The In/Spectre Season 2 release date is confirmed to be on January 8, 2023, the Winter 2023 anime season.
Kyokou Suiri Season 2 will have 12 episodes in total released as four Blu-ray volumes.
Crunchyroll is streaming the 2nd season internationally in most territories. Crunchyroll is also directly one of the producers on the anime production committee since this TV show series is considered one of the Crunchyroll Originals.
Kyokou Suiri Season 2 was actually delayed since the second season was originally scheduled for October 2022, the Fall 2022 anime season.
The exact Kyokou Suiri Season 2 release date was confirmed by a new trailer PV that was released on November 15, 2022.
In late November 2020, Crunchyroll confirmed on Twitter that In/Spectre Season 2 was in production. Fast-forward a year later and a teaser visual confirmed that the In/Spectre Season 2 release date will be in 2022.
Then in early March 2022, a second teaser visual announced the premiere for October 2022.
On May 2, 2022, the official website revealed that In/Spectre Season 2 was being delayed due to “various circumstances”.
On July 4, 2022, Crunchyroll released an In/Spectre Season 2 trailer PV 3 with English subtitles.
The Kyokou Suiri Season 2 anime will have Kuro Sakuragawa and Kotoko Iwanaga on the hunt for Rikka Sakuragawa.
New character Yuki Onna will be voiced by Japanese voice actress Yuki Aoi (Madoka Kaname in Puella Magi Madoka Magica) and Masayuki Muroi will be played by Japanese voice actor Makoto Furukawa (Saitama in One-Punch Man)
Here is the character bio for Yuki Onna:
A yokai that lives in a certain mountainous area. She usually wears a kimono to look like “Yuki Onna,” but she sometimes wears clothes and walks around human villages pretending to be a person. She meets Masayuki, who was pushed down by his friend and slipped on a snowy mountain and saves his life. Eleven years later, Masayuki moves to a new house, then Yuki Onna meets him again by chance. From then on, she visits a house that Masayuki rents on the outskirts of town.
Here is the character bio for Masayuki Muroi:
32-year-old man with a tough look, who has distrusted people. 11 years ago, he was almost killed by his best friend in the snowy mountains when he was accidentally saved by Yuki Onna. After graduating from college, he started his own business, got married at 29, and led a smooth sailing and fulfilling life, but divorced his wife after she had a lover and nearly killed him. He was also betrayed by a fellow employee and was forced out of his position as president. After that, he put his affairs in order as best he could and moved to the foot of the mountain where he met Yuki Onna.
An In/Spectre Season 2 trailer also gave anime fans their first glimpse of the second season.
The announcement actually caught original creator Kyo Shirodaira by surprise.
“I wasn’t anticipating a second season of the anime so I was honestly pretty shocked. I was actually thinking it was about time to drop Miss Iwanaga down Reichenbach Falls or the like, but apparently, I won’t be doing anything that rash any time soon,” the author said, making a reference to the Sherlock Holmes case The Final Problem. “However, even if she was dropped down those falls, she’d probably use a kappa or something and somehow survive, so she’d continue on her merry way. I’ll continue watching over the walking, talking Miss Iwanaga in the animation.”
Akari Kito, who is the Japanese voice actor for Kotoko Iwanaga in the anime, had this to say.
“The TV anime In/Spectre is getting a second season!! I was so excited when I heard the announcement that I was happy all day. I’m so excited to see Kotoko, Kuro-senpai, and the yokai in the anime once again! I’m going to start training and strengthening all the muscles around my mouth right now to prepare for the role again so I hope everyone looks forward to the new season!”
The main staff has been confirmed to be returning to the same studio.
For the first season, the anime adaptation was produced by animation studio Brain’s Base. The company is best known for anime like the 2013 Blood Lad anime, the first season of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, and Spice and Wolf Season 2.
In 2021, Brain’s Base also released the critically-acclaimed To Your Eternity anime, which ran from Spring 2021 to Summer 2021. The To Your Eternity Season 2 release date was in Fall 2022.
The In/Spectre anime project is being helmed by director Keiji Gotou, who is best known for the Kiddy Grade series. Writer Noboru Takagi (Durarara!!, Golden Kamuy, Kingdom Season 3) is handling series composition. Kentarou Matsumoto, the animation director for the first season, will be replacing Takatoshi Honda as both the character designer and the chief animation director.
The In/Spectre anime was co-produced by Crunchyroll as part of the anime production committee. In 2020, Crunchyroll was also co-producing anime such as Somali and the Forest Spirit in addition to The Rising Of The Shield Hero Season 2 anime and the Laid Back Camp Season 2 anime.
The In/Spectre anime is considered one of the first Crunchyroll Originals anime that launched in 2020. Others include Tower of God, Onyx Equinox, The God of High School, Noblesse, Meiji Gekken: Sword & Gun, FreakAngels, and High Guardian Spice.
The In/Spectre Season 2 OP (opening) music theme song “Yotogibanashi” will be performed by KanoeRana, while the ED (ending) “Invincible Love” will be performed by Mamoru Miyano.
The first season featured the OP “Mononoke in the Fiction” by Uso to Chameleon and the ED “Last Dance” by Mamoru Miyano.
The finale, In/Spectre Episode 12, released in March 2020. New episodes are available on Crunchyroll with English subtitles.
Crunchyroll premiered the In/Spectre English dub on Saturday, February 29, 2020.
- Updated December 30, 2022: Added total number of In/Spectre Season 2 episodes.
- Updated December 6, 2022: Added new key visual.
- Updated November 15, 2022: Exact In/Spectre Season 2 release date confirmed.
- Updated October 21, 2022: Added In/Spectre Season 2 OP/ED info.
- Updated September 6, 2022: Added visual.
- Updated July 4, 2022: Added new trailer.
- Updated May 2, 2022: In/Spectre Season 2 release date delayed to 2023!
- Updated March 2, 2022: In/Spectre Season 2 release date confirmed for October 2022 by magazine key visual.
Updated November 5, 2021: In/Spectre Season 2 trailer and teaser visual released.
Updated November 30, 2020: Added In/Spectre Volume 14 manga cover art.
- Updated November 26, 2020: In/Spectre Season 2 confirmed!
Updated March 3, 2020: Added In/Spectre English dub and Crunchyroll Originals info.
This article provides everything that is known about In/Spectre Season 2 (Kyokou Suiri 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.
Kyokou Suiri Season 2 release date in January 2023 – Crunchyroll promised ‘soon’ in 2020
Crunchyroll, Kodansha, and Studio Brain’s Base have officially confirmed the exact In/Spectre Season 2 release date to be on January 8, 2022. However, it seemed like In/Spectre sequel would be coming out much sooner than that.
Back in November 2020, the official Crunchyroll Twitter account stated that “In/Spectre Season 2 is coming soon to Crunchyroll!” The word “soon” usually doesn’t mean waiting for years.
The In/Spectre anime has been popular on the Crunchyroll platform. Although streaming revenue is now the most significant factor influencing the decision to greenlight a second season, anime co-produced by Crunchyroll does not have the best record of seeing a sequel.
The major exception is, of course, wildly popular anime such as The Rising of the Shield Hero. But becoming one of the first Crunchyroll Originals was apparently a game-changer.
Considering that the books provided ample source material, and the sequel was greenlit for production within a year, it’s possible that the In/Spectre Season 2 release date was originally intended to be in the second half of 2021.
But the COVID-19 pandemic continued to wreak havoc across the globe in 2021, causing the anime industry to delay the premieres of movies and push back anime TV series by several months. For example, Studio Brain’s Base itself delayed the To Your Eternity anime’s release by six months.
That being the case, it seems likely that the In/Spectre Season 2 release date was pushed back to 2023 for similar reasons.
In/Spectre manga, novel series compared to the anime
The story for the In/Spectre anime is based on the Kyokou Suiri novel series, which also goes by the name Invented Inference. The French version of the series is known as Stranger Case. The series is published by Kodansha as In/Spectre in the United States, Canada, and Germany.
The books were written by writer Kyo Shirodaira and illustrators Hiro Kiyohara (Volume 1) and Chasiba Katase (Volume 2+). The creator is also known for writing Blast of Tempest (Zetsuen no Tempest) and Spiral: Bond of Reasoning (Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna).
The first book was initially published in May 2011 but was reissued in December 2015. Volume 3 came out in December 2019 and as of June 2019, the book series was up to Volume 3.
Starting in April 2015, the novel writer teamed up with artist Chasiba Katase to create the Kyokou Suiri manga series. As of this article’s last update, the manga was up to Volume 15.
Unfortunately, the novel series has not been officially translated into English. However, Kodansha Comics has been publishing the official English translation for the In/Spectre manga. There are also fan-made scanlation projects.
The official English In/Spectre manga was up to Volume 15 by March 29, 2022.
I’ve been looking forward to watching the rest of the In/Spectre ever since viewing the premiere of Episode 1 at Anime Expo 2019. The lively characters were delightful and the cliffhanger at the ending was enough of a hook to draw me into this world.
The anime has continued this great adaptation. Kuro, Kotoko, and Saki are all three-dimensional characters, rounded out in such a way that their actions and motivations are relatable.
Studio Brain’s Base has done a great job animating the major sequences thus far. Especially when it comes to the horror elements and Kuro’s healing factor (he really is the GOAT in the anime). Kotoko’s mischievous expressions also magnify the humor.
The anime’s first episode was almost a panel-by-panel adaptation of In/Spectre manga Chapter 1. There were slight rearrangements to scenes and new angles were added. Despite the manga and novel being very dialogue-heavy, earlier episodes didn’t skip much content at all.
The anime did miss minor details like Kotoko mentioning she owned an estate. And the youkai were scared of Kuro because he was rumored to be a youkai-eating gourmet, not just based on his appearances to supernatural eyes.
The anime wasn’t as blatantly clear that 2.5 years pass after Kuro and Kotoko begin “dating” and the Steel Lady Nanase-related incidents started.
The manga also delved down a little bit deeper into the thinking of ex-girlfriend Saki Yumihara, explaining her angsts and fears concerning Kuro.
It also showed why she was motivated to launch a frontal assault on the ghost due to being tired of having her life be manipulated by the supernatural. Saki’s breakup with Kuro was complicated, but the anime is constrained by the limited number of minutes available to only 12 episodes.
Thus it’s fairly odd that the writers at Brain’s Base chose to wedge even more content by completely rearranging one of the sub-plots. Instead of giving more time to the main plot’s dialogue, Episode 2: What the Guardian Serpent Heard was based on manga Chapter 15 of Volume 7.
Including this story didn’t give much room to breathe for the rest of the first season. However, Brain’s Base probably made this change since the short story arc showed Kotoko’s role as the Goddess of Wisdom and introduced the mystery story elements.
It was also surprising when Nanase Kirin’s The Girl Who Breathes Fire TV show was given a full opening video. However, the story was changed a bit by removing Washboard Girl and some of the bawdier sex jokes.
Note: This article was initially published before In/Spectre Episode 12 aired in Japan and was updated over time.
All in all, besides minor skipped content and the Episode 2 rearrangement, the anime followed the manga series fairly closely, with each episode adapting less than one chapter. Episode 5 only adapted halfway through Chapter 5.
In/Spectre Episode 12 finished by adapting the end of the Steel Lady Nanase story arc. Besides being the best stopping point for the anime, it’s also the ending of Chapter 13 of manga Volume 6. The name of Steel Lady Nanase also happens to be the subtitle and story focus of the first novel volume.
The good news is that the novels provide enough content for In/Spectre Season 2. In fact, if the second season doesn’t have two cours the third book could be In/Spectre Season 3. (A cour is a three-month unit of broadcasting time based on the physical seasons that’s usually composed of between 11 to 13 episodes.)
Better yet, English-only manga readers who wish to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to Volume 7.
In/Spectre 2 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time we watched Kotoko and Kuro, their relationship had developed to the point where they really are dating in fact, not just in name. Saki-San is off the threat radar, but Kuro’s older cousin Rikka Sakuragawa still poses a danger to the world.
But Rikka has gone into hiding so Kuro and Kotoko find themselves solving a whole variety of supernatural mysteries. They visit a seaside tourist town called Totomizu where thousands of fish start washing on the shoreline. The only clue is a strange wooden doll that the yokai claim is the cause.
Meanwhile, Kotoko is finding herself being sucked into school activities. A high school student named Manabu Amachi manipulates Kotoko into joining the school’s mystery appreciation club, what is his motive for doing so?
23 years after a mugging ended in the murder of a wife a cold case is reopened. The husband unexpectedly tells his heirs that he murdered his wife and dares anyone to figure out how he did it. While this supernatural cold case likely involves yokai, the heirs also have their own secrets to keep.
A year passes and Kotoko and Kuro still have not tracked down Rikka. It turns out Rikka moved into an apartment made affordable since it’s considered to be cursed. A series of suicides start in the apartment complex, but will Rikka be able to escape notice?
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the In/Spectre Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!