The Engage Kiss Season 2 anime TV show will reportedly continue the story of demon exterminator Shu Ogata and Kisara in the mega-float Bayron City.
When the first season’s finale episode aired on September 24, 2022, sound director Takeshi Takadera teased anime fans about Engage Kiss 2 by tweeting, “Thank you for watching the final episode of Engage Kiss! I’m not sure when but I really look forward to [the] coming [of] the second season someday! I hope to see you next time.”
On July 16, 2022, anime news leaker Sneaky noted that a “reliable Weibo user” was claiming that the Engage Kiss anime project would be two split cours with 13 episodes each for a total of 26 episodes. On September 24, 2022, Sneaky pointed out that the (same?) Chinese leaker was claiming that the Engage Kiss Season 2 announcement would be in January 2023.
What’s more, after Episode 13 was released streaming service bilibili was still listing the Engage Kiss Episode 26 as the ending. bilibili also tagged the anime as still being “ongoing” despite the supposed finale having come out already.
Given all that corroborating evidence, it really is possible that something could be announced on January 7, 2023. According to the official website, a special event in Tokyo is planned for that date and some of the creators and cast will be involved. Special guests include Soma Saito (role of Shu Ogata), Saya Aizawa (role of Kisara), Lynn (Ayano Yugiri) ), Rumi Okubo (Sharon Holy Grail), and Akari Kitou (Kanna Ogata).
Keep in mind that the official title could also be referred to as Engage Kiss Part 2 rather than as a second season since it’s essentially a split-cour anime.
(On a semi-related note, the Lycoris Recoil anime is also an anime original story produced by Aniplex and A-1 Pictures. It’s also having a special event in 2023 and it’s possible that Lycoris Recoil Season 2, a movie, or an OVA episode could be announced.)
The main issue with renewing the story is that the Engage Kiss anime TV series is an original story. Yes, there is an Engage Kiss manga and even an RPG mobile game by Square Enix called Engage Kill!, but the manga is adapting the anime as part of the mixed media Project Engage, not the other way around. (See below for more details about the books and game.)
So it’s also possible the Engage Kiss special event in January 2023 will be focused on the game, not an anime announcement.
The main staff of the anime production included notables such as the main writer Fumiaki Maruto, the creator of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend. Date A Live illustrator Tsunako is the character designer.
(The Date A Live Season 5 anime TV show was confirmed to be in production back in June 2022.)
As of the last update, Studio A-1 Pictures, producer Aniplex of America, Square Enix, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Engage Kiss Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of an Engage Kiss 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 Engage Kiss 2 release date will occur in the future.
An Engage Kiss sequel is apparently possible since the story writers left an open door for a continuation. The title of Engage Kiss Episode 13 was literally called “Unresolve Grand Finale”, which cheekily teases a second season if anything.
Since Project Engage is supposed to be a franchise the self-contained story of the first season didn’t kill off anyone too important or destroy the entire city for that matter (RIP Shu’s aparement), but the biggest obstacle to having Engage Kiss renewed for a second season is the likability, or lack thereof, of the main protagonists in Engage Kiss Season 1.
How else are we to explain why the Engage Kiss review scores have been relatively low for a TV show with good production values and well-animated fight scenes? But it turns out that making the characters purposefully trashy was by design.
In an interview published on the official website, Maruto explained that he was asked to do the project shortly after finishing work on Saekano. The writer pitched several ideas related to “demons” and “memory” being the keywords, but A-1 Pictures producer Shinichiro Kashiwada felt that something was missing until Maruto suggested that “all the characters are bad/hopeless people”.
“Even before that, when Mr. Marudo and I talked about the characters in this project, all of them were ‘no good; in some way. I suggested that if that was the case, why not just make everyone ‘no good,’ including the main character Shu, and solidify the direction of the project?” Kashiwada explained. “I suggested that. Of course, they are not just ‘no good.’ They all have their good points, but they are all fundamentally no good.”
And with that element in mind, Maruto proceeded to flesh out the scenario. Maruto apparently wrote the entire story only to rework it completely from Episode 2 after receiving negative feedback from the producer. Even with that labor-intensive method, the plot for the first half still ended up being a love triangle between two walking anime girl tropes representing yandere and codependency and a guy who lands somewhere on the unlikability scale between Rent-A-Girlfriend’s Kazuya Kinoshita and the total scumbag named Michio Kaga in Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World.
The story actually does better when it’s getting serious. The tragic backstory with the dead family is standard fare, but it was a novel plot twist in Episode 3 to have the price of Shu’s contract with the demon Kisara is that she slowly sucks away his important memories… even those of ex-girlfriend Ayano. But that noble sacrifice hardly makes up for or justifies his selfishness, lying, gambling, etc.
The audience’s first impression of Shu is marred by him being a total deadbeat. And it comes off as bizarre that the gothic magical demon girls can only activate their powers through a kiss (then again, the story comes from the Date A Live writer…).
And bizarre is only an understatement when the antics of the nun Sharon Holygrail enter the mix. Not only does Shu commit NTR against his current girlfriend by having sex with his ex and then giving the demon girl those memories, but he also poisons the sexy nun by committing NTR a second time! Yes, both Shu’s big head and little head have a toxic personality…
And that was the impression being made before audiences learned that the sister Kisara was essentially a bro-con with a three-year-old mentality who was forced to watch NTR videos from the first-person perspective of her brother for years!
Despite the protagonist being a loser, the way the story is written it’s clearly intended that audiences are supposed to empathize with his plight despite Shue’s money woes and girl problems largely being self-inflicted. If it weren’t for this narrative framing, Shu would probably rank high as one of the worst male protagonists of the Summer 2022 anime season except he’s competing with scum who literally buy sex slaves.
All of this drama is intended to convey comedy, but it pales in comparison to the comeback of the fantasy comedy The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2. It was also interesting how Engage Kiss Episode 13 transitioned the tone of the story back to being a rom-com.
“From the very beginning of this project, we had been aiming for a ‘It’s okay like this, just like this’ ending, and despite many tragic developments along the way we managed to end the final episode with a romantic comedy,” Maruto explained.
While they arguably pulled that goal off by having three jealous women having a comedic standoff only to turn on Shu, the serious parts of the TV show don’t quite stick the landing since it’s difficult for audiences to emotionally connect with these characters. If anything, fans should be hoping for a Sharon Holygrail spin-off, instead.
Still, it’s fully possible to enjoy a story about a cast of unlikeable characters. That’s obviously what the creators were going for so the only question is if the producer’s gamble pays off. Will enough anime fans get over the initial hurdle where they want to stick around for Engage Kiss Season 2?
Unfortunately, the anime was rarely featured in the Top 20 of Crunchyroll’s most popular anime list. There were even days when it was necessary to manually search on the Crunchyroll app just to find the TV show!
As such it’s difficult to say whether the anime production committee will have Engage Kiss renewed for a second season since international streaming revenue is the biggest factor influencing financial success nowadays.
However, if the rumors about the January 2023 announcement are true, the producer would have pre-planned the Engage Kiss Season 2 production out in advance without first waiting to see whether the financial numbers from the first season justify an Engage Kiss sequel.
As such, the Engage Kiss Season 2 release date could be as soon as 2023. But if the rumor is false, and the sequel wasn’t planned out in advance, then wait for the Engage Kiss sequel will be several years at least.
- Updated September 25, 2022: Added Engage Kill OP trailer.
- Updated September 24, 2022: Added Engage Kiss Season 2 rumor, special event info, and tweet by the sound director.
This article provides everything that is known about Engage Kiss 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.
Engage Kill! game introduces a new character Chloe Tang
The Engage Kill! mobile game was originally announced on April 24, 2022. Developed by Square Enix as part of the Project Engage projects, it’s been confirmed that it will come out on Google Android and Apple iPhone.
The Engage Kill! release date hasn’t been announced yet. However, it’s currently possible to pre-register for the game.
Crunchyroll’s Engage Kiss English dub release date is confirmed for August 2022
When Crunchyroll began streaming the Engage Kiss episodes in Summer 2022 there were only English subtitles. But then Aniplex of America produced the Engage Kiss dub.
Here is the main Engage Kiss English dub cast:
- Howard Wang (Louis James Moriarty in Moriarty the Patriot) as Shu Ogata
- Kayli Mills (Emilia in Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-) as Kisara
- Suzie Yeung (Obsidian Goddess in ORIENT) as Ayano Yugiri
Crunchyroll’s Engage Kiss English dub release date was on August 20, 2022.
Engage Kiss Blu-Ray/DVD release date confirmed
During Summer 2022, Engage Kiss Season 1 was streaming weekly on Crunchyroll, VRV, and Netflix Japan (not Netflix USA, Hulu, Disney+, HIDIVE, or Amazon Prime Video).
The 13 episodes were released as 6 Engage Kiss Blu-Ray/DVD volumes. Here is the BD release schedule:
- Engage Kiss Blu-Ray Volume 1: September 28, 2022
- Engage Kiss Blu-Ray Volume 2: October 26, 2022
- Engage Kiss Blu-Ray Volume 3: November 30, 2022
- Engage Kiss Blu-Ray Volume 4: December 28, 2022
- Engage Kiss Blu-Ray Volume 5: January 25, 2023
- Engage Kiss Blu-Ray Volume 6: February 22, 2023
The first season’s finale, Engage Kiss Episode 13, was released in Japan after midnight on September 24, 2022 (effectively September 25, 2022).
Engage Kiss manga adapts the main story
The Engage Kiss manga began serializing online in Square Enix’s Manga UP! magazine on July 2, 2022. The Engage Kiss manga is being drawn by artist Itachi and it will adapt the main story of the anime TV show.
An English translation of the Engage Kiss manga hasn’t been announced yet.
Who created the Engage Kiss anime?
The Engage Kiss anime was an original story created by Studio A-1 Pictures, which has produced great anime TV shows and movies like Lyrcoris Recoil, Fairy Tail, Sword Art Online, The Seven Deadly Sins, Your Lie in April, and the 86 anime.
Studio A-1 Pictures has many plans for the future. The Solo Leveling anime release date is in 2023. They also announced a Kaguya-sama movie that is titled Kaguya-sama: Love is War -The First Kiss Never Ends- (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: First Kiss wa Owaranai). It’s also expected that Kaguya-sama Season 4 will continue the story after the movie adapts the next story arc.
The Engage Kiss Season 1 anime project was helmed by director Tomoya Tanaka. He’s been an episode director on the 2011 Blade Anime and the Hunter x Hunter anime. His first time being the main director was in 2021 with the Visual Prison anime.
As previously mentioned, Fumiaki Maruto (Classroom Crisis, Miru Tights) was the script and series composition writer. Artist Masaaki Takiyama (Fate/Extra: Last Encore) was the character designer. Composer Yoshiaki Fujisawa (Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation) created the music.
The Engage Kiss Season 2 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the Engage Kiss OP “Everyone, Scramble (Darekare Scramble)” was performed by halca, while the ED “Renai Nou” was performed by Akrai Nanawo.
Let’s just hope Maruto comes up with an interesting new twist for Engage Kiss Season 2. Stay tuned!