In the midst of roasting your chestnuts, spinning your dreidels, and avoiding your extended family so you can shut yourself inside your room on Christmas Eve and play visual novels all night, it’s important to remember one of the most exciting parts of the holidays; new anime series are coming soon! With the current anime season wrapping up and the winter 2020 season soon approaching, companies and streaming services that specialize in localizing and broadcasting anime outside of Japan have begun announcing the countless titles from the upcoming anime season that they plan to bring to their streaming services. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and HiDive each lay claim to a few shows each season. The biggest hitters, though, are Crunchyroll and Funimation. These two anime industry giants consistently localize and simulcast the largest volume of anime each season, and this upcoming winter 2020 season is no exception. Crunchyroll confirmed that one of the many new shows joining their lineup this season is none other than Isekai Quartet 2.
Some new trailers released by Kadokawa, the official Japanese producers and distributors of Isekai Quartet 2 and the various isekai series that feature in the show, show off some snappy new scenes from the upcoming slapstick crossover anime. As the name indicates, this is a sequel to the chibi comedy anime Isekai Quartet that aired earlier this year. The anime is a crossover between some of the biggest current isekai properties; Re:Zero, Overlord, KONOSUBA, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil. This newest season adds a major new player to the mix, as characters from The Rising of Shield Hero will be involved in the antics of the new season.
The official Japanese website for the Isekai Quartet series confirmed that the series will be running for a total of 12 episodes. The sequel series will also be getting a home video release in Japan, shipping out on two six-episode Blu-ray/DVD volume releases on April 24th and May 27th. The series will debut on Japanese airwaves on January 14th, in the 12:30 a.m. timeslot for Tokyo MX. That technically means the show premieres on January 15th, but don’t worry about it. After that debut, the show will then air on MBS, BS11, and At-X.
As for overseas fans, Crunchyroll plans to debut Isekai Quartet 2 on their live streaming services and apps the same day it airs in Japan, although likely a few hours after the initial debut. The anime will stream subtitled in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
If you want to watch the English dubbed show, you’ll need to turn to Funimation. The anime localization giant announced a slew of winter anime coming to their services. Among them is Isekai Quartet 2, but Funimation only plans to stream the crossover anime on their service with an English dub. The rest of their announced acquisitions so far will have both subtitled and English dubbed options. That lineup includes Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, A3! Season Spring & Summer, Smile Down the Runway, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, and If My Favorite Pop Idol Made it to the Budokan, I Would Die.
All of the staff from the first season of the anime will be returning. Minoru Ashina is scripting and directing the anime. Ashina previously worked on Kaiju Girls and the Pure Pure Purea Desu Overlord short series, both of which follow a similar format and art-style as Isekai Quartet. Minoru Takehara, meanwhile, is both the character designer and chief animation director for the anime. The animation is being handled by Studio Puyukai, who previously did the animation for Kaiju Girls, Lord Marksman and Vanadis, and the Pure Pure Purea Desu Overlord short series.
The opening and ending theme songs, funnily enough, are performed by the voice actors of each isekai series featured in the show. On top of that, they perform the songs as their actual characters. Satoshi Hino, Jun Fukushima, Yūsuke Kobayashi, and Aoi Yūki perform the opening theme song as Momonga from Overlord, Kazuma Sato from KONOSUBA – God’s blessing on this wonderful world!, Subaru Natsuki from Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, and Tanya Degurechaff from Saga of Tanya the Evil, respectively.
The ending song, meanwhile, is performed by Sumire Uesaka, Rie Takahashi, Inori Minase, and Saori Hayami. Sumire Uesaka performs as Shalltear Bloodfallen from Overlord, while Rie Takahashi performs as Emilia from Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-. Interestingly, she also voices Megumin in KonoSuba – God’s blessing on this wonderful world!!. The other Re:ZERO voice actress featured in this song is Inori Minase, who performs as Rem. Finally, Saori Hayami joins the song as Viktoriya Ivanovna “Visha” Serebryakov from Saga of Tanya the Evil.
Much like the split airing of Isekai Quartet 2 between Crunchyroll and Funimation this season, the two anime giants also streamed the first season of the show as it aired with subtitles and an English dub respectively back in April. Funimation describes the story of the first season as follows:
The button appeared out of nowhere. There weren’t any signs NOT to push it…so the solution is obvious, right? Is it a trap or the start of something new and exciting? The crews of Re:Zero, Overlord, KONOSUBA, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil will find out when they go from their world to another and get stuck in…class?! See what adorable chaos they’ll get up to in this collection of shorts!
