The second season of the anime adaptation of Yoshiaki Oima's fantasy manga To Your Eternity arrived October 23rd, picking up from where the first season left off. The journey of the immortal being Fushi continues, with several decades passing since the death of Fushi's last companion, the old lady Pioran.
With season 2 following up the events of the first, it can be expected that the anime will be moving according to a similar trajectory as the original manga. As such, here's a quick run-down on what fans can come to expect from season 2 of To Your Eternity.
Time Skips
One of the major things the audience can come to expect from the currently airing To Your Eternity season 2 is a host of time skips. Since Fushi is immortal, time as a concept loses meaning, and the only way for Fushi himself to track the time is through the people around him. However, since the death of Pioran, Fushi has decided to live in solitude and avoid forming relationships with people due to the huge emotional toll grief has had on him, as well as how it has come to affect his development. The first time skip is directly after the events of the first season at the end of which, the appearance of a much older Fushi was teased, and it is set 40 years after Pioran's death. Living in isolation on an island, Fushi has been completely unaware of the developments in the world around him. He maintains his distance from people to avoid their exposure to the dangerous threat that is the Nokkers, sustaining himself on the flesh of these strange creatures while unaware that he has long stopped being their only target.
Famous Fushi
A nine-year-old girl named Hisame locates Fushi and approaches him knowing full well who he is. It would appear that news of the white-haired immortal has travelled over the last few decades, and Fushi's existence is in the realm of indisputable fact for some; myth for others. She introduces herself as the granddaughter of Hayase, and is very quick to act friendly with the immortal despite his discomfort and cold treatment of her.
It appears that Hayase had recorded her experiences and passed them down to her descendants, establishing an entire faction dedicated to the supposed "protection" and observation of Fushi, as well as assistance in Fushi's long-running war against the Nokkers. Given the aforementioned element of several time skips occurring in this part of the story, Hisame turns out to be only the first in a long line of Hayase's descendants who leads the Guardians.
Around six generations after Hisame's initial contact with Fushi, the world has changed profoundly, with the reverence for Fushi that was the mode in Hisame's time being slowly replaced with an increasing disdain from the followers of a new religion that has developed.
The Guardians maintain their position as allies of Fushi and are hence seen as heretics who ascribe to the will of an entity that brings about calamitous creatures such as the Nokkers. Due to the passage of time and Fushi's decision to be alone, various elements in the world of To Your Eternity have changed immensely as Fushi gathers the strength to carry on. The second season can be expected to touch on the deification and subsequent demonization of Fushi, as well as the highly-detailed records that people have regarding his existence.
Blast From the Past
Due to Fushi's depression caused by his grief due to the deaths of everyone he ever cared about as a result of their involvement with him, as well as the loneliness brought about by his solitary lifestyle, fans can expect several references to the past as Fushi comes to terms with his grief and begins to move forward. One of these is the brief return of Tonari, now middle-aged.
In the first season of To Your Eternity, Fushi meets a teenage Tonari on a prison island, where she eventually becomes the leader after a terrible battle against the Nokkers ensues there. She and Fushi go their separate ways, but she retains her memories of him and acts antagonistically to the Guardians, understanding their desire to "protect" Fushi as an expression of their desire to control him. Having aged significantly, it isn't made obvious that Tonari has returned, but the strange woman's vehement desire to guide Fushi towards thinking more for himself indicates that she is friend, not foe.
New Characters
Since Fushi is immortal and on a journey, one can only expect that he will run into a host of new characters just like he did in the first season. Hisame, who was mentioned earlier, is the first new introduction to the series, and despite having a fairly short role in the greater scheme of things, her character kicks off an important arc in the ever-building lore of the To Your Eternity universe, as over the next few decades, several generations of Hayase's descendants attempt to establish a profound connection with Fushi.
These efforts, while not outright detrimental to Fushi's life in the way that Hayase's actions were, are still largely uncomfortable for the immortal for various reasons. Other new characters include Bonchien Nicoli La Tasty Peach Uralis, a flamboyant prince looking to obtain his father's approval as well as the throne.