Saiki K. Reawakened Season 2 - Will It Ever Happen?
If you're an anime fan and you're looking for laughs, you can't go wrong with "The Disastrous Life of Saiki K." Focusing on the life of Kusuo Saiki, a Japanese high schooler with godlike psychic abilities, "The Disastrous Life of Saiki K." and its Netflix sequel, "Saiki K. Reawakened," bring comedy to the next level and show us all why being an ultra powerful psychic isn't all it's cracked up to be. Despite its success and popularity, however, fans haven't seen a hint of Saiki since 2018. Things were looking up when Netflix resurrected the series with "Reawakened," but the show has seemingly come to a full stop. At this point, many are worried that the final episode of "Reawakened" is the very last they will ever see of the series.
Of course, anime shows have taken long hiatuses and come back before, and Netflix would still stand to gain from creating a second season of "Reawakened" — many viewers loved the series. One audience reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes called it "comedy gold," adding, "some of the best parts poke fun at typical anime stereotypes and tropes and I hope Netflix continues this." Sadly, fans have gone years without any news of another season, and many are beginning to wonder if it will ever happen at all. Here's what we know about "Saiki K. Reawakened" Season 2.
When will Saiki K. Reawakened Season 2 be released?
Unfortunately, Netflix has not given the greenlight for a second season of "Saiki K. Reawakened" yet, so there's no release date to speak of. J.C. Staff and Egg Firm — the two studios behind "The Disastrous Life of Saiki K." and "Saiki K. Reawakened" — have been busy in the years since the Netflix sequel. J.C. Staff have put out the likes of "Hi Score Girl," "One-Punch Man 2," "A Certain Scientific Accelerator," "Edens Zero," and "Requiem of the Rose King," to name but a few, while Egg Firm has churned out the likes of "No Guns Life," "Kandagawa Jet Girls," "Rumble Garanndoll," "The Executioner and Her Way of Life," and "Immoral Guild." In other words, it's not like either studio needs Saiki K. to be reawakened again.
The reality is that, even if Netflix wanted to continue Saiki's story in a second season of "Reawakened," it's not like there's a lot of source material to draw from — the manga ended in 2018. The good news is that the first season was short at just six episodes, so if a follow up was to go into production, it wouldn't take quite as long to get from concept to screen. In the meantime, there are other ways to get your Saiki fix. If you've read the manga and still want more, there's a live action film from 2017 you can check out, though some critics felt as though it tried to imitate the anime a little too much. "It may be funny for the first time, and maybe the second, that the sweet 19-year-old actress [Kanna] Hashimoto imitates the exaggerated facial expressions of her anime character; but when it happens for the 10th time, it becomes quite boring, if not irritating," said the South China Morning Post.
What is the plot of Saiki K. Reawakened?
When we last left off with "Saiki K. Reawakened," the show wrapped up its first season with a cliffhanger teasing the idea that Saiki regains his lost psychic powers, and is therefore able to save the planet from impending doom via meteor. Those of us familiar with Saiki's powers at this point are pretty aware how minor of a challenge such a feat would be for him. In fact, showing him doing so would likely be more tedious than watching him walk to school. At least something funny usually happens on his commute.
This is the exact reason why, if "Reawakened" does receive a second season, it'll likely stick to its traditional formula. After all, there's nothing funnier than watching Saiki try to keep his powers a secret while his weirdo friends complicate every situation and annoy him with their relentless inner monologues. If things keep going the way they do, Saiki will never get peace. But then again, do we really want him to find peace?
Who is starring in Saiki K. Reawakened Season 2?
If "Saiki K. Reawakened" does return for a second season, you can bet that the cast will remain mostly, if not entirely, the same. Hiroshi Kamiya stars as the titular character in the Japanese version of "Saiki K. Reawakened," just like he did in "The Disastrous Life of Saiki K." He's also the voice of Levi in "Attack on Titan" and Trafalgar Law in "One Piece," his most famous role: The Chiba-born voice star was worked on over a hundred episodes of the long-running shonen series.
The dub cast would also likely return, which is good and bad news depending on whether you prefer "The Disastrous Life of Saiki K." or "Saiki K. Reawakened" — Netflix changed the dub cast for its sequel series, which didn't go down well with a number of viewers. "When I clicked on 'Reawakened,' I was pretty happy to see that there was a dub for it, but then my elation evaporated as soon as I heard the new Saiki," Redditor u/Lantern01 said. "Nothing against the new guys, but you know, the old guys's performance really endeared me to the characters and seeing them replaced is a major a bummer."
In the first dub, Saiki was voiced by Jerry Jewell (Jimmy Kudo in "Detective Conan"), but he was replaced by Kyle McCarley (Mattia Ingram in "Tiger & Bunny") for "Reawakened." Of course, Saiki's life isn't so disastrous without his friends and family around to constantly bug him. Popular characters like Nendo (Daisuke Ono/Jason Charles Miller), Teruhashi (Ai Kayano/Tia Lynn Ballard), and Kaido (Nobunaga Shimazaki/Micah Solusod) will likely continue to be played by their usual respective voice actors.