2021 was a pretty good year for anime on most accounts, and one of the most pleasant surprises I've seen was a little show called Yakunara Mug Cup mo, about girls learning about pottery and making ceramics. I watched the first season and fell in love with it, but I was convinced it would be one of those shows that would end at 12 episodes and then fall into obscurity. So imagine my surprise when it was immediately announced that there'd be a second season! Of course, I knew I'd devour it the second it came out, and as you can see here, I did! Taking place immediately after the first season, Himeno Toyokawa learns more about the different kinds of pottery and ceramics every day, and even learns more about her mother and how she influenced the world of ceramics back in her day. But after a while, Himeno decides she wants to make her own, distinctive piece because of a suggestion her father made, but she mind wind up putting too much pressure on herself in doing so.
Most sequels to media aren't very well received because they either try to be too ambitious, or reuse the same formula over and over again but with less inspiration than before. All Yakumo really does is just build on what made the first series good and explore the ideas it established further. The animation and music quality are both the same, so those haven't changed much, but the characters grow from the previous season, and their development is very subtle and well done, expanding on what they were in the first season. We also get to learn more about Touko's past and her issues with her grandfather. Though...as much as I liked Touko's backstory and how it culminated in the end, there's one huge part of it that absolutely baffles me to no end, and the show doesn't really try to explain that part in greater detail, and it just left me confused. I also liked that the creators gave Nao a bit more focus here, as I felt like she was little more than the basic comic relief in the first season.
Not only that, the show introduces some new characters who actually contribute to the show and Himeno's development, such as a classmate of her mother's, and Ximena Valdez, a Mexican girl who loves ceramics and was influenced by Himeno's mother's creations. It's pretty rare for anime to depict characters of other races and from different countries outside of America, so to see a genuine Mexican in an anime is pretty refreshing (The only other one I can think of was Michiko and Hatchin, and that came out in 2008. There could be more that I'm not aware of, though). I can't exactly comment on the authenticity of Ximena's portrayal, as I'm not Mexican or Latin-American, but Ximena is a far cry from a lot of the stereotyped depictions of Mexican women in mainstream media, like the seductive temptress, a criminal, or a put-upon immigrant from an impoverished background. Ximena is fairly cheerful and enthusiastic, is clearly passionate about her work, worked very hard to get to where she is because she truly loves studying ceramics and pottery, and actually has a good grasp on the Japanese language. The main characters all accept her with open arms and make no comment on her race or background whatsoever. It helps that the Spanish used in the show is accurate and doesn't sound like it came out of Google Translate.
One other thing Yakumo does well is that it doesn't try to rehash the same storylines as the first season, instead focusing on being much more character-driven and having more internal conflicts than the first. So you won't find them entering another ceramics contest at the end. But the show has always been about putting its characters first, even if most of them are still kind of tropey. That doesn't mean Yakumo doesn't have its moments of weirdness though. For some reason, one episode is completely dedicated to showing how Mika created the ceramic bird mascot of the series, and the show had the bright idea of giving the bird mascot a voice and internal thoughts. It's not as weird as that one episode of the first season, but it is a little jarring.
So all in all, Yakunara Mug Cup mo season 2 built upon what made the first season great, and while not reaching any new heights or anything, still managed to be very sweet and a good show overall.