Prima Doll season 2 renewal status: Mixed reviews throw doubt into return
Ahead of the series finale, what are the chances that the Prima Doll anime will be renewed for season 2 at Bibury Animation Studios?
Another day in the 2022 Summer broadcasting slate’s last leg, another set of anime reach their respective season finales. One of the series to broadcast its final episode today is Prima Doll, the adorable science fiction series from Bibury Animation Studios.
As fans around the world countdown to the last episode of the series, many are curious as to what the future holds for the anime. Whilst Prima Doll has yet to be publicly renewed for season 2, there is a decidedly mixed conclusion on the chances of the anime continuing into a second broadcast- here’s why.
Prima Doll episode 12: Release date and time
Prima Doll episode 12 is scheduled to release around the world on Friday, September 23rd.
As confirmed by HiDive, the season finale is titled “Let These Feelings Resound” and will premiere from the following international times:
- Pacific Time – 9:30 AM
- Eastern Time – 12: 30 PM
- British Time – 5:30 PM
- European Time – 6:30 PM
- India Time – 10 PM
- Philippine Time – 12:30 AM
- Australia Central Time – 2 AM
“Ashikagura to stop driving. However, the runaway mechanical dolls do not stop. Haisakura takes her own life and tries to stop all the dolls in the imperial capital. The dolls of Kurokonekotei rush to get to her. Haisakura: “I want to know. About myself, about my role. ……” – Prima Doll episode 12 Story, via official website.
Prima Doll season 2 renewal status
As previously noted, Prima Doll has yet to be publicly renewed for season 2 by Bibury Animation Studios, the team behind the anime. Unfortunately, mixed reviews of the series’ first season could sink the chances of a second broadcast being produced.
On the one hand, the Prima Doll Encore web series that the anime has loosely adapting is still releasing new content periodically on the project’s official website, meaning that there could be enough source material for a second anime season if Bibury decided to continue production.
Moreover, there is actually a spin-off web series called Prima Doll Interlude, as well as two manga series titled Prime Doll New Order and Prima Doll Welcome to Kuronekotei already in production.
However, the international reviews for Prima Doll have been certainly less-than-stellar. Ahead of the season 1 finale, the series is scoring an underwhelming 5.9/10 on IMDB, 3.3/5 on Anime Planet and 62% on Anilist.
The anime is indeed scoring a respectable 6.76/10 on MyAnimeList, but currently has only 2,800 reviews and less than 20,000 members. Sadly, Prima Doll may suffer from a lack of recognition, rather than a lack of popularity, but this still is a concerning aspect of the season 2 renewal status.
One aspect that is in Prima Doll’s favour here is that it is streaming internationally via HiDive. This platform has grown exponentially over recent months with the acquisition of DanMachi, Call of the Night and Made in Abyss.
Whilst these shows will undoubtedly take priority in terms of licensing over Prima Doll, fans can be hopeful that HiDive’s investment in the anime will continue as the service grows – which could be a decisive factor in determining whether season 2 is produced or not.
Finally, we have Bibury Animation Studios themselves, who have previously produced the likes of The Quintessential Quintuplets season 2 and The Quintessential Quintuplets movie.
Despite Prima Doll being nowhere near as popular as these titles, the series has surpassed the likes of Azur Lane and Black Rock Shooter in terms of MAL scores; meaning that there is hope the studio could see season 2 in a more positive light.
As of September 2022, Bibury has two projects already lined up for 2023, Maho Shoko Magical Destroyers and Grisaia: Phantom Trigger the Animation.
Fingers crossed that the domestic reviews are enough to balance against the mixed international response and that Prima Doll season 2 is ordered for late 2023.
By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]
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Tom Llewellyn
@https://twitter.com/Tom__Llewellyn
Tom Llewellyn is the Head of World Content, Anime, and Comics at HITC Entertainment and also helps oversee all things deemed ‘nerd culture’ at Forever Geek. After gaining a BSc degree in Animal Behaviour, Tom continued his education with a Master’s degree in Science Communication (MSc) and post-graduate research; with his own independent project being published in the Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens in 2021. Since joining GRV Media in early 2020, Tom has amassed over 48 million views on his content and has conducted interviews with various actors and filmmakers from the wonderful world of anime.
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