Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu is the sequel season to Nanatsu no Taizai, so be sure to watch season one first.
I quite enjoyed the first season, and the first half of this season started out strong.
The first half of the series had me feeling a score of 9 was coming on, mainly for two reasons - The character and plot development. It wasn't a rehash of season one, it was something unique. The first season was a good fantasy anime, but didn't quite have the depth to be outstanding. In this second season, we now see significant development and the inner struggles of our characters. There were a lot of flashback scenes, and we learn much more about the inner workings of our characters, which for me as a viewer causes me to enjoy and connect with them much more than S1.
In terms of plot, it started off a lot more epic than S1. The bad guys more powerful, our heroes on the back foot, the world in turmoil - it is just far more tense and interesting. The first season felt like they were always going to easily win - not so for this season.
The main issue with this series in the second half is the pulling in of convenient, unexplained abilities at just the right times out of plot convenience. Dues ex Machina galore. It got to a point where it was really quite frustrating, to the point where I have now scored it a 7. I don't trust that the writers won't throw in some absurd ability the hero just conveniently had hidden the whole time, ruining the sense of character development, consistency and world building.
The art again is the weakest part of the show and is on par with season one. It isn't bad, but it isn't great either. just average. The music is quite good, matches the show well without being outstanding - and it sports a great voice cast.
The most frequent criticism of this series is that it lacks some originality, and that this season goes further into cliche territory. I understand why some would say this, but I disagree. The main issue with the series is the plot conveniences I mentioned above. I agree that this show follows some typical conventions we have seen many times over (a magic world, a band of heroes, bad guys to battle, a small child-like hero etc). However, I think the unique character relationships make this anime feel fresh. Almost every characters is bizarre, interesting with a unique back-story, most of which we haven't seen any parallels (King, Dianne and Ban for example all are unique and well developed - not rip offs from any other anime series). The only character I think is weak and cliche is Elizabeth, but they seem to be setting up some reveals for S3, so I'm lenient on that.
So you have watched season one, should you bother watching season two?
Well, one thing to be aware of is this season goes further into Shounen territory, so your enjoyment of it may depend on how you like Shounen/battle/fantasy anime. It in some way takes on more of a Dragon Ball Z feel mixed with a show like Magi. Dragon Ball Z, because it introduces things like power levels, entire arcs revolving around training and powering up to defeat opponents; and Magi because of the band of thieves, magic and fantasy elements. Also as stated in the negative reviews, there is nothing groundbreaking or earth-shatteringly new about the path the show follows on a meta level, rather it is how the story progresses and the unique character relationships that set this anime apart. Again, if plot conveniences and inconsistent dues ex machina bother you, this series will really frustrate you.
Starts very strong, ending is a bit meh - some great moments and some frustrating ones. Still enough for a 7, but certainly far from perfect. Should you watch it? Only if you are happy with overlooking a few things.
