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Oh, Bones, Thank goodness you started DTB in the first place.
THIS IS A REVIEW ON THE FIRST COUPLE EPISODES, AND I WILL UPDATE IT WHEN MORE EPISODES COME OUT.

First off, DTB2 is NOT the original DTB. Bones have made some pretty big changes between seasons: setting main cast of characters, story, etc. It's better to look at DTB2 as more of a spin-off of the original DTB: if you liked season 1 because of the idea of the series (contractors et all), then you will most likely enjoy season 2. Now, onto the review:

Story
It is VERY different from the original DTB. First of all, it ... seems to be one continuous narrative instead of two-episode mini-arcs like in the original season. I happened to like the mini-arc format, but BONES obviously knows what they're doing: the story is as rich and detailed as ever. Like season 1, the story is centered around contractors, humans who have super powers but need a remuneration afterward. Instead of focussing on Hei, most of the spotlight is on Suou, a Russian/Japanese girl whose brother is a contractor.

Art
Some very big changes since season 1. Most notably is Hei's appearance: his mask is scratched, his coat is tattered, and he hasn't shaved in a while. In addition, the animation is sleeker, and the contractor's abilities are truly awe-worthy.

Sound
Like the first season, the sound is superb. The OP is definitely different, but in a good way, and the EP is one of my all time favorites.

Character
Hei takes a minor role so far in the series, which I actually prefer due to the ability to see more stellar characters. Suou is the focus of the series, and she is one of my favorite characters in all DtB, including 1st season Hei and Huang.

Enjoyment
Like always, DtB never ceases to surprise me. I absolutely love the new characters and contractors already introduced, and I expect there to be more as the series progresses. July, the MI6 doll in the first season, also seems to have a larger role than in season 1, which I think is awesome. And, like the first season, it is really fun to piece together each contractor's power and remuneration.

Don't get me wrong, Shaman King was really the first anime/manga combo I fell in love with. I just wish it wasn't so painful to watch. Just to be clear, I watched the first half of the series in English, the second half in Japanese.

Story: 8/10
Wow is really the only thing to say about Shaman King's story. Throughout the entire series, I was constantly engaged with the twisting plot. What really struck me about the story was the way they never sacrificed the plot for side-quests of character development; they implemented it right into the plot. The only bad news for the story is that ... it never really seemed to flow like the manga did. However, the anime did something the manga never did: it ended.

Art: 6/10
Not really a fair category, as the animation was surely great for its time, but is quite lackluster by today's standards. The massive combat scenes, while enjoyable, skipped at some points and seemed kind of sketchy.

Sound: 7/10
I always got the sense that every sound was used where it was supposed to. Eventually though, the same sounds of the spirit's changing forms got to be as annoying as the Wilhelm scream. In addition, the character's voices in the English dub were awful.

Character: 7/10
I really connected with each and every character. Shaman King is a long anime, with a huge cast of characters, but the 64 episodes really gives a lot of room for each character to have his spotlight. The only thing stopping me from giving this a 10/10 is inconsistencies: Ren, the Chinese Shaman suddenly became "Lenny" from Britain. This, and other character changes between versions made it really difficult for switch from the English dub to the Japanese version when I got sick of the dub's voice acting.

Enjoyment: 1/10
Honestly, I almost dropped Shaman King quite a few times. Why? Simply because for times, it lagged, the plot branching off into a direction that made no sense, the voice work on the English Dub, character changes in between versions, all really built up to really ruin this anime for me.

Overall: 5/10
There really should never be so many inconsistencies in between dubs, and that was a huge problem for me, but I wasn't about to rewatch 30 episodes in Japanese that I had just seen in English just to "get back in the loop." Shaman King was a really good anime, but in my opinion, skip the anime and just read the manga.