Ah, romance. Anime and manga may have possibly already explored every single angle of the genre, and every single avenue that can technically be available to a high school setting. But somehow… combining them together with an adorable cast of characters seems to work out perfectly fine?
Welcome to the small, but adorable world of Tsuredure Children, and why fans have understandably been clamoring for Tsuredure Children Season 2 for the longest time ever.
What happened so far in Tsuredure Children
One fateful snowy day, Haruhiko Takase heads over to the place he agreed to with Saki Kanda. He’s expecting… a confession. He’s actually right on the money, but Kanda’s response wasn’t exactly the straight answer that he wanted. Befuddled in a whirlwind of misunderstandings, the two eventually went on their separate ways. Not exactly on awkward terms, but just frustratingly a hairline away from them finally going out.
And nope, he’s not actually the main protagonist. In fact, there is no main protagonist at all.
We eventually shift perspectives into the many characters of this one school. All of them interesting pairings of their own, with each trouble and trial facing different levels of developing romantic relationships:
Furuya and Minagawa got into a relationship limbo for quite some time due to Furuya’s indecisiveness, and Minagawa’s love of teasing him.
Sugawara the cool soccer player guy ends up having feelings for the otherwise usually deadpan Takano, who kept self-denying her growing thoughts about him.
Kamine and Gouda, after an awkward, and yet immensely cute confession scene, had certain… “technical difficulties” openly expressing themselves even after they started dating.
Kana and Chiaki are already dating for a year, but Chiaki never realized due to thinking it was a joke. They hit several road bumps as they make the relationship more official.
Kurihara and Yamane were actually already looking out for each other for a long time. Thankfully an opportunity for the two came at last when Yamane saved her from a would-be train groper.
Akagi has long since admired the apparently delinquent Ryouko Kaji, and decided to make the bold move to take her. Turns out, her “dere” is immensely cuter than her supposedly rough “tsun”.
Other characters also had their brief stints in the romantic spotlight, like the first years Nanase and Kaga. But for the most part, the story progressed mainly around these six pairs, plus the very first one (Takase and Kanda). The final episode then culminated with the arrival of summer vacation. Will Takano finally open herself to Sugawara? Is Sugawara ready to plunge in and make her intentions clear against her self-denials?
The anime adaptation unfortunately ends here.
What’s going on with Studio Gokumi?
Tsuredure Children aired on July 4, 2017, which was during the busiest year that Studio Gokumi has ever been to date (never before, and never has been since). The episodes were delivered in short 12-minute formats (usually focusing on one couple for each half), and concluded with twelve total episodes on September 19, 2017. Hiraku Kaneko served as its main director, with the scripts shortly modified chronologically by Tatsuhiko Urahata. Tenmon (Ef: A Tale of Memories) then composed the music for the series.
Despite being founded only ten years ago, the vivid, and striking character color combination expertise that its animation staff accumulated from being ex-Gonzo members is nothing to be scoffed at. This is pretty evident in the anime series that the team is now very renowned for: The Yuki Yuna is a Hero series. Thus, filling the hues of the innocent romantic world of Tsuredure Children definitely went in line with the studio’s other relative works so far.
Because of the very wide cast and slice-of-life nature of the series, Tsuredure Children was also very much treated to the stereotypical color-variation system that defined anime for many of its more casual viewers. Surprisingly though, the result of this is that many characters actually felt kind of different from their original manga counterparts.
Furuya, who is mostly drawn as this straight and serious guy in the manga, suddenly looked less of an imposing fellow with newer and lighter green hair. Reversely, Sugawara looked a tad bit cooler (than the more casual-looking manga version) with the type of red accent chosen for his anime adaptation.
While we would definitely have wanted the more standard 24-minute format for the episodes for even juicer romantic scenes, the problem is that doing so would prove to be problematic in terms of content. Because of the character-intertwined nature of the series, extending the stories of the featured characters would inevitably lead to cramming in even more characters from the manga.
As such, it became part of the reason why the format was made as it is.
What do we know about Tsuredure Children Season 2 so far?
As with many manga series that ended with partial adaptations, no announcements have been made so far. Because it is a relatively short series and not exactly a long-standing “anthology” type story, no other derivative works have surfaced to support the franchise. In fact, the manga itself wrapped up its final conclusion(s) just a year after the anime aired, as its final chapter was released in a July 2018 issue of Weekly Shounen Magazine (released in tankoubon form a month later).
Will there be Tsuredure Children Season 2?
The probability is quite unlikely since the manga concluded already quite some time ago after the final episode of the first season.
Again, we come back to the problem of featuring the cast. Progressing further into the original material will inevitably force the introduction of many more characters. The shift in focus for these other couples would then effectively make it an entirely different series. The only way to prevent this is for Studio Gokumi to greenlight an original scenario route (for the first season cast), which of course, is very unlikely as well given the genre of the adaptation.
On an interesting note, original manga author Toshiya Wakabayashi did express interest in a second season, but he firmly asserted that there is “almost no possibility” from a tweet from several years ago.
What are fans saying about Tsuredure Children Season 2?
The lack of solid conclusion for the other couples has the entire fan community simply turning towards the original source material immediately after watching the series. Which is very understandable. Those that don’t read the manga immediately afterward are faced with the eternal lingering question… of whatever the heck happened to Sugawara and Takano during summer vacation.
Besides, with Wakabayashi’s statement being already widely known to the entire fanbase, the hope is just basically nil. Everyone seems to have accepted that Tsuredure Children is but one of the myriad of different adaptations specifically built to promote the original material.
When will Tsuredure Children Season 2 be released?
As stated earlier by Wakabayashi himself, most likely never.
What can we expect in Tsuredure Children Season 2?
First of all, if season 2 was greenlit, the first focus would definitely have to be Sugawara and Takano. At the very least, this will only involve characters that are already known to the anime adaptation so far, so a safe bet for the animators.
There’s a caveat, however. The events leading up to the beach event require the introduction of other characters that are not yet featured in the anime. Yes, even characters that were technically bypassed in the previous chapters, or those already featured earlier in the manga but never appeared officially in anime.
Also, those who have been looking forward to seeing more of council president Akagi’s chad moves towards Ryouko Kaji should also be in for a nice treat, if a theoretical Tsuredure Children season 2 becomes available.
Oh and, if you’re wondering where to start reading after the anime, go for chapter 81.
