There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… ~Next Shine~, the upcoming theatrical format sequel to last season’s yuri harem anime There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… (Watanare), will have its US premiere at Anime Frontier. Ajisai Sena voice actor Yukari Anzai will be present at the event.
The screening’s date and time have not yet been announced.
There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… ~Next Shine~ will debut in Japanese theaters on November 21 JST. Its content comprises five episodes (Episodes 13 to 17), which will receive a TV broadcast release later. The official synopsis reads:
“I want to learn to love myself—just the way I am!”
Renako Amaori, a former gloomy and socially awkward girl, reinvented herself for high school and successfully made her debut. She even managed to join the top tier popular group… only to be suddenly confessed to by two of its brightest stars?! One is the school’s ultimate prince, Mai Oduka. The other, the beloved angel of the campus, Ajisai Sena.
There’s no way she can handle both their affections—no freaking way! While still struggling to give them an answer, Renako agrees to help her friend Kaho by joining a cosplay event. It’s the perfect excuse to delay her reply… or so she thought. But as she witnesses Kaho’s passion firsthand, something begins to stir inside her.
What is it that she truly wants? What is she truly searching for?
Can she really not become someone’s lover?
Or has that “no freaking way”… not been so impossible after all?
There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… is based on the Shueisha-published light novel series written by Teren Mikami and illustrated by Eku Takeshima (~Next Shine~ adapts Volume 5), which is published under the Dash X Bunko label and has eight main volumes as of September 2025. Seven Seas Entertainment describes the premise as such:
Awkward, introverted Amaori Renako is leaving her lonely middle school life behind, determined to become an outgoing and popular high schooler. Glamorous, confident Oduka Mai is Renako’s total opposite: wealthy, carefree, and a literal fashion model. Against the odds, the two girls form an immediate connection. Renako thinks she may have found the best friend of her dreams…until Mai’s love confession sends her feelings into a tailspin. Renako wants to prove to Mai that being BFFs is better than being girlfriends, but Mai is dead set on convincing Renako that they’re destined to be lovers!
There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… has a manga by Musshu.
Staff (reprising)
• Director: Natsumi Uchinuma (storyboard artist and director for More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers ending animation, Episode 4 and 8)
• Series composer and scriptwriter: Naruhisa Arakawa (More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers)
• Character designer: kojikoji
• Animation production: studio MOTHER
Cast
• Kanna Nakamura as Renako Amaori
• Saori Onishi as Mai Oduka
• Yukari Anzai as Ajisai Sena
• Kana Ichinose as Satsuki Koto
• Takako Tanaka as Kaho Koyanagi
• Mayu Sagara as Haruna Amaori
Source: Press release
