Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden 2nd Season - Kakusei Zenya

If you thought the pacing in Season 1 was bad, wait until you get a load of this garbage.

Magia Record Season 2 is...incomprehensibly awful. I’m glad that some viewers were able to enjoy this season, but I absolutely did not.

Nearly the entire second half of the mobile game’s story is condensed into these 8 episodes. It’s a complete frankenstein of a narrative, especially when taking into account the anime-original plotlines. Season 2 presents such a freakish amalgamation of plot threads and character arcs that it best serves as an example of how not to adapt a story.

Since so much is being squeezed into these ... episodes at such a rapid pace, most of this season is spent on lengthy exposition that masquerades as emotional payoff. The characters will frequently burst into tears as they explain the plot to you, but it’s all so incredibly hollow.

The art and animation, which were at times impressive in Season 1, have taken a nosedive in quality. I’ve seen people point to the “sakuga” action sequences as examples of good animation, but I beg to differ. These scenes include “smooth” animation, yes, but the movements are messy and hard to follow. They’re clusterfucks trying to pass as spectacles, more head-scratching than they are impressive.

At every other point, the animation is even more stilted and awkward. Characters frequently look like scribbles as they move about the screen with the grace of a power-point. It’s sad, because I’m sure there are talented artists on the production team, but for whatever reason, they’ve clearly been forced to deliver a rushed job. They aren’t done any favours by the direction, either, which is often jarring and haphazard. This season really proved that Gekidan Inu Curry are way out of their depth.

I can only hope that the 4th Madoka movie will make me forget all about this nightmarish viewing experience. Yikes.

MagiReco was one of my favourite shows of 2020, so when I heard we were getting another season I was ecstatic. While I enjoyed the show a lot, it was undeniably lacking in some areas. Mainly in pacing and animation. The second season has rectified all of those issues and deviated substantially from the game’s story, for the better in my opinion.

MagiReco season 1 heavily followed the game’s storyline, at times to the detriment of the anime. It’s rare that games perfectly translate to anime adaptations, so it presented some issues with pacing at times. For this season, SHAFT decided to do their own thing ... and deviate, while keeping the overall direction of the story pretty similar. I think it worked very well and felt faithful to MagiReco the game, yet also fresh. I loved that they were able to incorporate the cast of the original TV anime with game’s girls and their chemistry on screen was really nice.

SHAFT upped the production values for the show substantially since season 1. I don’t know if it was due to staff, budget, time or some combination of all, but this season looked amazing. The fight scenes are some of the best I’ve ever seen from SHAFT. The transformations which are key to any Mahou Shojo series were great too. In general, this season felt way more SHAFT-y. Those traditional high quality sequences and direction that we’ve come to know and love from the Monogatari series make a return and they really added to the overall ambiance of the show. Speaking of ambiance, the season does feel considerably darker than the first. As more clues are revealed about the wings of magius and their goals, the story begins to feel a lot more like OG Madoka.

I think the decision to go with 8 episodes in this cour and split the story into one more season coming in Fall, was brilliant. A reduced episode count means more time to work on episodes and allows you to have good pacing. I really hope this continues into the next season.

MagiReco Season 2 builds on a series that I already loved a lot and sures up a lot of the problems I had with it. If you thought MagiReco season 1 was interesting, but didn’t like the pacing or direction, I encourage you to give at least an episode of this a try. I think you’ll find it to be quite different, for the better.

MagiReco Season 2 gets 10 grief seeds out of 10.

The story of Magia Record has always interested me. While Season 1 was more of a Slice of Life anime, this Season is more like Madoka Magica, with lives at stake. While Season 1 introduces the anomalies, Season 2 expands on these anomalies; the consequences and dangers associated with them, and if you focused on world differences in Magia Record and Madoka Magica, you'll find the revelations amusing. You also see the character from Madoka Magica finally being part of the story, which is a nice touch, and gives some idea about the timeline the anime is set in.

Everything has been top notch from ... the first Episode. The action / fight scenes are one of the best I've seen. Season 1 clearly had some production issues, and you would find lackluster fight sequences here and there, specially mid season. Well not in this Season. You'll feel OK, Shaft used all its budget in this action sequence, there won't be more scenes as good as this one. But you'll get one more, and more, and hopefully we'll see this level of quality throughout the season.

OST is cool. It's certainly not Yuki Kajiura, but you'll find it quite similar. There's also a new version of Credens Justitiam, OP is performed by Claris, and depending on how familiar you're with Magia Record, you'll find some interesting bits in it. ED is kind of Yuri, I'll be honest. Overall it's as good as it was in Season 1, but when paired with brilliant animation, it has more impact somehow.

No major new characters, but you might get excited to see certain characters finally being part of the story. You get insight on what happened to Iroha after the end of last Season, and what happened to Iroha's friend Kuroe, who we see in 1st Episode of Season 1. Overall nothing has changed much about the characters, if you didn't like them before chances are you won't like them now. But they are becoming interesting as the plot is moving forward.

Every second of Magia Record has been enjoyable (my personal opinion), depending on what you decide to focus on, you can truly like it. Honestly speaking, you'll care more about the characters only if you have spent time with them in the game. The characters don't do anything specific to move the plot forward, rather they investigate certain things, which brings them closer to their objectives. It still applies, but things revealed now explain the things revealed in 1st Season, so if you felt certain things in Season 1 didn't make sense, they might make sense now.

Overall, the story of Magia Record is very promising. The fact you can't predict it, automatically makes it a good mystery anime atleast. The animation is a step up from last season, and as the mysteries unfold, you start getting how it ties to Madoka Magica. The characters have potential, and although they have different ideals, their goal remains the same i.e. to save Magical Girls. We get to see the perspective of both sides, be it protagonists or the antagonists. For whatever reason people didn't like the first Season should give this Season a chance, since it totally redeems itself.

Writing a review about this seasons, I feel like theoretically I SHOULD talk about how we are finally focusing on characters and using the builduo of season 1, how the mc finally gets some time to shine or how we are finally getting some of that madoka darkness that so many people missed in season 1.

But everytime I want to do so and try to formulate a coherent thought I immediatel get distracted by remembering how absolutely fucking incredible the action sakuga for this show looks. It is complete nonsense that we are somehow at 3 out of 4 episodes with "action animation that I ... literally have never seen before outside of movies and mabye certain episodes of mob or demon slayer.

I think the latest episode 4 highlights this insanity more than any other. It would have made sense that shaft would go all out for episode 1, the nostalgia episode that anyone who watched the original can (and should!) watch, or episode 2, which reintroduced us to the magia record storyline. It was still more sakuga than you could reasonably expect, but it would have made sense.
But the amount of glorious animation that wouldn't be misplaced even in a final battle for a fight against a random mob that wasn't even the climactic fight of the episode 4 is utterly ridiculous in any way you look at it and it breaks my mind that the show topped itself in the very same episode.

I really don't get why shaft is going so hard for this show (especially when a full adaptation is already confirmed) but I am very thankful. I can't even imagine how popular this show would have been if season 1 would have looked like this, I'm pretty sure nobody would have cared about the flaws of season 1.

It seems like something bad is happening at SHAFT studios or maybe the person who wrote this is bad at their job. Either way the second season is another example of when people don't learn from their mistakes they will do the same mistake. The anime no longer follows basic magica puella story writing or cares anything about the characters, lore or story.

Story 1/10 - If i could give it a ranking of zero in this site i would, SHAFT or whoever wrote this clearly didn't care about anything. EP 1 and 2 are filter episodes, you do not need to watch them to understand ... what happen. A recap is handed to you before they start the show so don't worry about it. They now re-enforce the fake magic called "connect" with new rules, no longer is it just basically two magical girls holding hands, it is something more magical like time magic. They using "connect" to speed up the plot after they fail to do that in season one when Iroha was using doopel to speedrun boss fights.

Madoka and other characters do not get any spotlight, if you want to see action you will not get it here either. You can skip the whole season and you will be ok.

Art 5/10 - The people at SHAFT have been working weekly at this for the past months at the time. Why are they doing this? This is not ok SHAFT or whoever is currently working on the project. Do you wonder why the show has a recap, it is because when summer vacation at Japan happen, the anime fell behind. At EP 1, we see the same video editing skills of chopping characters from madoka into record and then again at the very end of the episodes.

Sound 3/10 - If you really think about it, there is less sounds here than last season. They were trying to build that dark no notice feeling. However they failed at that part too because they were rushing an entire story and adding unnecessary episodes. I don't have much to say in music or sound, it just nearly doesn't exist.

Character 1/10 - Characters did not develop or anything, it was just madoka gang and Iroha gang, nothing else happens. They did what they did and learn some things.

Enjoyment 1/10 - You will not enjoy this, the blue-rays will also suck with the same problems of plot and overworked artist. Play the game not watch this nonsense.

Overall 3/10 - skip the season, doesn't matter if you will miss important plot that is only important in the anime, it is not worth it. They push 4 chapters of magia record game into anime and mess up really bad. Do not watch it.

...

What? What the heck happened, Shaft? You were so close... and yet you stumbled at the last stepping stone. Was it management? Budgeting? Production?

What the hell happened?

I suppose I should start at the beginning, then.

PMMM was amazing, nigh on one of the best, if not *the* best mahou shoujo shows of all time. Rebellion built onto that, and, uh... let's just say that a rebellion doesn't even give the events of the movie justice.

And I liked Magia Record S1. I never played the game (I'm not into gacha hell...), so when I heard that a PMMM spin-off was getting an anime, I was rather excited; ... I'd have preferred an anime of Oriko Magica (or, god bless, Homura Tamura), but beggars can't be choosers.

Magia Record S1 was good. It wasn't PMMM good, but it was good; in particular, the final episode shined, even where the series had fallen at times. It left on a good type of cliffhanger, with a promise of a continuation, with the cliifhanger's location in the story being naturally placed.

I cannot even remotely say the same about Season 2.

The best episodes of S2 are the first and second; the re-uniting with the Mitakihara gang, and looking at Yachiyo's quest. I shan't give details, but it's closer to PMMM than S1 ever was.

Episodes 3-6 were all... good. Not great, but not bad either. I particularly enjoyed the inner workings and explanations of Magius, and the reveal of S A L V A T I O N.

Episode 7 is where the cracks turn to quakes. It felt rushed, and the pacing was a bit off.

And then... RECAP TIME FOR NO APPARENT REASON! HAHAHA!

And Episode 8, which, SASUGA SHAFT-SAMA, is the LAST EPISODE FOR NO APPARENT REASON (seriously, WHY? The first season had 13 episodes, and one of the biggest complaints from fans was that it was too short for the subject matter - and now, we get 7 and a quarter episodes with a promise of a few more for the grand finale, or something, within a few months? What is this, EA?). Episode 8 is...

Well. Let's start with the basics - we enter right where 7 left off in the introduction, until we're suddenly sent into... a theatre? Or is it an Uwasa, or a Labyrinth? Oh, [SPOILER] is giving a monologue! Uhh... where are the subtitles?

That's right - the first half of the episode aired with either no subtitles, or subtitles out of time, depending on your release. From direct translations, it seems to be an introspective section, but I can't be sure.

Let's go back a bit. Theatre? Monologuing? What??? Like, I get it; this is Shaft, and it's Madoka Magica - theatre and monologues is part and parcel. But... it throws the pacing right out the window. Within a few minutes, I was getting serious NGE final two episodes vibes, pre-EoE.

What story can be understood from this section is also a bit jumbled; it almost feels as though they're telling us "You can have more character development for [SPOILER] if you played the game~!", which, fun fact, was never released in EU/UK, and is no longer available in NA. In fact, throughout S2, characterisation is just a bit... off; ironically, the few people who are spot on aren't the protagonists, but the original Holy Quintet.

And the second half... well. We get a jumbled action set-piece which is suddenly rushed to it's conclusion, a few characters have a moment, then plot twists abound that are kind of like... eh? Ok...? But what about...? Huh. I guess??? This review is difficult without giving spoilers, but let's just say... If the first half of the episode was reminiscient of NGE's bemusing last few episodes, then the second half of the episode gives me flashbacks to the last few episodes of Soul Eater. Like... what?? Shaft, what?????

And then, another plot twist, the villains move around a bit, the big bad of big bads isn't even seen yet despite the multiple hints throughout the series (and, uh, the last spoken line of dialogue from S1), and, woah, who knew except anyone with an inkling of a brain cell, the [SPOILER] is actually [SPOILER]! Whoop de doo!

It's just... yeah. This second season felt like that meme of a drawing of a horse, where most of the horse is drawn beautifully, and then the rest of it looks like what someone might draw in the sand at the beach with a stick. Like... the music? Spot on. Art? Absolutely breathtaking at times (again, the last few episodes kind of sucked - at one point, a few of the characters gave me the Ace Combat Dog jpeg vibes). And the world building? Well, it's Shaft - damn amazing (seriously, the well written exposition bits behind the scenes with Magius and other certain people are some of the best bits). But... it leaves a bittersweet taste now.

For this season, wait for the blu-ray release for them to fix it up. For the next, pray for no more global disasters to delay everything. And for the future? Wish upon wishes for the Rebellion Sequel to blast the socks off all of us. Much as the Meguca Suffering is fun, I don't think the fanbase could take another few blows.

If you watched the first Madoka show and then were thoroughly disappointed with Magireco's first season (and hey, I'm with you,) there are two things you should know:

1) the first episode of season 2 has basically nothing to do with Magireco. It is a beautifully animated scenario of Madoka, Sayaka, and Homura fighting a witch and all three get lots of love. Even if you are dead set on skipping Magireco, you should pick this one episode up; I guarantee you'll like it.

But 2) season 2 of Magireco is just far better than season 1.

Being better than season 1 is, of course, an extremely low ... bar, but I gotta give credit where its due: it seems the team took a lot of feedback about what wasn't liked about season 1 - namely, being a character-focused show where the characters just weren't all that good - and instead focused on the storyline season 1 started as well as the unique additions to Magireco in the form of Uwasas and Doppels. The characters are (sadly) still there, but the focus is far more on the antagonists' plans and what the heroes collectively are going to do about it. A lot of those additions and focuses are interesting. And, don't worry - in true Madoka fashion it gets very dark at times.

If anything the team almost seems to have taken complaints about the characters to the extreme, because season 2 introduces a new focus character: Kuroe. Kuroe appeared as a generic friend to Iroha in season 1's first episode 1 and then literally never again, so her getting the focus as a new main character was jarring to me, especially since Kuroe is a conspicuously weak fighter and has a subdued personality. It's not really clear to me why Kuroe's even in the show - the story could have been told without her, clearly, and nothing that happened to her made me endeared to her or rooting for her success. Frankly it almost seems like giving up on Iroha and Yachiyo somewhat. My dislike of those characters aside, a truly odd design choice.

By the season's middle, a single new character starts to not matter as much because there begins to be just so much going on. If you thought season 1 had too many characters just imagine how messy things get when Madoka'sc ast join the story along with seeing things from the antagonists' eyes. There's something like 20 characters in motion - Madoka's 5, Magireco's 5, 5 or 6 antagonists, and more or less all of season 1's support characters like Mitama, Momoko, and Rena. We bop back and forth between four or five concurrent storylines for a good number of episodes, checking in on how people are doing here and there. The visual design of the characters makes them easy to keep track of, but it's just a lot going on.

"A lot going on" describes a lot of the show, and also pinpoints season 2's two biggest weaknesses.

First, it's only 8 episodes, and the pacing is just brutally fast. With so many characters, fights, and revelations jammed into that space there is little time to understand what's going. Things that happen are rarely explained in detail and even the fight scenes feel like they're sped up to 2x speed. Some action scenes have multiple cuts a second, with some elements being on screen for a few frames. I found myself thinking "Wow, that was cool, too bad I couldn't see it" during many of the battles in the first half over my frustration of how fast they were...

... and more literally in the second half, as clearly the animation budget and development time just simply ran out. The first couple episodes are movie-quality gorgeous and a fair bit of the show is fine enough but in the second half the corner-cutting gets conspicuous. I'm not one to complain about the occasional funny derpface in the background, but when entire fight scenes are not shown and merely implied from who seems to have won or lost, or when the camera transitions to a still frame or a symbol during large parts of the dialogue, it becomes pretty obvious that something's gone horribly wrong at the studio.

I'm complaining about this type of thing in season 2 and not season 1 because unlike 1 I found 2 not a complete waste of time. Despite its flaws, following crazy scheme of the antagonists was compelling and entering the weird, surreal world of Madoka is always a treat when I can get a bit invested. It almost feels like the dev team listened to my complaints about over-reliance on boring characters and not leveraging what made Magireco unique and tried to give me a product that would satisfy me. I respect it.

But this brings me to the hardest part of the review: the recommendation.

Easy part out of the way first: if you watched season 1, watch season 2. You put in your time to be introduced to the characters and start the story, so season 2 is basically a reward for that punishment. But if you haven't seen season 1? That's the tough one. I honestly don't think I can recommend season 2 highly enough to justify having to watch season 1: 2's pretty good, but 1's pretty awful, and that's just a lot of hours for a middling payoff.

And season 2 completely does not stand alone. You can't simply get a summary of season 1 and be good to go. There's just too many characters and too many plotlines. Season 2 expects you to remember who is friends with who, who is mad at who, who was friends with who but had a falling out, who was friends with who but had a falling out but sort of regrets it and wishes they were friends again, and who the hell Kuroe even is. It's not just the middle part of a trilogy - it's the middle chapter of a book that hasn't ended yet. Despite the first episode sort of being an introduction to Madoka's lore, the events of season 2 are so heavily tied into season 1's that even as someone who actually watched season 1 I was pretty lost a lot of the time. I just can't expect a total newcomer to the IP to have any fun if they choose to start here.

So, you know, you can do what you want on this one. I got nothin'.

For some reason there's going to be a season 3 pretty soon, rumored to be a mere 4 episodes. lol. I don't know what to say anymore with the development and pacing of this show. I'll watch that too _ gotta see how it all ends, I guess. I already know I'm not in a master-class classic here, but let's all hope it will be an enjoyable end to the ride.

It is so surprising.Madoka is back.I was clueless about madoka appearance in this side story.The first episode should have been shown in the first season.Why did't they? This episode is connecting Madoka world to magia record .You will get to see madoka in this season 2 .

The animation is excellent in the first few episodes but the last three have downgrading of animation again.The story telling is the same as it was in season 1.Battles are very fast animation.It's hard to figure out what's going on.I The story is rushing .In the game it was revealed later the origin of
all the rumours ... but in this anime we get to know very soon.Anime story is different from the game story ,it is a shock to all those who have played the game and also we get to see Madoka sometimes..Character development was good.Pacing is very bad,it was good upto episode 5 but the last 3 episodes were heartbreaking,there was nothing very appealing.The game story was best but this anime pacing and story telling is very bad.Sorry,it's the same magia record as it was like in season 1,no major improvement but it was enjoyable.I liked the cliffhanger of the last episode.Soundtracks are not very good and most of them are of season 1.The mysteries have begun to unfold and we will learn all the truth in the third season.It was astonishing to know that Nemu remembers everything.She had no memories like touka in the game,it was a big twist.
Animation-7
Sound-7
Character-7
Story-6

Finally feels like im watching something that lives up to the madoka name, is it as good? absolutely not. is it better than season 1? absolutely.

Spoilers:

I didn't understand the first seasons characters motives at all, yachiyos backstory was so lame and cliche it made my eyes ache with how hard they rolled, and it made no sense why they were so concerned about being saved.

This season i feel the torment, i feel the despair they've clearly worked hard to lose the slice of life bullsh** and are making a serious attempt to tie everything together and while the characters still aren't my favorite the ... story feels fleshed out and more focused on it.

I appreciate their work on making it a better series that can stand up to the original and wear the madoka name without it being an absolute disaster like the first season. I can't wait to see what's next.

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Season 2 - The Eve of Awakening (which I'll refer to Magia Record Season 2) continues our story when Touka, the leader of the Wings of Magius, basically gathers up all the magical girls in the area, and unveils her grand plan. When we notice not just Iroha's group, but also Madoka's group get mixed into this mess, audiences should be intrigued. The original characters from Puella Magi Modaka brings much hope, after what was a pretty mediocre showing in the first season of this alternative world.

Story: Magia Record Season 2 actually starts us off ... with Madoka's crew, off on a journey to find Mami, after we, as the audience, realize something's very off with her after what we saw of her from the end of the first season of Magia Record. What's causing her to relentlessly attack other magical girls and how are our original crew linked to all this? This are questions that are asked, especially after someone from Iroha's group starts succumbing to similar symptoms.

Magia Record Season 2 answers are a lot of unanswered questions from season 1, many of which in a pretty interesting way. It's very clear that the objective of this season is to shore up what's going out with the two magical girls that our group is now trying to save, and this season does that very well. With season 1 basically being all about setup, I'm actually pretty happy with what they did with much of those in this season. There are some pretty long-winded explanations going on that could bore audiences, but most of the series is just action, action and more action. One of the explanations that I appreciated was regarding the girls' doppels, which felt almost necessary because of how important to the girls' actions they are. Also included in this season was a brand new way for the magical girls' to use their abilities, and I really enjoyed watching the interesting combinations that arose from those.

There are still some holes here though. For starters, Iroha's sister's plotline is still barely touched. It's actually pretty obvious that they're planning to address that in the next season - or it better anyway - so leaving that entire plotline to the side seems like a bit of an unusual choice. Another problem, that's consistent with the previous season, is that many of the characters introduced in the first season are still kind of pointless. Giving us long character backstories in the first season makes us care more about them, but it still feels like they added way too many of them. The final point I'll make here is that while it's absolutely amazing that they integrated Madoka's group here, it's pretty obvious that it's just for added fan-service. Cool? Yes. Central to the plot? Probably not. (6/10)

Characters: Our same characters are still present, and still rocking together like glue. They're in this thing together, and when questions are asked about certain characters, it is often addressed. One character near the end clearly has doubts about her role, but this gives us a nice teaser about what could become of her next season. Iroha is much less central to this season than before, but rather the spotlight is shared among the rest of the magical girls. Yachiyo does get a bit more of the spotlight here because of her connection to another girl, but for the most part, no one character is risen above the rest. Madoka's crew is indeed back, and still amazing. Using this incarnation of Homura makes a lot of sense, seeing as how the one we saw in the original is pretty unique to her timeline.

I'm on the fence about our antagonists here, as it doesn't feel like they do much more than observe. Touka simply watches and makes comments as the series plays out, the Amane sisters and Alina barely make an appearance, and Nemu mostly tries to encourage Touka one way or the other. It's clear the latter will have a bigger role when the next season roles around, but I'm a little disappointed that we didn't see these magical girls do much, even if we know their grander plan now. (7/10)

Art: I don't recall Magia Record having this level of polish in the previous season, but I could be wrong. Regardless, this is a really nice series from an animation standpoint. Fights just look much more crisp, and it is nice that they gave us way more action than the previous season to capitalize on that. Much of this season takes place in one spot, but I enjoyed the entire setup and thought it felt pretty appropriate. (9/10)

Sound: I really enjoyed the OST here once again, and I'm pleased to say that it fits so well here. Both OP and ED are fantastic fits here, especially with how the ED starts - it just sounds so ominous when you hear it. VO cast remains a strong point for the series, with Erika Harlacher-Stone (Yachiyo) and Michelle Marie (Touka) leading the way here. Kira Buckland (Iroha) and Christine Marie Cabanos (Madoka) are still fantastic and are still the cheerful leaders that we know and love. (9/10)

Overall: This is a decent step up for Magia Record Season 2, answering many questions that were left unanswered from the first season, while also leaving us breadcrumbs about what could come in the next season. I'm a little worried because it feels like there's a lot left to go over with only four episodes in the final season, but only time will tell. This is a strong effort for the middle season and I hope the final four episodes shores that up. (7/10)

The story is as confusing as ever and we're left in the dark with a lot of questions. I know the writers did this in order to keep up the hype to another season, and to create interest in the game, but it's kinda harsh how we still don't know a LOT even if a lot has happened. The animation is still bad, with characters being poorly drawn and looking too ecstatic but at least the battle sequences are very well made. Still, the new characters aren't as charismatic and interesting as the girls we know and love from the first anime series, the original ... one, and Iroha is too much of a bad main character because she has no presence whatsoever. It's like she's a second Madoka without the appeal.

I want to like this series so bad. After the meh-fest that was the first season I was hoping this season would fix all the issues. Didn't. The story still feels really bland and is too often straight explained to us by the characters. The art, while it has its moments (especially in episode 1), was definitely a downgrade from the first season. Some sections of smooth, gorgeous animation don't make up for 75% janky animation for the rest of the show. I don't really like how they used music, especially near the end of the season. The tracks they used had so much significance ... in the original series and they feel out of place here. The character development this season was pretty good but I still feel as if there are too many characters. This season's pacing also disappointed me, I feel like this would have been better as a movie rather than 8 episodes.
Overall I surprisingly found myself enjoying this season LESS than the first, which I never thought would happen. At this point I'm in too deep and I just want to see how it ends (if the ending is even going to be understandable). I just hope to God the 4th movie has zero influence from this series.

WHAT THE HELL HAVE THEY DONE WITH THE ANIMATION?

The story is fine, but totally different from the game, which is not necessarily a problem, it's ok to have different version. But it feels kind of rushed and don't give time to the audience think about it, I am not sure how someone who didn't played the game would sympathize with the characters.

However my biggest concern is the techinical quality of the anime, the animation feels weird, the audio is a mess, and the flow is completely random, in one scne they are in the truck, than, without any trasition they start showing inside the enemy ... base. I just felt confused watching it.

It is sad that a story that i love so much had this poor adaptation, if you didn't liked the anime, please don't let it keep you from playing the game, I'm sure that anyone would love this story if they read it from the sourse.