Aoashi Season 2 Trailer Previews Theme Songs, Sets October 4 Premiere
The studio change from Production I.G to TMS Entertainment, paired with a new director and a partially replaced character design team, signals a significant behind-the-scenes shift for a series whose manga recently concluded.
Key Facts
- Aoashi Season 2 premieres on NHK Educational on October 4.
- 10-FEET performs the opening theme song "Fortress Defense" and Ai Higuchi performs the ending theme song "Triangle."
- TMS Entertainment animates Season 2, replacing Production I.G which handled the first season.
- Kazuki Yokoyama replaces Akira Sato as director for the second season.
- The first cour covers the opening 12 episodes of a planned 24-episode run.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime News Network, Anime Corner.
The staff of the television anime of Yugo Kobayashi's Aoashi manga revealed a new promotional video on Wednesday, previewing the theme songs for the second season and confirming an October 4 premiere on NHK Educational. Japanese rock band 10-FEET performs the opening theme song "Fortress Defense," while singer-songwriter Ai Higuchi performs the ending theme song "Triangle." The second season marks a change in animation studio, with TMS Entertainment taking over from Production I.G, which animated the first season in 2022. Kazuki Yokoyama is replacing Akira Sato as director. Asami Taguchi and Junko Yamanaka join returning character designer Manabu Nakatake, while previous character designers Asuka Yamaguchi, Saki Hasegawa, and Toshie Kawamura are no longer credited. Script supervisor Masahiro Yokotani, sound director Shoji Hata, and composer Masaru Yokoyama all return. The first cour will cover the opening 12 episodes of the season's planned 24-episode run. The manga, which began in January 2015 in Weekly Big Comic Spirits, ended with its 40th volume in August 2025.
- Asami Taguchi, whose prior credits include Lupin Zero, and Junko Yamanaka, who worked on Lupin III vs. Cat's Eye, join the character design team.
- The first season, directed by Akira Sato at Production I.G, ran 22 episodes from April to September 2022.
- First season character design credits also included sub-character designers Naho Seike, Yukiko Watabe, Miho Daidouji, and Eisuke Shirai.
- Kenichi Takeshita, Jun Soga, and Kenji Iizuka handled soccer supervision on the first season.
- Naohiko Ueno is credited for research and original story collaboration on the manga through its 17th volume.
- The manga won the Best General Manga at the 65th Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2020.
- Anime News Network reports over 15 million copies in circulation, while Anime Corner puts the figure at over 20 million.
- Titan Manga is releasing the series in English in 3-in-1 omnibus volumes, with the first volume out June 9.
- Kobayashi also created the Fermat no Ryori manga.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.