B: The Beginning Succession

Personally I loved the first season and I can't understand why everyone doesn't seem to like this one. I mean yes this season is just a bridge to a season 3 but the issues that were set up in this one are really interesting and I can't wait to see what happens next.

In this second season we learn a lot more about Keith's psychology and Kokuu's past
I sincerely believe that the outcome of this will be truly amazing and that people should stop complaining. However, it is true that I find it difficult to understand why I made a "bridge" season. When he could ... have very well made a longer season like for the first one in order to answer all these questions. It would have been more logical than ending on a cliffhanger

As far as I'm concerned—this sequel doesn't exist.

I enjoyed the original B: The Beginning. The ending was okay. They didn't need to make this. It was initially supposed to be a twelve-episode-long sequel, but they trimmed it down to six—at the expense of a coherent story. B was never a tightly written masterpiece, but it was watchable. B: The Beginning Succession is illogical, stupid, boring, and it has a terrible title. Why didn't they call it B: The End? Or B: The Second?!

While watching this sequel, I felt like no one cared. No one cared about the continuity of the show. The action scenes make ... no sense—unexplained powers, inconsistent logic, reality-bending fights. It's like they wanted to make the Matrix without understanding what made it such a great film. I have a limit of suspension of disbelief. This show broke it—cars driving on walls through narrow alleys and continuity errors galore. I would've thought it was hilariously bad if I wasn't so bored. When I say watch this show on a stimulant, I REALLY mean watch it on a stimulant. Four cups of coffee weren't enough to get me through it.

My two favorite characters—Keith and Lily—did nothing worthwhile. Keith spent most of the show being kidnapped and screaming about being in love with his dead sister. Lily drives her gravity-defying car for three episodes. Occasionally, she's the butt of an unfunny joke, such as when she gets sexually assaulted by her coworker. The rest of the Royal Investigative Services agents were on screen for a total of under 20 minutes. You can reduce all of their personalities to one word: angry, intelligent, annoying, boobs. At least they were humorous in the first season. But they're barely present, which means there's practically no levity amidst all the edgy monologues and super-serious clown villains speaking in riddles.

The most boring character, Koku, swiped the protagonist role. Never would I expect a guy who can fly, regenerate, brainwash people, and run at superhuman speeds would be so dull. He's constantly monotone, and he's motivated by a one-dimensional love interest. In a way, he is an anti-hero, not on the side of the Reggies, but also not on Lily's side (AKA the RIS). The villains are a lame cabal of generic bishounens wearing clown make-up with bad hairstyles. Their motivations are convoluted—but all you need to know is they want to change the status quo, and that's bad because our heroes are cops.

Director, writers, editors, no one knew what to do with these characters or how to get them from a scene to another. Making a spreadsheet is the only way to keep up with every organization, character, location, motivation, and the show's made-up vocabulary. To figure out what they were talking about, I had to pause and rewind countless times. Even watching the English dub, it was like they were speaking an alien language. If you thought the first season had dry writing, this will truly test your patience. Everyone speaks in riddles or they seem to be as clueless as I was. You'll find a treasure trove of half-baked lines that will insult your intelligence. But, if you want to see a lot of clowns fighting each other and don't care about the story, dialogue, or continuity, maybe you'll find something to like. That is if you can look past the art quality.

The anime just looks unfinished, which is a massive shame because the art was season one's strongest aspect. The shadows are either inconsistent with the light source's angle or entirely missing. Every scene during the daytime looked like a Lahaina noon because the shadows were directly below the characters. The environmental background art is undetailed and messy too. And there's an odd feeling that none of the art fits within the setting. Whenever characters move, it's either looped animations or the designs become super simplified. Mixing poorly animated character models with janky CGI background is a recipe for the uncanny valley effect.

Thank God this season ends early. I don't think I could've sat through another half. I'm certain Netflix axed the production halfway through because it ends on a cliffhanger. I guess we'll never know the story's conclusion. If you like the characters created in the first season, if you liked the story, if you want animation half as good as the original, don't bother watching this.

I enjoyed season one of B: The Beginning and watched it twice. Season two is quite a disappointment because it took three years to release six mediocre episodes. Season two lacks a story, and it almost feels like Production I.G (studio) did not know what to do with the characters.

The only character that I enjoyed this season was Lily Hoshina. Keith Kazama was a joke this season. Keith Kazama Flick was not helpful such as his detective work in season one. The Royal Investigation Service (RIS) characters were not as prominent as season one. I noticed two characters who never got introduced until halfway through ... the last episode.

The dialogue was awkward at times. In episode four (2:07-11:12), Keith's conversation with Gibert Ross made me confused. In episode four, 9:34- 11:12, Keith's voice (English dub) sounds completely different, almost like another character. Yuna's voice acting felt off; she almost sounds like Violet Evergarden. Yuna's dialogue made me feel like I am listening to a robot.

The fighting scenes felt a lot shorter. I did not count the number of fighting scenes, but it seemed like there were fewer of these scenes than season one.

The character designs are pretty good, especially for Kirisame and Keith. The environment designs were similar to season one. The studio needs to fix the animations for the car scenes.

Season two's op was not as good. The op sounds generic. I listened to "The Perfect World" (op of season one) a lot more.

This season was unfinished. It feels like the story is not even close to finishing based on how season two ends, and this gives the studio a poor excuse to release season three. Hopefully, the studio can redeem itself and release twelve episodes like season one.

B: The Beginning Succession is an underwhelming sequel to the original show. The first season did not exactly set a high bar either, with incredibly poor pacing at the start but overall contained a decent story. Succession suffers from the opposite problem, where the pacing is good but the story itself is rather uninteresting.

I re-watched the first season just before starting the second so that I could better judge this show as a sequel.

This review will assume you have already watched B: The Beginning (the first season).

Story:
We are introduced to many new antagonists but we are never told clearly why they believe in what ... they are doing. There is also little to differentiate between the antagonists so they all feel like a generic 'evil' person. There are some highlights however, like when the audience gets more information about Erica and Keith's background.

Art:
The original season of B had some good action scenes and minimal use of awkward CG. Succession unfortunately, seems to have cut down on the dynamic feel of the action scenes. There is also a lot more 'car CG', which is infamous for looking especially bad.

Sound:
They kept the same eleven-second opening from season one but replaced the ending. I do not like the second ending because it does not sound unique and identifiable like the original one did.

I watched the show dubbed and each role was cast well. Special mention goes to Brianna Knickerbocker for no reason in particular, I just really like her voice work in general.

Character:
This show gives us a lot of development for Keith, which is something the first season only got around to at the end. This season covers a scenario that is used in many trashy shows, romantic feelings between two adoptive siblings, and addresses it from a mature and reasonable perspective.

It's a shame that Keith's development lasts only one episode, because that is genuinely the best part of this season.

Lily is also more marginally more plot relevant in this season than the last despite being a main character in both.

Enjoyment:
Apart from the one episode about Keith and his long-buried feelings, the season is pretty boring. If you are not interested in learning more about Keith, I would suggest avoiding this second season.

I really do enjoy B the Beginning, the first season was actually the first anime I watched and I loved it, but I'm honestly quite disappointed.
Firstly there are only six episodes so I don't know if there will be more I think so due to the ending which I won't mention. So with little time to explain characters and story it kind a hurts the anime a lot. Season 2 breaks on some foundations set in season 1 literally bringing characters back from the dead which felt basic especially as it does go unexplained.

Some positives from season 2
Lilly is easily the best character, good personality ... brings life to a series which focuses on dark topics. Lilly was my 2nd favourite character from S1 behind Keith but she's actually carrying s2 on her back to get the best of it.
The art has definitely improved in my eyes compared to s1 but can still get better with some faces looking awesome then others look like face masks you would have for Halloween.

Some negatives from season 2
With only 6 episodes released the ending is a cliff hanger and after 4/5 episodes of the same stuff it makes it boring almost.
The original cast gets little to nothing you might see the RIS for roughly 15 minutes through the entire series and then they're basically in the back of the shots. I wish they explored these characters more as I think they could offer a lot more to the show.
New characters aren't very likeable all the new characters introduced aren't written well with the scenes they got introduced in being laughable. Literally main character didn't even seem surprised to see someone who was considered dead who's alive. This is definitely a storywriters problem they could of had a bit more emotional scenes but they didn't every character is either serious or normal that's it.
Perfect world which was an amazing song used throughout s1 isn't used which is kind a upsetting the new outro song is good but it's definitely a downgrade for sure.
Finally the main character who is considered to be smart makes questionable choices which aren't explained why. He did this in s1 but his actions actually helped but in s2 he becomes a liability.


Overall the first 6 episodes of B the Beginning sucession are underwhelming not awful but for a fan of season 1 it hurt watching this as so much of it seemed wasted so I'm giving it actually a 5. I honestly didn't enjoy much of it. The world is slightly more explored and some aspects especially the art have improved but the story as a whole has lost the plot since the short amount of episodes doesn't allow the series a chance to stop and explore. I hope the last 6 episodes are released so I can finish this series as I use to love it when it was first released obviously overtime I've seen better series but I always had a soft spot for the B the beginning as without it I probably don't keep watching but to see the series like this wasn't great so I hope it can improve in the future.

Well that was disappointing.

As a disclaimer, this is my first review, and I've rushed it out to drop my first thoughts on S2 of B: The Beginning.

For starters, I actually really enjoyed the first season. It took itself seriously, and took a lot of risks--I enjoy shows like this that at least attempt to create an atmosphere and tone from the get-go. Season two discards all of this work made in the first season. The characters are recycled and don't develop much from where they left off in the first season, and the story deteriorates even though the first season was left in a ... spot that gave s2 a lot to work with. For me, though, the greatest disappointment was how rushed this all feels. The art falls off a cliff--skipped frames abound here, and recycled sequences--all the tricks that alert a viewer to a rushed production on too tight of a budget are clearly here to see. Unfortunately, a show that depends on a serious atmosphere loses a lot from choppy animation--especially when the first season's art had so much more fluidity. For me, succession is just another cash grab. On its own, average, but when viewed as a continuation of its predecessor it's a let down of staggering proportions.

Spoilers.

I told my closest friends how ECSTATIC! I was that this season was coming out this month! I RAVED so hard about how great the first season was! I felt nostalgia, which as I age is such a rare and hard emotion to nail down.

And you know what happened? You know what they did? They just took it all away within 20 minutes. What is this? What happened to a killer ED? Who even are these characters anymore?

The first season is slow, especially at the beginning, but this who 6 episode season was just a throwaway story. It never seemed important, ... it felt incredibly sloppily put together, the detective was thrown into a corner and left there for the whole thing, and the fight scenes sucked.

And the soundtrack...given how great the first season's soundtrack was, I knew it'd be hard to compete. But it was just so forgettable its incredible.

This whole "season" (6eps?) is forgettable.

Do yourselves a favor, just watch the first season. Don't even bother with this. It adds nothing and will only leave you depressed.

*No Spoilers*
This review is for Part 2 of the anime, B: The Beginning, which is also called “Succession.”

Summary:
B: The Beginning is a crime and fantasy thriller anime initially released on Netflix. Part 2 takes place shortly after Part 1, which was far more interesting than this season. In this rendition, the detective is abducted, and the other parts of the story don't make much sense. Part 2 is incomplete and practically incoherent. Although it’s 6 episodes, the story is cut off in the middle of the plot at the end of Part 2. The art, music, some characters, and some unique pieces of the plot ... are fantastic; however, some of the execution and story-telling devices detract from these strengths. In Part 2, the characters are really overlooked. I recommend people watch Part 1 but not Part 2, unless they release a Part 3. Otherwise, the already confusing but fun story from Part 1 is ruined completely.

Story: 1/10
Part 1 had an interesting story with some unique plot twists and an invigorating world. Part 2 is more predictable than Part 1, although it is still suspenseful. In many ways, however, it feels completed nonsensical. The ending feels completely rushed and doesn’t have a normal resolution for the end of a season. The story just feels out of place, and the ending feels anticlimactic and is a waste of time. Overall, this is a terribly written story.

Art: 7/10
The art is above average. The world is unique and gorgeously portrayed with art. In addition, the fights and movements are choreographed and illustrated beautifully. Some character designs are confusing, especially when there are flashbacks and the viewer isn’t sure which of the present characters is being shown. Overall, the art is above average.

Sound: 4/10
The background music is fitting and the voice acting is sufficient. Generally, the music is unique and not typical for anime. However, Part 2 has some more bland songs and the ending is not at all fitting.

Character: 3/10
Part 2 has some of the same issues as Part 1. The main characters are interesting, and they are written to be fairly realistic in nature. The humor definitely makes some of them relatable and likable. The problem with the characters is that they don’t frequently get to make decisions and are instead tossed about by the plot. If the story weren’t so plot-driven, the characters could have been excellent and developed. In addition, there are too many side characters to keep track of, particularly when the antagonists are introduced. It can be hard to tell them apart, partially due to similar hair color and the flashbacks explained above. Part 2 seems even more plot-driven which completely detracts from the characters.

Enjoyment: 2/10
Unlike Part 1, Part 2 is not as entertaining or enjoyable Almost every category has a slight decline, and the characters are almost completely stagnant. In addition, the ending destroys the story completely. The finale doesn’t end with a cliffhanger: It ends even more confusing and jarring than any of the crazily intertwined plots in B: The Beginning.

Overall: 3.0/10
Part 2 is definitely a downgrade from Part 1, mainly because of the out-of-place ending. If you watch this anime, I recommend you only watch Part 1.

I had to re-watch the first season to remember what was going on and prepare for that second season. Despite having its flaws that are inherent in the mystery genre, it is still a very interesting and engaging anime by the atmosphere, themes and plot twists.

This second season, however, is a mess. Despite exploring some of the cliffhangers left in the first, everything happens without any practical justification. Kirisami being alive had already been hinted at in the first season at times, but the reason for that and the way it was done was stupid. Izanami mysteriously returns from the dead and her existence is ... dealt with in a way as if she were always there. It is outrageous with everything that the first season built.

And it is obvious that these six episodes do a terrible job of developing the parallel characters. The first season, even though it was twice the size, had already done a great job of character development halfway through. Here, the characters are badly written.

Of course, it is worth noting the fact that these six episodes leave a cliffhanger, which clearly demonstrates that they were probably looking to produce something longer, but stumbled upon production problems. I guess this was because the production values were clearly much lower than the first. The quality of the animations here is of a very low level. The battle scenes are embarrassing, especially compared to the first season.

In the end, there is only one word to define B - Succession: disappointing.

I'm not a fan of B: THE BEGINNING, a show that mostly feels like a mixtape of elements from other shows e.g. PSYCHO-PASS, DARKER THAN BLACK, MONSTER. But in rewatching the first season, I could at least appreciate the high production values and occasionally goofy story. The nonsensically titled SUCCESSION doesn't even have those things. It's cheap as hell (lots more CG) and poorly directed, no doubt the result of Kazuto Nakazawa and others who worked on the first season being less involved. And as cliche as the first season could be, those familiar elements gave the show some semblance of a story structure and ... genre framework to latch onto. SUCCESSION tosses all of the police procedural and detective stuff and by extension the characters involved in that side of the story. I was skeptical that a second season could keep Keith, Lily, and the R.I.S. relevant. Turns out I was right to be. This season also blatantly retcons things from the first season in ways both small (Lily's car) and large (the explanation for the raid on the Jaula Blanca Institute) to the extent that whatever clarity I thought I had gained from rewatching the already confusing and terminology-heavy first season dissipated.

B:the beginning is an anime which I really enjoyed it was a great as mystery and anime in general for me and since I felt that the end of the previous season complete it as a story forme so I can't say I had high expectations for this season and now that I finished this season I can say that I was right.Let's start the review spoiler free.The plot of succession is the oposite of the season 1 story with this I mean that while the story of the first season was very good a bit slow start but very good this season though ... while it starts with a fine first episode from episode 2 and later the story is an undeveloped mess we don't have clues,actual purpose or a certain plot point it's like a zero plot action series also the fact that it's only 6 episodes doesn't make it better and reduces the chances for development even more.The art is not so different from the animation of season 1 it's still very good.The music is good the opening is the same as the first one but the ending is very good though.And now let's go to the weakest point of of succession which is the characters.The new characters are undeveloped and unintreasting their goals are almost unclear and the plot twist in the end doesn't help it feels like they are antagonists for the sake of being antagonists.The old cast is pretty much the same as it was in season 1 the only worth mentioned here is Keith who got a fine development but nothing outstanding. B:the beginning Succession is an example of what we can call ''milking'' it was an unnecessary sequel with a very messy plot unintreasting additions and in general it's a dissapointing sequel of a very good series which came from a very good studio something which is really sad.

Think of these as bonus information episodes rather than giving it a 'season 2' stigma. They greatly expanded on Keith and with the help of (admittedly) bland extras, set up a straight-forward story, delivered quite an investigation and stayed grounded to its original style. If you enjoyed the first season there really is not much reason to not enjoy these OVAs, plus there is clearly room for continuation

If I had to come for anything, it would be the uselessness of the new characters outside of connecting the obvious plot holes BUT I will say they could have purposely done that for the sake of cutting ... the number of episodes in half and opening up a path for their development in a sequel

So assume to be the sequel to Season 1, in the end there is a not terrible animation no clear rhythm in each episode, NOTHING happens in this season the episodes stretch out and end exactly as it started, we do not understand what is really happening we just want the little fight to catch up with everything but not even there the fight of Kokuu against the other is ridiculous nothing to save just to throw away... Comparing to what we offered in season 1 it's just disappointing as much about the animation as the story
I expected more from Keith's character in this sequel ... [...]
We're going to be content with season 1 which was awesome

This second season is quite disappointing. The first was a well-constructed, intelligent, mature and dark narrative, with room for complex characters and well-written dialogues. Here, this is no longer the case, the action takes up much more space and the dialogues are only few. The plot is launched very quickly, even if we do not necessarily understand the real stakes. The common thread of the series takes on a completely different meaning here, not necessarily the most interesting. You clearly don’t have time to feel or understand anything, everything goes very fast and once you’re in the bath, everything is already over. Even the characters ... seem to have changed personality, there is no real charisma anymore. The realization is a bit below also. This season 2 seems to have been done quickly, whereas it took 3 years; hoping that this is only part of the season.

The second season is mostly a clear-cut, save-your-friend, adventure story. There's not much new mystery introduced, with almost all the supernatural strangeness introduced and resolved by the first season. We now know what the characters are capable of, so the surprises in this regard are minimal.

With it only being 6 episodes long, the story is a bit rushed, but the plot is written in such a way that dragging it on would have felt too out of place if they stretched the episode count, but maybe a couple more lead-in episodes could have helped. However, the last episode of the season is a cliffhanger that ... leaves the an important part of the story unresolved. This is a bit dissatisfying given (at the time of this writing) there is nothing announced as a follow-up season. I will say, that up to the cliffhanger, I was enjoying this season more than the first season.

One of the other reviewers complained about the English voice acting. I watched the Japanese dialog w/English subs, and I did not note any problems in that regard, or with the audio, in general.