Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Season 2 Director, Possible Returning Cast, Possible Plotlines And More Details
The isekai genre — tales about regular people who are transported to fantasy worlds — experienced a big boom on the back of the popular anime "Sword Art Online," and it's still going strong to this day thanks to shows like "The Eminence in Shadow," "Ascendance of a Bookworm," and "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles." It's easy to see why the genre is so popular. We get why fans resonate with the idea of being sent to a wondrous world that trades in skyscrapers for castles and airplanes for dragons. However, with the increase in the quantity of isekai works in recent years, it can seem difficult for new anime series within the genre to stand out. "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" attempted to achieve just that when it debuted in the Summer 2021 season, and it quickly built up a fanbase.
The anime is based on a light novel series from author Yuri Kitayama. It features a protagonist from our world that reawakens in another, but he also happens to share his consciousness with another person. "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" makes a delightful mess of the concept of reincarnation, which the isekai genre usually simplifies within the opening scene of the first episode. The first season of "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" raises more questions than it provides answers by the time its finale ends. But, fortunately, we're getting another chance at some answers, thanks to the forthcoming second season.
Here's everything we know about Season 2 of "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" so far.
When will Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Season 2 be released?
Season 1 of "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" finished in September 2021. On November 5, 2021, the official Twitter account for the anime series announced that a second season was in development. The tweet came with a special Season 1 recap video to mark the announcement. However, it did not come with an official release date. It's worth highlighting that the first season of "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" was announced in late November 2020 before premiering the following year in July 2021. With Season 2's announcement taking place in November 2021, fans were hopeful that they would see a repeat situation and the second season would come out in the summer of 2022, at least in Japan.
That didn't come to pass, though in truth this wasn't much of a surprise — shortly after the sophomore season got announced, a statement from a member of the creative team revealed that it would "take a little more time," without giving any specifics. Many months passed without any further info, but in August 2023, we got our first piece of concrete intel on the second season's release when the official "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" Twitter account revealed that it would be dropping at some point in 2024.
At this point, we still don't know when exactly in 2024 Season 2 will come out. What we do know is it's likely that Crunchyroll will be involved with the Western release of the show's second season. The streaming service did a simulcast of Season 1 as it aired in Japan, and they released an official English dub on December 27, 2021. Because the show has been so popular, there's a good chance that the gap between the original show releasing and the dub coming out won't be quite as long this time around.
What is the plot of Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Season 2?
Light novel spoilers ahead.
Season 1 of "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" introduces us to a young man named Haruto Amakawa, who, after dying tragically, is reincarnated in the body of a young boy named Rio — though he's not in Japan anymore. Rio resides in the slums of Beltrum, a kingdom run by a corrupt and brutal royal family. Haruto soon discovers that Rio is one of many fed-up citizens hoping to bring down the tyrannical House of Arbor.
The Season 1 finale ends with Rio stopping the arranged marriage of his companion Celia. Haruto also discovers that people from Beltrum have been reincarnated into his world. With this knowledge, it's a safe bet that the plot of Season 2 will shed more light on how Rio became linked to Haruto. Season 2 could also delve into why Rio has become so powerful upon discovering his link with Haruto.
What is certain is that "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" Season 2 has a lot of material to pull from when it comes to the original light novels. Season 1 covered up to Volume 5 of the light novels. At the time of this writing in 2023, there are 23 volumes of "Spirit Chronicles" for the creators of the anime to draw from.
If Season 2 picks up with the story of Volume 6, then it will see Rio journey to the trade city of Amande so he can learn more about the hero summonings. In this book, he tries to gain access to the estate of Celia's family so he can let her father know that she's safe. He later encounters a huge throng of monsters led by Reiss and dispatches them in style, which leads Miharu to become curious about his true identity.
Who is starring in Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Season 2?
Season 1 of "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" centers on the characters of Haruto Amakawa and Rio, voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Kieran Regan in the original Japanese-language version and the English dub, respectively. Haruto passes away following a freak traffic accident, while Rio is a young man in a fantasy world who is made an orphan following the horrific murder of his mother. What links the two characters is that they appear to be the same person — or at least they share the same mind. Rio suddenly discovers the personality and memories of Haruto's past life and sets out to discover more about what's happening.
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka delivers a great voice performance as Haruto/Rio, and he's as eager as the rest of us are for Season 2. "Is it next week yet?!" he said during a cast interview published on the official "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" website, adding that he and the rest of the cast "are aiming for a fun" follow-up season. Season 2 will also likely feature the return of Rio's teacher Celia (Akane Fujita and Madeline Dorroh) and his contracted spirit Aishia (Yuuki Kuwahara and Morgan Laure). The Japanese voice actors behind these characters are also very excited about what's to come. "This is all thanks to your support," Fujita told fans, while Kuwahara said that she will "continue to pour a lot of affection into the role of Aisia."
There's one more significant character that fans will be happy to know is returning. At the end of Season 1, Rio encounters Haruto's childhood friend Ayase Miharu, who has somehow also been summoned from modern-day Japan. She's voiced in the original version by Sayaka Harada, who is back for Season 2. She said, "I want to do my best so that people can love Seirei Gensou and Miharu-chan in season 2 as well!"
Who is directing Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Season 2?
"Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" Season 2 will be helmed by Osamu Yamasaki, the director of the first season. The Kumamoto-born writer, director, animator, and martial artist (he's a 3rd Dan in iaido) discussed the upcoming second season in an interview with the official "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" website. He said that the renewal was "all thanks to the passionate support of our fans," adding that "the entire staff will put their hearts into the production to meet your expectations."
Besides "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles," Yamasaki is known for directing the 2007 sci-fi series "Terra e...," aka "Towards the Terra." It's set in a future in which Earth has been polluted beyond fixing and mankind exists in a colonized space. With a score of 7.88 on My Anime List, it's a highly-regarded military space saga. Yamasaki switched it up the following year when he took charge of "It Started with a Kiss," a romantic comedy about an under-achieving high schooler who is forced to live with a super-smart girl after his house is leveled during an earthquake. It's not quite as renowned, but with a score of 7.43 on My Anime List, it's still worthy of your time.
Yamasaki learned his craft at Kumamoto Technical High School, where Hiroshi Watanabe (who would go on to be a key animator on Studio Ghibli's "Kiki's Delivery Service") was also a student at the time. "He invited me to join the animation club, saying, 'If you like drawing manga, come along,'" Yamasaki told Platina. Yamasaki is known for pushing for fair pay for those involved in bringing anime to the screen, especially the animators. Not long after "It Started with a Kiss" aired, he spoke out about the low wages offered to animators, telling JAnica Club (via My Anime List) that they take home as little as 100,000 yen (less than $800) a month.
Where to watch Season 1 of Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles
Season 1 of "Seirei Gensouki" was released to English-speaking audiences in 2021 under the title "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles." Consisting of 12 episodes running approximately 23 minutes each, the debut season is available to watch on the anime streaming service Crunchyroll. The series remains exclusive to that particular outlet, at least for Western audiences — it's also available to watch on the Shanghai-based video sharing website Bilibili, which serves fans in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia.
On Crunchyroll, viewers have a choice between subbed and dubbed editions — the former referring to the original Japanese language version of the series with English subtitles added, the latter involving a new cast of actors recording new lines in English and a number of other languages, too. Crunchyroll offers dubs of "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" in English, German, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.
Viewers who want to experience as much "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" content as possible can also refer to the source material, Yuri Kitayama's light novel saga. The books were originally distributed on the Japanese language self-publishing platform Shōsetsuka ni Narō (meaning "Let's Become a Novelist") and were later acquired by Hobby Japan. As well as the anime, there's also a manga adaptation of the light novels, which is licensed by J-Novel Club in North America. "Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles" was one of the five titles it released to coincide with the launch of its online manga reader in 2018.