Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou 2nd Season

Look, it's sort of trash. It's basically filled with tropes and the harem one is the worst of them. Why then am I giving it high scores? The story is actually pretty decent. The twists and turns between the tropes are not bad. They set Hajime up to save the day and never show him actually making the shit he pulls out of his ring, but I can forgive this because I have read the trash webnovel which does a bit. Enough to deflect criticism at least. But largely not at all.

And yes, the harem makes the characterisation of the girls a bit redundant, but it's still there and again not lesser than many higher rated anime. The soundtrack is really good, it gets you hype for the trash, and you aren't left disappointed by someone swapping the big win for some more characterisation. Because that bit's already taken by jokes about anal. There are no surprise twists here! It's good solid trash. Hajime will absolutely just keep bringing out bigger guns, even if you've never seen him so much as surreptitiously pop to the loo to build them. And despite it being trash they're a lot more imaginative than any Gundam.

The world building is pretty good, believable for a story about killing god.

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There is no other way of describing Arifueta beyond, Trash Anime.

The first season was bad, yet extremely enjoyable, the second season has addressed many of the issues, and is just as enjoyable

They actually spent money on Arifueta this time around.
The animation has improved, and the laughably bad CGI is nowhere to be seen.
The OST is pretty decent

There are still some pacing issues, but it's better than before
and the issues with a lack of characterisation is still there, but it's mostly present with the wider cast. But as the wider cast has more of a role this time, their lack of character is a bigger issue this time around.

But for enjoyment value, this is still over the top, using all the clichés, and it's just top tier trash.

I had to give S1 a low score to reflect the low quality of the anime, but as this has improved on all those aspects, my score for S2 reflects that

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So...after the massive disappointment that is Season 1 back in Summer 2019 that's rife with production woes, novelist Ryo Shirakome's storywriting that while is highly praised in the LN, was such a misnomer in the anime adaptation due to plot pointers that was glossed over in favour of the rushed pacing that's directed by the now-deceased Season 1 director Kinji Yoshimoto, is Arifureta still the same trash-worthy Isekai as it was back when it released? For good or worse, it's still quite mixed.

For the sequel that's led by Corpse Party director Akira Iwanaga, the story is (obviously) continued from the events of Season 1 that ended with Volume 4 of the LN, and the continuation that's heralded between the leftovers of Volume 4 to Volume 6 of the LN, which is in my mind, a huge improvement from the last that doesn't feel rushed for the viewers. Everything is where it should be with no excuses of cut content, just full on trash enjoyment values, which I really breathe a sigh of relief after watching the horrendous prequel 2.5 years back.

Unsurprisingly, Hajime and his harem gang are back (and yes, including his class of heroes which I thought are always brain-dead niceties), and they get a fair bit more action in the sequel continuation. The difference is now with new characters like the mer-folk/dagon-type demi-humans and the whole Demon Army side of things, where only now it gets frenetic with stakes at hand. The young mer-folk Myu is a new addition to Hajime's gang at the tail-end of Season 1, but her inclusion this season does provide some resting moments, other than always being in peril with their lives on the line in the situations that they face in the Grand Guen Volcano, to back home in Myu's birthplace of Erisen. Of course, what's left to say more than the eventual conflict of Hajime and the Demon Army of both demons and classmates being evil, that's a thing.

As to be expected, everyone will bite back at the overall presentation, and this still feels like ass, though not as bad as how much Season 1 was effed upside down with the last-minute production changes. Studio asread. is still here, albeit with yet another studio's help: studio MOTHER, replacing the intended White Fox in the 3DCG department. It honestly doesn't feel bad to finally see Arifureta adapted in decency, though this is still a far cry from its potential.

Though I'm quite saddened to say that the OST wasn't as strong as Season 1, but who I am kidding myself since it was pretty much the same as before, except for the theme songs obviously. Void_Chords set an insanely high bar with their banger of an OP 2.5 years ago (and is still a fantastic song to this day), and though MindaRyn is beginning to build her reputation as an esteemed Anisong artist, it just feels night and day when compared between the two. Even with DracoVirgo's kinda lackluster ED for Season 1, though FantasticYouth did a better job, both songs just aren't really my taste and sound quite average.

Even as a "restart / reboot" to the series by doing the usual adaptation practices right, Ryo Shirakome's Arifureta as a whole, just is not a good Isekai, and even if Season 1 was heaps of terribad with some good points to it, Season 2...just felt like there wasn't any "fun" injected into it with its overall serious tone that it would carry from start to finish. I am glad that the sequel fixed up the vast majority of the glaring issues of the prequel, though at the expense of feeling numb to watch any more of Arifureta. Take this sequel on your own risk if you think that this series still has some value to you that's worth the continuation.

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Arifureta is my guilty pleasure. For me, this second season was 7, but overall i guess it is 6. It was less enjoyable than the first one, but did improve in some ways.

If you absolutely hated the 1st season, the 2nd one will not be any better. There are less coldblood Hajime moments, less cool ass pulls, less edgelord... All of the things that made arifureta distinguish itself from other harem powerfantasy isekais are less apparent in this season. This is an absolute disappointment for me, as it was mainly the reason i liked 1st season. The fact that Hajime learned from his weaknesses and became an OP edgelord was enjoyable for me. In second season he still is, but it is way less noticeable.

What got better was the characters. Yue is as enjoyable as she was in first season. Shia is way less annoying. Tio is ever so hilarious. Kaori is boring for me, but she got actual development. I also like how, dispite being a stupid harem, Hajime makes it even clearer how Yue is the only one for him. Even though he is the generic OP protagonist, he differs from others by not being the virgin indecisive character we always get in isekai. Other side characters play a more important role in this season, specially the classmates.

The pacing got a LOT better. And even though the last arc seemed really badly paced, it was not close to the pacing issues the first season had.

Art got a little better. CGI is waaaay better, but still awlful. The music tho... I vibed SO MUCH with OP and ED.

Overall, I guess this is only worth it if, like me, you enjoyed the first season. Don't expect anything different from it.

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