Anybody who's watched S1 will realise that Madhouse spoilt us - everything was right, the artwork, the music, the character design and most of all the story. When Marvelous commissioned S2 they, for whatever reason (I assume Madhouse had become victims of their own brilliance and had too much work - including, I heard, Satoshi Kon's new movie) they gave the job to ArtLand. This meant an entirely new crew working on the project, from the artists to the seiyuu (so, yes, the characters will look and sound different - live with it). Sadly, for whatever reason, ArtLand simply don't seem to have the budget to fill the very large shoes left by Madhouse (maybe all is not well at the production house, Marvelous.)
Let's start off with what's wrong. The artwork is generally horrible, especially the 'shakey stills' used in episode 1's fight scenes. That was nasty. However, there does seem to be a gradual improvement up to episode 3, although there still isn't enough cash to animate the fight between Pinocchio and Triela properly. (I can only hope that they're keeping funds in reserve to throw at the payoff at the end of the story). The backgrounds are good, but I have a sneaky suspicion they're merely photos that have been painted over.
That said, I want to make one thing very clear: If you're watching GSG as an action show, stop watching it now, because you've missed the point. Whatever action there is, is merely the thread that ties the main story - the relationships between the girls and their handlers within the various fratellos - together.
Character design is another weakness, as are the voices. Jose's terrible hair keeps reminding me of Satou from Welcome to the NHK, and I have no idea who decided to make Henrietta sound so chirpy - it just doesn't work. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but the OP is a bit lame too (although the words have significant meaning) but it's never going to be a 'Light Before We Land'. The ED, however, is about as perfect and suitable as you could get - haunting and evocative and a good replacement for LBWL.
So, that said. what are the strengths? Simply put, the story. Anybody who's read the manga to this point (Basically starting at Vol 3) should be more than happy with the anime. This is largely (I think) due to the greater input of Aida Yu in both the screenplay and art direction. Given his genius in weaving the overall original story, it can only be a plus that he's on board for this series. The opening episode, which rearranged certain events into a more logical chronological order, gave us a good view of the 'goodies', even all the backroom staff. It's just a shame they missed the payoff of the 'walking on the curb' scene. Ah well. Likewise, episode 2 gave us an insight into the 'baddies' and expect a lot more film to be used on their stories. The opening, with the youthful Pinocchio, was IMHO better than the manga. Likewise we're being given a deeper insight into the workings of the most complex of the fratellos - Hillshire/Triela. Her line "everything about me is fake" was not only very insightful from her, but also very sad. Add her newfound insecurity and we're in for an interesting time watching this young lady. In terms of storytelling, Season 2 is more than holding its own against its predecessor.
Yes, it does have it's faults, some of of them are sadly disappointing, especially for a rabid fan of the series like myself. However, if you can look past that you'll find there's still the same ugly/beautiful/gentle/violent/ light/dark/happy/sad and brilliant story that captured our hearts first time round.
