Season 1 started and ended with a certain charm, an exploration of meaning and purpose in life. I’m not sophisticated enough to put it in better terms. At the first bit of combat, introducing the Nokkers and the beholder, I felt disappointed. I thought it was the start of the series heading in a direction it shouldn’t, combat-driven, fitting for the Shounen Magazine it was published in. Yet quickly I came to appreciate the Nokkers for their purpose in helping Fushi grow through the pain they cause him. And though I still felt like the series had lost something, I was still enthralled by the concept and most importantly the loveable cast, but those could only bring the story so far.
Season 1 had a perfect finale. Season 2 having to reignite the interest afterwards proved to be a very difficult task. Maybe the newer characters weren’t as interesting as the old, maybe the writing just wasn’t as good as it was before, or maybe it’s because Fushi didn’t act like an adorable puppy anymore; season 2 just felt a lot more boring. Though I don’t think the author could have kept repeating the formula of season 1. After all, after season 1 I felt like I had gotten too used to everything already. What Fushi is, the beholder, the nokkers, the mystery of it all had already been lost on me, and Fushi’s pains, and my own pains from witnessing it, had already dulled. Thus, the charm lost in season 2 is probably just the novelty of it all. I’m not sure what they could have done better. Maybe it is just the identity of this series that limited itself. I might have enjoyed it more if it took itself a little bit more seriously, if it was just a little bit more snobby with philosophy and whatnot to impress my mush brain, but alas, it’s ‘’shounen’’. For that reason I also can’t blame season 2 so much for not being able to follow up, as its fate was already decided when the nokkers first attacked.
Season 1 stands solidly on its own feet, unique and charming. Season 2 however continues as a shounen. There wasn’t anything heartwarming, there wasn’t anything hearthwrenching, it was just average at best, and at worst it just ruined what season 1 built, especially with Fushi’s new power he used during the final episodes. And to me those final episodes further cemented the fact that season 1 was just a phenomenal backstory to a decent shounen.
