Animation--Done by Kyoto animation--need I say more? So in case you don't know the Kyoto animation is known as the King of Moe, they are a world class animation studio that has been known for such anime as melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-ON, and the recent Beyond the Budget. in other words, if they had painted the Sistine chapel, moe would be a religion. So I'll run it by you guys as quick as I can. Animation is spectacular. There are barely any recycled frames, and in general everything is nicely detailed. Characters look cute and adorable, and yeah that includes our protagonist as well. As for the fight scenes...yes you heard me right, there are fight scenes here. Even though the show panders to the moe genre so much, it might as well have been holding up picture of a kitten curled up beside a puppy with a frame of rainbows and hearts, it does have action scenes. And they are not insert action scenes used to spice things up a bit, these are high budget mind blowing fight scenes. No I mean this is on par, and sometimes better than stuff you'd find in Kill La Kill or AoT. Don't believe me? Check the video. Anyhow, the fight scnes in the second season are leagues ahead of what they were in the first. First off the backrounds in which they fight look like a Japanese Escher. On top of this, becasue of the new background, there is a lot of dynamic fights that are able to go to full on balls to the wall. What do I mean by this, you don't ask but I still plan to answer. Because the backgrounds aren't in the real world, they can be ripped apart--meaning giant explosions. Good stuff right here. The other thing that the action has going for it is the weapons. you're going to be seeing ladles, hammers, weird feather things--I haven't seen such ridiculous weapons since Saint's Row the Third.
The action is also a lot more frequent, and it doesn't switch back into reality, both great things.
Plot--yep, I'm going to talk about plot in a slice of life. So there's no real plot to speak of, but what I can say is that the pacing of the episodes are significantly better than the last season. Each episode (save for one) feels important, like something you can't miss. Maybe it's because the romance this time around is more focused, but for the first half of the first season, it was okay. It wasn't bad--I was having fun, but it wasn't anything super special. Here in the second season, it really is enjoyable throughout.
Sound--You know a lot of people say that the opening doesn't make a show, and I'm calling bullshit on that. Case in point. Why? There is a cute moe girl using a magic circle as a hula-hoop. A Magic Circle as a hula-hoop. That's it! What else can I say? If that doesn't convince you that this show is awesome nothing will! My job is done here!
Okay, okay, I'll actually do the rest of this. I have not seen the ending, but the opening is well animated and pretty damn catchy. More than anything it isn't the seizure inducing stint the first opening was. The voice actors are really good, but so far their performances are limited. I know that they can preform amazingly (is that really a word?) but so far they haven't gotten to a part where they can shine this season. That being said, they still sound cute. What else do you expect. Rikka still makes the cute sounds when Yuuta hits her, Kumin got 10 fluffy bunnies out of ten on the Adorable meter, and Dekomori still pronounces des like she was a punk rocker trying too hard. With the addition of a new character, we also have a new voice actress, but who knows how she'll turn out.
As for Soundtracks, I'll just leave this here---
Script--I know I don't usually have this section, but i feel as though i need to say something about this, because the script for the second season is ten times what the first season. Now when I say script, I mean comedy. The first season, in my opinion, duh, had some shoddy script writing during the first half. it used Chuunibyou as it's main source of comic relief, but wasn't willing to go all the way with it. In my Oreshura review (yeah I realize that the concept was a rip-off now) I said the humor was outrageous. the difference between the two is tone. Chuunibyou takes a more serious look at Chuunibyou, while Oreshura is willing to make fun of it for what it is. It's the difference between exaggeration and Hyperbole.
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Something that I don't really appreciate is that they took out two of the comic-relief characters. Kind of annoying, but a minor complaint. Kyoto ani has some awesome script-writers, and I'm glad that they're relying on them a bit more this time around.
Characters-- I can't really get into characters without delving into spoiler territory, but I'm pretty confident in their design given what occurred last season. So this is bare bones, as a dinosaur dig gone wrong, but whattayagonnado?
Romance-- So I have something to admit; I never actually got into the romance. I liked it, but i never really got it. in fact I still had this idea when I started episode 6. No words. I have no words. it's not such a drastic leap like with Mirai Nikki. I didn't jump from hating it to loving it over the course of one episode, but damn. You know, even as someone who considers himself to be a serious anime reviewer who is moe-immune, I felt like yelling out 'kawaii' like I was on the set of K-on or something. Jesus.
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| Admit it, you just Daw'd |
Something I really like about there romance in general, is that though the main character is surrounded by girls, he doesn't have a harem. That's great! it is a one-on-one relationship, and I can totally appreciate that. It makes the romance more focused and better. True, we may be seeing the emergence of a love triangle, but it's still not a harem.
And did I mention no child-hood friends? Love this show.
So to sum it up, i totally recommend this anime for the spring season. While there might be a few issues here and there, I am really enjoying my time with it. Basically if you like fantastic visuals, slick animation, a nice soundtrack, fun characters, a damn good romance, or if you're just here for the cute moe girls--this show is well worth your time.
Thanks for reading, Likes, follows, and just spreading the word are all things that I would appreciate. Siya next time!
