(L) Date A Live II

[crimsonflair]

A movie? Seriously? Let's hope Tachibana pens the story.

Overall impression (Haven't seen episode 10):
Date A Live II I would say disappointed me a little in some parts, mainly Miku's arc. The animation really declined after the Yamai arc. The cuts from the original source didn't bother me that much since I know that this is an adaptation.

The worst sin I see in this season was episode 1.

Comparing season 1, besides the animation, it's somewhat up to par. Just like season 1 last year I saw the flaws that it had, but I still enjoyed it so far and it became a personal favorite. Season 1 did actually spurred my interest in reading the light novel.

Final Verdict:
Passable entertainment.

The show was decent even though there were flaws. I know DAL isn't a masterpiece, but there is this quality about it that makes it enjoyable.

Edit:

Did episode 10 suck?

[Pablete]

Better wait for Ep.10, can you?

[crimsonflair]

Originally Posted by Pablete

Better wait for Ep.10, can you?

Yes, I can. I'm not that impatient

[Kaengel]

Oh oh oh A movie !

My body is ready.

[Shinji103]

Spoiler for Episode 10:

Dangit, they left out the part where Kurumi said she would settle for Shidou patting her on the head after she couldn't find the second spirit. In fact, they didn't even say she was looking for the second spirit or that the second spirit is the only one who knows about the first. They should have left the OP out to make more time for the episode like a lot of series do on the last episode.

Well, at least for the moment I'll settle with finally seeing Shidou-dere Miku. I've been waiting for this scene to quell my "Miku's a b***h" frustration.

And everybody's (as in everybody's) reaction when Miku shouted out "I love you, darling!" was priceless.

Aaaaaaand, don't forget the Blinding Rays of Light.

For those wanting more DAL, don't forget there's the DAL Ars Install game coming out on June 26th. Pre-orders are still available, but they did sell out on pre-orders for DAL Rinne Utopia last year so get 'em while they're up.



And just as a point-out of how DAL 2 isn't unique to lower TV series animation quality, and that they always do animation tweaks for the BD/DVDs, here's a TV->BD animation quality comparison just posted in the Strike the Blood thread:

Originally Posted by SigUp

Images

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Though I honestly don't remember the animation being that bad in the StB TV airing.......

[VTHokiePride]

Just finished episode 10. Maybe they're going to finish the story in the movie to end the series like what they did with Gundam 00? The second season wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad either. It had enough material to keep my engaged more than IS2 like the previous posters have noted.

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

Originally Posted by VTHokiePride

Just finished episode 10. Maybe they're going to finish the story in the movie to end the series like what they did with Gundam 00? The second season wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad either. It had enough material to keep my engaged more than IS2 like the previous posters have noted.

Probably because there were actual plots that they largely stuck to and didn't just spend 98% of the series on pointless harem antics and only 2% on the edge of a "plot" like IS2 did, which even then only created more questions than answers.

Basically, this was actually a "series" series whereas IS2 felt more like a string of OVA episodes most of the time.

[AP24]

To me it is most likely the movie will be a remake or mostly a compilation of the first arc's episodes with some different scenes. Like Shakugan no Shana and Madoka Magica movies.

[crimsonflair]

Originally Posted by AP24

To me it is most likely the movie will be a remake or mostly a compilation of the first arc's episodes with some different scenes. Like Shakugan no Shana and Madoka Magica movies.

It can be an adaptation of Volume 1 if that's what you're saying. S1 contrasted from the novel.

[AP24]

Originally Posted by crimsonflair

It can be an adaptation of Volume 1 if that's what you're saying. S1 contrasted from the novel.

I did mean adaptation of vol 1. Well volume 1's adaptation in the first season was not much different from the novel but I guess the movie will be more precise.

[Pablete]

Touka used MUGETSU!!!

[Kakurin]

An okay conclusion to the arc and season. Looked a tad rushed to me. All in all I think the handicraft and composition during the Miku arc wasn't all too endearing. The DEM guys continued to annoy the heck out of me. Wescott with his smug attitude and Ellen with her arrogance. Inverse Tohka sure is strong, took out a like a chunck of the city with one swing of Paverschelv and neither of the other spirits was on par with her. Liked the congregation of all spirits (well, save for Kurumi, but she got her own little scene at the end) when it came down to the matter of aiding Shidou in recovering Tohka.

Miku after her conversion was pretty sweet to Shidou, heh. Shocked everybody with her confession. The song was nice, better than the last one she had. The reaction of the other people was priceless.

Mana recovered fairly nicely from the battle last episode. Just wish everything was a tad more fleshed out.

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Though I honestly don't remember the animation being that bad in the StB TV airing.......

Me neither, I guess I just didn't pay too much attention to that when I watched it the first time. Was honestly shocked when I did the little comparison and saw just how bad episode 12 was in this regard. The other two of the same BD volume seemed to be better in this regard.

But in this last episode there was another spot where there was an issue with the synchronisation not matching quite to the animation. So, just wait for the BD and hope for the best possible result.

[cyberdemon]

This movie is probably going to be like the SAO movie. A recap with bonus footage at the end.

[Kakurin]

Yes, and I reiterate what I said in the novel thread. With them showing the Kurumi scene about her not finding that spirit she was looking for I can't imagine them going for an anime-orginal wrap-up in the movie. I hope that we'll get a third season and hopefully with better execution when the studio has settled down some.

[TaintedDream]

Have we brought up the possibility that the movie might cover the Natsume Arc?

[Klashikari]

Coming from someone who only read the first volume of the LN, I can't exactly say I was amazed by the second season.
Regardless how much it condensed the LN material compared to the first season, the second season felt way more rushed to me because how things were presented which wasn't helped by the first ep being a filler (quite obvious considering how some characters, especially Tohka, were OOC), thus only 9 episodes overall.

I really think the directing for the second season was way clumsier due to a bland presentation. Of course, not knowing DEM's actual agenda isn't a major issue per se, but the way they were presented was... well, quite minimalistic with a laughable textbook "I'm the big bad!".
By the way, does the LN actually explain how Origami and her friends could jeopardize DEM's actions to this extent? Unlikely to be scott free, but the fact she could deploy that kind of gear despite what happened before is a bit far fetched.

Meanwhile, it goes without saying but the production value for this season was nothing to write home about.
Save perhaps half of Kaguya and Yuzuru's arc, the big chunk of this season was butchered in term of design and animation. Hell, even the last episode got the short end of a stick (not as much as ep9 though), with "cut" sequence.

I'm not exactly sold by having Chihara Minori voicing Miku: complete mismatch, especially for anything related to songs

[Marcus H.]

I have only watched the entire Yamai Tempest Arc, but seeing that the story only covered "two and a half" arcs somewhat made DEM a much less threatening foe than expected. Is it wrong for me to assume that Kurumi was far more threatening than DEM, which seem like Team Rocket in comparison to Spirit #3?

I'm not exactly sold by having Chihara Minori voicing Miku: complete mismatch, especially for anything related to songs

Not enough budget for a Maaya Sakamoto role, I guess.

[takai]

Not as good as the first season, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Not really sure why I saw some people "disappointed" by the last episode, the message of the whole show is the "Power of Love". This isn't an over the top action show.

It's unfortunate to see the shows budget was smaller than the first seasons. It definitely showed, and it made me cringe at times.

Also, dat lesbian conversion. Good job Shido!

7/10. Really excited for the movie. Let's hope a third season will be in the works soon.

P.S. Oh, and where the hell was Origami at the end? Seriously? She got shafted pretty damn hard this season. I sincerely hope we see more of her as a main character in future installments.

[ImperialFlameGod8190]

this was interesting still did I lose my mind or when she was caught by kaguya (or yuzuru I forget) but were Origami's boobs probably as big as tohka's if not bigger and damn miku looks pretty good

[Klashikari]

^ don't think too much about it. Even Kaguya's were abnormally large with her outfit, even on par with Yuzuru's, despite their arc pretty much nailed the difference between them.
Origami's being bigger is just a design mishap.