By the Grace of the Gods has finally ascended to the ranks of “isekai titles that get more than one season” with second season set to premiere as part of the Winter 2023 anime season.
A second season was announced last year, shortly after the series premiered. Second seasons are a rarity in a genre that’s so saturated that even Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon. By the Grace of the Gods began as a fantasy novel series by an author known under the pen-name Roy in 2014. A light novel series and manga premiered in 2017 with the aliased artists Rinrinra and Ranran respectively.
The light novel series is localized in English by digital distribution service J-Novel Club. The manga series is published in Japan and North America by Square Enix. You can check out the latest trailer here.
The series follows the adventures of a young boy named Ryoma Takebayashi who has spent the last three years living alone in the forest. Originally Ryoma was a middle-aged salaryman working for a “Black Company” (a term which refers to strict companies that border abusive).
While the isekai genre is saturated and starving for creativity, By the Grace of the Gods manages to carve out a niche as a more comfortable series and forgoing many of the shonen anime cliches. You can check out our review here. Season 2 begins on January 8.
