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Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū Anime Season 2 Premieres in January

The 33rd issue of Kodansha's ITAN magazine announced on Friday that Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen (Sukeroku Anew Arc), the second television anime season based on Haruko Kumota's Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū manga will premiere in January. It will air in the Animeism programming block.

In addition, the manga's 10th and final volume will bundle a brand-new 20-page story about the time when Konatsu and Yakumo were young and living together. A limited edition of the volume will include a pamphlet with the new story and character designs by Kumoto for the second season. The 10th volume is slated for September 7.

The anime's first story revolves around a mature prisoner who was released on good behavior during Japan's Showa Genroku era (1960s to early 1970s). He is called Yotarō by others, a term that means an "anti-hero" or a "dim-witted man." When he returns to society, he starts a new life in rakugo (comic storytelling). Touched by Yakumo's role as the "grim reaper," he asks the master to take him in as an apprentice. Most of the first season had delved into Yakumo's own past during World War II and the years afterward.

The second season's stage will move forward to the modern era, with the story of Kikuhiko and Sukeroku's past now over.

The anime's first season premiered on January 8. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it airs in Japan.

Kumota began the manga in ITAN in 2010 and ended it on June 7. The series received the "Best General Manga" prize at the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards, and was also honored with the Excellence Award at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards. The manga was also nominated for the 17th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2013.

The manga was also adapted into an earlier two-episode OAV, with the first episode bundled with the manga's seventh volume in March 2015, and the second episode bundled with the eighth volume in August 2015.