Is Noukin: Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! Season 2 canceled or will a 2nd season feature Mile, Mavis, Pauline, and Reina in another Moe isekai anime adventure?
It could be argued that Episode 12 teased a sequel during the end credits by having Nano hint that Season 2 was “classified information”. Despite this teasing, Anime Geek is predicting that Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! Season 2 was canceled. (Please see the predictions section below for more details.)
The first season of the Noukin anime was produced by animation studio Project No. 9. The company took a deep dive into producing isekai anime in 2019 since they also created the CHOYOYU: High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! anime in the exact same time frame.
Despite being produced by the same animation studio the main staff was decidedly different. Director Masahiko Ohta (Gabriel DropOut) helmed the project while writer Takashi Aoshima (who has worked with the director on many previous projects) penned the scripts. Character designer So Watanabe is best known for being an episode animation director for Girls Beyond The Wasteland.
Crunchyroll streamed online the Noukin English dub for the first season. It’s currently unknown if Noukin Season 2 will have an English dub.
In the first season, both the opening and ending songs were performed by the Japanese voice cast members for the four main characters under the name Akaki Chikai. The anime’s Japanese voice cast includes:
- Azumi Waki as Mile/Adele von Ascham/Misato Kurihara
- Sora Tokui as Reina
- Fumiko Uchimura as Mavis
- Masumi Tazawa as Pauline
- Wataru Hatano as Nano
The Noukin: Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! Season 2 opening (OP) theme music song and ending (ED) have not yet been announced.
- Updated December 10, 2019: Added interview comments by the producer.
This article provides everything that is known about Noukin: Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! Season 2 (Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! 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.
Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! Season 2 predictions
As of the last update, Project No. 9 or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Noukin: Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a Noukin sequel been announced.
Once the news is confirmed, this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! Season 2 premiere date will occur in the future.
Crunchyroll has been promoting the Noukin series, and it’s been listed in the popular anime section fairly often. What’s more, Project No. 9 did a solid job on the animation, which is more than can be said for other popular isekai anime like Demon Lord, Retry! or Arifureta: From Commonplace To World’s Strongest, both of which were immediately renewed for a second season.
Fast-forward to 2023 and even Arifureta Season 3 is confirmed to be in production. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Noukin Season 2.
Considering how long it has been with no news update, Anime Geek is predicting that the anime TV series was canceled by the producers. Anime-only fans will need to turn to the manga and light novels to read how the story continued.
Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! manga, light novel, and web novel series compared to the Noukin anime
The story for the Noukin anime is based on the Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! light novel series by writer FUNA and illustrator Itsuki Akata. As of July 7, 2022, the book series was up to Noukin Volume 17. Historically, Japanese publisher Earth Star Entertainment has released three new volumes per year, although only one volume was released in 2020 and 2022.
Like many isekai light novels, this series started life as a Noukin web novel self-published on the user-generated novel site, Shosetsuka ni Naro. Started in January 2016, the still ongoing web novel was over 400 chapters long by the time the anime adaptation’s first season began airing in October 2019. By January 31, 2023, the web novel had almost reached 600 chapters. So far, the light novels have adapted around half of the web novel’s story.
The story is being adapted into a Noukin Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! manga series by artist Nekomint (or Neko Mint). The Noukin manga was already up to Volume 3 when the anime’s first season began airing. Unfortunately, the manga was canceled after Volume 4 came out in October 2019.
North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment has licensed the rights for the official English translation for both the Noukin manga and light novel series. As of October 20, 2020, the English Noukin manga was caught up to Volume 4 (there was a delay since the original release date was in March 2020).
The English Noukin light novel series is already up to Volume 14, with Volume 15 scheduled to release on March 7, 2023, and Volume 16 on July 25, 2023. There is also a fan-made English translation of the web novel that’s ahead of the light novels.
In a December 2019 interview, producer Hirotsugu Ogo explained that he picked the light novel series to be adapted into an anime because it stood out from other isekai by having an all-female main cast.
“The main appeal I found in this is that, in Japan and the US, the isekai genre has been very popular. In this genre, more particularly, male protagonists are very common. And in this, in particular, the main ensemble, including the main character, are all girls and that’s very refreshing,” Ogo said to Crunchyroll. “I also find the author’s rapport between the characters to be really funny and interesting. So, a lot of meat to work with.”
Light novel readers might be wondering what sort of input the original author had on the anime project. It turns out FUNA provided input as an advisor.
“I’ve had meetings with FUNA-san maybe three or four times. The first time, obviously, is to introduce the main staff, the directors and producers and say hi. FUNA-san also has attended the recording process of the anime,” Ogo said. “Actually, he plays more of an advisory role where he’s consulted when we have questions about the main beats of the story, or maybe general broad strokes of the character design. Or if maybe we come upon a question we have, in the script-writing process, about what the character motivation might be or something like that, we’ll consult him. It’s been a very collaborative and great relationship.”
For some fans of the light novel series, that explanation might not be enough. The anime adaptation does commit the unforgivable sin of rushing through the source material. Yes, anime studios are forced to condense the story due to episodic time limitations, but it’s the way it was done that has some Noukin fans upset.
Unlike the stereotypical harem isekai story, the Noukin light novel series subverts the traditional power fantasy approach of the isekai genre by having the main character Mile wish for God to give her an “average” happy life while reincarnated in a fantasy world. The books set up the story by providing the former Japanese protagonist’s backstory so it’s easier to understand where she is coming from at the beginning.
Instead, the Noukin anime adaptation pulls the same non-linear storytelling trick as the Arifureta anime by completely reorganizing the introduction while also greatly condensing character development plot points. The anime jumps straight into the middle of the action, skipping backstory events that are shown only through brief flashbacks.
To be fair, the Noukin manga uses a similar trick to change the presentation of the light novels’ story, but the manga’s first chapter simply used an introductory action scene as a launchpad for explaining why this seemingly innocent young girl can defeat an orc with amazing magical powers. Thus, the manga develops Mile’s character before getting into the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things (CGDCT) humor.
Therefore, the biggest problem with the anime is how it jumps straight into sexual comedy without first developing the personalities. Certainly, the books had some b**b jokes, but the anime added unnecessary fan service. (Surprisingly, the anime skipped a manga bonus chapter about Mile designing girls underwear.)
At the same time, the anime does include humorous cultural references and visual jokes related to Dragon Ball, Doraemon, Ultraman, and other anime. Similar to KonoSuba, the chemistry between the four main characters is what makes this isekai romp enjoyable and the anime spends extra time nailing down the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things aspect of the story.
Both the light novels and the manga also spend more time explaining the scientific basis of the “magic” in this world and how thought pulse transmission is used to control nanomachines. The anime does have some brief scientific content but it’s fairly awkwardly explained in comparison to the books.
Although the anime skipped and skimmed a lot of source material, it also added some anime original content. The purple-haired Hunter with cliched henchmen was added as the obviously evil pedophile villainess just so the anime could have awkward jokes about a little girl harem.
Unfortunately, that brand of awkward “humor” continued in later episodes. Did we really need to see a villain literally dive into bed with a little girl to understand that the victims were being sexually assaulted?
There’s no nuance to these villains. They’re just plain villains who wear evil smirks and even go out of their way to monologue their evil plans.
Perhaps Project No. 9 was attempting to parody generic evil villains similarly to how the story parodies isekai tropes but the outcome was wince-inducing more than funny. The one major exception is when Mile’s opponent during the graduation match unexpectedly ran away without fighting.
Considering all the changes, the anime had the opportunity to use the villains to reinforce the idea that Crimson Reina shouldn’t be so quick to kill even though her father and surrogate family were all murdered by bandits. Despite spending multiple episodes mulling over these ethical issues, when it was revealed that these “bandits” were, in fact, foreign soldiers ordered to disrupt trade the story failed to point out that Reina could have started a war between nations by murdering the surrendered soldiers. Instead, there were some jokes and the issue was swept under the rug in time to jump to the next volume’s story arc.
With all the changes and skipped content, it’s no surprise the overall pacing was pretty fast. With both of their isekai anime this season, Project No. 9 also followed the standard isekai adaptation formula of adapting four to five books per 12-episode anime season.
All in all, Episode 3 corresponded to the ending of light novel Volume 1, which in turn was adapted by manga chapter 11, the conclusion of manga Volume 2. Episode 6 corresponded to the end of light novel Volume 2, but the ending of manga Volume 3 was still in the middle of this story arc.
At this point, the anime’s pacing accelerated since the two-episode story arc concerning the family matters of Pauline and Mavis was finished by Episode 8. The ending corresponds to the end of light novel Volume 3, which in turn was based on Chapter 76 of the web novel.
Since the anime slowed the pacing down a bit, Episode 12 matched the ending of light novel Volume 4. It’s probably the best stopping point for the anime since Mile is forced to fight for her life in earnest, whereas Volume 5 is more focused on personal conflicts.
The good news is that the light novel series provides plenty of source material for creating Noukin: Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! Season 2. By the end of 2020, there should be enough light novels published for even Noukin Season 3.
English-only book readers wishing to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to Volume 5.
Noukin Season 2 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time we watched the Crimson Vow girls, Mile had defeated elder dragons using her scientific knowledge of magic. They were already talking about their next adventure while on the road.
Mile had left her friends Marcela, Aureana and Monika behind when she fled Eckland Academy. When a job takes the Crimson Vow back into the Kingdom of Brandel, she can’t pass up the chance to see her old friends.
But the Wonder Trio don’t want to let Mile go again now that they have her back! It’s tug of war between Mile’s new friends and her old friends, with poor Mile stuck in the middle! Will she be forced to choose one set of friends over the other?
As mentioned at the end of the first season, Mile wanted to investigate the mystery behind the Elder Dragons. When they decide to take a break, Mavis, Pauline, and Reina go hunting by themselves. Unfortunately, they quickly find out how much they’ve been relying on Mile.
Fighting monsters is one thing, but the Crimson Vow also has to fight off unwanted intrusion by Mavis’ family. Her family wants to break up the party and is pushing an arranged marriage onto his only daughter.
Their adventures start to heat up when a fanatical cult kidnaps a little beast girl named Faleel. The cult desires to summon an entity that has power similar to Nano.
The climax of the second season will be when the Crimson Vow returns to Mile’s home town of Ascham. Not only is Mile’s past becoming an issue, but now they have to fend off an invading army from the Albarn Empire!
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Noukin: Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!