I never got around to writing a review for the first season of Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari, but if I had I don’t think my opinion would be too different now that if sat and enjoyed season 2. But for a summary of my feelings on the first season: Mononogatari is a solid show with a wonderful cast of characters, good writing and an interesting plot and power system which is sorely let down by its overall art and animation. That, and it fails to stand out in a sea of anime and manga about secret or public organisations fighting with and/or against malevolent spiritual beings living and sometimes working among the populous of which greats such as JJK and Chainsaw Man are a part of and lead the pack.
The story continues with Hyouma learning to be a little less angry and racist towards Tsukumogami as he lives with them and learns from them in his task to protect Botan and the sealed god within her. Unfortunately, sweet doki-doki moments the two of them awkwardly share, usually to the delight (or frustration in Yuu’s case) of the Bridal Trousseau members, can’t last forever as the nemesis Hyouma has been hunting for to take revenge for the murder of his brother and sister is about to make its move.
This season's primary focus was on Botan and Hyouma’s relationship. I like Hyouma’s straightforward, honest yet, completely dense personality which has opened up throughout the story and even works to subvert a lot of Shonen-battle story tropes. Botan is also well-fleshed out this season. Her status as this ticking time bomb anomaly is slowly reformed amongst hard-stance exorcists as they come to realise that she's just an adorable marshmallow who's trying her best and isn’t defined by the malevolent god sealed in her.
I also enjoyed the introduction of the new Tsukumogami faction, the Bureau of Traditional Music and their eccentric personalities as they live only for rock and roll. They’re very funny and their philosophy leads to a very interesting turn of events.
Like season one, the animation is unfortunately the main factor that holds Mononogatari back. The art can waver between looking good or flat and bland with character's faces falling off-model. There are times when the animation can look fine, sometimes even good, but fights sometimes lack the weight, energy and frames needed to pull off a satisfying brawl. Overall it’s subpar.
Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari has the potential to be an 8 or even a 9 out of 10 if it wasn’t held back by its production. I suppose it depends on how much you value animation over a story, but whilst its story is great Mononogatari is the kind of show that needed some “Oomf” in its animation to get people turning heads. I’d understand if you’re someone who looked at Mononogatari and brushed it aside, but if you have some space on your watch list, I recommend giving it a chance.
7/10 Good.
