Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season

I'll write my thoughts on the whole series as such- since I never liked the idea of splitting this show into two seasons in the first place >.>

Story [8/10]: The plot of this show really had good potential. However, just having a good plot is not the only necessity, it needs good execution as well. A Princess of ancient lineage and guardians to help her protect a village (and, in a larger perspective, to protect the world) from falling apart due to evil forces - though this too is a cliched plot still there are lots of ways in which the story could have evolved. ... I dont say that the story went bad, but the way in which the events in the show were handled didn't feel satisfactory. Still, its not that bad that you will drop the show entirely.

Art and Animation [8/10]: Anime art nowadays is really fluid, so no complaints regarding this section. Even the landscapes and background objects and such were beautifully drawn. Animation too is good enough.

Sound [8/10]: Japanese voice actors are so so talented when it comes to expressing any kind of emotion!! And this show is no exception. All people have done a marvelous job on their characters. Op and Ed songs are soothing to hear too. But the instrumentals played in the episodes are not noticeable (or maybe I didn't notice them :P)

Character [5/10]: The poorly made part, according to me. Nope, none of the reactions of any character are out of place. But then again, none of them leave left any impression on me. Tamayori-hime struggles to realize her power, and she struggles till almost the end. But then she suddenly her powers awaken. That is not acceptable. Same is the case with her Guardians. When did they train for making their powers better, how did they know what their exact powers were, no background on that. Only Takuma's character has been given a better treatment in this aspect, so that we know why he is so strong. Regarding others, it was really discrete. Same of the villains in the show. Their characters are also poorly introduced. And the fanservice at the end of each episode (with a single character each time) was totally unnecessary =.=

Enjoyment [6/10]: Well I didn't stop watching the show half-way. The story picked up some pace in the second half.

Overall [7/10]: If you have some free time and really can't decide on what to watch, then probably you can give this show a try. This is for the girls mainly. I dont even know if the guys will consider this show a show looool.

This is the second season of Hiiro no Kakera. I've written a review for the first one, so I thought to myself that I would review the second season!

This anime follows the story of Tamaki, the Tamayori Princess and her guardians. Where as the first season had no real plot and no real action, the season two makes up for it in term of plot and action. You will see the characters develop as well as the plot. It is still a slow anime where it take 13 more episodes to get to the ending, but overall, this season would be better than the ... second season. The first season is very slow and you'd have to be really patient with it~

Story: 7/10 As far as the slow paced plot, the story is good, but it could have been set into one season only, instead of dragging it out. It took way too long for the Tamayori Princess go gain power to put away the Onikumaru.

Art: 8/10 The setting, the characters are well made. There aren't really flaws in the art.

Sound: 8/10 The OP for the second season is as good and soothing as the first one which I totally like.

Character: You will still find Tamaki as useless as ever until the very end, but the others characters were well developed in this season second.

Enjoyment: 9/10 I overall enjoyed the second season better than the first one, because it was more fast paced. The story was really developing and you could see the anime's potential.

Overall: 8/10

This is a review of the entire series with Japanese audio

First, I'll begin with a story synopsis. If you already know it or don't want to see any potential, though unlikely, spoilers, you can scroll down a bit.

The story, based on a series of Otome video games released in Japan, focuses on the characters, with multipe parallels illustrating many fundamentals of human nature. The story centers around an ancient family line of females known as the Tamayori Pirncesses. The main protagonist, named Tamaki Kasuga, is the youngest in that line who is coming of age as she arrives at her grandmother's estate and must ... learn what it is to be a Tamayori Princess. Tamayori Princess's purpose is to be the guardian and keeper of an ancient and mysterious power sealed within the land known as the Onikirimaru. The Princess has guardians who are sworn to protect here in the form of supernaturally powered males from a historic and loyal clan. The antagonists of the story belong to a group known as the Logos, a secret society bent on releasing the Onikirimaru, which is foretold to bring about the world's end. Tamaki, along with her guardians must stop the Logos before it's too late.


I sit here pondering why Hiiro no Kakera is so effective at drawing the audience in , urging us to watch the next episode, and I realize a fundamental tactic employed by very few anime that shines through in Hiiro no Kakera. On the surface Hiiro no Kakera appears to be of stock value, with a dime a dozen written all over it. The art is well done, like most recent anime, the setting, and story, though interesting, are relatively basic in their presentation, and if you only watch 1 episode it is easy to see why many would dismiss the characters as well.

Those who shrug off the first impressions and stick around for a bit, will find addiction setting in as you must watch the next episode culminating in a complete and satisfying resolution often lacking in many anime. This is accomplished by what I like to call incremental development. The characters, the story, the relationships, all are carefully developed as though you are watching a rose bloom before your very eyes without missing one beat. The characters and their relationships develop at a deliberately slower pace in order to emulate real relationships and personal growth and change. This forms a meaningful bond between the audience and the characters that continually grows stronger.

This theme of development is consistent in the story as well as the producers purposely pull a few punches early on in order to end with a flurry and a satisfying bang. The music, voice acting, and sound direction are all superb. The opening song of the first season is one of my personal favorite opening songs in recent memory, not only for its aesthetics, but because of how well it thematically fits with the anime. The voice actors brings the characters to life in tremendous fashion, which is critical to any character based story. The acting is consistent and believable with strong outings from virtually every major character.

On a side note, another contemporary anime that executes incremental development extremely well is Sword Art Online. Especially regarding the relationships of the protagonists.

The actual story is much more interesting and complex than the synopsis suggests. The story has a couple of twists and turns and picks ups a bit towards the end of the series by providing some interesting and fitting revelations and some pretty cool events. The story, like the character development is well paced and always holds a mystery over the audience's head resulting in a curiosity that has the audience asking what will happen next? The ending is very satisfying and is personally my favorite part of the series. Although,some people may be put off by the slower pace of Hiiro no Kakera, as many other anime character and story developments happen literally overnight creating an air of impatience in the audience. But, true relationships are generally not created overnight and they have severe consequences for any actions taken. Personally it was refreshing and powerful to see a realistic take on character development that was in turn executed extremely well. The empathy I had for the characters felt real and I attribute this to Hiiro no Kakera's execution of incremental development.

The tone of Hiiro no Kakera is of a somber nature with some light comedy peppered in throughout. But, for the most part it has its serious face on. It is dramatic and powerful when it needs to be and calm and quiet in mostly the right places. This sets up a pacing structure that is executed very well. It isn't perfect by any means but it is consistent and carefully accomplished.

The action (aka beating people up), though sparse until the end, was well done and it fit well with the themes of the story. The protagonists are decidedly not overpowered and like many other anime characters struggle with the idea of power and a reason for fighting. (p.s. there is a neat battle at the end that rewards the audience for watching the entire series).



Overall, from an academic and personal standpoint, I would rate Hiiro no Kakera a 9 out of 10.

Pros-

+Amazing and refreshing character and relationship development

+Interesting story that picks up towards the end.

+Voice acting, art, and music are all superb

+Almost everything fits thematically

+Satisfying ending

Cons

-Pacing can be a little slow at times

-The action scenes are sparse

-Somber tone may turn off some audience members

Hello, thank's for reading my review. At least I hope you do, you haven't gone very far yet. Anyway, thank you!

First of all, if you haven't seen season one, you should watch it first, things will make a lot more sense. It may be a tiny bit slow for some people, but please bear with it.
Secondly, if you watched season one and aren't really sure if you should keep going, please do, it is totally worth it. The second season is so beautiful. They up the romance a whole lot, you will really love it.

Okay, so now I'll tell you ... a little about the anime.
It picks up right where the first season ended. The next day actually. They really turn it up a notch and it is a lot faster paced. They cover a lot more in the second season. The romance will really delight you and if you cry easily, you probably will. I certainly did. And in the end everything will make sense.

After having finished this season I went back and rewatched season one, just to see if I had missed anything, and it turns out I had.

I hope I was useful and you watch and enjoy the second season of Hiiro no Kakera!

Heloo, all. This will be my first review, so forgive me if I seem a tad amateurish.

I love this season. I love this show. The first season was an interesting premise, but I knew the plot wasn't going to really get moving till the second season. Here's the thing, I have this freaky power that makes me tolerant and patient in circumstances that would force others to do otherwise. It's gotten me through many a slow-paced anime into the good parts without missing information.

But this show? The first season was really enjoyable for me, really. I wasn't particularly forcing myself to watch it. ... The art was incredible, the music one of the sweetest things I've ever heard so far and even though the story was slow to develop, it sets a realistic background for everything. Things don't just happen all sudden-like, people! Everything takes time. Hiiro no kakera is literally 27 episodes and should be watched together. The first part of the story has almost no occurrences. (What do you think? The main character comes and suddenly everyone just starts fighting like crazy and falling in love all over the place?)

It took it's own time and that made the experience towards the end of the second season even more meaningful for me since I actually got to see everyone spend time with each other and develop as a person.

But yep, the second season was as expected, a kicka** bunch of episodes filled with action and betrayal and kisses and promises and a growth for all the characters in a big way. (These are all the spoilers I can give! ;D)

For this season,
Story: 9

Like I said, the after-effect of the first season really hit during this season. It was just ram-packed with all these great plot-twists and story lines. Everyone finally understood what they needed to do and all these feelings just rushed out perfectly. I especially LOVED the romance!!!! (Fangirl time woot-woot! xD)

I'm a sucker for eternal romance and this just got to me! Everything was so quiet but resounding and they are SUCH A PERFECT MATCH!! I'm assuming said guy is also the true path in the visual novel? ;)

Art: An easy 10/10

No explanation needed, gosh! Even though compared to the visual novel, I know the art might have seemed a bit disappointing to people who played the game, but I still think they did an incredible job still! It's still kind of impossible for people to make so much frames and all and retain such exquisite, artwork, as seen in the game, so I think people should just shut up and appreciate the wonderful job they managed to do with character design and ohmahgosh! The backgrounds!! Me love~

And who can forget the Bishies?! (Bishies will rule the world!!) So well drawn and just makes my artist blood prick with contentment. (The hair, the eyes, the clothes, the Oh! *looks away* No more! >u>) Don't want to start an annoying fangirl rant, so xD...

Sound? 10/10!

Music was boss! (Sorry. xD) They were some of the most heart-wrenching, goosebump-giving songs I've ever heard. And I've listened to a lot of music. Lyrics were saccharine and the melody gave me honest shivers. The voice-acting was very well done too! Mahiro especially. Loved his voice. xD

Character: 9/10

I think that Yuichi and Ryo could have been looked more into, but *shrugs* What can ya do?
I saw a lot of character development that I really enjoyed in here. Mahiro was maybe the one that impacted me the most. I mean, being taught *one thing* believing it all his life, and then, completely breaking free? Wow. Takuma was also delved a bit deeper into (like WAY into) and Shinji and Oomi too. Shinji's change, I think had a lot of feeling in it, the best-expressed in the series.

I also loved that the series was mostly a calm, serious tone but could still make me laugh sometimes. The characters were so varied and amusing to watch at the start and also grew tons. Definitely a good directing on the Directer's part.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Let's face it. There's no way you could watch this whole series and say you didn't enjoy one bit of it. You're either a demon or just plain unaffected. ;D I really loved this show a lot. Seriously. I loved the story, the bishies (Squee!!)the romance, the fight scenes, the music, the little one-on-one scenes at the end! (Probably parts from the game, haha!) The ending scenes were so cheesy that they made me laugh and blush at the same time!
(I know that last one is weird =.= don't ask)

Overall: 10/10

Yus, I loved it to my pits of my heart. I recommend this anime to all! (Boys too! You'll enjoy the action and the story if not the rom coms. xD Haha) Watch the whole thing and you'll have this sigh of contentment at the end of season 2. Seriously. You'll watch it and love it.

That concludes my first review! I hope I wasn't too annoyingly crazy.

Anyway, I hope I helped!

My scoring is all over the place with this. I enjoyed the first season better which is weird because the second season is most of the time better than the first. But in this case it;s not.

I don't want to give away too much, but lets just say that there are not enough episode in this season. The ending is very rushed. Very! It's wrapped up as much as it can be.

Episode two up til like episode nine maybe, everything is at a stand still. A lot of waiting on both sides and a lot of chatter that gets the characters no where. It's pretty ... much just fillers And then the climax finally happens and it only last one and half episode as in the last two episodes.

There is a long awaited moment that Takuma and Tamaki fans have long waited for and then in my opinion at the end Takuma just fails me the way he acts with Tamaki. Huge disappointment.

But that is all I can say without giving too much away. Watch at your own risk.

HIIRO NO KAKERA SEASON 2 ANIME REVIEW
(04042018)

OVERALL: 4.8

PLOT: 5/10

Historical Anime is one of my favorite genres. It is interesting and the strategies of war is great. The action is hooking and the historical figures is kinda fun to know. This anime continue the journey of a girl in becoming the Tamayori Princess along with his guardians. Plot wise, the twist is kinda predictable and vice versa but it became more interesting than the previous season. Maybe because the loopholes has been answered this season. Commonly, the protagonist always struggle to obtain a power that can protect his loved ones and this series show it. I ... don't really play the game of it but I think that it is much better to play this one than watching it. Eventhough this series contains of too many episodes, it failed to capture the heart of mine. Every episode seems too long for me to bear. Don't get me wrong, I finished the series since I've already started it. I don't want to drop an anime, whatever it is.

CHARACTER: 3/10

Most of the characters in an anime have a way on expressing themselves. It is what get through the heart of the one who is watching them. Though the character in this series have different traits, it seems that they lack something that can successfully penetrate my heart. It's as if they are NPC's. They say wonderful words but you know they're just acting, something like that. And apart from that, it is so irritating to watch them as they struggle to get stronger but they themselves don't do anything to get stronger. They just leaned on the Tamayori Princess and Fate and their Hope until the end. Same with the Tamayori Princess who I don't know how the earth did she obtain such power by hoping it to come. This characters are completely useless, in my opinion.

SOUND & ANIMATION: 9/10

The expression of the characters seems lacking of focus and feelings. Most of the time, the characters seemed to be looking at you but not really looking, if you know what I mean. The animation is great, yes. It consists of many handsome characters and that's why I've watched it. But the voice of some of the characters seems to be out of place. With regards in the series songs, I really really really love it and it is already in my playlist. If the characters expression seem to be lacking, the feelings I've get when listening to their songs is truly overwhelming. It is full of emotion and sadness.

EXCITEMENT: 3/10

Despite loving the songs, every episode to watch is a struggle for me. I can't remember the exact date but I think, I've watched this anime for about 2 months? Coz I will stop at the next episode for a long time after finishing one. It's quite boring for me and I've glad that I've finished it already. Maybe the last 2 to 3 episodes is what I get excited about since I'm closing in and the secret has been discovered. Though, it's kinda cliche.

ENDING: 4/10

In the end, the good wins as usual. They became powerful in the end, fighting a so called God and ended up winning. Then, the protagonists decided to take the Tamayori Princess role to protect the shrine not mainly because she is a responsible person who thinks about the other people's situation but because his other one is in that place, waiting for her. Well, is that also cliche? She's just being honest.

I will be honest , i like anime without silly facial expressions and it has to be really good to have them in , so this anime attracted me with the lack of those creepy expressions that annoy me .

Story is pretty simple but its really nice to watch and even rewatch. I'll explain why :
1 great artwork ( it is important for me and i wouldnt care about great storyline as its usually claimed to be by "one piece" fans . crappy artwork means i wont give anime a chance)
2 character does have happy ending and romance (unlike neo angelique abyss where ... lead char doesnt develop actual relations with any of lead males and ends up far away from friends)
3 anime does have clear ending , which i was really missing in witch hunter robin ( dont get me wrong i love that anime but i also like seeing happy endings ^_^ )

as for its flaws - both seasons do start off somewhat slowly , and powering up by a princess takes tones of time. i wish she was stronger and used powers during the whole series instead of wishing she had them.

i think this anime would be a great thing to watch for people who like art, magic powers , romance and happy ending :)

hope u guys will enjoy it

Season two was no better or worse than the first.

Aside from one of the character's struggle to get a hold of himself, there was also the matter of the traitor among them. Not only that aspect didn't give that person the arc that would've been present in something like that, but it was a waste of a storyline and nothing new comes from it.

I personally felt nothing in terms of the characters' chemistries. They said nice things, but none of them made my heart swoon. Then, the climax was unexpected but not in a good way. Certain characters made certain decisions that were just plain ... bad and dumb.

Overall, the second season didn't really build up the first.