tl;dr: A more intense sequel that stays true to the spirit of the original but that very much feels like the series is really hitting it’s stride.
The second season of Tensura is a continuation of the first, though the bridge between the first and second season is kind of messy. The last episode of the first season was a completely disconnected flashback centered around establishing a character that becomes more important in season 2. The episode before that ends with Rimuru on his way back to Tempest, but here’s a good amount of overlap between the first season and second season, with the second season catching up to this scene of Rimiru returning to Tempest six episodes in. Furthermore, the OVAs released after season 1 also take place before Rimiru begins his journey back to Tempest. While it will be somewhat messy it’s best to not over complicate things and just watch all of this in release order.
What’s more interesting is that the comedy focused spin off, Tensura Nikki also takes place before the finale of season 1, but was released in the gap between the first and seconds cours of season 2. As such, if watching in release order one would similarly watch Tesnura Nikki in the middle of the season 2, however I would strongly advise watching Tensura Nikki before starting season 2. The first cour of season 2 relies heavily on investment that the viewer has built up in Tempest and it’s inhabitants. I feel that season 1 doesn’t do as good of a job as it needed to in building up that sort of investment, but Tensura Nikki does an decent job of filling that hole which allows the writing in season 2 to hit some really amazing emotional beats.
On that note, I found that this season overall was much better written than the first. The first season did a lot of world building, but it largely felt like it was focusing on the parts that were too smooth and simple. The second adds a lot more complexity and more importantly uses that complexity for things that were at a higher level and much more interesting than what was happening in season 1. As a result things feel like they’re progressing much faster which overall makes things much more interesting. It’s also much more liberal in providing hints and foreshadowing about what it’s leaving mysterious in regards to the large overarching plot lines which creates a better persistent sense of suspense. In order to allow for such writing, I feel the storyline this time overall was much more serious than in the first season with less comedy. And while comedy was the best part of the first season, I feel this exchange was very much still worth it. After all, there still is a good amount of comedy and what there is is still as excellent as the first season.
In terms of characters in and of themselves, the writing isn’t all that improved. I wouldn’t really consider it as there being character arcs or characters being given much depth. Still, characters did grow in terms of power levels and abilities, and the anime did a really good job of showcasing this. Certain moments of evolving were handled incredibly well with what I can best describe as amazing UI work. And showcasing characters now being overpowered was also handled incredibly well. Unlike the first season, I feel it properly handled building up to the epic overpowered moments, as well as in dwelling on the aftermath an appropriate amount to really let it sink in. All of this tied into the previously mentioned investment in the cast and the town for some really amazing moments that really resonated. This season also did a great job in developing villains that were easy to hate and did a good job of making them getting crushed as satisfying as possible.
The art and animation are as solid as the first season, which is pretty solid. Character design wise it’s pretty similar to the first season. There are some designs that stand out as especially great, but overall most designs aren’t all that remarkable. Due to the expanded cast there are more great designs, but the overall percentage I would say is about the same. The first ED and second OP were great in terms of songs and visuals. The first OP had good visuals as well, though the song I only found okay. The second ED was only okay in terms of songs and visuals. The soundtrack was solid enough but not particularly remarkable.
