‘Sword Gai’ Season 2 On Netflix: Part 2 Of Anime ‘Sword Gai: The Animation’ Teased For Manga-Based Series

Netflix’s Sword Gai Season 2 is already in hot demand now that the first 12 episodes have been dropped online by the streaming giant. The anime Sword Gai: The Animation was one of 30 new Netflix Original anime series that Netflix has planned for the future. The good news is that the first season is clearly implying that Episode 12’s ending is only Part 1 in the Netflix menu, so when will Sword Gai Part 2 come out? News reports teased an announcement for AnimeJapan 2018 and the voice actors did speak out, but anime fans may have to wait a while to watch more of the story.

The story is based on the Sword Gai manga by author Toshiki Inoue and illustrator Wosamu Kine. The manga’s run in Monthly Hero’s Magazine ended in 2015 with Sword Gai Volume 6, but a sequel manga series called Sword Gai Evolve continued the story in 2016 and it’s currently up to volume 4 as of March 5, 2018. Unfortunately, no company has licensed the English translation of the manga and there are no fan translation projects available at this time.

The anime adaptation was originally being developed by Flash anime studio DLE and entertainment company Fields for release in 2016, but that version of the anime was delayed indefinitely until Netflix picked up the series. A collaboration between Production IG, LandQ Studios, and DLE ended up creating Sword Gai: The Animation.

The Sword Gai Anime Is Different From The Manga

Multiple producers and directors sat down with Gigazine for an interview. They revealed that mangaka Inoue was directly involved in writing the anime series composition. Apparently, the plot in the scripts written by Inoue was “different from the manga” from the beginning of the project.

Inoue’s direct involvement in the anime project streamlined the writing process. Normally, it takes several hours to read through the script and discuss it, “but in the case of Sword Gai it was 30 minutes.” The anime production did add on to Inoue’s script and shift things around, but mostly in areas where more details were necessary for the animation work.

“We also supplemented the battle scene. On the screenplay, the battle scenes are written simply as ‘fighting armed demons’ and ‘fierce fistfight,'” explained animation producer Kenji Watanabe. “But in order to visualize, it is necessary to explain to the people who do the story work. Then, it will increase further from the original 27 pages.”

Watanabe also revealed that he had originally planned on going full 3D animation for the battle scenes, but as he read the script he realized, “This is not the case.”

The anime adaptation’s story was notably different from the manga, especially at the beginning the story. When director Tomohito Naka was asked what he felt about the anime, this is what he said.

“Why are humans drawn to weapons… This anime describes legendary cursed weapons and those who are possessed by it. The first episode is more of a prequel, focusing on how the legendary demon sword Shiryu and Gai were brought together. Their epic past is a must-see,” he explained. “Besides Shiryu, there are anime original weapons such as Zsoltgewinn and Flamberge that turn into dark-heroic Busomas. I especially concentrated on creating the battle scenes between Busomas and their modeling, so I hope you watch them carefully. The story following episode 2 focuses on Gai and other original characters who are driven by weapons and fight their cruel fate.”

The Biggest Problem With How The Release Was Handled

Part 1 finished with a cliffhanger ending that provides no resolution to the main conflict and leaves the main character, Gai, in quite the bind. Sword Gai Season 2 is almost a necessity or Netflix risks upsetting anime fans further since they already dislike how the streaming giant will delay the international release of popular anime like Violet Evergarden, which has already announced that a new project is in progress ahead of the U.S. release.

Some anime fans on Reddit have already declared the anime Sword Gai: The Animation the “worst of [the] OG batch from Netflix so far” based on the ending of Part 1. Fans compared the Sword Gai anime to Netflix’s A.I.C.O. Incarnation anime, which contained a completely self-contained story that probably won’t receive a second season by studio Bones.

Sword Gai: The Animation Season 2 Release Date To Be Announced Soon?

As of this article’s publishing, animation companies LandQ, Production IG, and DLE have not announced anything official about the Sword Gai Season 2 release date, although this article will be updated as soon as the anime sequel’s premiere is confirmed. However, there can be reasonable speculation about when, or if, the Sword Gai: The Animation Season 2 premiere date may occur.

The good news is that the anime studios want to do sequels to their Netflix Original series. For example, Production IG’s CEO and director have already started talking about B: The Beginning Season 2.

The day that the anime aired on Netflix, Anime News Network reported that the “Netflix Anime Matsuri! Space Stage” event at the AnimeJapan 2018 convention would “announce new information about the [Sword Gai] anime on Saturday.” There was also a special talk show event about Sword Gai: The Animation on Sunday. While it sounded like the perfect opportunity to announce Sword Gai Season 2 to the world, so far news reports out of Japan have not revealed anything about the second season.

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— Netflix Japan Anime (@NetflixJP_Anime) March 25, 2018

Sword Gai cast members Yuto Uemura (voice of Gai Ogata) and Yuichiro Umehara (voice of Seiya Ichijo) answered fans’ questions at the event. Umehara joked, “A Japanese sword has become popular among women, recently.”

Surprisingly, the lead voice actor did not watch anime when he was younger. Fans asked what their favorite scene was and what they liked about their character.

“Since the lead character is a very strong character, the scene of the battle was basically less ad-lib,” Umehara said, according to Sakigake. “As the anime supplemented the manga, the power of the manga is amazing.”

Umehara also spoke in the voice of his character and said, “I feel like I can already watch 12 [more] episodes!”

Hopefully, more information about Sword Gai Season 2 will be announced soon. Stay tuned!

[Update March 26, 2018] Added interviews with the anime’s producers and reports from AnimeJapan 2018.