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The Eccentric Family TV Anime Gets 2nd Season (Updated)

P.A. Works announced at a stage event at the Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair on Sunday that it is producing a second season of The Eccentric Family (Uchōten Kazoku) anime series. The anime studio had teased last week that the event would feature "new announcements." The new series is titled Uchōten Kazoku 2 (The Eccentric Family 2), and it is P.A. Works' first sequel series.

Voice actor Takahiro Sakurai, voice actress Mamiko Noto, original novel author Tomihiko Morimi, director Masayuki Yoshihara, and P.A. Works CEO Kenji Horikawa were on stage at the event to make the announcement.

(From left to right: Masayuki Yoshihara, Takahiro Sakurai, Mamiko Noto, Tomihiko Morimi)

The first season's main staff members are returning for the sequel. Masayuki Yoshihara is directing the series at P.A. Works, Kōji Kumeta (Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Kakushigoto) is designing the characters, and Lantis is handling the music production. Additionally, Kousuke Kawazura is adapting Kumeta's designs for animation and is serving as animation director, and Yūsuke Takeda and Harumi Okamoto are serving as art directors.

The first season's main cast are also returning, including:

• Takahiro Sakurai as Yasaburō Shimogamo, the third son of the family
• Junichi Suwabe as Yaichirō Shimogamo, the eldest son of the family
• Hiroyuki Yoshino as Yajirō Shimogamo, the second son of the family
• Mai Nakahara as Yashirō Shimogamo, the youngest son of the family
• Mamiko Noto as Benten, the bewitchingly beautiful woman

The 2013 anime adapted the original novel of the same name by Tomihiko Morimi (The Tatami Galaxy). The comedy drama is set in Kyoto, where tanuki (shape-shifting raccoon-dogs), tengu (long-nosed goblins of Japanese folklore), and humans intermingle. The story follows the tanuki Shimogamo Yasaburō, the third son of the Shimogamo family who live in the Tadasu no Mori forest of Shimogamo Shrine. One day, Yasaburō's father is eaten as a hot pot by human members of a group known as the "Friday Club." As Yasaburō takes care of his teacher, an old tengu, fights with other tanuki, and plays with a psychic human girl, Yasaburō approaches the truth about his father's death.

Morimi provided a comment on the sequel anime announcement:

'Once again, I have written another novel difficult to visualize.'
This was my thought when I finished writing the sequel. As a clumsy writer, I have lost my proper consideration for the production staff and could not withhold my wild fantasies. When I reflect upon the countless obstacles that everyone in the production staff will be facing, I am in endless remorse. Please, forgive this rambunctious author. This is an abbreviated formality, but with this comment, I hereby express my apologies, and offer my prayer for the birth of a masterpiece greater than the first season.

Yoshihara additionally stated, "The highlight of Uchōten Kazoku 2 is the attractive new characters. Please watch and read the first season, and then enjoy this new world to the fullest."

The first anime season won the Excellence Award at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 2013. Crunchyroll streamed the anime under the title The Eccentric Family, and NIS America released the series on Blu-ray Disc in January 2015.

Gentosha published Morimi's original Uchōten Kazoku novel in 2010, and then published a sequel novel titled Uchōten Kazoku Nidaime No Kicho in 2015. The original novel has sold more than 360,000 copies. The Eccentric Family 2 is based on the second novel volume.

Horikawa also announced at the event that Bandai Visual will release a Blu-ray Disc box set for the first season in Japan.

Update: Image gallery added from stage event.

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Images © Tomihiko Morimi, GENTOSHA / Uchoten-Kazoku 2 Committee