The Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 anime TV series will have Hinata Tachibana and Tsukasa Jinguuji continuing their zany isekai life by delving down into a demon dungeon. But since there won’t be enough source material for an anime sequel until the first half of 2023, when will Fabiniku: Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to Season 2 come out?
The first season of the Fabiniku anime TV show was produced by Japanese animation Studio OLM Team Yoshioka. As might be guessed by the studio’s name, they are one of 11 teams under Studio OLM, the company responsible for the Pokemon TV series, including Pokemon Master Journeys.
In the first half of 2022, Studio OLM also released Komi Can’t Communicate Season 2 (Team Kojima), Odd Taxi Move: In The Woods, and Summertime Render (also Team Kojima).
Unlike most isekai anime, there is no web novel or light novel series that was adapted by the animation. Instead, the anime is based on the Total Fantasy Knockout manga series that’s published by Cygames of all companies.
Cygames is mostly known for its video game apps like Princess Connect! Re and Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, but they’ve been branching out into other forms of entertainment in recent years. In May 2021, Cygames Pictures director Nobuhiro Takenaka spoke about how anime had become important at Cygames, which is typically focused on iPhone/Android game apps.
“Back in the day, the animation department wasn’t very important to headquarters. Instead, the focus was on the video game production department,” Takenaka said. “Recently, however, the animation department has gained more trust from the managers.”
The main staff or studio making Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the anime project was helmed by director Sayaka Yamai. This was the director’s first time being the lead director. In the past, Yamai has been an episode director on popular anime projects like Odd Taxi and Major 2nd Season 2.
Writer Toshimitsu Takeuchi (YuGiOh! Sevens, certain episode scripts for Haikyuu!!) handled the series composition. Artist Aoi Yamato (Odd Taxi episode animation director) was the character designer. Composer Takeshi Watanabe (Otherside Picnic, The Duke of Death and His Maid Season 2) created the music.
The Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout OP “Salaryman at Dawn (Akatsuki no Salaryman)” was performed by Yoshiki Fukuyama, while the ED “FA’NTASY to!” was performed by Luce Twinkle Wink.
The first season’s finale, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Episode 12, was released on March 29, 2022. The 12 episodes were released in Japan as two Blu-Ray volumes on April 27, 2022, and May 25, 2022, respectively.
- Updated November 3, 2022: Manga’s English translation announced.
This article provides everything that is known about Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 (Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to Season 2 / Fabiniku 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.
Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to Season 2 release date predictions: Long wait likely
As of the last update, Studio OLM, Cygames, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a Fabiniku Season 2 sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed, this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s impossible to speculate about when, or if, the Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to Season 2 release date will occur in the future.
The Total Fantasy Knockout reviews have been mostly positive, but the anime didn’t do anything special to wow audiences and propel itself into greatness. It’s essentially a comedic “romance” isekai where the humor comes from how the protagonists are stuck in a ridiculous situation that subverts isekai tropes.
The relationship chemistry between the two protagonists is the main dynamic that gives the series its strength even when it comes to the serious drama plot beats. Overly relying on the same running gag to the point of it becoming tiresome can become a problem in many rom-com anime, but so far the Fabiniku anime has managed to achieve a balance by thrusting the characters into strange new scenarios that feed on their dynamic.
The comedy is not quite up to par with KonoSuba, but it’s certainly better than recent isekai comedies like Combatants Will Be Dispatched! (which had the same creator as KonoSuba). Fabiniku was also leaps and bounds above the She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man anime, which just happened to share a similar gender-bender premise in Winter 2022. Further, Fabinku was also relatively better than other isekai anime released in the same time frame, such as Arifureta, In The Land of Leadale, and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest.
Besides good reviews, the Fabiniku anime’s first season was also regularly featured in the Top 10 on Crunchyroll’s Popular Anime list whenever new episodes were released. That’s important since international streaming revenue is the biggest factor influencing whether a TV series is renewed by the anime production committee.
Even if the anime is renewed, the anime industry has been in overproduction, with projects being partially outsourced to Chinese and Korean subcontractors. In interviews, studio leaders sometimes complain they can’t find enough Japanese people to do the work.
And the industry oversaturation isn’t getting any better. In early May 2021, Kadokawa announced that they intended on creating at least 40 anime projects per year by 2023, an increase of 20 percent from 33 titles.
In recent years, the first anime adaptations of book series are being greenlit for production by anime production committees around the time the first book is even released. Considering that anime productions are typically scheduled out years in advance, Total Fantasy Knockout Season 1 must have been greenlit extremely early considering that the first manga book volume was released in April 2020.
Thus, one major obstacle holding Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 back is probably the source material or lack thereof. With only a handful of manga volumes available, a small number of books generally isn’t enough for making an entire anime sequel (unless it’s the 86 anime or Sabikui Bisco Season 2). But, since the manga is published weekly, there should be more than enough source material by the middle of 2023.
Therefore, even if it’s quickly publicly announced that a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 anime TV series is greenlit for production in 2023, it’s predicted that anime fans should expect a multi-year wait.
Crunchyroll’s Total Fantasy Knockout English dub release date
The first season was exclusively streaming in Winter 2022 with English subtitles on Crunchyroll and VRV (not Funimation, Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video).
Crunchyroll’s Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout English dub release date was on July 21, 2022, which means it came out several months after the first season ended in Japan.
Here was the Total Fantasy Knockout dub cast:
- J. Michael Tatum (Erwin in Attack on Titan) as Tsukasa Jinguuji
- Laura Stahl (Mami in Rent-a-Girlfriend) as Hinata Tachibana (Female)
- Khoi Dao (Kuroko in Kuroko’s Basketball) as Hinata Tachibana (Male)
- Chris Guerrero (Ains in Overlord) as Narrator
- Jamie Marchi (Ristarte in Cautious Hero) as Goddess of Love and Beauty
Presumably, the Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 English dub will be announced in the future if the second season is greenlit for production. Crunchyroll has consolidated its dubbing studio in Texas and its turnaround time has improved, so hopefully, the 2nd season will be dubbed more quickly in the future.
Total Fantasy Knockout manga series compared to the anime
The story for the anime TV show is based on the Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to manga series by writer Yuu Tsurusaki and illustrator Shin Ikezawa. Serialized weekly in Cygames’ Cycomi x Ura Sunday website since November 2019, the manga series was up to Volume 8 as of November 17, 2022.
Yes, that means the creators managed to produce enough pages for three volumes in a single year. When the anime’s first season finished in March 2022, the manga already had over 100 chapters.
(In the Episode 10 end credits scene, Schwartz asked for a spin-off series but so far nothing like that exists.)
The Japanese title can be literally translated as Living with an Old Fogie (Uncle) Reincarnated as a Pretty Fantasy Girl. The series is also known as Isekai Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan.
In November 2, 2022, North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment announced an official Total Fantasy Knockout manga English translation. The first volume is being released in September 2023. In addition, there are fan translation projects that keep up with the Japanese release of new chapters.
Since the anime is not based on a light novel series or a web novel the anime adaptation retained much of the original story. While not exactly a panel-by-panel adaptation, source material purists should be happy since most of the episodes did not need to condense the story by removing dialogue and major details (yes, Vizzd was “tortured”… with a feather).
The exception was Total Fantasy Knockout Episode 9, which adapted about double the number of manga pages in comparison to the average maintained by the first eight episodes. This meant that the anime skipped a worldbuilding scene in Chapter 40 when the King’s intelligence service leader Muria showed Jinguuji and Hinata the map of the world shaped like a woman.
Muria mused that since all of the heroes came from a different world that it would be best to explain how their world came to be.
“First, the world had nothingness And two gods descended to this place,” Muria said in the manga. “Nous, the only male god and being of one-in-all, and the great mother goddess Aira… the mother of all goddesses and the being who has become this continent itself. Before the mother goddess became the continent, she gave birth to the 12 goddesses.”
Writer Tsurusaki also left a funny note at the ending of the chapter which said, “I had a lot of fun thinking of the world map. Personally, I would want to stay in a town around the breast area.”
Since the episode adapted Chapters 40 through 49 the anime skimmed over many scenes, including an entire chapter dedicated to the horde of maids that descended upon Tachibana to strip her down, bathe her, and dress her up. More importantly, the manga revealed that Tachibana was beginning to forget what he originally looked like as a man.
She even declared to the maids that she wanted them to dress her as cute as possible while thinking about Jinguuji’s reaction! Cutting this scene was detrimental to the character development since it showed how Tachibana was mentally transitioning into becoming more feminine in her thinking.
Up until that point, the anime was arguably a perfect adaptation. The adaptation pacing of the anime TV series has averaged slightly less than 6 chapters adapted per episode.
While that sounds fast-paced, keep in mind that the Total Fantasy Knockout manga chapters are relatively short compared to other manga. For example, the Attack On Titan anime often adapted a single chapter per episode.
All in all, the ending of the first season’s finale, Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to Episode 12, found a stopping point corresponding to manga Chapter 69. (Chapter 70 just happened to include the original anime announcement.)
It’s the best stopping point since Tachibana is also shown to be charmed by Jinguuji, which marks a major turn in the character development. It also takes place shortly after the major Mehpon battle that culminates in Chapter 66 with Tachibana finally receiving the (embarrassingly lengthy) praise she’d so desired from Jinguuji.
Episode 12 reworked the presentation of the narrative to be more effective than the manga. In addition, the end credits scene foreshadowed Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 by briefly showing what was happening with other side characters like the elf chieftess.
As previously noted, when the anime’s first season finished the bad news was there weren’t enough newer chapters for making Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2. Assuming that the manga finishes a major story arc in the middle of 2023, it’s possible that the 2nd season could be announced.
Worse, English-only anime fans wishing to read ahead of the anime will have to wait until the North American publisher catches up (or rely on scanlation projects).
Fabiniku Season 2 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time audiences watched the anime TV series, Schwartz von Liechtenstein Lehengramm nonchalantly revealed that he already knew the general location of the Demon King’s castle. Indiana Jones would hate it since it’s literally “X marks the spot” with the giant cross in the sky providing the location in the vicinity of the world map’s navel.
The duo set out to find the Demon Lord but parted ways with Schwartz and “Master” interrogator Lucius with the intention of meeting up for the final battle. Tachibana and Jinjuuji then traveled with Shen to a port town. There, Tachibana admits that she gets jealous when Jinjuuji talks to others.
The plan is to set sail to the Enlil continent, traveling from the “nose” of the world map to the “knee”. Shen sets them up with a ship and separates from them after wishing them a safe journey.
But it’s not long before they realize they’ve been double-crossed since they’re sold off and taken captive by the ship’s pirate crew! Not only is the ship not traveling to Enlil continent, but the crew is also comprised of some of the very same bandits from that first village who now dream of becoming the villains of the sea.
When Jinjuuji easily breaks out of his chains and busts up the ship, the pirate captain calls out their “ace in the sleeve”… who happens to be none other than former elf chieftess Telolilo Lilili Lu! Needless to say, no one is exactly thrilled to see the other again.
When the fallen elf finally realizes that they no longer possess the guardian deity’s pelt, she declares that she can’t return home empty-handed and pulls out the magical sword, Pani Pani. She then regaled them with the tale of what happened since the squid village.
“Ever since I escaped from that village, I couldn’t forget about that squid’s taste. I traveled from one land to another in search of those revered as a god. I killed them and I grilled them… and I grilled them and ate them…”
While that sounds really dark, the elf chieftess had eaten a wish-granting goat, a giant dragon-like lizard (tastes like chicken!), and a third bizarrely shaped god that spewed out the magical sword. The elf has been training hard to level up and now she’s ready to kill her nemesis!
The resulting confrontation between Jinjuuji and the raging elf causes the ship to burst into pieces, greatly angering the pirates who had hired the elf in the first place. In all the confusion, another giant squid sneaks up on the “cutie” elf and drags her off to show to his homies…
With the ship destroyed, both the pirates and our heroes are at the mercy of the sea currents. Their journey will now take them into the imperial territory…
Meanwhile, the two demon girls Karm and Vizzd have managed to reach home and have reconnected with the Demon Lord. It turns out this Demon Lord is nothing but a baby! But his underlings are gathering together their strength and they suspect that the source of Tachibana and Jinjuuji’s power could also be the pair’s greatest weakness…
The demons are going to try and surprise our heroes in a dungeon, but in the meantime, they’ll have other more dangerous foes like… an apartment key-thieving, pantsu-stealing monkey! With no house key, all of their treasure and food are locked away.
And by happenstance, the only way they’re going to get their stolen goods back is by excavating rare items from a recently discovered underground dungeon. This is where their isekai life begins in earnest.
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!