The thing that I feel I can confidently say was better than the first was the music. There was quite the variety of styles that fit the scenes perfectly. I say it was better than the first because for me, I cannot remember the music of the first. The second however, made me remember it's quality. I would probably give the music overall an 8/10. Not sure I can say this for the rest.
Animation wise, personally, despite some people raving about how good it was, I felt it was rather box standard for the times. When you see what AoT delivered, what Demon Slayer delivered, even smaller scale shows like the now 6 year old Inuyashiki and Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu, it's not all that. Character animations are average, the different Bankai have there moments but other than that is pretty standard. I also feel there were lost of opportunity missed here. So much could have been done with more time afforded to the screen time of the action, 6/10. It felt as rushed as the story, speaking of which...
The story, no change here from my opinion of the previous season. Why are these not 25 EPs per season? Everything is rushed. Moments that should explode with anticipation are other before any excitement can begin. I had a moment early on when remember saying out loud 'oh, here we go, now we're talking' (I won't say what it relates to as to not spoil it). Nothing really exciting happens though. Some of the fights were longer than previous season, but where is the bloody story?!? Its just a load of Quincies against Soul Reapers, that's it, soulless action. For me, it's the equivalent of sticking the roster of both sides in a fighting game. Selecting a 7vs7 and hitting the random button to select your sides 7. Once select, they all fight individually until victors of those fights emerge and THAT is your first 10.5 episodes. The last 2.5 has a small smudge of story, which you've been waiting for this entire time for it to be incredibly disappointing. Story is 5/10.
All in all, it's the same faults as the first. Rushed, with little story that could have been something with time and space to develop. I honestly am baffled that it retains such a high review score. Maybe it's the name that clouds objectivity.
