season 2 of KonoSuba
Konosuba is one of those rare anime where the sequels are better than the 1st season.
Comment on Fall Anime Season Wrap-Up and Discussion Thread [2024, Week 52]
Rottcodd@ani.social 1 year ago
Since I’m not watching anything this season and instead browsing through the past:
First up last week was Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo (2019), which was… not good. At all. It was sort of promising at first - the initial setup was intriguing if a bit derivative - but it fell flat almost immediately and never recovered. The biggest problem - I don’t know if it traces back to the LN or was just part of the adaptation - is that the writer(s) appear to have understood the idea that it’s good to have characters who grow and change, but didn’t get the bit about the changes having context and following a recognizable progression. So what we get are characters who are seemingly arbitrarily assigned traits, then at some later point, they’re essentially arbitrarily assigned different traits.
Next was Nisemonogatari (2012), which was… kind of dull really. It’s all the same gimmicks as Bakemonogatari, but at this point, they’re wearing a bit thin for me. And try as I might, I just detest Senjougahara.
Then came a surprising gem - season 2 of KonoSuba (2017). I liked season 1 well enough, but it just didn’t quite come together entirely for me. And season 2 didn’t look promising, since the first thing I noticed was that it has just about the worst art I’ve ever seen. It looks like it was done cheap and fast by amateurs. But then I discovered (the surprising bit) that pretty much every other aspect of the season was stellar - great stories, great characterization (most notably, they took the edge off of Kazuma’s assholery - in the first season there were too many times when it was unwarranted and too extreme, but in the second season, it was better timed and proportioned), and more genuine laugh out loud moments. And both the opening and closing themes are terrific.
And finally, after bouncing off of a few things, I ended up rewatching Akudama Drive (2020). The first time through I was initially intrigued but not particularly impressed, then slowly came to enjoy it more and more and was very impressed by the end. I wanted to see if it held up to a rewatch though, since I wasn’t sure if it was genuinely that good or if I was just swayed by the contrast between my initial reaction and expectations and what it turned out to be. And I’d say it really is genuinely that good. It’s not flawless by any means - it has some plot holes and some notably forced bits, but all in all, it just really is very good. And Swindler - the main character - is plain awesome.
season 2 of KonoSuba
Konosuba is one of those rare anime where the sequels are better than the 1st season.
wjs018@ani.social 1 year ago
Oh man, now you get to watch the Konosuba movie, my favorite piece of Konosuba media. I also agree that season 2 is really where the show hit its stride.
As for bakemonogatari (and subsequent -gataris), I have bounced off that series a couple of times now. I can’t really put my finger on it exactly, but I sympathize with you in that it hasn’t really grabbed me. It might just be one of those series that you either click with or you don’t.
Rottcodd@ani.social 1 year ago
Yeah - the movie’s next up on my list. At the moment, I’m wading through season 5 of Star Trek Lower Decks.
The thing with season 2 of KonoSuba - in retrospect, I can’t even quite pin down what made it so much better than season 1. There were some notable bits (like the introduction of Yunyun, who makes me laugh pretty much without fail), but really it seems that it’s just that every part of it was kicked up a notch. Or at least everything other than the embarrassingly awful animation, but I stopped noticing that for the most part.
And yeah - the Monogataris. At some point, I’m going to watch Nekomonogatari Kuro, since it’s a prequel and fills in the part of the story that’s repeatedly flashed back to in Bakemonogatari, and then I suspect I’ll be done with the series. I don’t really dislike it - it’s just sort of tedious and pointless.
Endmaker@ani.social 1 year ago
I believe the animation style in KonoSuba is intentional.
Same thing with Murai in Love.
They are not bad, just different.
Rottcodd@ani.social 1 year ago
Mm… yes and no.
Yes - the animation style is sort of simplistic and imprecise, and that’s presumably a deliberate stylistic choice.
But I was talking about season 2 specifically, which goes beyond that, and is notably different from the rest of the series.
ReluctantZen@feddit.nl 1 year ago
It definitely is
Breezy@lemmy.world 1 year ago
For people who dont like the anime, i fucking hate aqua, the light novels are still very good. I ended up liking Aqua after seeing the book side of her, and the story is finished so you can go read till the end right now. Very satisfying ending to the whole story, which will probably get fully animated around 2030.