The Elusive Samurai Season 2 Premieres Today

The Elusive Samurai Season 2 arrives today, July 17. The premiere date was locked in during Anime Expo 2026, where the teaser trailer played at the Aniplex industry panel, and it was notably the very last summer 2026 anime to receive its date.

Tokiyuki runs again

Yusei Matsui’s historical action series stood out instantly in its first season. The premise stays one of a kind: Hojo Tokiyuki, a young lord whose entire clan is destroyed, survives on a single talent, running away. CloverWorks turned that idea into some of the most inventive, colorful action animation of recent years, chasing scenes staged like dance numbers and villains who feel genuinely unsettling under all the style.

Season 2 continues Tokiyuki’s quiet campaign of revenge against Ashikaga Takauji, gathering allies while history itself works against him. If the production holds the first season’s standard, this becomes one of the strongest shows of the summer lineup by default.

Season 1 built a reputation as a show that respected its young audience while sneaking in real history, and the manga’s fanbase has been waiting on this arc for a while.

Part of the show’s charm is that it is real history wearing very stylish clothes. Hojo Tokiyuki actually existed, the fall of the Kamakura shogunate actually happened in 1333, and Yusei Matsui, who previously wrote Assassination Classroom, threads genuine events through the adventure with a teacher’s instinct for making them stick. It is the rare series a history teacher and a sakuga fan can recommend to each other with a straight face.

The premiere date and main trailer were reported by Anime Corner.

My take: The Elusive Samurai is criminally underwatched for how good it looks. If you skipped season one, this is your sign to fix that before tonight.