Studio FEEL really dropped the ball on the first season of Spyroom. The pacing was awful. The adaptation cut out numerous key details that would’ve helped things flow more cohesively, and all the magic of what makes this series special was gone. I legitimately found myself falling asleep watching some episodes. The difference between this season and last season is night and day. They’ve taken their time and given volumes 3 and 4 the love and care they deserve.
What’s significant about those two volumes is that the story is substantially better than the first two books. Yes, the first season wasn’t a good adaptation, but that’s compounded by the fact the story simply isn’t that great to start. The slice of life elements of spyroom make the progression slower than your typical LN. This season really shows Lamplight coming together as a proper team, some good action scenes, emotional story beats, as well as characters like Thea and Annette getting fleshed out. Both really serve as the focal points of the two main arcs in season 2 and are simply brilliant in them. Had a blast seeing two get the shine they deserved. Particularly Thea over the last 4 episodes or so growing into a true leader.
Not only are the episodes a near 1:1 adaptation of the source this time around, but the inclusion of the side stories volumes in between arcs was a nice way to expand on the girls and get audiences more invested in them. Last season they did some side story volumes, but they were positioned really awkwardly and killed the momentum of the show. FEEL learnt from their mistakes and wove a much more cohesive narrative this time bringing the whole team to life.
For a story about “spies” I think last season many people may have felt there was shockingly little espionage and tricks employed. While it’s still no Mission:Impossible level of spy thriller, this season definitely leans more into the spy genre and there’s some really cool reverse uno style trickery and action. I still think there’s room to improve on this, but it’s slowly getting better and this was a big step forward.
As I started to touch on before, the story has got much better overall, and there seems to be a clearer direction in terms of the overarching goal. We actually have some enemies and something to work towards which makes the show much more enjoyable.
So to sum things up. If you liked the idea of a team of hot waifus being spies, but found the pacing and story to be weak in the first season, I think you’ll enjoy this season a lot more. While it’s not the strongest piece of writing, it’s still pretty fun, has some surprisingly heavy moments and just flows way better. The characters feel more alive and there’s much more weight here. Hopefully we get a third season with the same level of quality.
Spyroom season 2 gets 7 out of 10.
