Fans of the isekai anime genre might desire the return of Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2, but when will audiences be able to watch the continuing journey of Akira Ono aka Maou-Sama Hakuto Kunai? Thankfully, it seems like the final ending scene of Demon Lord, Retry! Episode 12 is teasing an anime sequel already.
After all, the final moment clearly says, “To be continued!” in very large Japanese kanji. The episode even shows the characters after they’ve arrived in the city of Rookie near the Prison Dungeon.
Demon Lord, Retry! joins a large list of isekai anime that have teased a second season only to be confirmed in the future. In fact, isekai is so popular right now that book publisher Kadokawa is planning on investing into at least one isekai anime per season. (Kadokawa is an example; they don’t publish Demon Lord, Retry!)
The question is whether Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2 has a chance at increasing the anime’s reputation enough for a third season.
The Oricon charts will also give us an idea of the anime’s popularity in Japan when the Blu-Ray and DVD box sets go on sale. The first season will be divided up into three volumes, each with four episodes. The first volume is scheduled to release on September 27, 2019.
The final episode of "Maou-sama, Retry!" teases a continuation pic.twitter.com/bU3FmrmnNv
— A.I.R (Anime Intelligence (and) Research) (@AIR_News01) September 18, 2019
The first season in the Demon Lord, Retry! anime series was produced by animation studio Ekachi Epilka. Never heard of them? The company formed in March 2017 and they only have one other anime to their credit — Crossing Time. It was a series of three-minute animated shorts so the Maou-Sama, Retry! anime is the studio’s first normal-length anime season.
Hiroshi Kimura directed the first season of the anime. In the past, he’s been an episode director for memorable anime such as Chobits, Fairy Tail, Gungrave, Initial D, Naruto, and Sword Art Online: Alicization. But when it comes to being the principal director for an anime he’s credited with 6 Lovers, Danchigai, Haitai Nanafa S1 and S2, Hamatora, Ladyspo, Military!, and Recorder to Randoseru Re.
Oka Tanisaki, who is also a novelist, wrote the series composition. Makoto Iino is handling the character designs, and Chiyo Nakayama (key animator for Robotics:Notes) is adapting the designs for animation.
Here is the Demon Lord, Retry! cast:
- Kenjiro Tsuda (the voice of Seto Kaiba in Yu-Gi-Oh!) as Hakuto Kunai (Akira Ōno)
- Kanon Takao as Aku
- Kaori Ishihara as Luna Elegant
- Haruka Tomatsu as Killer Queen
- Aki Toyosaki as Angel White
- Rina Satou as Yū Kirino
- Hitomi Nabatame as Mikan
- Sora Tokui as Yukikaze
- Showtaro Morikubo as Zero Kirisame
- Yurika Kubo as Momo
- Kazusa Aranami as Kyon
- Suzuna Kinoshita as Toron
- Chiyo Ousaki as Mink
- M.A.O as Organ
- Tomokazu Seki as Isami Tahara
The opening theme song for the first season was “Tempest” by Kaori Ishihara, while the ending theme song was “New” by Haruka Toujou.
Funimation had the exclusive rights to the anime and produced the Demon Lord, Retry! English dub.
This article provides everything that is known about Demon Lord, Retry! 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.
Demon Lord, Retry! reviews claim the anime is a generic isekai adventure
Maou-Sama, Retry! Season 2 might already be in the planning, but the biggest issue holding the anime series back from further sequels is the reviews. Holy shades of Overlord, Batman! Reviewers have lambasted the anime by claiming it’s a cheap knockoff of the Overlord anime.
The second issue that reviewers have slammed is the animation quality produced by Ekachi Epilka. Fortunately, battle sequences are not the focus of this isekai story, and Hakuto does not spend much time running.
Still, these reviews may have a point. The anime begins with the premise of an average everyman playing a computer MMO until it shuts down at midnight. He is magically given an overpowered body in a world based on contrived world mechanics derived from the PC game. Check, check, and check!
Still, besides the fact that Demon Lord, Retry! uses many isekai tropes, where else can you find a chain-smoking middle-aged Demon Lord? Similar to How NOT To Summon A Demon Lord, the anime’s biggest strength is the depiction of its central character.
In both stories, Diablo and Hakuto are simply a human faking being a demon lord. Whereas Diablo leaned toward comedy, Hakuto’s mafioso personality routine is the core of the story.
The biggest positive to Demon Lord, Retry! is that the story avoids one of the worst trappings of the isekai genre. It avoids the First Girl scenario, where the first female character the protagonist runs into is immediately inducted into a harem situation. Nor is slavery part of the equation.
Instead, the main protagonist becomes a gruff surrogate father to blonde Rem Aku. When it does get bogged down in the harem antics, the development of Hakuto and Aku’s charming relationship makes this anime stick out in the crowded isekai anime market. (But that’s only because Reincarnated As A Sword hasn’t been turned into an anime — yet.)
The second season only has a chance of spawning Demon Lord, Retry! Season 3 if the first two seasons are popular on streaming platforms. Fortunately, fan reviews have on the Funimation Now streaming platform have been far kinder to the anime in comparison to critics.
Demon Lord, Retry! manga compared to the Maou-sama, Retry! anime
The story for the anime is based on the Maou-sama Retry! light novel series that was written by Kurone Kanzaki and illustrated by Kouji Ogata. It started life in 2016 as a self-published web novel on the Shosetsuka ni Naro (Let’s Become A Novelist) website. A year later, it became a light novel.
As of August 30, 2019, the book series is only up to Volume 4. The books are a reprint of the three books initially published in 2017.
The book series might be very new, but it’s already spawned a Demon Lord, Retry! manga series, written by Kanzaki and illustrated by Amaru Minotake. As of June 28, 2019, the manga series is up to Volume 4.
Unfortunately, no North American publisher has picked up the licensing rights for the official English translation of the light novels or the manga. However, there are English fan translations of the web novel and the manga.
The ending of the final episode of the first season, Demon Lord, Retry! Episode 12, corresponded to manga Chapter 16 and part of Chapter 17 of Volume 4. The anime also finished adapting light novel Volume 2.
The good news is that there are currently two more light novel volumes presently available as source material for creating Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2. What’s more, it’s already possible to read ahead of the anime by jumping to Chapter 17 in the manga series. Keep in mind the English fan translations of manga chapters are several months behind the Japanese releases.
Maou-sama, Retry! Season 2 release date: Is 2021 likely?
As of the last update, Ekachi Epilka or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a sequel been announced directly. Promising “to be continued” is not an official announcement of the production of an anime sequel.
Once production officially confirms the news, this article will be updated with the relevant information. In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2 premiere date will occur in the future.
Considering that the continuation was promised in Episode 12 it’s very possible that the second sequel was planned out early in production. Problem is, it’s been a year and there still haven’t been any official announcements since Episode 12 promised a continuation.
As previously noted, Ekachi Epilka is a relatively new animation studio. As of October 30, 2020, they have no other projects on their schedule for 2021. It’s possible Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2 was delayed by the 2020 SARS-COV-2 pandemic, which has delayed many anime projects (Kingdom Season 3 was pushed back by an entire year).
Assuming that’s the case, it’s possible the Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2 release date could be scheduled for 2021 since anime projects take years to schedule and develop.
Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time we watched Hakuto, he had left the village of Rabi to travel north on an adventure. His purpose is to find weapons that could fight against magic. But things get complicated when the Demon Lord encounters a hero.
Meanwhile, the development of Rabi village is proceeding as planned. In fact, it’s proceeding so smoothly that the surrounding countries are starting to get involved.
Hakuto saved a city by preventing a “reverse invasion” where the monsters sprung out of the prison labyrinth. Humans discriminate against and persecute both beast-races and half-breeds.
Hakuto then steps into this territory to unravel the sociological mystery of this world.
A report goes out that a former best friend of Luna transferred into a slave. Luna goes to save her best friend, but there is royalty who hate this friend.
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Demon Lord, Retry! Season 2 release date to watch how Hakuto resolves these conflicts. Stay tuned!