‘Eromanga Sensei’ Season 2 Release Date: OVA Confirmed For 2018, Light Novel/Manga Provides ‘OreImo’-Like Ending For Sagiri, Masamune?

“This show is trash and everyone watching it is going to jail.” That statement seems to be the prevailing opinion of those clamoring for a second season of this guilty pleasure. Fans seem to assume the announcement of the Eromanga Sensei Season 2 release date is inevitable. Fortunately for those fans, there seems to be plenty of reason to support the opinion that the anime will follow in the steps of the similarly themed OreImo. In addition, it’s been confirmed that an OVA episode will be coming out in 2018!

If the anime were never intended to be more than a glorified advertisement for the Eromanga Sensei light novel, then the best ending point would have been episode 11. Sagiri and Masamune both realized their relationship had started before their parents even met. Dreams were fulfilled, and there was hope for the future.

The anime seemed to reverse course in the final episode, with any closeness between the two main characters seemingly dashed by the way the girls were fighting over him, bringing uncertainty to the relationship status. And that’s a good thing. The Eromanga Sensei anime ended on a hilarious note by allowing the characters to go crazy, giving audiences a large helping of a guilty pleasure, yet leaving them desperately wanting Eromanga Sensei Episode 13.

Eromanga Sensei Light Novel And Manga Almost At The Ending?

Japanese light novel author Fushimi Tsukasa certainly seems to have a theme with his published works. The Ero Manga Sensei: Im?to to Akazu no Ma creator is best known for his series Ore no Im?to ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, or OreImo. The earlier work also received a second season of anime.

The title of the OreImo book series is translated as My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute and the overall plot for OreImo is similar to Eromanga Sensei except for one critical detail. In OreImo, the siblings are blood-related, while the Eromanga Sensei characters are step-siblings who barely knew each other before their newlywed parents were killed. In short, the siblings’ family status is like Michelangelo’s David in the anime because Fushimi essentially wants to bypass the censors who killed off OreImo’s intended ending by making a relationship between Sagiri and Masamune more palatable.

The two series are also a study in contrast. None of the OreImo characters could be honest with themselves until the very end while the Eromanga Sensei characters have confessed their feelings and now are trying to figure out to handle these emotions. Fushimi also intended on providing a contrast between the two heroines.

“I feel that Kirino [Kousaka] from OreImo is a pure, innocent girl,” Fushimi explained, according to Crunchyroll. “This time, the heroine, Sagiri, may seem innocent, but she is quite dirty. I hope readers enjoy finding the differences between the two heroines…. I want readers to think, ‘The title is so embarrassing, but I’m glad I read this!'”

The real question is if there’s enough source material to produce a second season. The good news is that the light novels seem to provide plenty of content, even enough for Eromanga Sensei Season 3. As of this article’s publishing, the light novel series is up to Eromanga Sensei Volume 9 as of June 9, 2017, and the ending of Volume 3 roughly matches up with episode 10. If anything, episodes 11 and 12 are Eromanga Sensei OVA, although episode 11 hit fast-forward by borrowing elements of Volume 8 and the light novel only briefly mentioned bikini Twister.

Only Fushimi knows for certain, but based upon the light novel’s pacing it seems like the ending for the books will be Eromanga Sensei Volume 10. If A-1 Pictures wants to create a cliffhanger ending for the anime they’ll use Volume 8’s ending for the Eromanga Sensei Season 2 finale episode. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t leave too much content for Eromanga Sensei Season 3, so we’ll just have to wait and see how the adaptation is handled.

Eromanga Sensei OVA Confirmed For 2018

The official website announced that the OVA episode will be coming out sometime in 2018. The short video trailer says that “Eromanga Will Return,” but the exact release date is not currently known. Unfortunately, the trailer does not give any hints about the story for the OVA, but it’s probably an anime original story considering that the next light novel is more plot-oriented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z1om5wLwCw

Eromanga Sensei Manga English Translation Being Released By Dark Horse Comics

Crunchyroll News confirmed that Dark Horse Comics will be releasing the manga adaptation of the light novel’s story. As of October of 2017, the Japanese manga is up to Volume 6 and has been serialized monthly in Kadokawa’s Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh since May of 2014.

The release date for the first volume of the English translation is scheduled for September 26, 2018. The Eromanga Sensei manga will include a bonus short story, illustration gallery, and color opening page.

Eromanga Sensei Season 2 Release Date

As of this publishing, anime production company A-1 Pictures has not announced anything official about the Eromanga Sensei Season 2 release date, although this article will be updated as soon as the anime sequel is confirmed. However, there can be reasonable speculation about when, or if, the Eromanga Sensei Season 2 air date may occur.

Since this series is glorious trash, you just know it’ll get renewed… unlike Spice And Wolf, A Certain Scientific Railgun, and other great anime. Merely from a sales perspective, the writing is on the wall.

According to MyAnimeList, the first two volumes of the Eromanga Sensei light novel made the top 20 on the Oricon list in April (battle power was 40,265). The Eromanga Sensei Blu-ray and DVD sales in Japan for the past week were also in the top 3. The anime adaptation has a total battle power of 9,353, beaten only by the Muramasa-like Granblue Fantasy and The Idol Master: Cinderella Girls Gekijou. Elf Yamada will be pleased.

Eromanga Sensei Season 2 Spoilers

What is it with Tsukasa Fushimi and making every potential romantic pair in his stories so easy to ship except for the main characters? When we last left our Eromanga Sensei characters, the harem had drawn its battle lines, with every female declaring love for the male protagonist for their various reasons. Even the light novel shopkeeper, Takasago Tomoe, put her feelings for Masamune out in the open, although she joked about marrying for money. Only Megumi was immune to the harem pixie dust in the anime.

In the end, what everyone really wants to know is what happens to the fat, running guy relationship. While the anime leaves audiences with uncertainty, the light novels provide an ending that’s settled and final. Without giving away too much, Masamune eventually does propose marriage to one of the girls. However, the engagement is (so far) fairly open-ended since this girl is still a teen and wishes to try dating before becoming a bride someday. But this article won’t cover those major spoilers in detail since those events are likely to be part of Eromanga Sensei Season 3.

The beginning of Eromanga Sensei Season 2 should open with a lewd drawing session in Sagiri’s room featuring Muramasa and Elf wearing swimsuits. Their fun is interrupted when the computer screen goes berzerk and shows a person wearing a darker version of the Eromanga sensei costume. Speaking in a mechanical tone, the person issues a challenge directed at Sagiri.

“Hey, are you watching — are you watching, fake?” said the mysterious person. “Yes. You, who stole my name, you fake Eromanga sensei. Listen carefully, fake! I’m the real Eromanga sensei!”

The revelation that there’s more than one person claiming to be Eromanga sensei will be the next major story arc. It turns out the pen name was created by the first person to illustrate under that pseudonym and Sagiri is the successor. But this Dark Eromanga sensei claims to know the first master.

“I’m the only rightful successor of Eromanga sensei’s skill,” the person claims.

Worse, the person calling itself “Eromanga sensei the Great” knows Sagiri’s real identity and possesses an advanced artist technique called “Eromanga Flash,” an ability that puts Sagiri’s work to shame. Great then challenges Sagiri publicly, creating a drawing contest where the loser must give up their rights to the pen name and unmask in front of live audiences. Sagiri will train hard to overcome her doppelganger nemesis and in the process anime watchers will learn the history of the pen name and Great’s real identity.

Eromanga Sensei Season 2 will also have other interesting moments. Yamada Elf’s full real name is Hermoine Emily Granger, and this revelation comes with another attempt at wooing Masamune. Sagiri will not only step outside the Izumi household, she’ll go back to school! The siblings’ guardian, their Aunt Kyouka, will enter the story and a secret she harbors will eventually be revealed.

Let’s just hope that Eromanga Sensei Season 2 will be the type of interesting trash still worth watching. After all, no one wants to make Sagiri upset!

[Update April 6, 2018] Added information about Dark Horse publishing the English manga.

[Update November 13, 2017] Added information about OVA episode.