Highlights
- Season 2 of Girlfriend, Girlfriend is set to premiere in October, and it will pick up where the first season left off, focusing on the aftermath of Milika's kiss.
- A new character, Saki's best friend, will play a bigger role in the second season, becoming a potential fourth challenger in the love triangle between Naoya, Saki, and Nagisa.
- Expect even more outrageous and questionable scenarios in the second season, including Milika drugging and kidnapping Naoya to introduce him to her little sister, and the characters facing the obstacle of summer school.
The upcoming second season of the Kanojo mo Kanojo (Girlfriend, Girlfriend) anime was announced in September 2022, and it is finally on its way.
Season 2 is set to broadcast in October, so in anticipation, here's a rundown on some of the major plot developments and aspects to expect, based on what happens in the original manga created by Hiroyuki and serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine from March 2020 to May this year.
Plot and Background
Girlfriend, Girlfriend is a series that follows a teenage boy named Naoya Mukai, who has loved his childhood friend and neighbour Saki Saki for a very long time. Eventually, Saki fell for him too, kicking off a regular love story, at least that's what they thought. The honest-to-a-fault Naoya is pushed into a corner when a girl named Nagisa Minase confesses her love to him. Nagisa won Naoya over with the sheer sincerity of her confession, combined with her awareness of his relationship with Saki, which is effectively a part of school lore at this point. Unable to reject the confession, yet also unable to press on and accept without hearing what Saki has to say about it, Naoya brings Nagisa to his girlfriend to ask for her permission to date them both. While the premise infuriates Saki, Nagisa's charm affects her much in the same way that it did Naoya, prompting her to accept the terms. Now part of a polyamorous relationship, the three struggle to navigate their new situation while keeping it a secret from everyone at school.
The Girlfriend, Girlfriend manga by 4-koma mangaka Hiroyuki, whose other known works include The Mangaka and His Assistant; Aho-Girl; and a new upcoming book called A Manga Artist Who Has Had Four Works Animated Went into Debt for 50 Million Yen as a Result of Being Addicted to Wristwatches, which details (as you'd expect from the title) how he got into massive debt from buying wristwatches. Girlfriend, Girlfriend was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Sunday from March 2020 to May 2023, running for 16 volumes.
Season 1
The first season of Girlfriend, Girlfriend mostly adapts the first four volumes of the manga. It is safe to assume that the anime will be picking up where it left off – the aftermath of Milika's kiss, which happened right in front of Naoya's girlfriends. The trio decides to go on a date to replace that memory with some of their own, with the girls preparing their hearts and minds to further their individual relationships with him. Nagisa resolves to help Saki get closer to Naoya at her own expense; however, Milika catches wind of the plan and decides to stalk them. Saki tells Shino about the trip, so she also plans on following them to protect her friend. The first season's climactic arc is the trip, with Nagisa pretending that she and Milika chose to come together and just happened to run into Saki and Naoya when Shino confronts Saki with the truth. Shino's character becomes clear as she outlines the various ramifications, including in the realm of civil law and adult life, of being in this kind of relationship. The season ends with Saki admitting to Shino that Naoya is in fact dating both her and Nagisa, and Naoya later explains the situation to Shino in more detail.
A New Challenger!?
With the last two episodes of season 1 bringing more primacy to the character of Saki's best friend, we can most definitely expect more of her in the second season, especially because she is told about the secret in the final episode, not to mention the fact that we come to learn more about her motivation: she believes that Naoya should only date Saki, otherwise, it gives other people who are in love with him hope to pursue him – other people like herself. Effectively, we should be expecting a fourth challenger in the Naoya Mukai harem, and of course, even more crazy situations.
More Questionable Scenarios
In the finale, Nagisa admitted that she too would like to be number 1, despite the various ways she has relegated herself in their relationship. With that piece of honesty wholeheartedly accepted by Naoya, Nagisa becomes a lot more open about her affection, which in turn prompts even more attempts by Saki. On the other hand, Milika is feeling bolstered by the chat she and Naoya shared at the bathhouse, and will be pushing even harder than before to get to know him and for him to get to know her. Milika is a lot more... daring, than the other girls, and one of the things we can expect her to do is literally drug and kidnap Naoya so that he can meet her little sister. The reason is that Naoya told her that he wishes he had a little sister, so Milika, in her infinite wisdom, thought that simply getting Naoya to meet her sister would convince him to date and eventually marry her so that her sister would also be his sister.
Milika's approach becomes so aggressive that at some point, Naoya ends up calling the cops on her. The compulsory summer vacation event will probably be animated in season 2; however, the huge obstacle they will have to overcome is the looming premise of summer school should they fail three or more subjects. Given that Nagisa only ever tried hard at school to get closer to Naoya, becoming his girlfriend and everything else took precedence over her school. Since both Naoya and Saki aren't too good at tutoring, they call upon Shino for help – with hilarious results. Based on how the manga continues the story, the second season is set up to be even wackier than the first.
The second season of Girlfriend, Girlfriend is expected to drop on October 6, while the first season is available to stream on Crunchyroll.