The second season of the short TV anime series Hyakusho Kizoku-the farmer’s days has been scheduled to premiere this upcoming Fall 2024 season. The first season aired for a total of 12 episodes from July 7, 2023 until September 22, 2023.
A new teaser visual of the second season was revealed at Tokyo MX’s booth at AnimeJapan 2024 and on the anime’s official Twitter account. The first season is also streaming on YouTube with multiple subtitled languages.
Yuutaro Sawada directed the anime series, with Ayane Matsumoto (Bocchi the Rock! Ending 3 animator) as character designer, animation director, and animator. Precious tone served as the music composer and Ari is credited with creating the background drawings. Pie in the sky handled the animation production for the first season and is expected to do so once again for the second season.
Meanwhile, the main voice cast for the anime shorts include:
- • Mutsumi Tamura as Hiromu Arakawa
- • Mariko Honda as Ishii
- • Shigeru Chiba as Oyaji-dono
- • Kujira as Okan
The anime is based on the autobiographical farming essay manga by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa. The manga follows her seven years as a farmer in Hokkaido prior to becoming an established manga artist.
Arakawa’s manga has been serialized in Shinshokan’s Wings magazine since July 28, 2009. It ran in Un Poco from December 28, 2006 to March 28, 2009, before the magazine ceased publication. The series is published under the Wings Comics label and has released eight tankobon volumes as of December 2023. The manga was digitally published in English by the defunct JManga service in 2012.
Japan Media Arts Festival describes Hyakusho Kizoku as:
Before becoming a manga artist, Arakawa Hiromu spent seven years working as a farmer in Hokkaido. Well acquainted with the many emotions that are part and parcel of agricultural work, she captures the harsh realities of Japanese dairy farming while also shedding light on this tough and powerful way of life in a series of side-splitting episodes. Known for numerous works in which she celebrates the joys of life, in this essay-style comic Arakawa reveals her own roots and little-known truths about farming life.
