You're right Rin...How in God's name did I go from laughing my ass off to shedding a tear because of goddamn onions that are scattered around the latter half of the show? I just want to say that the 2nd Season of Love Live! is a big improvement compared to the First Season which surprised me quite a bit.
(SPOILERS if you haven't seen the first season...duh!)
[Story]
The girls did not make it into the Love Live but they did save Otonokizaka High. Now, the second Love Live contest is happening right around the corner and µ's has been granted another chance to participate in the contest to try and win Love Live!. However, this is the girls' last chance to participate in the contest.
The second season of Love Live! really surprised me. I never even thought that the second season would be 2 times better than the first season. Like I said above, this season is a big improvement. While the plot may seem recycled (not exactly), that wasn't the reason why I thought this season was better than the previous season. It was the character interactions, the character development each of the 9 members received and last but not least is the "Yuri" pairing. I'll talk about my first 3 reasons later on in the review.
In my previous paragraph, I said that the plot for the second season is recycled but not exactly. If you compare the plot of the first and second season then you'd notice that it's kind off the same but there are changes between the plot for the first and second season. In the first season, they're trying to win Love Live to save the school but they didn't win. They, however, saved the school. In here, they're trying to win Love Live again but for a very different reason. It's actually a heartwarming reason. It's better if I don't spoil it for you.
Plot aside, Love Live! Second Season is what you'd pretty much expect but every element is improved/better. The comedy in the second season is a lot better than the first season. I was laughing my ass off at the first half of the show. The music is better, the OP and ED theme songs are better, the characters...almost everything here is better. It's like they took notes from the first season, sat down in an oval office and actually discussed on how they could improved on said elements.
While this season got a lot of improvements, there are also issues that I have to point out. The first issue that I have for this show is the second half's melodramatic moments. Thank God there's not a lot though because most of the dramatic scenes were done well. It's just that some scenes came out as too melodramatic for me. Another issue that I have is the occasional time skips and awkward pacing in the 2nd half of the show. Sunrise knew that they made shit tons of money in the first season and they probably knew that they would be making more for this season. Sunrise should have expanded the Second Season into a two-cour (24-26 episodes) show because the 2nd half had rushed pacing. There would be time skips like how one episode, it's January and the next episode, it's suddenly March.
One last thing that I want to talk about is the "Yuri" shippings in the show. The yuri pairings in the first season did not exist..At All! However, in this season, the show would pair up the characters from time to time. That doesn't mean all of the µ's members are gay for each other. They're still straight. The shipping scenes here are like Yuru Yuri and it's only used for comedy purposes expect they're not kissing or doing anything sexual. The most notable Yuri pairing in this season is Nico and Maki and most fans of Love Live! (including me) are shipping the hell out of these two characters. Even the voice actors of Nico and Maki ship them which makes these 2 characters an (un)official couple to me. Hell, there are even loads of manga showing these two characters revealing their love for each other and having sex in the beach or in the classroom. My innocence......ruined! Before I end this section, I just want to mention one thing. If you don't ship Nico and Maki then you’re dead to me and your existence is pretty much irrelevant to me XP.
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[Art/Animation]: (9.5/10)
The animation for the second season is a lot better than the first season. The character designs looks great and more colours and saturation were present in the characters than the previous seasons. The background and environments looks more improved and there's more lighting in the scenery.
The first season's use of CGI was an eye sore. I couldn't handle the CGI because of how much it didn't fit with the 2D Animation and the characters looked so dead to me. In this season, CGI is still a bit of an issue but they somehow managed to blend parts of the CGI into the show. When they're doing the live performances or when I'm watching the Opening Animation, it didn't bother me as much as before. It's probably because Sunrise learned their lesson from the first season and actually did something about it or my eyes just got so used to Love Live!'s use of CGI in live performances and Opening Animation.
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[Sound]: (10/10)
The songs in the first season are fairly ok and the only songs that stood out to me in the first season are START:DASH, Susume Tomorrow, and the ED theme song. In this season, there are new songs and new songs means more songs to put in my phone. Surprisingly, the new songs that muse has to offer are not even close to decent. They were all either very good or greatly done. The song that really stood out to me is Snow Halation. Not only was it well done but the quality of the song was close to START:DASH. Now the OP and ED theme song(s)
The OP theme song is Sore wa Bokutachi no Kiseki" by µ's and the ED theme song is Donna Toki mo Zutto" by the members of µ's. In my opinion, the OP theme song for this season is way better than the previous season. It was catchly and not annoying. I also love the ED theme song not just because how it sounds but also the lyrics. My life right now is busy and the lyrics is inspiring me to just take it slow once in a while.
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[Characters]: (9.5/10)
In the previous season, only the 3 main characters got a character development which was Honoka, Kotori and Umi. I mean, it's understandable considering the fact that it's impossible to give all 9 main characters a character development. Now that Love Live! got an additional 13 episodes, all of the main characters got a character development and a ton of screen time to focus on their backstory and why they are acting the way they are today. I applaud the creators for doing something that I thought they would never do just because this is a slice-of-life show. It honestly felt like that time where I was forced to take care of my niece for over 6 months. She was really annoying at first but as I spent more time with her, I grew to like her and ended up wanting to play with her whenever I have the time. Obviously, I wasn't in-love with her...bleh, that's disgusting.
The character's backstories not only explains why they have that kind of personality but also explains why they were interested in joining a school idol group which was mostly heartbreaking. For example, I actually shed a tear when they explained Nico's backstory. At first, I thought she was just doing it to show off to her siblings (Given the way she acts, of course I would think that) but the actual reasons on why she was "showing off" to her siblings broke me. Hell, even Nozomi's backstory was depressing as hell and she doesn't fondle the girls' breasts anymore. In short, most of the character's backstories pretty much crushed me.
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[Enjoyment]: (9/10)
I definitely enjoyed this season way more than the first season. For the most part, the drama was well done, though there were melodramatic moments. The comedy is a huge improvement and I was laughing for the entirety of the first half. I would have probably enjoyed this anime more if this was a 2-cour series.
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[VERDICT]
"Love Live! School Idol Project 2nd Season" is a huge improvement compared to the first season. Almost every element is improved in the 2nd Season such as the comedy, drama and actual character development. There's also the "yuri" tones if you like shipping two girls. If you finished the first season and you hated it then I recommend that you give the 2nd season a chance because I can assure that you will like the 2nd season.
[OVERALL]: (9.5/10)
Pros:
+2nd Season is a huge improvement
+Improved Animation and CGI doesn't stick out as much as before
+Improved Music
+Outstanding OP and ED theme song(s)
+Great Character Development
+First Half is extremely hilarious
+Well-done Drama moments
+Introduction of "Yuri" pairings
Cons:
-Rushed pacing in the 2nd half
-Some melodramatic moments
