The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 release date set for fall 2020: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Season 2 a FUNimation exclusive

Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 poster art
The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 will adapt the Visitor story arc from Tsutomu Sato’s Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei light novel book series. Pic credit: Studio 8bit

The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 has officially been confirmed to be in production! The new Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Season 2 episodes will be coming out in fall 2020 and cover the Visitor story arc.

What’s more, the ending of the entire Mahouka novel series has been announced and it’s coming out in 2020. Fortunately, the book series will have a sequel called Sequel – The Irregular at Magic High School Magian Company and a spin-off series called The Irregular at Magic High School Maidens of Cygnus (See below for more details.)

Unfortunately, The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 release date has already suffered one delay due to the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus pandemic. The anime series was originally scheduled to come out in July 2020, but now it’s been pushed back to later in the year according to the official website. (See the release date section below for more details.)

Considering how long anime fans have been waiting for Mahouka Season 2 it almost gives one hope for other fan-favorites like No Game No Life Season 2.

The first season came out over five years ago in April 2014, while The Irregular at Magic High School The Movie: The Girl Who Calls the Stars came out in 2017.

The 26-episode first season was produced by animation studio Madhouse and directed by Manabu Ono while the film was produced by Studio 8bit.

For Mahouka Season 2, 8bit will be returning with film director Risako Yoshida at the helm once again. Character designer Kana Ishida is also coming back as well as music composer Taku Iwasaki.

The Japanese Mahouka cast will include returning members from the first season. Yuichi Nakamura will voice Tatsuya Shiba, Saori Hayami voices Miyuki Shiba, and Yoko Hikasa voices Angelina Kudo Shields.

The number of episodes has been announced. Mahouka Season 2 Episode 13 will finish off the Visitor story arc, which makes sense since the second season is adapting only three books.

The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 opening (OP) theme song music will be “Howling” as performed by singer ASCA, while the ending (ED) will be “The Nameless Flower (Na mo Nai Hana)” by Miki Sato.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcX8M9NnzTs

FUNimation has confirmed that Mahouka Season 2 will be streaming exclusively on its platform in the United States, the UK, and Ireland. AnimeLab will be streaming the TV series in Australia and New Zealand.

The current trailer released by Aniplex of America uses English subtitles. In mid-November 2020, FUNimation announced thier plans for a Mahouka Season 2 English dub.

The second season will be dubbed by Aniplex of America and Bang Zoom! Entertainment. FUNimation Now will release The Irregular at Magic High School Season 2 English dub on their streaming platform.

The Irregular at Magic High School Anime Season 2 Anime Key Visual Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Season 2
The key visual for the Mahouka Season 2 anime. Pic credit: Studio 8bit
  • Updated November 17, 2020: Added English dub info.
  • Updated October 3, 2020: Added Mahouka sequel preview art.
  • Updated September 30, 2020: Added Mahouka Season 2 ED trailer.
  • Updated September 16, 2020: Mahouka Season 2 confirmed as a FUNimation streaming exclusive.
  • Updated September 9, 2020: Added The Irregular at Magic High School: Magian Company release date and cover art. Added Season 2 number of episodes.
  • Updated September 7, 2020: Added exact Mahouka Season 2 release date and new trailer.
  • Updated July 29, 2020: Added news of Mahouka sequel and spinoff book series.
  • Updated June 24, 2020: The Irregular At Magic High School Volume 32 confirmed as the final ending for the first book series.
  • Updated April 24, 2020: The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 release date delayed!
  • Updated March 22, 2020: Added the Mahouka Season 2 trailer and key visual.
  • Updated January 6, 2020: Added the time frame for The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 release date.

This article provides everything that is known about The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Season 2) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.

The Irregular At Magic High School manga/light novel series compared to the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei anime

The story for the anime series is based on the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei light novel series by author Tsutomu Sato and illustrator Kana Ishida. Launched in 2011, the book series is all the way up to Volume 31: Future Chapter as of April 10, 2020.

According to the official Mahouka Twitter account, the entire novel series will be ending with Volume 32, which is labeled with the subtitle “Sacrifice/Graduation Arc”. The final book is scheduled to release in Japan on September 10, 2020.

https://twitter.com/RanobeSugoi/status/1312015283385561089

However, that’s not the final end! The author is planning on writing a Mahouka sequel called Sequel – The Irregular at Magic High School Magian Company (Zoku Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Magian Company) that will be published on October 10, 2020.

Mahouka Koko no Rettosei Magian Company
As might be expected, the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei book sequel’s story is about Tatsuya after he graduates from high school. Pic credit: Kana Ishida

In addition, a new spin-off series called New – The Irregular at Magic High School Maidens of Cygnus (Shin – Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Cygnus no Otome-tachi) will keep the series grounded in its roots. Maidens of Cygnus will follow the adventures of female students in a new class.

The spinoff is scheduled to launch during the winter 2021 time frame.

The timeline of the first book series’ overall story is divided up into 22 story arcs that are clearly marked by the titles of the books.

To put the length of the series into perspective, it would probably take about 10 anime seasons to finish adapting the story. But I’m sure fans would just be happy if The Irregular At Magic High School Season 3 anime is announced at the ending of the second season.

The official English translation is being published by Yen Press. As of April 2020, the English Mahouka releases were up to Volume 15, the Ancient City Insurrection Arc. Volume 16, the Yotsuba Succession Arc, is scheduled to release on October 20, 2020.

The Mahouka manga adaptation is unique in that each story arc is released separately and there is a rotating set of illustrators. Often times different story arcs were being released at the same time frames, which is a bit confusing. Worse, the story arcs being adapted are completely out of order in relation to the main timeline.

For example, the seven-volume Visitor Arc (light novels 9 through 11) was adapted into the manga format by illustrator Gin Amau from December 2015 through September 2019.

At the same time, manga illustrator Tsuna Kitaumi was adapting the Double Seven Arc (light novel 12) from October 2016 through summer 2019.

In June 2018, illustrator Yuzuki N Dash began adapting the President Election Arc… a story based on the final chapter of light novel Volume 5.

The Irregular At Magic High School Volume 9 Light Novel Cover Art
The story of The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 anime picks up with light novel Volume 9. Pic credit: Kana Ishida

Confused yet? The anime adaptation is a bit more straight-forward but it still managed to mess up the timeline in various ways.

The first season adapted Volumes 1 through 7 by adapting the Enrollment, Nine School Competition, and Yokohama Disturbance arcs. However, the first season skipped Volume 5 completely.

Volume 5 was focused on the summer vacation between school semesters. Besides showing how the new Student Council formed in preparation for the new year, the book introduced various characters and their magic before they showed up in the Yokohama Disturbance Arc. The book also covered how a certain character learned one of Tatsuya’s secrets.

Besides skipping an entire book, the anime’s first season also condensed the story in various ways. Foreshadowing was cut along with many scenes. Characterization largely focused on Tatsuya whereas in the light novels other characters were developed further.

The light novels were infamous for being dense reading due to the technical magic systems that only a software engineer would love. The anime simplified the magic and physics greatly which satisfied casual anime audiences but upset light novel fans.

Still, it could be argued the anime improved on the light novels by introducing acrobatics in the entertaining action sequences. Technically, acrobatics is unnecessary based on the physics of magic discussed in the books, but it made for better animation.

The Irregular At Magic High School Movie Poster
Oddly enough, the story of The Irregular At Magic High School Movie takes place after Mahouka Season 2. Pic credit: Studio 8bit

The Mahouka movie was a lot more accessible to casual audiences since it dumped the heavy exposition required by magic physics in order to focus on action and keeping the plot moving fast. The problem was that this story occurred in a time gap that took place between Volumes 11 and 12.

Yes, that’s right. The Mahouka movie takes place after The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 in the timeline. Due to skipping over so many books, the film introduced characters who never appeared in the anime’s first season.

There were even flashbacks referencing events that took place between the first season and the movie.

Mahouka Season 2 will introduce even more problems for the narrative since the story takes place about two months after the end of the first season. That means Mahouka Season 2 is skipping Volume 8, the Recollection Arc.

To a certain extent, it could be argued that the book is skippable since the majority of events take place three years in the past. The story tells how the characters came to be where they are now and explain why the United States Of North America (USNA) is currently so interested in Tatsuya’s matter detonation magic.

The good news is that the light novel series leaves plenty of room for The Irregular At Magic High School Season 3. Better yet, English-only light novel readers can read ahead of The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 by jumping straight to Volume 12.

The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 Mahouka Key Visual
A key visual for The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2. Pic credit: Studio 8bit

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Season 2 release date set for fall 2020

According to the official Mahouka Twitter page, the exact The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 release date on FUNimation streaming is scheduled for October 3, 2020. In Japan, the TV show will begin broadcasting on October 4, 2020.

The announcement of the Mahouka sequel initially claimed the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Season 2 premiere date would be in the July 2020 time frame, the summer 2020 anime season. However, due to the global pandemic, the new release time frame was rescheduled for October 2020, the fall 2020 anime season.

“Regarding The Irregular At Magic High School: Visitor Arc scheduled to be broadcast and distributed from July 2020, broadcasting and distribution will be postponed due to the spread of the new coronavirus infectious disease COVID-19,” stated the official website. “We are currently planning to broadcast and distribute from October 2020, so we will announce it again on the official anime website once the detailed date and time has been decided. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. Thank you for your understanding.”

Mahouka Season 2 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)

A black hole experiment results in deserters from the USNA military traveling to Japan. The Stars unit sends spies to hunt down the deserters and also identify the magician who created matter detonation.

As such, Stars Head-Captain Angelina Kudou Shields infiltrates the magic high school to spy on Tatsuya and Miyuki. But the USNA does not know Tatsuya is the one behind matter detonation… yet.

The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 Angelina Kudou Shields
The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 character Angelina Kudou Shields has already been animated since she played a role in the Mahouka movie. Pic credit: Studio 8bit

The deserts possess abnormal abilities beyond most magicians and Tatsuya eventually convinces Angelina to tell him what she knows. Based on this intel, Tatsuya realizes the deserters are possessed by parasitic sentient energy that entered the real world from the magic dimension during the black hole experiment.

Things will get complicated for Tatsuya quickly since he not only has to deal with the parasites but now multiple magic clans are attempting to capture these parasite-infected hosts. The USNA also suspects Tatsuya of being behind matter detonation so Stars orders Angelina to kill Tatsuya!

Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until The Irregular At Magic High School Season 2 release date to watch how Tatsuya resolves these conflicts. Stay tuned!

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