Cannon Busters Season 2 could continue the story of SAM, Philly the Kid, and Casey Turnbuckle if the streaming giant Netflix has anything to say about it.
Critics herald the Cannon Busters anime as the perfect example of black Anime not only because of its characters but due to the anime’s creator LeSean Thomas.
Thomas is not only the creator, but he’s also the director and executive producer for the Cannon Busters anime. Thomas wrote the scripts with the help of Natasha Allegri (Bee & Puppycat), Anne Toole (The Witcher), and Nilah Magruder (M.F.K.). Matt Wayne is the story editor.
Manga Entertainment, Nada Holdings, and anime studio Satelight produced the Cannon Busters anime.
French animator Thomas Romain is the character designer, but he also did the mechanical design for all of the mechas in the TV show. Romain has worked on a variety of anime, but his career in Japan started with co-directing Oban Star-Races. He’s also worked on Carole & Tuesday, Symphogear, and created the mechanical design for the Space Dandy anime.
Yann le Gall (The Rising Of The Shield Hero, Basquash!) is responsible for the background art. Ken Naitou (K series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica movies) is the art director, and Takatoshi Hamano (Keijo, A Certain Scientific Railgun) is the sound director.
Watch #CannonBusters directed by my friend LeSean Thomas🔥. I was in charge of the original character designs and mecha designs of the series. Produced in Tokyo. It’s a fun show you won’t regret it👍
Available on #Netflix pic.twitter.com/ub3d8qajvj— ThomasRomain ロマン・トマ (@Thomasintokyo) August 15, 2019
Originally, Netflix’s Cannon Busters release date was March 2019. But, similar to Netflix’s 7 SEEDS anime, the first season of Cannon Busters was delayed until August 15, 2019.
This article provides everything that is known about Cannon Busters 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.
Cannon Busters anime is a mix of black American culture and Japanese animation
Black American LeSean Thomas is the mind behind the Cannon Busters story. The project initially started way back in 2003 as a comic book series, but by 2005 there were only three issues released by Devil’s Due Publishing. Thomas decided to continue the comic as a graphic novel that was supposed to release in 2009. That project was put on hold in favor of reviving the story as an animation.
That plan took years to come to fruition. In the intervening years, Thomas has worked on many popular animated series, including the TV shows for The Legend of Korra, Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman: the Brave and the Bold, and Avengers Assemble.
When it comes to animations featuring black characters, Thomas co-directed the first two seasons of The Boondocks while also acting as the character supervisor. He was also the director, character designer, and storyboard writer for the Black Dynamite cartoon.
In 2014, Thomas raised $150,000 through a Kickstarter project, and they managed to release a single episode to supporters in 2016. Joe Madureira of Uncanny X-Men fame helped with the character designs at the time.
By August 2017, the Cannon Busters anime had moved to Netflix, and they announced the first season would be 12 episodes. The anime’s blending of American and Japanese aesthetics is completed by the fact that it comes with both an English dub and Japanese audio track with English subs.
“It’s based on a comic book that I drew, so very excited to have the opportunity to adapt it into an animated feature. Cannon Busters drops August 15 on Netflix.” – Cannon Busters series creator LeSean Thomas #AX2019 pic.twitter.com/3m5PZEInqi
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) July 7, 2019
Cannon Busters is not Thomas’ first foray into working with Japanese anime studios. In 2017, he collaborated with Crunchyroll to create and direct the 2017 anime The Children of Ether. Although only one episode, it was created with the help of impressive names like character designer Hiroshi Shimizu (Michiko to Hatchin), animation director Mitsuo Iso (End of Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell), and storyboard director Shingo Natsumi (One-Punch Man, Space Dandy).
Cannon Busters Season 2 release date predictions
As of the last update, Netflix, Satelight, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Cannon Busters 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 Cannon Busters Season 2 premiere date will occur in the future.
Netflix has been dumping money into developing original anime on its platform. So, why not renew Cannon Busters Season 2?
Netflix has been known to develop a new TV series for at least several seasons (good things come in threes). In 2019 alone, there were multiple anime sequels including The Seven Deadly Sins Season 4, Hero Mask Season 2, Forest Of Piano Season 2 and Kakegurui XX (see our article on Kakegurui Season 3).
Ultraman Season 2, Grappler Baki Season 2, and Aggretsuko Season 3 have been confirmed to be in early production. The ending of the 2019 Revisions anime also seems to set up Revisions Season 2 and Kengan Ashura Season 2 was even previewed by first part’s final episode.
At the same time, it’s not guaranteed that Cannon Busters Season 2 is being planned at all. After all, director LeSean Thomas already moved onto his next project called Yasuke, an anime inspired by the story of the real-life African samurai who served under the feudal lord Oda Nobunaga during the late 16th century. The Yasuke anime starred Lakeith Stanfield (Atlanta, Sorry to Bother You) in the lead voice role. Music producer Flying Lotus will be composing the music for the anime series.
“Yasuke is gonna be great, we are working with one of the top anime studios in the world to bring this crazy story to life,” Flying Lotus said in a tweet. “So proud to be part of it and glad to finally share the news that’s been brewing for almost a year now.”
Let’s just hope the team responsible for the Cannon Busters anime returns to produce Cannon Busters Season 2. Stay tuned!