The Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 anime TV show is officially greenlit for production.
“The TV anime Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs broadcasted from April 2022 has received a lot of support from everyone. As such, the production of the second season of the TV anime has been decided! Please look forward to the activities of Leon and others!” announced the official Twitter account.
【第2期 お祝いイラスト🎉】
— TVアニメ「乙女ゲー世界はモブに厳しい世界です」公式 (@mobseka_anime) December 26, 2022
TVアニメ「乙女ゲー世界はモブに厳しい世界です」の第2期制作を記念して、キャクターデザインの鈴木政彦さんよりお祝いイラストが到着✨https://t.co/M5Wskjic4Z#mobseka pic.twitter.com/qwxVYBpm9c
Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs Season 2 will have Leon Fou Bartfort, Olivia, Angelica Redgrave, and Marie finding themselves embroiled in an unexpected twin plot twist in the Otome game sequel. But when will Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu Season 2 (Mobseka Season 2) come out?
On December 20, 2022, anime news leaker Sugoi LITE claimed that the production decision was made for Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2. On December 26, 2022, the 2nd season was publicly greenlit for production, but it’s uncertain whether the project has already entered the pre-production phase.
Anime Geek is predicting that the Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 release date could be in 2024 depending on when the production decision was made by the producer and which studio animates the sequel. (Please see the predictions section below for more details.)
The studio and main staff making Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the anime project was produced by Japanese animation Studio ENGI, which is best known in recent times for its Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! anime, Full Dive: The Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life! anime, and TanMoshi: The Detective Is Already Dead.
In 2022, Studio ENGI also released the Management of Novice Alchemist (Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei) anime and the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 2 anime.
The first season of the Trapped in a Dating Sim anime was helmed by director Kazuya Miura (Full Dive, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!) and Shinichi Fukumoto (assistant director for The Detective is Already Dead). Writer Kenta Ihara (Saga of Tanya the Evil Season 2, Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy Season 2, Vinland Saga Season 2, Full Dive, Cautious Hero, Trapped in a Dating Sim, Mieruko-chan, Tomodachi Game) wrote the scripts.
Artist Masahiko Suzuki (So I’m a Spider, So What?) was the character designer. Kana Hashiguchi (Classroom of the Elite Season 2) and Show Aratame composed the music.
The Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the Trapped in a Dating Sim OP “Silent Minority” was performed by Kashitarou Itou, while the ED “Selfish” was performed by Rikko Azuna.
The first season of Trapped in a Dating Sim was streaming in Spring 2022 with English subtitles on Crunchyroll (not Netflix, Hulu, VRV, Funimation, or Amazon Prime Video).
The first season’s finale, Trapped in a Dating Sim Episode 12, will release on June 19, 2022.
- Updated December 26, 2022: Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 confirmed!
This article provides everything that is known about Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs Season 2 (Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu Season 2 / Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 / Mobseka 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.
Otome Game Sekai Season 2 release date predictions: Is 2024 likely?
As of the last update, Studio ENGI, Kadokawa, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Otome Game Sekai wa Mob Season 2 release date. However, the production of a Mobseka Season 2 sequel was announced on December 26, 2022.
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 the Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 release date will occur in the future.
The Trapped in a Dating Sim reviews have been good but not great. It’s a SciFi vs Fantasy combination of sexy school girls, hot host club guys, giant robot mechs with gun swords, floating islands, magic, airships, catboys, hoverbikes… you name it, so what gives with the negativity? Perhaps lower scores are due to fans being tired of the anime industry being drunk on isekai tales even if they do subvert tropes, but the story still manages to stand on its own thanks to the strength of the main character Leon.
Leon is hardly a bland protagonist that largely serves as a self-insert, which is the downfall of many isekai that are essentially wish-fulfillment fantasy stories. It’s Leon’s witty commentary, his fun dynamic with AI troll partner Luxion, and his based desire to embody the villain for a sense of revenge that keeps audiences hooked even when the side characters purposefully exemplify the tropes of the Otome genre.
Leon is relatable as a person since he progresses through stages of character development where the audience can understand why he behaves as he does even when his actions are unexpected. Rather than a trite OP isekai character whose mission is routine quests and power progression, Leon’s goal is the simple mob life as a background character where his desire for simple contentment is pushed to the edge by the systemic unfairness of this Otome world’s misandrist society.
With a simple mob life now thoroughly out of reach after exiting the wallflowers group and joining Angelica’s duel, Leon now revels in providing karmic justice by playing the villain for the Prince and Marie’s reverse harem. But his desire to denigrate himself as merely a mob character also causes emotional drama and character development that’s usually not explored by the isekai genre.
(Leon is almost the polar opposite of Cid Kagenou in The Eminence in Shadow since the latter only takes on a mob persona as a cover story for how he’s secretly manipulating world events through his secret society Shadow Garden.)
The first five episodes of Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 1 are probably the highlight of the series thus far. Rather than simply establishing the setting, these episodes felt like a self-contained story that could have completely ended without making audiences feel like they were missing out too much on further plot developments like harem romance and the identities of despicable little sister Marie and other reincarnated characters.
Of course, Trapped in a Dating Sim Episode 6 is where the generic characters begin to be given a chance to shine. The reverse harem is so wrapped up in their warped definition of true love that they don’t know how to handle the real emotional harm they’ve caused.
And this renewed character drama is where the anime’s story finds its second source of strength in later story arcs as characters begin to “break the script” of the Otome game. One of the best scenes from the source material was when Olivia breaks down in front of Leon over him treating her more like a mindless pet than a living human being.
The only question is if the anime can break free from the trappings of the isekai genre and the source material itself to the point that it’s popular enough to justify making Mobseka Season 2. Even fans of the light novel series believe that the first three story arcs are the best and from there on the writing quality falls off.
This is a different type of “rule of three”, but it’s hard for the anime production committee to justify greenlighting Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 if it’s destined to be a weak anime sequel. If anything, they might be better off animating the alternate route Marie IF side stories into OVA episodes (Westerners might hate Marie, but due to her expanded backstory in the Marie IF spin-off she became a sympathetic character and she’s currently the favorite girl character in Japanese polls).
From a financial perspective, the first season was regularly featured on Crunchyroll’s popular anime list in Spring 2022, but it was not a shoo-in for renewal like SPY x FAMILY and The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2. Another negative data point is that anime did not give a huge boost to the Trapped in a Dating Sim manga.
To be fair, only Spring 2022 anime like SPY x FAMILY, Komi Can’t Communicate, and Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie managed to boost their respective manga series to the Oricon Top 20 manga for April 2022. Only the SPY x FAMILY: Family Portrait light novel managed to make it to the Oricon Top 20 light novels for April 2022.
Keep in mind that a sales boost does not always automatically result in a quick renewal of an anime sequel. When Studio ENGI released TanMoshi: The Detective Is Already Dead anime in Fall 2021 the series received a significant boost in book sales. The TanMoshi light novels were even #14 on the April 2022 Oricon list. But TanMoshi: The Detective Is Already Dead Season 2 anime was confirmed to be in production over half a year later in July 2022.
In the context of the mid reviews and lackluster book sales, it was slightly surprising that the anime production committee has Trapped In A Dating Sim renewed for a second season less than half a year later. At the same time, many isekai anime are receiving sequels even if they are not breaking the charts.
Now that the project is confirmed, the biggest issue is production scheduling and whether the producers already began pre-production, which means they scheduled out the studio, main staff, and cast for the future when animation work and voice recording begins.
Therefore, assuming that the project was secretly internally greenlit for production in Summer 2022, Anime Geek is predicting that the Trapping in a Dating Sim Season 2 release date will be in 2024 at the earliest.
Crunchyroll’s Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 English dub release date
Crunchyroll’s Trapped in a Dating Sim English dub release date for the first season was on April 17, 2022, which was only several weeks behind the series premiere on April 3, 2022.
Here was Crunchyroll’s Trapped in a Dating Sim dub cast:
- Jordan Dash Cruz as Leon
- Jad Saxton as Olivia
- Kristen McGuire as Angelica
- Jim Foronda as Luxion
- Sarah Wiedenheft as Marie
- Ricco Fajardo as Julius
- Aaron Dismuke as Chris
- Clifford Chapin as Greg
- Ian Sinclair as Jilk
- Justin Briner as Brad
- Ray Hurd as Balcus
- Alex Mai as Nicks
- Michelle Rojas as Luce
- Linda Young as Zola
Presumably, now that Funimation is being phased out by Sony, Crunchyroll’s Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 English dub release date will be announced in the future after Mobseka Season 2 has first premiered with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
Hopefully, future English dubbing will be faster once the COVID pandemic winds down and becomes endemic. Many English dubbing houses have experienced delays since voice actors often travel to the recording studio. In order to protect voice actors from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, they were forced to temporarily pause production or take extra safety precautions that resulted in slowed work.
Trapped in a Dating Sim manga, light novel series compared to the anime
The story for the anime is based on the Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu light novel series by author Yomu Mishima and illustrator Monda. Published by Micro Magazine’s GC Novels imprint since May 2018, the book series up to Volume 10 as of May 30, 2022.
Like many isekai books, the story first was self-published as the Trapped in a Dating Sim web novel on the Let’s Become a Novelist (Shousetsuka ni Narou) website. Unlike many isekai web novels, the story is already finished as of October 15, 2019. Divided into seven story arcs or Parts, the final ending is contained in web novel Chapter 176.
There are significant differences between the characterization and plot events of the web novel and the light novel adaptation. There are new light novel-only characters like Cordelia Fou Easton and the backstories of other characters were expanded.
Starting in October 2018, the original creator also teamed up with artist Jun Shiosato to serialize the Trapped in a Dating Sim manga in Niconico Seiga magazine (it switched to Monthly Dragon Age magazine in 2022). As of October 7, 2022, the Otome Game Sekai manga was up to Volume 9.
North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment is handling the Trapped in a Dating Sim English translation for both the light novels and the manga. By February 14, 2023, the print light novel books will be up to Volume 8 in English, whereas the English manga will be up to Volume 7 as of March 7, 2023.
As with all isekai anime based on light novels, the story was condensed in order to fit entire story arcs into the TV episodic format. This meant that some of the worldbuilding and the earlier family life of the protagonist was skimmed over, although most of those latter details weren’t revealed in the books until later flashbacks.
The anime also skipped many of the scenes that were from Marie’s point of view. In the books, it was clear that Leon and Marie suspected each other of being reincarnated brother and sister, but they gaslighted each other into believing that was impossible.
Still, in comparison to many anime adaptations of light novel series the pacing was actually very good. Lately, it’s become a welcome trend in the anime industry for seasons to only adapt a single book. Recent examples include the 86 anime, the Sabikui Bisco anime, the I’m Quitting Heroing anime, and The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat anime.
But the Mobseka anime didn’t go that far. All in all, it’s predicted that the first season’s finale, Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu Episode 12, will find a stopping point in light novel Volume 2 (or manga Volume 8).
It’s not quite the best stopping point since the first three light novel volumes comprise the first major story arc. Ending with Volume 3 would have also changed how anime-only audiences felt about Marie.
Even though Marie’s plot threads are left hanging, ending with Volume 2 still allowed for the Sky Pirate Subjection arc and the war with the Principality to work as an action-heavy climax. Ending with Volume 2 also allows Mobseka Season 2 to transition into the next major story arc rather than ending on a cliffhanger revelation.
The biggest change was to the ending since the books also had Marie being chosen as a saint rather than just having her state that is her plan. From a character development perspective, that could have been the perfect note to end on since the overall theme is how much Leon despises this Otome world, but the way the anime actually ended gave the story an air of finality.
The good news is that there is plenty of source material available for making Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2. Better yet, English-only light novel readers can jump straight to Volume 3.
The bad news is that the anime is almost caught up with the manga series. Light novel Volume 3 began to be adapted by manga Volume 8: Chapter 39, so it will be at least a year before manga readers can read the entire next story arc.
Mobseka Season 2 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time audiences watched the anime, Leon defeated the Black Knight and retired the Principality of Fanoss fleet. However, the Holfort Kingdom is underestimating its opponent and the Principality got off light since Hertrude is still allowed to attend the academy.
For his efforts, Leon keeps earning accolades and climbing the social ladder by rising in rank again–much to his chagrin. Now other nobles view him as a threat and they conspire to bring Leon down.
Meanwhile, Marie and the idiot brigade (aka Julius and his team) are also aiming to defeat Leon. How will they get their revenge?
Leon is very annoyed by how Marie managed to be recognized as a saint. The gossip is that people are saying that Julius chose the right woman after all and there’s even talk of making Julius the crown prince again… and Marie the crown princess!
But that’s just what happened to the original protagonist in the Otome game, which is how that protagonist earned the complete reverse harem ending. While that’s irksome enough, Angie shocks Leon by announcing that he’s being forced to act as the commander of the saint’s bodyguard!
During a school trip to a historic ruin of ancient humans, they visit Kyle’s homeland which is an elf village on the floating island. There is an elven prophecy that the visiting saint will bring forth the old demon lord when visiting the ruins. Despite the risks, Marie’s debt keeps increasing so she insists they push on ahead in hopes of finding treasure within the ruin.
Exploring the ruins, Leon and Marie are separated from the others and they begin to be attacked by these horrifying creatures. But then they stumble upon a secret lab where the elves have been secretly experimenting on artificial lifeforms.
After talking to the resident AI, Luxion reveals that the ancient research lab used to be run by ancient humans and that’s how they created the elves as weapons. But the elves believe that ancient elves instead created the “inferior” humans… and they’d kill even the saint to keep the secret of the ruins hidden. But the elves were correct about one thing; the demon’s lord wrath is coming, but it’s in the form of the main Luxion ship!
Things get even more complicated when Leon’s political rivals pull out all the stops to lock him up and throw away the key by bringing him up on false trumped-up charges. But that’s just what the Principality of Fanoss wants since it was their deceptive ploy from the beginning.
With Holfort Kingdom’s greatest power behind bars, and Leon’s Lost Item now detained, the Principality launches an unprecedented attack on the capital! When Marie leads a fleet in the war, Hertrude’s younger sister, Principality Princess Hertrauda Sera Fanoss, blows a Magic Flute to summon Guardians to destroy the kingdom’s fleet. Now Leon must figure out how to free himself… and determine whether his country is even worth saving.
Being imprisoned during the start of a war is just the start of Leon’s worries. While they had long realized that the other was a Reincarnator, Marie and Leon finally confirm the suspicions of their true identities as reincarnated siblings.
And then Marie reveals that the Otome game had a second game that came out after Leon’s death on Earth. That’s right, just like My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, the Otome game of Earth had multiple sequels!
Accompanied by Marie, Leon heads off to study abroad in the Alzer Republic as foreign exchange students. If the same thing that happened to Marie in the Kingdom were to happen to the Alzer Republic, it would once again lead to a crisis that would force Leon to save the world. Again.
Leon is dreading the prospect of Queen of Mischief Marie meddling in the plot of the game sequel based on her foreknowledge, but it turns out the original game story has already flown off the rails in this Otome world. The newest protagonist, who was originally all alone in the game sequel, now has a twin sister in this world who wasn’t in the game!
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Trapped in a Dating Sim Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!