A decade is really a long, long time to wait for any show. But the loyal fans of this immensely popular anime have been waiting for the release of Highschool Of The Dead Season 2 for the last eleven years. An entire decade has been passed, but they still haven’t lost the hope to see the second run of their favorite show. So, will the huge fandom of this show ever be able to see more episodes of this show? Here is everything to know.
Highschool Of The Dead, aka Apocalyptic Academy: Highschool Of The Dead, is a Japanese supernatural action-horror anime TV series. It is an adaptation of Daisuke Satou and Shouji Satou’s manga series of the very title. Sentai Filmworks licensed its anime adaptation, whereas it was animated by Madhouse animation studio. The premiere episode of this show hit the screens on July 5, 2010. It concluded after running for twelve episodes on September 20 of the same year. Since then, every single fan of this show has been waiting to get an update on its second season.
Manga Compared To The Anime
The duo of Daisuke and Shouji started working on this critically acclaimed manga series back in 2006. Its serialization began in September 2006 in the Monthly Dragon Ace magazine. Daisuke stopped writing the story of this manga in May 2013 because of his health issues. By that time, only seven volumes of the anime had been released. The publishers had to end this unfinished manga because of the lack of activity from its authors. On the other hand, the first season of the anime that ran for twelve episodes only used four volumes of the series.
Its debut season finale found its stopping point at Chapter 17 of Volume 4. That means the production studio still has three books that they can use as the source material. However, these three volumes won’t be enough to create Highschool Of The Dead Season 2. The pacing of the first season of Apocalyptic Academy was great, and if the makers want to maintain the same pace, they will need another volume of the manga, which is very unlikely to come out.
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Why The Manga Was Left Unfinished?
The last and the seventh volume of the manga series came out back in May 2013. Daisuke Satou stopped writing the story of the further chapters of the manga as he was dealing with some health issues. The fans thought he might get healthy in a year or two and then start working on the series again. However, it didn’t happen. In March 2017, Daisuke Satou met his unfortunate demise. With his life, all the hopes for the continuation of this manga have also been ended. No other author picked up the manga to conclude its storyline in order to honor Daisuke’s work. As a result, the Highschool Of The Dead Manga series ended even before reaching its climax.
Highschool Of The Dead Season 2: Renewal Status
The producers of the series check several factors before giving the green light to any anime series. These factors include its critical reception, popularity, ratings, source material, Blu-Ray sales, and many more things. The debut installment of the Apocalyptic Academy got a positive critical reception. They praised this show for its amazing supernatural content and engaging plotline. The viewers also loved this show and gave it an overwhelming response. It has positive reviews on every single platform.
At the time of writing, it has a good score of 7.10 on MyAnimeList. This score is more than good enough to earn this show a sequel. Not only that, but the series also has more than 1.2M million members in its MAL group. It is a part of the 100 most popular series of all time and is ranked at #66 in popularity on MyAnimeList. So, when it comes to popularity, this show certainly has an edge. The show is quite popular on social media as well. Fans often ask about High School Of The Dead Season 2 on forums like Reddit. Back in 2010, the DVD sales of this show were also good, plus the makers made some money by selling its merchandise as well.
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However, as we mentioned above, Studio Madhouse only has three volumes of manga to create the sequel of this anime. The content of these three books is certainly not enough for them to make another full-fledged installment. This was the main reason why the makers didn’t renew this show. They didn’t announce it officially, but the current renewal status of the series is “canceled.”
Will The Anime Return?
Many fans have been asking if there is any hope left for this show to return or not. At present, it seems like all the doors that lead to the renewal of the anime are closed. There are several reasons behind it. The main reason behind this is that mangaka of the Apocalyptic Academy died back in March 2017. Now, there is no one to complete its unfinished storyline. Also, the makers stopped its publication almost eight years ago. Therefore, no other mangaka will come forward to pick up this show. Plus, it has already been 11 years since the conclusion of its first season. During these years, the popularity of this show has been decreased significantly.
A lot of rumors are circling around the web regarding the continuation of the manga and the renewal of the anime. However, none of them turned out to be true yet. The production studio already stopped talking about Highschool Of The Dead Season 2 a long time ago. Therefore, now the chances are very less that the fans will ever get to see the sequel of this anime.
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Fans Reaction On The Show
HOTD has one of the biggest anime fandoms. The followers of this show can be found all over the internet on every single social media platform and forums. For the past eleven years, these fans have been asking for the renewal of Highschool Of The Dead Season 2. Several rumors also spread about the renewal on Reddit. One Reddit user also responds to the same kind of rumor by making a meme on it. He used the “So that was a fuc**g lie” meme template. Such reactions can be seen on Twitter and Instagram as well. Most of the fans have understood that their favorite anime would not return for another run. Hence, they began to create memes on that very topic.
Highschool Of The Dead Season 2: Plot Details
The story of the anime series is set in Japan, where the world is stuck by the pandemic. However, it is a very unusual disease as it can turn humans into zombies. As a result, a group of high school students took it upon themselves to deal with this outbreak. They not only have to survive the zombie outbreak, but at the same time, they have to deal with issues like societal collapse as well. Soon, they reach the elementary school and make it their safe zone.
Now, Highschool Of The Dead Season 2 will feature the group of Takashi making a decision to leave the shopping mall. However, things won’t be simple for them. They will face another group of survivors who will open the emergency exit, and the zombies will enter the mall too. The chaos will break, and suddenly the entire scenario will change. This content is from the fifth volume of the manga series that the studio might use if the show gets renewed for another installment.
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Highschool Of The Dead Season 2: Release Date
As previously mentioned, the chances are almost zero for Apocalyptic Academy to make its on-screen return. The officials have more than enough genuine reasons to discontinue the show. Therefore, it is impossible to predict the release date of Highschool Of The Dead Season 2. However, we never say never in the anime industry. So, if any miracle happens and HOTD gets a renewal in the upcoming years, then it might come out sometime in 2024 or 2025.