Hero Mask 2nd Season

This review will be biased because I'm a huge lover of crime anime and with seemingly so few out there it feels great to have one easily accessible on Netflix. However, that doesn't excuse the major plot-holes and the extremely disappointing ending.

Story: 6/10
Yes I'm being generous but hey, there's a lot of good ideas here. The overall premise captures the mystery of the mask and the mask's abilities quite well. In this season I enjoyed the addition of Tina's story as well as her budding friendship with James. And if they had actually concluded the setup of the Special Service of Crime (SSC) versus the ... regular Capitol Police Department branches and a new evil in the ranks of the SSC, the show could've been well respected. But instead Hiroyasu Aoki leaves the viewer with many unanswered questions and too many "almost" death scenes.

Art: 9/10
One of the reasons the show is ending now is that it can't keep up with how labor intensive it is to make Hero Mask. Aoki focuses on faced-paced editing which I think works to the show's advantage. But, alas, it proved to be too expensive for Pierrot. Overall, very well done and pretty impressive.

Sound: 10/10
The soundtrack for Hero Mask is pretty much nonexistent. The OP is a dramatic orchestral piece and that's really all you get for music. But I'm giving Hero Mask a 10/10 for sound because of the amazing sound mixing. Everything from the combat noises, punches and kicks to explosions and gunshots were implemented beautifully.

Character: 4/10
James Blood is your classic American hero and never lets down the audience with his quit wit. Though, in all fairness, the beloved character does not have much of a backstory or that is to say, any.
Then one of the most fleshed out characters (and my personal favorite), Harry Creighton, has undeniably the worst character in cinematic history. Okay.. Perhaps an overstatement but the audience doesn't even know he's dead until another character mentions it in passing.
James and Harry's relationship is never explained, from the first season it hinted at a lot more than just two men who worked together, a friendship. But who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also who is the man the new commander was conspiring with ?!?
I loved all the characters at their surface level because that's all that was available to the audience.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I have to be honest, I loved every minute of this series. I can easily get sucked into the world Hiroyasu Aoki created. But I was bitterly disappointed by the ending.

Overall: 6/10
For an anime that wasn't based on a manga I would say it's a very good attempt at an original anime. Given it had more writers and editors before creation it probably would've been much more successful. Even with it's many downfalls I do hope there is a Hero Mask sequel series or movie in the future

Hero mask is an anime that doesnt feel like an anime. Hero mask is like watching a good sci-fi action movie thriller, besides the anime is really entertaining to watch it has major plot holes and i would like to split the anime in two parts to review it easily.

First Season (First 15 episodes)
The first season is an immersive thriller that hook you from the first episode. The developing of the story and the mistery is very well paced, the cast introduction and their motivations is well presented, but i have a major problem with one character: Harry Creighton, we only see few flashbacks of ... his backstory and his motivations but we never see how Harry and James how their relationship worked or how their "friendship" was built and for me that relationship was wasted. The final episode was only an excuse to take out 2 side characters from the main story, also for me 2 wasted characters. Overall the flaws and the plot holes the action scenes, the animation, the sound mixing were great and made it very entertaining to watch (7/10)

Second Season (Last 9 episodes)
The second season continues with the mask mistery and introduces new characters to the story. The problem with this season is that doesnt answers all the questions presented in the first season, the pace is rushed, some characters were forgotten (*cough Sarah Sinclair *cough) we dont know anything about some characters like the conspiracy man behind all the problems or the new director of the SEC or even the professor (how he escaped from the asylum?). This season has major plot holes, characters were killed just for the cause, characters personality changed just for the cause made a very disappointing second season. Besides the many downfalls the action scenes and the "conclussion" of the masks mystery is worth watching (6/10)

In conclussion besides all its flaws and not being based on a manga, Hero Mask is a decent anime with good action sequences, very aesthetic and a good mystery plot. So if you are looking for a decent police sci-fi thriller give Hero Mask a try. I hope they released a movie or an OVA explaining in a better way the ending but after all i give Hero Mask a solid 7/10

I had high hopes for season 2, was looking forward to all the unanswered questions presented in season 1, but this was a huge letdown!

Since there are no episode discussions for this season, I will use this review to relieve my frustrations.. sorry..

SPOILER WARNING!!!

First of all, I was really excited for Harry's story and why he turned against SSC. Initially he was helping Connor in order to obtain a mask and save his girlfriend, but they never show what actually happened to her.. how she got sick? and why on earth did Harry leave SSC in the first place and became their enemy? Worst of ... all they never showed what happened to Harry in the end? just a sound of gunshot which concludes he commit suicide?!!?

Moving on, who is the mystery man voiced by Tsuda-san? They never reveled his name? how he is connected to the head of SSC? Why does he want to obtain the mask? Was he the mastermind behind all of this?

Further moving on, the professor is a successful mask user? as it seems he is not affected by the rapid aging side effect? How did he escape the asylum?

Is James alive now because of the mask? Did Tina actually die? Where did Sarah Sinclaire go? they totally forgot her in this season?

This season was a huge disappointment! the story had a great potential, but is very poorly conducted! too bad it turned out this way..

This review is for Season 2 only, since MyAnimeList lists them separately.
*No Spoilers*

Summary:
This season has an interesting plot that helps to piece together the unexplained parts of Season 1, although there are still many plot holes. Consequently, this is a better, more cohesive season. However, it remains plot-driven, and a lot of the character development is meaningless or non-existent. The watcher is supposed to infer almost everything about the characters based on vague backstories and poor dialogue. *Don’t judge this series based on the reviews that say it’s not “anime” because of its art style.* If you enjoy suspense and action, this is probably ... a good choice for you.

Story: 7/10
The plot is clearer in this season (2) which makes the overall story more understandable. There are still breaks or backstories; however, they aren’t as meaningless. The story helps to end the overarching plot of the show in a cohesive way (albeit while still focusing on plot over characters and excluding some for no reason).

Art: 7/10
The art style is interesting and works well for the “secret agent” type style and setting. Some episodes have better quality; however, the animation is not as poor as I’ve seen others claim in their reviews. It’s not as traditional in art style as other anime, but that’s fine. *Don’t discount this just because some people claim it has to be a generic art style in order to be anime.* Aside from a few crazy scenes, the quality of the animation and the style are great.

Sound: 7/10
The music is nice, the voice acting is mediocre, and the sound effects are sufficient.

Character: 2/10
Nothing ruins a story more than un-relatable, underdeveloped, or pointless characters, and this show is filled with them. Luckily, it doesn’t fall into the “why can’t any characters die?” category; however, the backstories lead up to something that often never comes about (at least in this season), the characters’ intentions aren’t always clear, and the main protagonist is just a risk-taking, impulsive “agent” who doesn’t have a particularly fleshed out backstory or intentions either. This is still the case in Season 2, unfortunately. There’s more pressure put on the main characters, but we still don’t care about them because the story is so plot-driven. Some just die for seemingly no reason, and others aren’t even in the story at all. It’s like they threw darts to select who would be the main characters in this season. Overall, this show has some of the worst character development out of any story out there.

Enjoyment: 6/10
Season 2 was more understandable than Season 1, so it was slightly more enjoyable. The interesting sci-fi/mystery feel was engaging, but a strictly plot-driven story is never enough to maintain a watcher’s interest, and it prevents the story from really having clear themes and meaning.
Overall: 6/10
This season has an interesting plot that helps to piece together the unexplained parts of Season 1, although there are still many plot holes. Consequently, this is a better, more cohesive season. However, it remains plot-driven, and a lot of the character development is meaningless or non-existent. The watcher is supposed to infer almost everything about the characters based on vague backstories and poor dialogue. *Don’t judge this series based on the reviews that say it’s not “anime” because of its art style.* If you enjoy suspense and action, this is probably a good choice for you.

Hero Mask season 2.

At least the thing we can say is that it follows season 1. In the good and the bad. It's the same quality.

I only watched season 2 because I watched the first, and honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this season. I followed all of this without really wanting to, which makes my rating dishonest. Given that it is the same quality as the first season, I give the same rating.

At least we are entitled to some answers, but not all, which is a shame. Everything is rushed, and some things are forgotten. I had the impression that Netflix wanted to get ... it over with as quickly as possible.