern-day Japan by drawing inspiration from a book called Rupo Kawasaki.

And that’s how they settled on the concept of having animal-humans living in Anima City. The Japanese government set it up as a special zone surrounded by mountains and water to isolate the Beastkind from humans.

The protagonist Michiru connects the two worlds since she is a girl who started as human only to transform and not be able to return to her original appearance. Michiru may be a bridge between worlds, but she also clashes with society and thus brings light to this dark city.

But it’s not all darkness and drama. In a 2020 Otomedia interview,  the Trigger staff said they also wanted the story to be fun and show the lives of regular people in Anima City.

The BNA creators had a bunch of concepts for a variety of Beastmen, even sea turtles. That particular concept was scrapped, which was disappointing to Nakashima. (Maybe the turtles could back for BNA Season 2?)

Nakashima said they spent much of their time considering the nature of animal-humans in this fictional universe. The writer says the Beastmen are, in fact, humans, not beasts, and director Yoshinari had the idea of humans being able to transform into beasts.

But even that core idea came from Tezuka. The writer/artist also created the 1966 manga The Vampires, a story about a boy named Toppei who can transform himself into a wolf.

Toppei travels to Tokyo to find his missing father. Toppei’s tribe is considered to be vampires even though they were more werewolf-like.

Humans oppressed the vampire tribe for a long time, and certain members are planning a revolution. Toppei wants to stop the revolution, but things get sticky when a villainous human named Rock discovers Toppei’s secret ability to transform.

Rock plans on taking advantage of Toppei, and then the police get involved.

Obviously, The Vampires manga shares some surface similarities to BNA’s story. In the Brand New Animal anime, the Beastmen are not new mutations since they have always existed, but their existence didn’t become known to humanity until the 21st century.

Anima City was created since the Beastkind wanted to avoid discrimination from regular humans.

Nakashima says they drew inspiration from The Vampires mostly when it came to the visuals and the human-to-beast transformation sequences.

Yoshinari also prefers the transformation theme of The Vampires in comparison to Tezuka’s other works since dark and violent stories tend to do well overseas.

Brand New Animal novel BNA Zero: Beasts That Can’t Become Better is a prequel

In early March 2020, Trigger’s official website for the Brand New Animal anime revealed that a BNA novel called BNA Zero: Beasts That Can’t Become Better (Massara ni Narenai Kemono-tachi).

It was written by Nekise Ise, who has previously published the Saikyou no Marou wa Shizuka ni Kurashitai: Tensei shitara Fenrir datta Ken manga. The novel released in Japan on April 23, 2020.

The plot summary for BNA Zero’s story shows that the book is based many years before the events of the anime. The story follows a younger Shirou and Natalia, who becomes known as Barbara Rose, the future mayor and founder of Anima City.

The BNA prequel shows what happens to Shirou in his home village and why he came to hate humanity. Fast-forward in time to an alternate history World War II and Beastmen have become scapegoats for the misery of humans.

Readers meet the young Natalia and we learn more about her people and how they closed themselves off from the world, which Natalia hated. But during the war, humanity tried to harness the powers of the Beastmen and put them in internment camps where experiments were performed.

After being liberated from the internment camp by the legendary wolf god Ginrou, the Beastmen have no home to return to. In the aftermath of the war, Natalia travels with Shirou to help save Beastkind in Europe and the rest of the world.

BNA manga adapts the Brand New Animal anime

On May 29, 2020, a BNA manga adaptation was announced. Artist Inio Asano will be serializing the Brand New Animal manga series in Shueisha’s Tonari no Young Jump magazine.

Asano is best known for the Solanin manga, was adapted into a movie in 2010. His works such as Goodnight Punpun and Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction are known for being character-driven stories that range from slice-of-life to psychological horror.

It’s currently unknown if the BNA manga will expand on the premise of the anime. In the past, the Darling in the FranXX manga series made substantial changes to Trigger’s original story.

Brand New Animal Season 2 release date

As of the last update, Studio Trigger or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the BNA Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a Brand New Animal 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 Brand New Animal Season 2 premiere date will occur in the future.

Since BNA’s story is an original work Trigger was not commissioned by another company to adapt another company’s property. Their work stands on its own, and so does the financial success or failure.

It’s possible Netflix wants Trigger to produce a long-lasting series with multiple seasons. If that’s the case, the turnaround for BNA Season 2 could be pretty quick. But if Trigger waits on the financial numbers then our wait could be longer.

Let’s just hope the BNA Season 2 anime doesn’t make fans wait forever. Stay tuned!