Imagine being given a perfect guide for a test, where you could get the easy 100% score, but instead you decide to deviate from the guide and get a 70% instead. Like, WHAT is the point? Well, that's what this anime did; it took a masterpiece and made it worse for no good reason.
Everything was rushed. Was the plot follow-able? Sure. Was it entertaining enough to keep me watching? Sure. However, the big moments did NOT hit right at all. The drama was cheapened, the characters were cheapened, the comedy was cheapened... It's depressing.
To be fair, season 1 had a bit of this problem as well - but season 2 somehow makes it even worse. It's like they are purposefully trying to kill the comedy and kill the emotion in order to make just another lifeless corporate action anime.
Unfortunately, anime-only viewers aren't really going to know what I'm talking about because they aren't going to have experienced the manga. I guess the only good example I have is - imagine a respected comedian telling a joke, and then imagine your friend, who thinks he's really funny when he's actually really not, trying to retell the comedian's joke. You know how the delivery and the punch would just be lost? And you'd be like, "HOW did you manage to make the joke so much worse?" Well, this anime is the friend trying to retell the professional comedian's joke.
I think one of the issues is that the executives have a poor understanding of what makes the original work (at least the manga, as I haven't read the LN) so enjoyable. They'll end up altering the flow, changing lines, changing the execution, and it'll all just end up significantly more awkward than it should be.
Anyway, my recommendation is to just read the manga. If you want to experience a 10/10 masterpiece of a story, read the manga.
On an optimistic note, this arc wasn't the strongest arc anyway IMO so this series does have time to get it together. However, things aren't looking too hopeful ATM. Hopefully the anime creators will stop deviating from the script and let this series shine the way it should.
6/10 - messy flow, rushed, lack of real character development, devoid of emotion, comedy downgrade, but definitely coasting along thanks to the hype still lingering from season 1, and the promise of a brighter future, with the characters we've already come to enjoy.
