The Spring 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Farming Life in Another World 2

After Hiraku dies of a serious illness, God brings him back to life, gives his health and youth back, and sends him to a fantasy world of his choice. To enjoy his second shot, God bestows the almighty farming tool upon him. Watch as Hiraku digs, chops, and plows in another world in this laidback farming fantasy—and deals with the fact that he's somehow ended up starting his own little kingdom.

Farming Life in Another World 2 is based on the light novel series by author Kinosuke Naito and illustrator Yasumo. The anime series is streaming on HIDIVE on Mondays.

As the Great Tree Village expands, so too is its population. Despite the odd note the first season ended on (which is to say: A child being born practically out of nowhere and the series' seeming disinterest in talking about that for some reason), this episode is pretty much entirely about several new groups—refugees, even—coming to the village. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of how the series completely swerves out of the way of talking about the realities under which these people (or rather, the minotaurs who we learn were expelled from their village) have been living in. We're told there's a war going on, but we're also told everything's totally chill and that it's not worth worrying about. “Everything is fine and you don't need to worry about it,” and “Hey, we need to make homes for refugees in the village" can't both be true.

I get that Hiraku is a stranger to this world and that he's never strayed beyond the village—he barely knows a thing about the world beyond the forest. Even so, he's been there for years now. In all that time, despite being surrounded by all manner of what to him must seem like fantasy races, has he never once thought about asking someone else about literally anything? At best, it makes Hiraku seem incurious—and perhaps a touch selfish as a protagonist. At worst, it makes the writing look lazy. Either way, I'm not a fan.

Anyways, they make homes and they're too small for the adult minotaurs and centaurs. And the other new residents we meet this episode, the nyunyu daphne, prefer the outdoors. So, while the children minotaurs are staying there for the time being, I have no doubt that as the series progresses, they'll find more permanent residences. Which is to say, if this first episode is indicative of anything, we're in for much of the same that we got in season 1. A shame, since personally, I'd be more interested to learn about what's going on in the world around the village, and maybe start seeing the village enter the political stage. It sounds, from what little we've heard, that things are chaotic—but that might serve to make the show all the more interesting. I guess all we can do is wait and see though.

I actually kind of liked the first season of Farming Life, but good golly, this episode really is the boring yawn I imagine detractors say the entire show is. There's nothing this episode does to build intrigue. All it does is reintroduce a world that wasn't that complex to begin with, while wasting time introducing even more characters. ​ The characters are introduced by way of just popping back into the frame. It feels like the opening reels of an old, cheap sitcom where actors just soullessly smile into the camera while their name appears at the bottom. “Hey! It's that elf girl from last season! I remember her! And that vampire girl! And the spider, look at her wave! Wow!” It reinforces the characters without reinforcing their personalities. Not that a show like Farming Life is supposed to have much in the personality department, but c'mon. Hiraku is a dad now. It would have been nice to see how he's handling his new responsibilities. His fatherhood will probably be more developed the further we get into this anime, but in this episode his newborn son is shown for a brief moment before the anime whisks him away to make room for more new characters. Hiraku feels like a blank slate as a result, and doesn't give the audience much to be excited for. ​ The episode spends so much time focusing on reintroducing old characters and introducing new ones that it all feels pointless. There really isn't even much of a goal or motive for any of these characters to start out properly. Hiraku and a few villagers go out to start building a new village, and then they just stop because now there are minotaurs to jam in now. Having just that teeny bit more to do just feels like a necessary box to check off before going back to introducing more new characters. ​ So now there are minotaurs, and of course now a bunch of anime waifus in the form of centaurs too. There are even tree people that come out of the woodwork too (ba-dum tiss). Yes, I know this show takes place in the middle of a forest filled with mystical beasts and monsters. Just introduce 'em in the next episode.