Are we still craving for those crazy interactions between eagerly curious ojou-samas, the lovely modern commoner stuff, and one unfortunate but a damn lucky young kid? How about we first reminisce what has happened in Shomin Sample so far? We might as well gauge our chances, you know. For a realistic hope of witnessing its next season may unfold shortly!
What happened so far in Shomin Sample
The Seikain All-Girls School is an elite educational institution where the richest daughters of aristocratic families are enrolled for education and preparation for their upcoming roles in adult society…
However, there is one big problem.
All of the school’s female students are led very sheltered lives and have never known the life of the modern, commoner world. To prevent graduates from being overwhelmed with the world outside, the institution chose Kimito Kagurazaka, an unassuming young commoner teen, to be their local commoner specialist. The objective is to give the students a better first-hand experience of all things they are about to experience outside their everyday aristocratic environments.
In a twist of events that reflects the genre of this series, four primary female students stood out from the rest: Aika, the rowdy but bashful self-proclaimed leader of the commoner club. Reiko, the top ojou-sama of the school, eventually desires Kimito as more than just a commoner reference. Karen, the girl who acts tough but has a lovely and cute side within her. And Hakua, the child prodigy with a few… “weird habits” that only Kimito was capable of breaking through.
Oh and, Hanae and Miyuki missed out on their character developments in the single-cour anime adaptation.
Aika, in the beginning, had no idea how to interact with her classmates but ultimately solved her issue afters a particular educational field trip. Reiko gradually developed feelings for Kimito stemming from that one single youthful accident. Karen was finally given the spotlight late into the series, and Hakua remained the eye candy of the commoner club, much to the chagrin of Aika and Reiko.
Upon directly establishing each connection for each significant character through the episodes, the big bad boss finally appeared: none other than Reiko’s mother. With the aid of her super doting, sister-complex-stricken brother Masaomi, a climactic fight ensued that finally gave Reiko the courage to stand up and refuse the arranged marriage.
With Reiko safely back to the academy, everything seems to be back to square one for all commoner club members… at least until the next season is somehow greenlit.
What’s Going On With Silver Link?
Shomin Sample started airing in the middle of Autumn Anime Season of 2015, specifically from October 7th, ending in a single-cour of twelve episodes until December 23rd. It aired primarily on Wednesdays. This was technically the seventh anime adaptation project of Silver Link for that year, preceded by the much-hyped Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry. “Prisma Illya specialist” Masato Jinbo was the head director for the series, while the script was written by Kento Shimoyama and the music was composed by Hiromi Mizutani.
Silver Link is by no means a direct analog to Doga Kobo when it comes to showing off its bright, almost pastel-like visuals, but they’ve got it quite close. Non Non Biyori is, of course, the very first thing that comes into mind with this, to which Shomin Sample comes relatively close (enough).
As for its character designs, a certain level of necessary sacrifice was made to the original visuals. However, at least each individual, including those not named vocally in the script, appropriately pop out of the scenes as they should. There were at least two particular scenes at the beginning of the series where the studio showcases everyone, though the comedic nature of both makes the cameos somewhat unnoticeable.
In contrast to the stable implementation of altered character designs, backdrops can be a bit of an afterthought. After all, most scenes happen in the exact location for a good chunk of each episode (hint: the space feels small for the five of them). Certainly not something that you’d worry about in a slice-of-life series, though.
One quite eccentric quirk of the anime’s production was the creation of the “gets!” trend in the series. That was the idea of Dandy Sakano and original light novel author Takafumi Nanatsuki, with the voice of the comedian himself thrown in as an easter egg, plus adding related promotional material for the light novel’s third volume.
Yes, as already hinted, the anime adaptation featured the original material up until volume three. This means you may continue reading onwards to volume four if you have already finished the anime series.
What do we know about Shomin Sample Season 2 so far?
There are no official announcements of any new seasons for Shomin Sample as of today. Again, much like the trend of using anime adaptations as marketing material, there are still around eight more volumes worth of stories that can be adapted. Though, at the very least, the Blu-ray and DVD home media versions of the series did feature roughly five-minute specials that showcase extra content (mainly not sourced from the original light novel).
There were no other alternative media adaptations of the series since the anime aired, except maybe the manga versions, which continued for two years more after the conclusion of the light novel, up until 2018.
What are fans saying about Shomin Sample Season 2?
There have been quite a few smaller anime circles (who presumably have watched Shomin Sample only recently) discussing the prospect of having a second season even today in 2021. Still, these are very far and few in between.
Much of the discussion involving Silver Link would be either the revival of Non Non Biyori into its latest season earlier this year or any of its upcoming derivative (subverting?) isekai series.
Will there be Shomin Sample Season 2?
Based on the trends of several light novel-based adaptations airing from 2015-2016, the most likely outcome is that there won’t be a second season, even for the next few years starting right now. Shomin Sample is a case of pure advertisement. Even if it did successfully escape the fate of other downturned franchises such as WaruBure, it was never intended to be a recurring series in the first place.
In other words, the anime adaptation was primarily intended as a gateway for potential fans to get to the source material. This is more reflected in the decision to push for the manga adaptation of Shomin Sample until its conclusion (something that other light novel titles often don’t have the luxury for) despite Silver Link deciding to adapt the series for only a single cour.
That being said, one ray of hope remains, which is Non Non Biyori (Nonstop!).
Sure, this series is more popular than Shomin Sample at large. But the fact that Silver Link has greenlit a new season after all these years gives fans a glimmer of hope that we’d see the misadventures of Kimito and the gang once again.
When will Shomin Sample Season 2 be released?
Most likely never.
Actually, with the revival of Non Non Biyori this year, there might be a glimmer of home in the next few years.
What Can We Expect In Season 2 Of Shomin Sample?
The best thing to look out for in the theoretical second season of Shomin Sample is Miyuki’s more extensive involvement of Miyuki’s story in the slice-of-life mix. If we are to count the subsequent three volumes once again, this will count several flashback sequences and even a few resurfaced memories, all of which are conveniently sealed for Kimito to discover piece by piece.
As for Hanae, you can forget about her.
Unfortunately, though, even with the second season of twelve new episodes, some of the essential plot developments for Aika and Reiko might still not be included; they’re still quite far up ahead.
