‘Evil Or Live’ Season 2 Release Date: ‘Lixiang Jinqu’ Manga/Manhua Goes Beyond Anime’s Ending In Episode 12
The anime Evil Or Live‘s ending may have seemed to offer a final resolution to the story, but it turns out the plot of the Lixiang Jinqu manga goes way beyond the fiery conclusion of Episode 12. But will the Chinese-made anime be renewed for Evil Or Live Season 2?
The story of the anime is based on Zhannan Li’s Lixiang Jinqu (Ideal Restricted Area). The series is a web manhua, which are Chinese comics produced in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Similarly, manhwa is comics from South Korea. So, while Lixiang Jinqu is technically not a Japanese manga series, fans often refer to manhua as Chinese manga.
Serialized on Tencent, Lixiang Jinqu is currently up to Chapter 167 and is still ongoing as of this article’s publishing. A smart part of the series has been released in Japanese. Unfortunately, there is no official English translation of the web manhua, not even a fan translation project.
The good news is that the series has enough source material for Evil Or Live Season 2. The anime adaptation diverged from manhua at around chapters 60 to 80, which means there are enough chapters available for creating a second season.
How Lixiang Jinqu Season 2 Can Continue From The Anime’s Original Ending
The main issue is that the anime offered up an original ending which made several major changes to the plot. In the anime, it did not make sense why Hibiki still wanted to help Shiori after everything he has been through. Only the audience gets to see Shiori’s past, but in the manhua, she tells Hibiki everything. Thus, the comic version does a better job of justifying why Hibiki wanted to save Shiori.
Still, the biggest change was the introduction of Big Bro Hyo as the adult henchman of Shin’s brother. In the manhua, Shin is really the shadow puppeteer behind the illegal cell phone business and Hyo was simply an overage student who was sent to the school as a hitman. Hyo was not involved with Jun at all and he did not enter the school in any official capacity, nor did he take over from Instructor Shian.
Instead, disguised as a new student, Hyo attempts to kill Shin in a fight but fails. As his backup plan, he sets the instructors’ building on fire, but Shin escapes a fiery death due to a thunderstorm. Regardless of the rain, the fire spreads and destroys the entire building, taking Shin’s room with it.
The anime adaptation changed everything by having Shin and Hibiki plot to gather evidence of the school administration’s wrongdoing and blast it all over the internet. Once the reporters showed up, Shin himself set the fire to bring the police and fire trucks rushing in while the students waited for the teachers’ building to burn to the ground. This original ending provides a solid ending point for the anime but makes it difficult to create Evil Or Live Season 2.
Warning: The following contains potential minor spoilers about Evil Or Live Season 2.
That’s not to say it’s impossible. In the original story, the news about the building fire and allegations of abuse are swept under the rug and suppressed. The manhua even had an undercover reporter who was not in the anime, but she is unable to get the story out.
The anime and the manhua are the same in regards to how Shin and Hibiki become allies after the fire. Shin is not sick, either, and he only told Hibiki he did not have much time left because he was afraid his older brother would find out about his scheming.
The second season could follow the comic by showing what happened to Shin’s brother, Instructor Shian, and Jean. The main story would continue with Shin plotting his revenge against his brother and Hibiki’s relationship with Shiori.
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Evil Or Live Season 2 Release Date
As of this publishing, anime production company Haoliners Animation League has not announced anything official about the Evil Or Live Season 2 release date, although this article will be updated as soon as the anime sequel’s premiere is confirmed. However, there can be reasonable speculation about when, or if, the Lixiang Jinqu Season 2 air date may occur.
As of this article’s publishing, the Evil Or Live Blu-Ray has not been announced, so it’s difficult to say whether sales can justify making a second season. The MyAnimeList rating is currently hovering slightly below a six, which is below average for most anime on MAL. Stay tuned for more news about Evil Or Live Season 2!
