The Fall 2026 Anime Preview Guide

A Returner's Magic Should Be Special Season 2

In a land dominated by the formidable Shadow Worlds, most of humanity has been destroyed. To rescue their planet from impending doom, six brave heroes fight a perilous battle…and fail. But there's a glimpse of hope when Desir, one of the last mages, is suddenly sent back in time 13 years! Now armed with knowledge of the grim future, can he alter the course of history and save the world?

A Returner's Magic Should Be Special Season 2 is based on the webtoon series by author Usonan and artist Wookjakga. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

There's good news, and there's bad news. The good news is that the new season of A Returner's Magic Should Be Special picks up right where the previous season left off. The bad news is that it was in 2023, and there's a good chance you've either forgotten the cliffhanger entirely or picked up Ize Press' release of the webtoon version, rendering it a moot point. But hey, if neither applies to you, you can join my sister as one of the special few!

Joking aside, this first episode happily returns to precisely where things were before, not just in terms of plot, but in the sense that this is more interesting and engaging than it has any right to be while also feeling fairly standard. Desir, Pram, and Azest are all still in the cold northern town of Evernatten, trying to fix history and make things work out better this time. Romantica, meanwhile, is elsewhere, something which is making at least two people unhappy. Desir, at least, can distract himself with his mission, something he's particularly keen on given the fact that he's busy trying to correct his own history with this second chance at life. But Romantica has never been the world's most patient person, and she's even less pleased that she landed in this Shadow World as a merchant, the very profession she's trying to escape. Fortunately, she's very good at being a merchant and has been working diligently to expand the business in hopes of using it to find her teammates, but the dead-eyed stare on her aide Emil's face suggests dealing with her has been a lot. If Desir wasn't so keen on her – and didn't know she grew up to be a less difficult person – I'd question the framing of her as his prime motivation.

While Azest gets the action scenes and Desir mostly talks to people, the episode truly belongs to Pram. Not only is his barrel disguise clearly perfect (all barrels have tufts of teal hair sticking out the top!), his quick-changing energy from impressive swordsman to puppy dog balances out Desir and Azest's general lack of emotion. His current outfit also doesn't allow the previous season's fondness for making him look like shota bait, which I personally count as a plus. He probably looks the best of all the characters here, and overall the art relies a bit too heavily on awkward-looking backgrounds (particularly during Azest's fight), but it moves well enough not to be a total eyesore. I may not have been clamoring for this series to come back, but I'm not sorry it is. It's the very definition of “good enough,” and every season needs that.