Higehiro, or “Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway” is a romantic comedy anime series that first aired in the spring of 2021. The romantic comedy genre, the most popular in Japan, has been the subject of many mangas, light novels, and anime series. One of the last products of this genre, Higehiro, is actually based on a light novel series. Shimesaba writes the light novel with manga adaptations. On the other hand, the anime television series was created by the Japanese animation studio Project No.9. We also know the studio from animes like Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun and High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World. Higehiro originally aired on Japanese local networks such as AT-X, Tokyo MX, and BS11 as 13 episodes from April 5, 2021, to June 28, 2021. Crunchyroll licensed the series so viewers from all over the world could watch the anime with English subtitles. Now fans are wondering if the anime will have a second season.
What is the plotline of Higehiro?
Higehiro revolves around Yoshida, an office worker, and Sayu, a runaway high school student. Yoshida has a crush on her co-worker Airi Gotou. Working in an IT company, Yoshida is rejected by this girl he has loved for five years. On his way back home, drunk and sad, he stumbles upon Sayu sitting alone under a street lamp on a dim road. Yoshida advises Sayu to go home, and she responds by asking him to take her home. After her failed attempt to seduce Yoshida, Sayu spends the night at his home anyway. In the morning, Sayu tells Yoshida about how she escaped from Hokkaido to Tokyo and offered sincere favors for a roof over her head. However, Yoshida is not impressed by her seduction. Yoshida decides that the girl can stay as long as she goes to school and helps with the housework. Thus begins the touching relationship between a heartbroken adult and a runaway high school girl.
Will there be a second season of Higehiro?
As of June 9, 2022, at the time of writing, Project No.9, Kadokawa, or any anime-related company, has not yet renewed the anime for a second season. Sometimes animes announce their second season confirmations during the first season finales, but unfortunately, Higehiro is not among those animes. It is not officially known whether the anime will have a second season so far. Although there is no official confirmation, a second season of the anime does not look much possible. We see that it has a good audience compared to other anime that came out in the same period. Animes receive new season approvals under certain main factors. Light novel resource adequacy, disc sales, popularity, exclusive distributors, etc., are the main factors. We have speculated about the second season, so let’s have a look together at why the second season looks not much possible although the series is popular enough.
Higehiro: Light Novel
Like many animes, Higehiro is adapted from a light novel. The original of the series is written by Shimesaba and illustrated by booota. The light novel was started publishing by Kadokawa Shoten on February 1, 2018. The original series has more than 2 million copies in circulation in total. The series, which published 5 volumes + 1 short story in total, unfortunately, was completed on June 1, 2021. It looks like the light novel will no longer continue. This indicates that the source material for the anime is currently limited. On the other hand, it is a pity that all light novel volumes were adapted in the first season of the anime.
On the other hand, it has been announced that it will be published that a new side-story light novel on June 28, 2021. Shimesaba informs the fans that the story takes place in a period of several years before Sayu and Yoshida meet again. However, it still seems difficult to be the subject of a new anime season. If a sequel of the light novel is announced in the future, this seems possible, but this possibility is very tough for now.
Disc sales and the popularity of the series
The anime has become one of the most beloved anime of spring 2021. The anime, which has gained a large fan base worldwide, is also very popular in Japan. Although it is a new anime series, it already has over 100k Twitter followers. In the same season, The Misfit of Demon King Academy was another very popular anime, and 91 thousand users follow it. It also has a strong search volume on Google. The anime has a higher search volume than any anime licensed by Funimation or Crunchyroll and released in the same period. Tokyo Revengers was the best of the season, but we can say that it came right after. The anime also already has pretty good popularity ranking on Myanimelist. (It equates to 86,4% popularity points on our anime list.)
In disc sales, unfortunately, the target was not fully realized. Of course, the big drop in disc sales in recent years also has an effect on this. People are now turning to online platforms instead of disc sales. But, It’s still good financial data for comparison with other animes released nowadays. Tokyo Revengers managed to sell 3,207 units in the two-volume average, while Higehiro sold 1977 units in the first two-volume average. Looking at it, we can say that there are low sales figures for both anime.
Season 2: In conclusion
Although the popularity of the anime is good, a second season is quite difficult. Disc sales are poor, but the main problem is the source material. The original light novel has been completed and is no longer being published. We do not think that the side story novels that will be published are sufficient for a new anime season. If something changes in the future or official information comes, we will inform you again. Until then, we would like to recommend two anime that are popular in the romantic comedy genre. The Quintessential Quintuplets or Eromanga Sensei are two of the lesser-known animes in this genre that you might like.