The Spring 2026 Anime Preview Guide

The Beginning After The End Season 2

Arthur, now an adventurer, completes quest after quest alongside Jasmine, honing his swordsmanship and mana. One day, Brald, an AA-ranked adventurer, invites them to participate in a certain quest. Though Arthur and his companions wonder why they were chosen, Arthur decides to accept it as his final quest before entering the Academy. However, an unimaginable tragedy awaits them.

The Beginning After The End Season 2 is based on the web novel by TurtleMe. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

So, I know that WEBTOON adaptations were supposed to be the thing that revitalized anime, but has this experiment gone on for long enough that we can all admit that most webcomics, no matter how popular, are largely a means for burgeoning writers and artists to get their feet under them? From tip to toe, everything about The Beginning After The End's season two premiere feels so amateurish that I struggle to view this work through the lens of a professional animation. Many of the characters look like a hobby artist's OCs, the story does little to distinguish itself from others in the lit-RPG/power fantasy isekai genre, and the action is barely animated and makes liberal use of overt CGI animation. Especially in a season stuffed with highly anticipated returns and exciting premieres, I struggle to think of a reason why anyone outside of the most dedicated readers of TurtleMe's webcomic would watch this show.

This episode begins with Arthur and Jasmine on a mission to investigate a village that's stopped responding to external communications, and quickly discover that a giant spider monster that can petrify people is responsible for this disturbance. Before she's petrified (which means being trapped in transparent crystal thanks to this show's limited artistic ability and direction), Jasmine warns Arthur that this monster is super strong and that she and a larger party, featuring his parents, were only able to defeat one previously after a terrific struggle. Of course, very little of this matters to Arthur, a reincarnated king and the most special boy in all the land, and he's able to defeat the monster after a battle that's supposed to be intense, but is so filled with dressed up still images and stock after effects, that it just feels perfunctory.

While the hook of this show remains that Arthur was a tyrannical king in his past life who was already incredibly strong, that doesn't have much of a bearing on this episode. I understand that, broadly, The Beginning After The End is supposed to be a story of redemption, but in this episode, those more interesting themes take a back seat for this rote isekai power fantasy adventure. This makes the tone of this episode feel incredibly strange and discordant to me as this anime is constantly reminding the viewer about this unique angle in the cold open and in Arthur's internal monologue, but it doesn't really effect the events of the episode or actually make this work feel unique.

I'm hesitant to call this anime a cash grab, but with the limited visuals, stilted line reads, and plodding pacing; it really feels like the only reason The Beginning After The End is getting a second season is because the webcomic made a bunch of money and a production committee was hoping they could get a slice of that pie by turning the comic into an anime. There are a lot of anime like The Beginning After The End out there, and this season two premiere doesn't make a convincing argument for watching this show over the others of its ilk to hit this season.