Kaginado Season 2

If you're wondering whether or not you can enjoy this anime without having seen any of the shows within it, the answer is simple: "No.". It was hard for me to follow and I've seen Angel Beats (One of the best anime ever made), Clannad and a couple of episodes of Little Busters. This thing is absolutely loaded with inside jokes that only those familiar with all of the series will get. The ones that I understood were funny, and there were a few universally funny gags like slapstick humor. But, overall, it is very inside. You will not enjoy this or get it at ... all if you aren't familiar with Clannad, Angel Beats, Kanon, Air, Little Busters, Planetarian and Rewrite. I powered through it because I started it while doing my cardio so I was kind of stuck watching it. It was funny at times, but it really made me wish I had spent the time to watch all of those anime, so I could enjoy it more.

The anime itself is nothing more than a slice-of-life school anime, going from gag to gag in 4 minute shorts. It really is just the production company mocking all of their own tropes. Most of the episodes were about taking characters that were similar from each anime and putting them in the same room to make fun of each other. Such as all the male protagonists would have meetings about being in a harem, all the calm characters will have a moment where they drink coffee together and shoot the breeze, there's a baseball game between the characters who have little sisters, etc... That kind of humor. It wasn't a bad anime, even though I missed like 60 percent of the references. I feel like I would've loved it more if I knew everything. And I think that's the point of why Kagi-Nado was really made. It's an attempt to get people to go back and look at the series involved. Because most of these shows were released nearly 15-20 years ago. Around 2004-2008 for most of them. I think its an attempt to get people to go back and get interested in these franchises, or re-watch them out of nostalgia.

Still, I was relatively entertained. If you know these series you should love it. But, don't watch this if you haven't seen (or don't remember) the above mentioned series.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:

Compared to Isekai Quartet, which didn’t fully utilize its cross-series-interactions and meta/reference-heavy comedy, Kaginado got no brakes what-so-ever. It starts by tons of Key Universes getting thrown together and chaos ensues, as it pokes fun at everything the works stand for, where nothing is taboo. Not just using the comedic elements or similarities from the different shows, but also using the most emotional moments/climaxes for laugh, where you burst out laughing from what would previously make you break down crying… and I absolutely it. Kaginado S2 is more of the same, but adding Angel Beats to mix.

The chibi visuals are cute, with many funny ... faces and visuals gags. However, I’d say the audio production is the most important aspect, of what makes the show that much fun to watch. It got a really strong soundtrack, where I especially love how it uses the more emotional tracks for comedic purposes, either contrasting with a scene or abruptly interrupting the music. The constant use of sound effects also makes the show very active and fun to watch, despite its minimalistic animation.

Heads-up:
- DO NOT WATCH THIS, IF YOU’RE AFRAID OF SPOILERS FROM ANY KEY ANIME! Kaginado thrives from spoiling (and poking fun at) the most important climaxes of every Key anime it references, whether it’s emotional climaxes, the romance, tragic moments, similarities between their franchises, etc.
- It’s not well animated and got Chibi visuals.

Favorite aspects:
- Heroines and the new sides we see from them, interacting with heroines from other universes with similar experiences, both mingling and whining. Very refreshing and fun.
- Favorite VA-cast (and usage of said VA-cast) of the season, with VA from that many different Key anime. Love how it pokes fun at some similarities in VAs, and allow them very different performances from their main show in this bizarre setting.

Least favorite aspect:
- Angel Beats was not a good addition to the cast, and I’m not a fan of most jokes focusing on their cast.

Overall, IF you have seen all(most) Key anime out there (or at least the ones you have an interest in watching), and want to see something poke fun at these melodramatic stories, Kaginado is totally worth checking out.

*Spoiler Warning*

After not really understanding Season 1 (mostly because I knew practically nothing about the source material), I was able to finally understand a part of the show with the arrival of the Angel Beats characters! Yuri, the leader of the Afterlife Battlefront, and her crew (the cast of Angel Beats) make a dramatic appearance at Kaginado's school festival, revealing that they were there the entire time disguised as "NPC" like assistants and declaring that the world they're in is just some sort of trick by God to further punish them. Essentially, it runs parallels to the main plotline in the Angel Beats anime.

While ... the Angel Beats characters are pretty big players in the season, there's still plenty of time afforded to characters from the other season. The AB characters have some pretty good and hilarious interactions with the other characters and its amusing to see them pull their usual antics with the other characters. Yuri makes attempts to sabotage the school's trip to the beach and also attempts to get elected Student Council President in order to draw out God, and she fails on both counts. Additionally, her crew on her bus is hilariously punished by being buried in the sand. They also take up their old residence in the principal's office before they're hilariously kicked out by Kanade (and her love of mapo tofu is highlighted to a comical extreme, which I liked). Overall its still the same show, just with the AB characters adding their own spin on the story. I will say the portrayal of the AB characters in Kaginado are pretty loyal to their presentations in their original universe, and it was good to see that even the old voice cast came back to voice the characters. Otherwise, not much changes between the two seasons. Even the outro is pretty much the same, with the added caveat of the AB characters being thrown in. Essentially it did feel like bonus content for Angel Beats to me, which I'm all for.

The final episode of the season seems to conclude the show for good as it seems like it was just one big show in a planetarium and the girl leaves through the doors when her parents come to pick her up. I gather that this is a specific reference to something, I just don't know to what. Maybe if they do a season 3 they'll add in characters from Charlotte and The Day I Became A God, but as I said the final episode kind of read to me as it being the show's finale, but I suppose they can do a season 3 of the show if they really wanted to and I wouldn't be necessarily opposed to the idea.

Overall, I can say I generally liked this season more than I did the first season (and that can be attributed to me actually understanding the AB references and characters), I'll concede that having an understanding of other Key works would allow me to better understand and appreciate the show. Much like with the first season, I can't judge it too strongly one way or the other, but I know I can say I liked this season better as I at least understood something with this season.