Reviews

The high hats of the journeys of both Haruo Yaguchi and Akira Oono in Season 1, now include love-game rival Koharu Hidaka, that have been riled up in the Extra Stage moments, that all in all, have descended onto the continuation that is Season 2. Going through their torment of first-year high school which has concluded most of their misunderstandings and such in Season 1, here they are in the mid-90s 32-bit console era (of the PlayStation and Saturn), where the stakes have went higher, both in game and in real life. As both Oono and Hidaka fight it out for the right to be the naive boy's girlfriend, Haruo is beginning to wonder that more than his gamer skills to pit against Oono, could he still possibly notice the battle of love between both girls and take charge before all hell goes loose.

And I'd have to say that the romance aspect really takes up a notch here as the three kids age, so do their dreams and ambitions that could change within the short span of time. Most particularly for Oono, her family situation hasn't been the best from Season 1's build-up that slowly saw her getting more spoiled, and then forcing her to follow family protocol like she doesn't have a choice of rebuttal to conform to. Coming from Season 1, she has been pretty much quiet for the most part, but when with either Haruo or Hidaka, only does she respond like a human in her robot state. Haruo is always playing his gamer face as usual following Season 1, as games get more bigger and complex that turns his heads 360 degrees around for the latest trends. Same for Hidaka, as her love for Haruo grows stronger, so does the objective to defeat Oono with her much improved skillsets, and understanding the bond between the inseparable duo. This love triangle sure burns brighter than the sun....and the hotter it gets, the love shines forth.

As for the other aspects, for veterans of the previous season, the CGI isn't too daunting this time, and I've just gotta give a shout-out to the animators over at Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment (or SMDE for short) managed to do a great job knowing how Season 1 turned out, and refined the missing pointers for improvement towards the sequel for a better experience, especially the arcade games and such. J.C.Staff's production standards still stands on par with Season 1, so it isn't a big surprise to see it withstand pretty greatly.

What is a change though, is the music department. Obviously being a new season and such, the relevant music artists came back with another new song in their catalogue, and I'm afraid to say that while group artist sora tob sakana's 2nd OP is good, the 1st OP is infinitely better IMO, while Etsuko Yakushimaru this time, managed to top her own 1st ED song with the 2nd ED that are both great.

This journey overall has been a fabulous one, and to think that this series spanned 1.5 years from start to finish really shows a lot about the dedication to a fast-dying genre, while keeping it modern. This show truly is a blessing not just as nostalgia but also to people who'd wanna see the replicas of the time of the 90s in anime form (that sadly no longer hooks). Instant recommendation for a binge if you're finally wanting to watch this all the way through.