I have great difficulty with writing sequel seasons to anime. What do I do? Is it just more of the original? is that not just copying that one and ending in, just read the original review. Maybe I will write about the advancing plot? But if the plot is good surely I don’t want to ruin that? And so I sat on this one for a while, over and over in my head how do I write this while working on my hobbies or playing games.

First up, season 2 is much more the second half of a 48 episode long single season than a sequel. Time ago we would see 24 to 26 episode animes as the norm with a few big titles like Gundam being 52. But for reasons I can speculate but am no way qualified to state, most are now a single cour or 12/13 episodes and a few rarities being 2 cours at the old 24 to 26 episode length, and most of the time with them the series is split in 2 for that. Usually a cour between the two halves. ANYWAY watching both of these, it does feel more that this was always one long series, just with a decent break between the two halves, and given like the original this is 2 cours long, that was time needed and happy to say well used.

While there is an episode that can be considered the catch up for people returning to the show, it felt little to no different than the usual flow of the show. Episodic mysteries being looked into by our Apothecary lead Maomao as she desperately tries not to get too caught up in the interweaving machinations of the Imperial Palace. There is little to no time jump between the end of season 1 and the start of season 2. We get a few notable moments we can judge passage of time throughout the show  however especially with the latter half of the season.

It’s very hard to talk about that latter half as that’s where everything comes together and the sense this was all one long series pays off. Characters and elements that seemed strangely underused or unanswered all begin to have their pay offs. One side character ended up becoming one of the stand out anime characters of the year beating many strong leads of their own shows.

Like the first season each course is a full volume resulting in this second season covering light novels 3 and 4. The effort the studio put into making this, which even resulted in some episodes being delayed to ensure that high quality shows. So much of what’s in those books comes through and for that ending of the season and growth of the characters that’s needed.

Obviously yes, watch this. But also obviously you do need to have seen the first season to watch this.

Rating: 📺📺📺📺📺