Superfly Turns a Lifetime of Loneliness Into "Hanakage"
The bigger headline for music fans is the ending theme. Superfly, the solo project of vocalist Shiho Ochi, will close out each episode of The Ramparts of Ice (氷の城壁, Kōri no Jōheki) Season 2 with "Hanakage" (花蔭, roughly "in the shade of flowers"). Ochi wrote the lyrics with co-writer jam and composed the song herself, with arrangement by Ryo "Lefty" Miyata and Ochi, according to Japanese anime news site Animate Times.
Her accompanying comment reads less like promo copy and more like a diary entry. Ochi says she disliked herself from childhood, constantly comparing herself to others and drowning in loneliness, until adulthood brought her to a realization she sums up as "solitude is what makes me who I am." She describes "Hanakage" as a collection of her memories from the road to that answer. It's a fitting match for a series about a girl who keeps everyone at arm's length.
Superfly debuted in 2007 with the single "Hello Hello" and has spent two decades supplying theme songs for Japanese dramas and films, including "Ai wo Komete Hanataba wo," "Beautiful," "Flare," and "Ashes."
THE BEAT GARDEN Calls "Escort" Seishun Punk Meets Hyperpop
On the opening side, five-member group THE BEAT GARDEN handles "Escort," with member U on both lyrics and composition and KOHD arranging. The band says they fell hard for Kōcha Agasawa's original manga while writing and ended up reading the whole series. They built the track to sound out the "blue spring" of Koyuki, Miki, Minato, and Yōta in a style they describe as seishun punk (Japan's youth-punk sound) crossed with hyperpop. The title came from the feeling that the story's emotions escorted the song out of them.
THE BEAT GARDEN made their major debut in 2016 with "Never End" and scored a hit in 2022 with "Start Over," an insert song for the TV drama Roppongi Class. The group moved to a five-member lineup in February 2025 and kicks off a national tour, NITRO POP, this September.
A Quick Refresher on The Ramparts of Ice
Adapted from Agasawa's manga, published in print by Shueisha's Jump Comics label, the series follows Koyuki Hikawa, a high schooler so bad at dealing with people that she walls herself off from everyone except her childhood friend Miki Azumi. Then Minato Amamiya, a boy with zero concept of personal space, starts closing the distance. Together with Yōta Hino, a gentle basketball player, the four navigate an awkward, slow-burn ensemble story of teenage missed connections.
The anime is produced at Studio Kai (Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Season 2), directed by Mankyū with series composition by Yasuhiro Nakanishi and character designs by Miki Ogino. Anna Nagase stars as Koyuki, alongside Fūka Izumi as Miki, Shōya Chiba as Minato, and Satoshi Inomata as Yōta. Season 1 ran 14 episodes from April 2 to July 2, 2026 on TBS-network stations and AT-X.
Looking Ahead
Season 2 premieres October 1, 2026, airing Thursdays at 11:56 p.m. simultaneously across 28 TBS-network stations. Netflix begins streaming the day after broadcast, on October 2, with other streaming services to follow, per the official announcement relayed by Animate Times. The announcement doesn't spell out regions for that October 2 start, though Netflix streamed Season 1 worldwide, which bodes well for international viewers.
A first trailer for Season 2 is already out on the official YouTube channel, released alongside the new key visual in late August. For anyone who wants to catch up on the source material, Agasawa's manga is available in English digitally through MangaPlaza. No word yet on when either theme song gets a full release.