The Squid Girl 2
侵略!?イカ娘 (Shinryaku!? Ika Musume)
- Comedy
- Anthropomorphic
- Episodes
- 12
- Duration
- 24 min per ep
- Aired
- Sep 27, 2011 to Dec 25, 2011
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
With her squid-like powers restored, Ika Musume is ready to continue her self-declared crusade against humanity. In practice, though, life at the Lemon beach house keeps getting in the way—between her shift as a waitress and the temptation to spend every free moment lounging around, her grand plans rarely move forward.
Set after the first season, *The Squid Girl 2* follows Ika Musume’s ongoing “invasion” attempts as she navigates a steady stream of everyday troubles, including attention from alien-enthusiasts and the fixation of an unpredictable girl—all while the surface world proves far more distracting than she expected.
Otaku Consensus
The Squid Girl 2 is widely received as a successful comfort-comedy sequel: its 7.48 MAL score across 52,101 votes and 73/100 AniList score match the critical line that it is consistently charming rather than ambitious. Yasutaka Yamamoto’s direction, with Tsutomu Mizushima as chief director and Michiko Yokote on series composition, keeps the 12-episode run snappy through self-contained gag segments, while Diomedéa’s saturated beach colors and Tomoki Kikuya’s music reinforce the buoyant tone. The recurring criticism is just as consistent: the comedy is strongest when Ika Musume herself drives the bit, and several supporting characters, especially the male cast, leave fewer lasting impressions than standout mini-stories such as the pet Squid Girl segment.
Why You Should Watch
Watch The Squid Girl 2 if you want cute-girl comedy with monster-girl weirdness, seaside color, and zero homework. It scratches the same low-pressure gag itch as Azumanga Daioh or the sillier stretches of Nichijou, but with a more compact, beach-house rhythm: short skits, fast reversals, chibi reactions, squid puns, and a protagonist whose confidence is funnier than any grand plot could be. The appeal is in the craft of small escalation: Eiko’s straight-man timing, Chizuru’s calm menace, Hisako Kanemoto’s vocal bounce, and Diomedéa’s bright visual palette make ordinary comic setups feel buoyant. If you want comedy without lore sprawl, romance melodrama, or action escalation, this is a neatly portioned sequel built for relaxed repeat viewing.
Key Characters
- IIka Musume(VA: Hisako Kanemoto)
Ika Musume remains the show’s comic engine, with fans responding to the gap between her oversized confidence, childlike misunderstandings, chibi reactions, and relentless squid-themed verbal tics.
- EEiko Aizawa(VA: Ayumi Fujimura)
Eiko works as the essential straight man, grounding the slapstick with exasperated timing that keeps Ika’s chaos from floating away completely.
- CChizuru Aizawa(VA: Rie Tanaka)
Chizuru’s appeal comes from contrast: her gentle surface and quietly intimidating presence turn even calm reactions into punchlines.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
The season’s structure leans hard into self-contained comedy, aligning with AniList’s high Episodic tag rating of 90% and Slapstick rating of 79%. Critics repeatedly singled out the mini-story format as the show’s best delivery system, with the pet Squid Girl segment cited as one of the more memorable examples.
- 2
Diomedéa’s production emphasizes bold, saturated colors that reviewers connected directly to the show’s upbeat comedy identity. The coastal setting is not just background dressing; AniList’s Coastal tag sits at 79%, reflecting how strongly the beach-house atmosphere shapes the show’s visual personality.
- 3
The staff setup is unusually comedy-friendly: Yasutaka Yamamoto directs, Tsutomu Mizushima serves as chief director, and Michiko Yokote handles series composition. That combination supports a rhythm built around quick setup-payoff cycles rather than long-form dramatic plotting.
- 4
Tomoki Kikuya’s music and Michihiro Itou’s sound effects contribute to the bubbly, gag-forward tone noted by reviewers. In a show driven by physical comedy, chibi cuts, and pun-based timing, the sound design functions as part of the punchline machinery.
- 5
The show’s identity is more specific than its broad Comedy genre label suggests: AniList tags it as Female Protagonist at 100%, Monster Girl at 79%, Cute Girls Doing Cute Things at 62%, and Chuunibyou at 60%. Those tags capture the exact blend of character comedy, anthropomorphic gimmickry, and exaggerated self-image that defines its humor.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- Hisako Kanemoto does double duty as both the voice of Ika Musume and a theme song performer for the ending, tying the character’s vocal identity directly to the season’s musical packaging.
- Fun fact 2
- The anime credits Masahiro Anbe as original creator, with the second season using the stylized Japanese title Shinryaku!? Ika Musume; the punctuation shift visually marks it as a follow-up while keeping the invasion-themed branding intact.
- Fun fact 3
- The season aired as a 12-episode Fall 2011 TV run from September 27 to December 25, 2011, meaning its final broadcast landed on Christmas Day.
- Fun fact 4
- Its reception sits in a stable middle-high comedy range across major databases: MAL lists it at 7.48/10 from 52,101 votes with rank #2290 and popularity #2322, while AniList records a 73/100 score and 206 favourites.
- Fun fact 5
- Reviewers praised how the subtitles preserve the squid-pun texture, while also noting that the joke density works better in streaming-sized portions than as a title worth hunting down on out-of-print physical media.
Studios
- Diomedéa
