Beloved writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters) adapted The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House from Aiko Koyama’s manga series Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House for Netflix, and the nine episodes debuted on the streaming platform on January 12, 2023. With its well-regarded source material, famed director, and global release, the show might be too specific to garner an enormous audience, but it will certainly amass a dedicated fanbase who’re mightily interested in the show’s potential future.
Here at Ready Steady Cut we enjoyed the show, saying:
Ultimately, though, there’s a pure sense of warmth to this show that you’ll inevitably be taken in and comforted by. It’s very well crafted and deeply reassuring in its depictions of love, friendship, tradition, and the power of a good, hearty meal – and anything that vindicates my own love of grub is fine by me.
Here’s everything we know about what might come next.
Will there be a Season 2 of The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House?
Renewal status: TBC
At the time of writing Netflix haven’t confirmed the show’s future.
The Makanai works very well as a single, isolated series of television, amounting to a fitting and poignant conclusion that we detailed in our Ending Explained article. While the premise could conceivably go on forever, perhaps detailing a year per season, there’s something sweet about the story being left where it is now, with both of the main characters having gotten exactly what they wanted out of their experiences at the maiko house while also remaining very close with one another.
There’s still plenty of source material to draw from and fan interest to market to, but if we were to take a guess, we don’t think that The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House will be renewed for a second season. If we’re wrong, though, well… it won’t be a bad thing to check back in with Kiyo and Sumire and see how they’re getting on.
For those who enjoyed the live-action series, there is also an anime adaptation currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
