The Kemono Jihen Season 2 anime TV series will continue the story of Kabane Kusaka and his fellow Kemonoists at Kohachi Inugami’s Strangeness Consulting Agency. But when will Kemono Jihen 2 come out?
The first season of the Kemono Jihen anime was produced by animation studio Ajia-Do, which also animated the 2020 Kakushigoto, the 2018 How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord anime, and the 2016 Izetta: The Last Witch.
The anime project was helmed by director Masaya Fujimori, best known for directing Izetta: The Last Witch and the first Fairy Tail movie in 2013. He was also the animation director for the first Pokemon movie back in the 1990s and InuYasha movies 1 and 4 in the 2000s.
Writer Noboru Kimura (Gangsta, Gundam Build Divers, Knight’s & Magic, Princess Principal Movie: Crown Handler) handled the series composition and scripts. Artist Nozomi Tachibana was the character designer.
The Kemono Jihen Season 2 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the Kemono Jihen OP was “Path of the Beast (Kemono Michi)” by Daisuke Ono (voice actor for vampire character Mihai Florescu), while the ED “Mark (Shirushi)” was performed by Sayaka Sasaki.
The Kemono Jihen Blu-ray-DVD release had six volumes. The finale, Kemono Jihen Episode 12, was released on March 26, 2021.
- Updated February 3, 2022: Seven Seas licenses English manga.
- Updated May 21, 2021: Added FUNimation’s Kemono Jihen dub release date.
This article provides everything that is known about Kemono Jihen 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.
FUNimation’s Kemono Jihen English dub release date
The first season of the Kemono Jihen anime was initially streaming with English subtitles on FUNimation and Netflix Japan (but not Netflix U.S.). In May 2021, the Kemono Jihen dub cast was announced:
- Madeleine Morris as Kabane
- Patrick Seitz as Inugami
- A.J. Beckles as Shiki
- Cassie Ewulu as Akira
- Kristen McGuire as Inari
FUNimation’s Kemono Jihen English dub release date was set for May 23, 2021. The first two dubbed episodes premiered on that day, with the remainder releasing over time.
Kemono Jihen Season 2 release date predictions
As of the last update, Bandai Namco, Shueisha, Studio Ajia-Do, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Kemono Jihen Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a Kemono Jihen 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 Kemono Jihen Season 2 premiere date will occur in the future.
The Kemono Jihen anime had the bad luck to release in the same time frame as Studio MAPPA’s Jujutsu Kaisen anime, which holds a similar supernatural-themed premise of a young powered person investigating occult occurrences as part of a school rather than an investigative agency. They also share an overarching goal of the main character trying to collect pieces of a creature for a special purpose.
Relegated to dark horse status, Kemono Jihen still manages to shine thanks to its colorful cast and an emotionally driven plot that finds strength in its differences. Thus, reviews have scored the first season fairly well although it’s unlikely to be rewarded Crunchyroll’s Anime of the Year award like its competition.
In the past, Studio Ajia-Do was not exactly known for doing anime sequels, but in recent years they’ve established a strong trend of producing second seasons. The Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 anime came out in 2022. The 2020 Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori anime also received a Motto! Season 2 in 2021.
The How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord Season 2 release date was in 2021, but Studio Zezuka Productions took over from Ajia-Do for producing the second season. So, it’s always possible a studio change could happen with Kemono Jihen Season 2.
Otherwise, it’s predicted that the wait for Kemono Jihen Season 2 could be years. Anime projects are scheduled years out in advance and anime production committees typically wait until the financial numbers for the streaming revenue and Blu-Ray sales are in before greenlighting a second season.
Anime TV series are sometimes perceived as glorified advertisements for the manga/books. Notably, when Episode 12 released the original creator tweeted about how the “continuation of the anime will be the original story” of the Kemono Jihen manga.
As of February 2022, there hasn’t been any anime news updates so it doesn’t seem likely that the TV show will be renewed.
Kemono Jihen manga compared to the anime TV series
The story for the anime is based on the Kemono Jihen manga series by Shou Aimoto. Serialized in Shueisha’s Jump Square magazine since December 2016, the manga was up to Volume 15 as of November 4, 2021.
In early February 2022, North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment announced a Kemono Jihen manga English translation. The English Volume 1 release date was scheduled for August 2022.
The anime has been fairly faithful to the manga but it’s not a straight panel-by-panel adaptation. The anime’s pacing was relatively fast during certain story arcs in order for the anime to reach a good stopping point in only 12 episodes.
The first big change up was how Chapters 2 and 3 were essentially mashed together. Originally, Kabane didn’t meet the other two kids at the agency until Inugami took him on his first case with the bugs, whereas the anime had Shiki and Akira along for the ride.
Some skipped scenes were fairly minor like Kabane being worried about losing his friends after the mosquito encounter at Bug Bites. He couldn’t sleep and checked to make certain they were still alive.
One disappointment is that the anime completely skipped over Kabane’s date with kitsune girl Kon in manga Chapter 10. Akira is shocked when he spots the pair going out for ice cream and immediately texts Shiki to come running.
The two stalkers friends then secretly try to help guide Kabane’s date by disguising themselves and giving Kabane ideas for how he should react to Kon’s emotions by acting them out. When they reach a romantic beach, Akira thinks Kabane X Kon needs just one more push so Akira tries to kiss Shiki while declaring, “It’s fine! We’re just pretending!” Needless to say, Shiki is like, “Aw, hell no!” and the farce falls apart.
The anime story arc about Shiki’s parents in Kemono Jihen Episode 7 toned down the scene where Shiki remembered what happened to his mother Kumi in that hut. While the anime obscured what was happening the dialogue still made it clear that Shiki’s scumbag uncle was experimenting to create golden silk by coercing Shiki’s mother into breeding with different kemono species every day.
Kemono Jihen Episode 8 picked up the story again in Chapter 12 when Shiki meets his “siblings”. That creepy scene where the voice of Shiki’s mother echoed out of the hoard of monsters was the epitome of dark, amplifying the horror of the moment more than the manga could ever accomplish with still images.
Kemono Jihen Episode 9 wrapped up the spider family story arc by finishing Chapters 14 and 15. The anime added a thoughtful touch by having Inugami and Kumi return to the forest to create a memorial for the slain kemono children whereas the manga essentially forgot them.
The anime skipped Chapter 16: Kabane’s Long Day. It involves Kabane catching a human kid video-recording a dullahan in action in the aftermath of a job. The kid hopes that his supernatural video will go viral on social media and once he realizes that Kabane knows other plenty of supernatural friends he starts to stick to Kabane like glue. Poor Kabane is stuck trying to make sure none of his friends’ kemono powers are caught on video.
The skipped chapter also included some details concerning the great war between the kemono and humans. It shows that kitsune cannot trust humans and how the kitsune powers can fool humans into thinking weird happenings were just a dream. More importantly, it revealed that the war’s stalemate was broken by the powerful kemono chiefs creating the calculi filled with their own power… and Kabane’s parents were involved.
Kemono Jihen Episode 10 through 12 then adapted the Akira arc that told the story of his twin brother, Yui. The anime drastically toned down just how dark this story arc was in the manga.
It’s implied by the anime that Yui becoming chief meant he was forced to copulate with all 200 of the yuik-onna. The manga was far more horrifyingly explicit about what was occurring, and when Yui was asked which women were more beautiful behind the face masks he was literally being r*ped.
To Yui, the women were all filthily repulsive and their touch was a shower of curses that felt like a spreading decay. And he would do anything in his power to save his brother from that fate.
In Episode 12, Yui admitted that he killed children but the manga made it more clear that he killed his own young children.
All in all, the finale, Kemono Jihen Episode 12, found an ending in Chapter 21.
It’s a good stopping point since the chapter finishes the story arc about Akira’s brother Yui and the snow village while introducing the overarching main plot about gathering the lifestones. The chapters also explained the meaning of the anime’s title and its relation to the war between humans and kemono thousands of years ago.
The good news is that there is plenty of source material available now to make Kemono Jihen Season 2. Better yet, manga readers who wish to read ahead of the manga can jump to Volume 6: Chapter 22.
Kemono Jihen Season 2 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The Kemono Calculi, or lifestones as the anime’s English subtitles call them, are actually parts of a Ghoul’s skeleton that are scattered all over Japan. In searching for the pieces and unifying them, Kabane hopes to find his kemono leader parents and in the process might revive the ghoul by collecting all the pieces.
Inari and her kitsune minions also intend on gathering all the pieces of the ghoul skeleton in order to gain more power and take over Japan.
Kon’s dueling feelings for Inari and Kabane are a ticking time bomb for their relationship. The kitsune leader sends Nobimaru to entice Kon into earning back her “good girl” status by stealing the lifestones from her friends. But the trick is that she must manipulate Kabane into willingly handing it over rather than snatching it away with force.
Meanwhile, Inugami plans on approaching people who possess similar lifestones to find out how Kabane’s parents receive their own stone. Akira and Yui stay behind for some family bonding time and Shiki has his own business to attend to.
When Kabane and Inugami leave for Shikoku, Yashima, Kon abruptly announces she’s tagging along since the area has “really yummy fish”. The thinly veiled lie, and the fact that she knew they were going to Shikoku, makes it pretty obvious Kon is working as Inari’s spy, but she’s allowed to join regardless.
It turns out Inugami’s group is traveling to a hidden Tanuki village. The Yashima Temple uses illusions to hide from the world and there’s a secret offering used to break the veil.
Inugami is shocked to come home to a giant welcoming ceremony with dancers, drums, confetti, and fireworks. (And poor Kon faints from being surrounded by so many Tanuki.)
Inugami is welcomed by a young girl named Iyohime, who was expecting Inugami to be visiting her. She is sorely disappointed when he only acknowledges her in passing. Instead, Inugami intends on visiting gramps Tasaburou, the chief of the Shikoku Tanuki.
Tasaburou possesses the Phantasm Calculi, the treasured lifestone that that Tanuki have been living under. The Tanuki chief will allow Kabane to challenge him for the stone as long he likes, but beating the elderly, diminutive Tanuki is much harder than it seems.
Kon will have her own test as her conflicting loyalties come to a head. She knows that being a “good girl” to Inari means betraying Kon, the only person who has ever shown her true kindness, and she knows such actions are not something a good girl would do. But if Kon doesn’t complete her mission the consequences will be explosive since Inari has another order: “Grant traitors their deserved deaths!”
Kagane’s adventure across Japan will next have him seeking the Stream and Purity Calculi. But it won’t be easy since they’ll be facing off against members of the Special Investigation Unit for the fate of Japan.
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Kemono Jihen Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!