Ahh...Found the thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek
Overall? A very poor series; not quite as epic fail as ZnT II, but certainly one of the lower-tier shows of the last two seasons, on comparable grounds with generic trash like Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun and Rosario + Vampire.
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Off Topic: I beg to differ. R+V was truly trash in the realms of storytelling and pacing mainly because it focused on the sappy and cheesy friendship bonding through the little squabbles and big fights and FANSERVICE. Just to make an opinion on it.
Back on Topic:
It's hard to actually give the series a proper evaluation, mainly because of the hype in the first place, and with it duly came comparisons and comparisons. First to the good (Season I), then as it apparently goes downhill, the bad (ZnT II). Not that I can decide for others what they think is good or bad, but in my opinion, Season II was a letdown to those who wanted to see something better than Season I, that's for sure. Whether it's as good (bad) as ZnT II is rather debatable.
First Impressions: Obviously due to the hype, the optimism goes up for me and stays there for a while although it dips a little during the Konoe arc. Fodder for enemies? Hey, there's Balle Masque and the acclaimed Sabrac. Episodes supposedly going nowhere? Who knows, J.C. Staff might throw a curveball near the end with Konoe's existence and appearance.
The Glitter Fades: What I didn't realise at that time was that they chose to delve into Margery's past, Ike's self-pitying as well as Wilhelmina's almost pointless (but still amusing) honing of culinary skills. It was starting to feel tiring and mundane, because SnS I had been known for it's fancy with fantasy, action and cliffhangers. I'm not immune to resorting to comparison even though I don't really like it. The Konoe arc began to feel draggy and up to episode 8 there was no notable action at all, and even in episodes 8 to 9, that was in the
past.
Engine Revived: Things began to pick up due to the appearance of Kantarou and Pheles. Being spoilt by the novels, that usually means a lot to the viewer who has known of them. Together with the fact that Konoe's appearance apparently had some small meaning to it, the appearance of the Engage Link and the showing of Balle Masque, things looked to be exciting. I would consider this to be one of the better parts of the entire season, because most of the stuff here did not feel contrived or out of place because of subtle hints being dropped here and there (about Pheles appearing, about Konoe's reason for being close to Yuuji and co. etc).
Final Lap: While some people consider episodes like 16, 17 and 22 to be relatively boring due to the fact that it focuses more on the sidestories with Eita especially, I actually quite like the 'calm before the storm' episodes, where we see how the recent events have truly affected most of the main cast from school. Everyone's obviously shaken, but it's how they react that makes things a little more interesting.
However, hyped up episodes such as the Sabrac encounter and more notably the last two episodes were somewhat disappointing, something akin to watching a balloon getting almost blown to it's full proportion, then someone makes a small hole in it and it slowly deflates. Explosions were too overwrought to the point of being DBZ-ified or Bleach-ified. Perhaps the animators had too much time on their hands. Ultimately, the resolution of the much talked about love-triangle was ambiguous and ultimately unconventional in that we don't see the usual solutions to a love triangle here.
Now for the Positives:
Plus:
-Character change and development. Not one single character stayed the same from Season I, and most, if not all had viable reason to change (e.g. Shana being more dere, Eita leaving that world behind him due to his insecurities and powerlessness, Wilhelmina being more understanding, Yuuji becoming more GAR and getting an iron resolve).
-Music: First OP was very appropriate together with the first ED. It helps that they are both quite catchy in tune. I had doubts about the second OP at first, but it does grow on you if you
give it a chance and keep listening to it. the second ED simply reminded me of the first in the pace of the tune and the atmosphere it supposedly generates, except for the part near it's chorus where it becomes more...upbeat (for the lack of a better word). On the whole, though, it's simply different tastes and chance-giving that determines whether the songs make watching the series a better experience or not.
IMO, the BGMs and insert songs were pretty good, probably good enough to remind people of the Season I's music.
-Humor: While SnS never based it's focus on humor, I thought it did pretty well for a mixed-genre show. Wilhelmina's War of the Foods, Shana's "Making Babies" and various reactions from a bevy of characters you'd never expect them to react in that certain way, i.e. Alastor and Chigusa.
*For notable mention, I quite like the usage of cliffhangers as always, especially during the Pheles arc. They were quite well done in that it acutally didn't feel contrived.
For the Bad...
Minus
-Pacing: The mother of all problems in Season II. There are in effect a lot of 'Ifs' if (there's one already) the pacing hadn't been screwed up. Examples include Konoe's arc and the smaller issues such as Ike's girl troubles and the slice-of-life periods. While Konoe's arc was supposedly justified by how Hecate reacted in the last episode, it still felt cheap to the general viewer, who would feel cheated. The ending also felt extremely rushed all the way till Kazumi welcoming them back. IMO, most of the negatives for SnS II can be attributed to the horrid handling of pace.
-Characters: First two Tomogaras gave me the impression that we needed some of those in action to pass some time, while Sabrac was somewhat disappointing mainly because of overwrought usage of power (he may have been toying with them, but after his dialogue with Bel-Peol in episode 22...) and being too wordy. I think it's fair, though, to consider that he acts differently when approaching important targets, and this time his objective was not to assassinate.
Margery Daw, for ending up as a side character in the battle for the Reiji Maigo. Even so, the Silver which was her greatest objective was in there, and I daresay that J.C shafted her for some supposed mentor-student teamwork and a YuujixShana moment. I can't help but think back that Rammie's words were almost forgotten, but bah, poor pacing rules again.
Flame Hazes, or the good guys in general, for making Balle Masque and Sakai Yuuji look like geniuses.
-Action: Despite it being a key attraction of the series, the action failed in being overwrought (the overly big explosions a la Bleach/DBZ). to be fair, some of it was pretty okay due to Yuuji's showing off of his newfound abilities (which were not so powerful and in effect, no huge explosions). In other cases such as the Sabrac fight and the final two episodes with Hecate, Syndonay, Wilhelmina and Shana, I'm highly skeptical that that will be what one calls 'exemplary'.
-Animation: Inconsistency. Some of the episodes were not good, though a few others, including the overwrought fights did get the thumbs-up from me.
Things I found 'OK':
Plot: Wasn't stellar, but I would say that it didn't really mess up everything because it still focused on the Reiji Maigo and it's holder all the way till the end.
Overall Impression: Didn't meet my expectations, didn't qualify well enough to be compared to even Season I, but on the whole it was a rather enjoyable experience and a good watch. Just for fun, I'll rate this a
7.4/10, effectively rounding it down to a
7. Unfortunate, J.C. Staff, but I'll remain optimistic in consideration of a possible third season, that they will learn from their mistakes here and stop with the messing up of pace.
Peace out.
Author
(cause i can't find them) so i can't compare it.
