No, but in all seriousness, after all the delays and production issues it was nice to have Maou Gakuin S2 back. The first half was pretty subpar in terms of pacing and story, but episodes 7-12 were a massive improvement and probably the best the series has been. The time travel arc had several emotional story beats that just really worked well. The pacing and action were really good, and the character development that side characters like Shin and Reno got was impressive.
I’m not sure how much of the first half’s issues were just weak writing or how much was based on production issues, but it is a bit of a slog to get through the first half. I’d say it’s very much worth it for the story we get in the second half of the season, though. Just keep that in mind as you’re watching that it is indeed building up to a satisfying payoff.
The big antagonist in this season is pretty OP and even poses issues for Anos. The issue with series like this is that oftentimes it’s difficult to create a compelling villain because the MC is so damn strong himself. To address that in Maou Gakuin, they created an antagonist who could really target a few of Anos’ weaknesses. Instead of just a straight up test of strength, it’s a test of wits and personal relationships. This serves as the driving force behind the growth of several characters in the season.
The big elephant in the room with this season of Maou Gakuin is the change in seiyuu for Anos. It is very noticeable. No, I never fully got used to it, but after a certain point it stopped impacting my enjoyment. His original seiyuu just brought a unique charm and swagger to the character that I don’t think this one has. That’s not a put down on Umehara-san. I just primarily associate him with other types of characters.
So then, is Maou Gakuin II worth checking out? Well for me, yes. Even with a sluggish first half, the payoff that episodes 9-11 have is worth sitting thru a couple hours of mid in my opinion. Hell, you might even enjoy the talking CGI tree meme. That said, because there is that sluggish start, I can’t rate it as highly as I’d like. Had the first half been as good as the second half we’d be talking about this in AOTY discussions, it was just very inconsistent and a tale of two halves.
I am very much looking forward to the next cour of this and to finally reading the books. I hope the next season isn’t plagued by the same issues and can tell a consistently good story from start to finish.
Maou Gakuin II gets 7, out of 10.
