Story: The story picks up half a month after the end of season 1, with our heroes travelling across the world and meeting new Buranki teams. Unfortunately, the mysterious Demokratia organization impedes their efforts by capturing Reoko and using her to awaken a mysterious weapon that could potentially destroy the world. Hoshi no Kyojin has the daunting task of smoothing over its predecessor's narrative flaws, and it does a fairly good job at it. The new villain is much smarter and has more resources than Reoko, offering new challenges to our heroes. At the same time, the origins and history of the Buranki are introduced, with Migiwa playing a role in it. Even if it has to shed the more negative aspects of the first season's story, this season does a better job in establishing its narrative structure. (7/10)
Characters: A major complaint I had against season 1 is that it dedicated too much development to the supporting characters and villains, leaving the heroes as little more than cardboard cut outs. This season fixes it by keeping the focus on the heroes and their evolution, and the supporting characters had development that didn't conflict with the heroes' own. The main beneficiaries of this improved character writing are Azuma, who goes from generic goody two-shoes to a confident hero with strong ideals and convictions, and Kogane, who truly demonstrates bravery and determination behind her cuteness. I'm not afraid to say those two are my favorite characters in the series. The character writing is not perfect, that's for sure, especially in regards to Reoko, her cohorts and the international Buranki teams, but at least it does a better job than season 1 by default. (7/10).
Art: The animation and visuals are just as good as they were in season 1, so there is not much improvement I can notice there. The characters and backgrounds are amazing but obviously the most detailed CGI models are the robots, which ultimately benefits the action setpieces. Good visual effects are supposed to enhance the anime experience, not make it, so it's a good thing the story and character aspects were impoved, otherwise I would have remembered the series as just pretty to look at. (10/10).
Sound: One of the strongest feelings I have in listening to intro and ending songs is that I think the very first ones featured in a TV shows are the best because they offer listeners a good way to introduce the series they are watching. The second intro and ending songs are good, it's just that they not as good as the first, and that feeling is echoed here. That doesn't mean the songs are bad, they are still good and enjoyable. The voice performances are just as good as ever, and special mention goes to Ari Ozawa, who delivers an emotional and heartfelt performance in episode 3 (or 15) that perfectly combines anger and sadness. That moment single-handedly redeemed the series for me and made me realize this season would be much better than season 1. (10/10).
Overall: Hoshi no Kyojin has the difficult task of fixing season 1's flaws and does it not in a perfectly, but definitely in a satisfactory way. If you want my advice, you should watch both seasons consecutively as to properly understand what happens. I moderately enjoyed season 1 on a theoretical perspective, despite the problems it had; but season 2 was really the moment the series took off. While this season and the first one do not reinvent the wheel in regards to the mecha genre, it doesn't have to in order to be enjoyable. If season 1 left you craving for more, then this season is what you're looking for.
