Love and Lies is an anime that takes cliche themes like arranged marriages and unlived love and turns them into a breath of fresh air with its characters and creativity. Since Season 1 was concluded with a major cliffhanger, everyone’s itching to know more about Season 2.
Today we’ll go over what happened up until this point in the show and about the possibility of Love and Lies Season 2.
What happened so far in Love and Lies
In a futuristic modern Japan, the country is in a state of meager birth rates and is in danger of extinction. The government has taken it upon itself to handle the situation and has developed a plan to deal with it. The plan is called “The Red Threads Of Science.” Whenever a child turns 16, they are assigned a partner chosen by the government through compatibility calculations, and they have to get married. Those who disagree are subjects to severe punishments.
We meet a high schooler by the name of Yukari Nejima. He’s an average guy, and the system doesn’t seem that bad an idea considering that he’ll surely get married that way. However, this idea doesn’t seem so good when he falls in love with his classmate Misaki Takasaki. Yukari knows he turns 16 soon and decides to confess his love to Misaki. He passionately tells her how he feels, and it turns out she feels the same way. They share a moment of passion and love as the first time people confess their love to each other is always beautiful. However, their love is put in front of an obstacle as Yukari goes home and finds his marriage notice… but the girl isn’t Misaki. The girl he has to marry is called Ririna Sanada, and she also isn’t thrilled to have to marry Yukari. Much to her surprise, though, he’s in love with another girl, which spices things up a bit. She becomes intrigued by his other love and decides to help them make it work even though she’ll be married to Yukari. He’s now forced to live a crazy life of love and lies to keep his marriage and relationship going.
The season ends with a high note as Yukari goes to a bridal shoot and both Ririna and Misaki are there. He takes a picture with both of them in their wedding dresses, and all three of them confess their love to one another. It turns out all three of them love one another, and Yukari concludes that they shouldn’t lie to each other because of this. At the same time, they have to keep lying about their feelings for the other two due to the law.
What’s Going on With Liden Films?
One of the things that brought a lot of success to Love and Lies was Liden Films studio. The show’s director was Seiki Takuno, and it aired from July 4th of 2017 to September 19 the same year. The opening song was played by the rock band Frederic and was called “Kanashii Ureshii,” which translates to “Sad and Happy.” The ending song was made by another band called Roy and “Can’t You Say.” The music in the show is clearly one of its higher points, and the studio chose well in that matter. Liden Films also provided great animation that suits the style of a dramatic Anime like Love and Lies. Overall, the studio did a great job doing whatever it could to stay true to the show’s vibe and visible. From the animation to the music to even the voice acting, the show has its own vibe, and you can feel it. The energy surge fans feel from the more emotional scenes is proof enough.
Liden Films was founded on February 22nd of 2012. Since then, it has expanded and currently has 5 branches. So it’s no wonder they did their job with Love and Lies as professionally as they did. Another notable work of the studio is Berserk in 2016.
One of the other things done right is, as mentioned above, the voice acting. Ryota Osaka voices Yukari, and that’s a brilliant pick for his whiny character but where he really shines is the serious emotional moments like confessions and first kisses. His inner monologuing is always a thrill to watch. Misaki is voiced by Kana Hanazawa, which is also a great pick.
In the manga series, all the characters have these little personality quirks that help you fall in love with them more. This is even further pronounced in the anime, and you can’t help but get drawn in by the characters. They’re well written, yes, but they’re well-executed as well, and that keeps the viewer going. Characters are one of the most important things for stories, especially in romance animes such as Love and Lies. When the plot is simple, if you lack good characters, the show would be doomed. But they did a great job making all the main cast shine as much as possible, and the studio deserves a compliment.
Overall the studio did a great job with the show is a huge part of its success. Currently, it’s working on 5 projects simultaneously that are yet to reach their end, but unfortunately, Love and Lies isn’t one of them.
What do we know about Love and Lies Season 2 so far?
Unfortunately, Season 2 hasn’t been announced yet. Rumors were going around about it coming out in 2019, and there was a release date, but that was never official, and as expected, it never happened. The anime received a good rating on “My anime list” and did well with critics and fans alike. Moreover, a continuation hasn’t been announced, and not all hope is lost as if it hasn’t been announced yet it means it also hasn’t been canceled.
What are fans saying about Love and Lies Season 2?
Some fans have already given up since the creators haven’t announced anything for four years now. Others are more optimistic about it as audiences really received the anime well, and the only real issue people had was the ending. Other than that, it was a bomb, and people are still talking about it today as most well-informed fans think it’s more likely to come out now more than ever.
The anime is still being discussed in forums. People ask questions, discuss the plot, and have fun making different theories and analyses on Reddit, Twitter, and Youtube websites. There’s still a lot of new fan art coming up regularly. There was even a whole fan-made story about how Yukari, Misaki, and Ririna have a three-way relationship and the troubles they face with parents and friends accepting it. It was gaining quite a lot of popularity but got shut down as they got some copyright strikes. Thus, fans are clearly invested in the story and demand more.
Will there be a Love and Lies Season 2?
Love and Lies is based on a manga series that has the same name written by Musawo Tsumugi. Until this point, the manga has released 10 volumes, and on July 7, 2017, an official fan book was released. Kodansha releases the volumes, and Kodansha USA licenses the English version.
As far as source material, the first season only covered up until volume 5 of the manga. It was extremely fast-paced, skipping over certain parts of the story and some more important character development. That being said, there’s more than enough material for a second season, and if they decide to be more thorough, they could even get away with more episodes.
The show’s popularity keeps rising and hitting new peaks from time to time and hasn’t had a lot of downs in its popularity chart. The manga was extremely successful as many; it’s frequently on Oricon’s weekly top 50 charts. All of the first 5 volumes were in the top 50, with volume 4 reaching the 5th spot on the list at one point. Manga Box magazine reported Love and Lies being one of their most popular works with over 3.5 million viewers just a short time after the manga was released for the first time in 2014.
So it’s clear that the demand is high. There’s also enough source material, and there was even a live-action film made directed by Takeshi Furuwasa. So being as this is the perfect time for some stay-at-home anime watch and the demand is quite big, Season 2 doesn’t seem so unlikely.
When will Love and Lies Season 2 be released?
As of today, there are still no announcements about the second season. It’s pretty safe to assume that it won’t just come out of nowhere unannounced too.
The idea of announcing new releases in the first place is to generate hype and have the season itself do better. However, it’s currently not in the works; there’s still a big possibility to have it in the future.
What can we expect out of Love and Lies Season 2?
After the first season, the big thing going on in people’s heads is how this love triangle will work. Jealousy will spark, and Yukari will have to decide, and fans already have preferences for who they want him to choose. Also, we might get to see their troubles with the law because they’re not exactly “Obeying the system.” Likewise, if Liden Films makes Season 2, it’ll be interesting to see how the animation will turn out. The previous season was more of an old-school animation due to the year it was published and preferences by the creators. Accordingly, it’s interesting to see how this will affect the anime.
While we’re waiting for the new season to be announced, made, and released, you can rewatch the Love and Lies anime on Netflix.
