Shoushimin Series 2nd Season

"I just wanted to know... what love really is."

Having ended their mutually beneficial reciprocal relationship, second-year high schoolers Jougorou Kobato and Yuki Osanai go their separate ways.

Osanai begins dating first-year newspaper club member Urino, who throws himself into covering a series of arson incidents happening around town in hopes of leaving a mark on the school and impressing Osanai. Meanwhile, Kobato starts a relationship with his classmate, Nakamaru, and settles into a peaceful daily life—until he happens to witness an arson scene by the riverside...

What awaits Kobato and Osanai as they embark on a new chapter of their lives as "ordinary citizens"?

(Source: Official website, translated)

Osanai, Yuki Main

Youmiya, Hina Japanese

Kobato, Jougorou Main

Umeda, Shuuichirou Japanese

Doujima, Kengo Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Nakamaru, Tokiko ing

Miyamoto, Yume Japanese

Yoshiguchi ing

Shimabukuro, Miyuri Japanese

Urino, Takahiko ing

Uenishi, Teppei Japanese

Hiya, Yuuto ing

Yamashita, Seiichirou Japanese

Satomura ing

Nagase, Anna Japanese

Makishima, Midori ing

Seto, Asami Japanese

Miyamuro ing

Kanemasa, Ikuto Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Sotokawa, Akihiro Producer

Endou, Kazuki Producer

Reviews

Apr 19, 2025

ssandermann

Recommended

Preliminary (3/? eps)

Where there were first cute self-contained stories, there is now S U S P E N S E. This show is drip-feeding me information and I am on the ground SLOBBERING it up. Osanai is standing over me. Smiling.

There is a single overarching narrative now, and even though Osanai hardly gets any screentime, she's THERE. The entire time. In the background, you know she's there. The whole tone has shifted. Osanai is a manipulative MENACE. The suspense is palpable, and I feel like I've self-inflicted it somehow? There's not even THAT much going on every episode, yet the whole time I'm sitting there thinking "What ... the fuck is she doing?? How far is she going to take... whatever this is?? How dangerous is she actually??". Every time she's on screen, she is the one in control. There is a scene in episode 3, and it is just, so good. How do you make DROPPING A PIECE OF PAPER ON THE GROUND so fucking scary?!! They made her scary in a way that I have not seen many other characters be scary. It's not "creepy" scary, it's "intimidating" scary, mentally intimidating. It's all just the right amount of "there's something really fucked up going on here but I JUST don't quite know what it is".

I'm so fucking hooked. It's rare for me to say that a second season is better than the first, usually shows that are interesting initially lose the magic they had because what made it interesting gets old, or drawn out. But not this. It's episode 3 and I'm way more invested in what's going on now than I was all of season one. If it can keep this level of suspense for the rest of the season AND lead to an interesting conclusion, I might have to change my rating to a 10.

9/10

Oh and it's still as cinematic and beautiful as the first season

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 10, 2025

HajiOoo

Recommended

Preliminary (6/? eps)

Overall style is very pleasant to watch and it suits the story as well as the characters and their development. Although a mean score of 7.67 is good, it still surprises me and i think it is too low. It is a very unique anime, which is based on a manga, that is respectively based on a novel. If you are a vivid anime watcher, you will feel that this anime, among the rest of the seasonal anime series, feels out of tune, but that is exactly where its strength is. It has a different pace. At first glance, it seems very slow, but if ... you are willing, and open to it, it makes you think about what is going on and if you see Kobato as Holmes, Osanai as Moriarty and Doujima as Watson, man, you will hear yourself saying: "episode 6?! Its going way too fast!!!"

Treat yourself to this series. As Osanai does with her sweets and Kobato with his mysteries.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 18, 2025

jRad522

Recommended

Well-written

Preliminary (7/? eps)

A good psychological thriller can be fast paced, action-packed, and flashy, but a great psychological thriller is often excruciatingly slow, indefinably tense, and subtle. Shoushimin Series, along with several other things that are super fun but also probably kind of bad for your immortal soul (in a delightful way, of course), belongs on the short list of things that are better because they take forever to get to the point. The first series of this show has the same presentation and pacing, and again is all the better for it (and needs to be watched before this one, PLEASE), but the second season has turned ... up the metaphorical volume to maximum while at the same time maintaining the same tone of quiet, inexplicable, dread that permeated the first. In the same way that a whisper can sometimes be much more impactful than a shout, Shoushimin goes so much harder than many shows that seem to be trying so much harder.

Like Hyouka, a previous work by the author, Shoushimin Series is essentially a collection of mundane mysteries strung together by a character study of the people who get involved with them. The main difference between the two is that, while Hyouka presents us with a charming and heartwarming story of a group of misfits who come together to better the world around them, Shoushimin tells us the sinister and disturbing story of a group of misfits who come together to (sometimes literally) set the world around them on fire and watch it burn.

It both stories, we have an emotionally distant though outwardly pleasant male lead who sees the world around him and the people in it as no more than pieces of a puzzle that is begging to be solved, but in Shoushimin we acknowledge that this type of behavior is manipulative, maladaptive, and potentially dangerous to those who get involved with him. In both stories, we have an adorable female lead who is ruled by her curiosity and never takes no for an answer, but in Shoushimin we quickly realize that this behavior, when taken to extremes, is the kind of behavior that consistently gets relatively innocent people hurt. In both stories, the mystery is the most important thing in the characters' worlds. In Shoushimin, it is clear that this means that the happiness and wellbeing of their friends and family consistently come a distant second in importance to the "heroes" of the tale.

All that being said, the characters miraculously remain relatable and sympathetic. It is clear that Kobato and Osanai are suffering just as much as the people that they pull into their bullshit, and we (or I, at least), are still rooting for them. They are messy and chaotic and dangerous, but so is life. They are imperfect, but so are we. They have the potential to grow, which they may or may not do, but I will definitely keep watching to find out.

It doesn't hurt that it's beautiful to look at, very well scored, and contains great voice acting.

If you liked Hyouka or other slow-paced, character-driven mystery series, you'll love Shoushimin Series. If you didn't, don't, or can't bring yourself to sit through it, I don't blame you in the slightest, but I do kind of feel for you that you won't get to experience what this show has to offer. If you're on the fence, give it a try! You'll know pretty quickly if it's for you or not.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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