The Faraway Paladin Season 2 release date is confirmed for October 7, 2023, the Fall 2023 anime season.
The 2nd season is officially titled The Faraway Paladin: The Lord of the Rust Mountains.
Anime Geek correctly predicted that anime fans will need to wait until at least late 2023. (See the release date predictions section below for more details.)
The initial announcement of the production of the Saihate no Paladin Season 2 anime sequel was made on the official website as a surprise Christmas gift on December 25, 2021.
“The Faraway Paladin Season 2 production decision!” the official Twitter account tweeted. “Will’s journey continues! Stay tuned for more news!”
The second season will have Will traveling to a fallen dwarven kingdom and confronting the Lord of the Rust Mountains.
Japanese actor Shoya Chiba will play the older Will.
The first season of the anime TV series was produced by Japanese animation studio Children’s Playground Entertainment. A relatively new company, the studio was mostly a sub-contractor on other studios’ projects for their first several years.
In 2020, they released their first two projects, Hatena Illusion and Tsukiuta Season 2. In 2021, they released The Faraway Paladin anime and The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made anime.
The studio and main staff making The Faraway Paladin Season 2 has changed. The 2nd season will be co-produced by Studio OLM and Sunrise Beyond.
The first season was helmed by director Yuu Nobuta (High School Fleet, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear). The 2nd season will be directed by Akira Iwanaga.
Returning writer Tatsuya Takahashi (Beatless, Domestic Girlfriend, Eromanga-sensei, Highschool of the Dead, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Wise Man’s Grandchild, Rewrite, World’s End Harem) will handle the series composition and scripts once again.
Artist Koji Haneda (New Initial D Movie) was the character designer for the first season. The new character designers for the 2nd season will be Tatsuya Arai and Koji Haneda.
MONACA composers Ryuuichi Takada and Keigo Hoashi are also returning to create the music.
The Faraway Paladin Season 2 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music haven’t been announced yet.
For the first season, The Faraway Paladin OP “The Sacred Torch” was performed by H-el-ical//, while the ED “Mark of Fire (Shirushibi)” was performed by Nagi Yanagi.
The Faraway Paladin Episode 8 release date was delayed to December 4, 2021. Instead of broadcasting Episode 8, a special recap episode called “The Road Trip” was released on November 27, 2021.
Due to special programming on New Year’s Day, the first season’s finale, The Faraway Paladin Episode 12, was released on January 3, 2022.
- Updated May 30, 2023: Added release time frame and staff/studio info.
- Updated December 29, 2021: Added author interview comments.
- Updated December 25, 2021: The Faraway Paladin Season 2 confirmed!
This article provides everything that is known about The Faraway Paladin Season 2 (Saihate no Paladin 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.
Crunchyroll’s The Faraway Paladin English dub release date confirmed
The first season of The Faraway Paladin anime was initially streaming with only English subtitles on Crunchyroll and VRV (not FUNimation, Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video). The first two episodes were pre-screened in September 2021 before streaming internationally.
In late October 2021, Crunchyroll announced The Faraway Paladin dub cast:
- Erica Mendez as Will
- Kirk Thornton as Gus
- Bill Butts as Blood
- Veronica Taylor as Mary
Crunchyroll’s The Faraway Paladin English dub release date was on November 27, 2021.
The Faraway Paladin Blu-Ray release dates delayed in order to improve animation quality
The 12 episodes were released as two volumes in The Faraway Paladin Blu-Ray box set, which includes the hardcover edition of the original novel in addition to several new short stories.
The official website stated that the release dates for the BD box volumes were delayed by months in order to improve the animation quality. Volume 1 is rescheduled from January 26 to March 23, 2022, while Volume 2 is rescheduled from March 23 to April 27, 2021.
Why the Saihate no Paladin Season 2 release date is in late 203
As of the last update, Studio Children’s Playground Entertainment or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the exact The Faraway Paladin Season 2 release date. However, the production of The Faraway Paladin sequel was announced on December 25, 2021. The release time frame of Fall 2023 was confirmed on April 14, 2023.
Once the news is officially confirmed, this article will be updated with the relevant information.
The Faraway Paladin reviews were slightly above average for an isekai anime TV show. Similar to Mushoku Tensei, this is an isekai adaptation done right since the opening episodes maintained an atmosphere of mystery and suspense despite covering the usual ground of a wasted life otaku reincarnating in another world and learning magic. Anime audiences responded positively to the first three episodes and it’s possible the rankings could increase over time.
Unfortunately, the first season’s premiere did not give a huge boost to the manga and light novel sales in Japan since the volumes did not reach Oricon’s top 30 manga or top 10 light novel lists for the first several weeks of October 2021. As a comparison, critically-acclaimed series like 86 Eight-Six made the top 10 novel charts, Tokyo Revengers dominated the manga charts during Summer 2021, and even all five volumes of The Detective Is Already Dead light novel series made it onto the top 20 charts.
Streaming revenue is an important factor for an anime sequel to be renewed. The first season consistently was listed on Crunchyroll’s popular anime list, although it was usually only in the top 20. But it remains a dark horse in regards to popularity, which can probably be blamed on the crowded isekai anime market.
Arguably, the anime adaptation was done well and deserves for the animation production committee to have The Faraway Paladin Season 2 renewed.
Considering that the announcement was made before the first season’s finale even aired it’s possible they had the second cour planned out in advance.
As such, Anime Geek predicted that The Faraway Paladin Season 2 release date would be in Fall 2023.
The Faraway Paladin novels were inspired by Mushoku Tensei
The story of the anime TV series is based on the Saihate no Paladin light novel series by author Kanata Yanagino and illustrator Kususaga Rin. Translated into English as The Faraway Paladin, the series title is also known as Paladin of the End or Ultimate Paladin.
In an interview with Anime News Network, the author described how he created the book series. A friend of his became determined to submit a novel to a newcomer writing contest and this determination inspired Kanata to prove he “wasn’t the kind of trash who would just sneer at my friend.”
The problem was, Kanata had never written a novel before. Not wanting to be rash by jumping straight into a contest, the writer first began self-publishing the story for The Faraway Paladin in May 2015 as a web novel on the “Shōsetsuka ni Narō” (Let’s Become Novelists) website.
Kanata says he picked the site since he adored Mushoku Tensei, but this supposed practice run unexpectedly quickly climbed the popularity rankings and gained the notice of publishers. So, before the creator could meet his goal of entering a writing contest he’d already gone pro.
The writer says he purposefully started with a small-scaled theme since he intended on creating only a single book. When choosing the theme of family, Mushouku Tensei was the source of this inspiration since he was a fan himself.
“Living life for the second time, loving one’s family—I thought it was a really great theme. Of course, plagiarism is a terrible idea,” the writer explained. “So I only took inspiration from the theme and made sure to write a story that was entirely in my own style. That was the beginning of The Faraway Paladin. I will never forget that this was my starting point.”
The writer says his love of tabletop RPGs like Sword World and Dungeons & Dragons was another source of inspiration. But he didn’t consider the character’s abilities or stats and the power levels of the enemies they encounter so the focus was on “imagining a world with a similar vibe”.
The creator also revealed that he kept the emphasis on Will rather than introducing heroines since reader comments were positive about this difference from other isekai stories on the site.
“And when I looked at the reader comments and wrote whatever I fancied, I learned that the lack of emphasis on the heroines was something that they appreciated,” Kanata said. “If that was what they wanted, then I thought that whatever I wrote was just fine.”
Since writing the story was originally intended as practice, “it was originally supposed to be a story that ends at the conclusion” of anime Episode 5, which is when Will left his home after honoring his family with his new name. When the unexpected success threw his plans into disarray the author kept updating the web novel for a time.
Divided into five “Chapters” and two side stories, the web novel stopped being updated in 2017 leaving the fifth story, The Goddess of the Twilight Country, unfinished.
The Faraway Paladin Volume 5 is in progress after a long writing hiatus
Japanese publisher Overlap Bunko began publishing the light novel adaptation in March 2016. The light novel version expanded on the web novel’s premise by making some changes but so far the story of the light novels has not caught up with the web novel.
The Faraway Paladin Volume 4 was released way back in September 2017 (the third story arc, The Lord of the Rust Mountains, technically has two book volumes since it’s divided into two parts). The Faraway Paladin Volume 5 release date hasn’t been announced yet, but the author confirmed that work on the fifth volume had begun back on October 10, 2020.
Kanata revealed in December 2021 that the reason he took such a long hiatus from writing was due to mental health problems.
“I took a break because I had a mental illness called adjustment disorder, which hindered my ability to write for a long time,” he explained. “It was really awful. Even when I wanted to write, I would be seized with such excessive fear and anxiety that I physically couldn’t. I would spend my days feeling as if I was stuck in mud. Even now, I visit the doctor and get prescribed anti-anxiety medication. I’m still a long way off from regaining my former writing pace.”
Note: The following paragraph contains minor spoilers about the plot of Saihate no Paladin Volume 5.
The author says that The Faraway Paladin Volume 5 will tell the story of Will traveling to the Twilight Country, the region controlled by Stagnate, the God of Undeath. It’ll tell how the first hero became undead and show how Will faces off against the ideals of Stagnate.
Progress on the light novels was also likely slowed by the author joining up with artist Mutsumi Okuhashi to create The Faraway Paladin manga adaptation. Serialized in Overlap’s Comic Gardo website since September 2017, the manga series was up to Volume 8 as of September September 25, 2021.
North American publisher J-Novel Club is handling the release of The Faraway Paladin’s English translation for the USA, Canada, UK, and other English-speaking countries. The English light novels were already caught up with Volume 4 back in 2018.
As for the English The Faraway Paladin manga, J-Novel Club didn’t license it until 2021 so the first manga volume only came out in physical print on August 17, 2021. However, the manga’s English translation caught up with Volume 8 as of March 16, 2022.
The Faraway Paladin manga/light novel series compared to the anime
It was almost a relief to be watching an isekai anime where the protagonist wasn’t a self-insert potato-kun going on a harem-gathering trip as a form of wish-fulfillment for his degenerate desires. As previously mentioned, the anime followed the usual tropes by having Will reincarnated as a baby with his memories intact, but from there the execution of the story evoked a sense of genuine mystery with its worldbuilding.
What are these horrible secrets that Will’s adoptive are keeping? Why did the ghostly Gus try to kill Will and then hide his true motivations? Why is the echo of the evil god Stagnate appearing before Blood and Mary after Will’s coming of age duel with his “father?”
While the anime did a great job of building the atmosphere of mystery, at the same time Episode 1 pretty much speed-ran the prologue and first chapter of light novel Volume 1 (and the first three chapters of the manga) by skimming over the exposition and inner monologues. But this should not be surprising since anime adaptations almost always heavily condense the dialogue to fit the story into the TV episodic format.
Episodes 2 and 3 continued this pacing of adapting a chapter per episode. The most notable change was the ordering of events was changed in regards to Will and Blood getting drunk and going to peek in Mary’s room, which originally happened earlier in the manga and light novel. The anime even adapted the scene where Will experienced puberty, but the scene felt more grounded in the reality of teenage awkwardness in comparison to Mushoku Tensei or The World’s Finest Assassin.
All in all, the first season’s finale, The Faraway Paladin Episode 12, found a stopping point corresponding to the ending of light novel Volume 2: The Archer of Beast Woods and manga Volume 6.
It’s the best stopping point since Will has managed to find humanity and after becoming officially knighted has earned the title of Faraway Paladin by defeating the chimera of the Beast Woods.
The third story arc, The Lord of the Rust Mountains is long enough for the second season on its own since it’s two books long. Volume 4: The Torch Port Ensemble builds on those two books by showing what happened to Will during the winter after returning from the Rust Mountains.
The good news is that there is plenty of source material for making The Faraway Paladin Season 2. Better yet, English-only book readers can jump straight to light novel Volume 3 or manga Chapter 31 if they wish to read ahead of the anime.
The Faraway Paladin Season 2 anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
It’s been some time since Will became the Faraway Paladin. Will and Menzel have defeated the demons and chimera who wrought havoc on the lives of the villagers of Beast Woods, and smiles are finally starting to return to everyone’s faces again.
However, order has not completely been restored to this faraway land. Strange things are happening, including plants blooming out of season and dying at random. At Duke Ethel’s request, Will and Menel are off to investigate, not knowing that their journey will lead them to the Rust Mountains, the former capital of the dwarves and land where magical beasts nest.
According to the ominous prophecy of the King of the Forest, a fire of black plague is about to break out in the Rust Mountains. To learn more about the land, Will went to see the dwarves and found Grendir, a former dwarven guard who survived the hell of the Great War two hundred years ago.
Grendir tells them about the events in the Land of the Iron Dwarf. It was the story of those who fought alongside the last ruler of the Iron Country, Lord Aurvangr, and those who followed the king’s orders for a remnant to survive.
During the Great War, the Demons sent an emissary to Lord Aurvangr, claiming that the dwarves would be spared if they forged weapons for the demon army. In response, the king beheaded the emissary and said that the demon leader could have the weapons the dwarves would use to fight the demons.
In the face of overwhelming odds, the Dwarves were forced to evacuate the Iron Mountains during the demon invasion. To give time for the refugees to escape, the Iron Country king took his most experienced warriors into a suicide mission where they laid traps and lured the enemy into their country’s underground passages.
To this day the dwarves still wander the lands while hoping to return to the mountains and reclaim their home. Standing in their way is Valacirca, a ferocious dragon that is called the Lord of the Rust Mountains.
During his travels, Will meets a young dwarf named Vindalfr in town. Will, who saw himself in his previous life as having a personality similar to this dwarf, proposed to hire Vindalfr as a squire to train him. The dwarves are baffled when Vindalfr chooses to accept.
Vindalfr’s first battlefield has them traveling to the Mound of Pillars, where Will finds the Herald, the messenger of Stagnate, waiting for him in the form of a black raven with crimson eyes.
“Welcome to my home. It’s been two years, hasn’t it? Warrior of Light.”
The female god Stagnate skillfully tries to seduce Will, but the goddess’ coming heralds a darker purpose. Stagnate reveals Will’s death, which awaits the Faraway Paladin if he chooses to face the dragon Valacirca in the fallen Dwarven kingdom.
What fate awaits the Faraway Paladin? The goddess of undeath is clear: “I will say it once more. If you challenge him, you will die.”
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until The Faraway Paladin Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!