Oh, Arifureta season 2...better job from Asread, this time.

Hi. How is life? Oh, it's already the month of May. I really hope that the event rerun for the Hina Summer event in Blue Archive will be on this month. I would even take the final week of this month. AHEM! I have gotten ahead of myself. Need to get back to the topic. Oh, by the way, have you read my latest blog post? I would appreciate it if you had done so. xD

Ah. Kaori's yandere mode is being triggered again...

Oh, what is the topic for this blog post, you asked? Well, this one is an obvious one. We are back with Arifureta. If you remember the previous season, you would know that I had harshly criticised the poor writing and animation in my blog post entitled "NOW...Time to crush the animators of Arifureta!!!!!!". Anyway, this time is much better than the previous one. It's getting too long here so let's go!!!

WARNING:-

SPOILER ALERT! This post is very likely to contain spoilers for this anime. So...if you are planning to watch the anime without any spoilers, you can either continue to read this post or move on and watch the anime.

P.S. If you want to be spoiled, well, go ahead and read it. You HAD been warned. Don't blame me for being spoiled if you INSIST on continuing to read this post.

Introduction

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Arifureta season 2!!!

Well, this series, Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (or in its English translation, Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest) do not need a lot of introduction as I have done in my previous blog post about it (and the same time, bashing it for poor anime production). It started as a web novel and then became a light novel. Later, it was then adapted into a manga in 2016 and then adapted into the first season of the anime in 2019. And now, the second season is out and is adapted by Asread and Studio Mother. I guess White Fox is either gotten "kicked out" from this project or quit this project. Oh, by the way, it was aired from January to March 2022. Ya...time to move on.

Yue looks good on this cover

Plot

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Time for more adventure...

Hmmm...where should I start? As Nagumo Hajime moves on to his next destination to get the powers he needs to return to his homeworld with his harem after Shirasaki Kaori joins him in his journey (and his harem), he continues to beat different mazes that are set up by the people who were rebelling about the god in the world, Ehit in order to get someone who will rebel against the god and free the people from the god's control on their behalf. Those people are called the Liberators.

The new enemy, Freid Bagwa

Other than having new enemies, the journey is mostly very similar to the previous journey. It's basically beating up people who block his way to go home, saving some people in the process and of course, the MOST IMPORTANT THING, clearing the labyrinth to obtain the powers that the Liberators left behind in the labyrinth. BUT, there is something weird behind the scene throughout the season that will change the course of the journey nearing the end of the anime and the story beyond this season. Well, I'm not too sure whether there will be a season 3 but we will see.

Liliana, the princess came for help...

Anyway, you might be asking me, "What is the thing that will change the course of his journey?". Let me tell you the story. As you know, there is something brewing behind the scene throughout the season. The brewing disaster behind the scene caused the princess of the Heiligh Kingdom, Liliana S. B. Heiligh to run away to try and contact Hajime's envoy for help. This kingdom is the kingdom that summoned Hajime and his classmate.

Oh no...

Well, well, with the knowledge that his teacher was captured by the people who are behind the nasty plans behind the scene, Hajime decided to go to save his teacher while the rest of his envoys went to the kingdom with the princess. After successfully saving his teacher, he faces a really powerful apostle of Ehit, Noint while carrying his teacher. Since he was carrying his teacher, he cannot go full force with his powers. Eventually, he had one of his envoys, Tio Klarus come to his aid to get his teacher to safety.

Tio, Yue and Shea in the kingdom's capital

As for his envoys' side (consisting of Tio, Yue & Shea), they fought off the invading demon army but Tio later went off to Hajime to aid him to get his teacher to safety. Shea faces off against one of the invading army's commanders, Mikhail while Yue faces off against Freid Bagwa, the one who injured Hajime badly during one of their journeys conquering the labyrinth.

OH...that...scene...

Oh, you might ask, where is Kaori then? To cut the long story short, Kaori was killed by the guy who is obsessed with getting her and the guy who hates Hajime for his closeness with her, Hiyama Daisuke. Oh. Wait, what?! Yep, you heard me right? Killed. Murder in plain sight. This whole thing has to start with the thing behind the scene, which is the betrayal of two people who are classmates with Hajime, Hiyama Daisuke and Nakamura Eri.

Not good news...

Daisuke wants to get Shirasaki Kaori and Eri wants to get Amanogawa Kouki...no, not the normal love story route but the more obsessive and possessive "love" way. With that, the duo made a pact to get what they want, putting aside morality and killing all the royal knights for their plans. Oh, no, that is not good at all.

That moment...

With the head of the royal knight dead, they finally betray them for their plans to get their "love". Eri used her power of necromancy to injure and capture all of their classmates. With that done, Eri reveals her intention to the rest of her classmates. And then, as I had mentioned, Kaori was killed by Hiyama when she was trying to save her classmates. Why? So that Eri could use necromancy on her for Hiyama to possess her.

Noint is down. Nice.

Oh...that is when Hajime came to the rescue. Wait, what?! How? Well, he defeated Noint after getting the aid of Tio to save his teacher. The interesting thing is that the place where his teacher was being locked up is the kingdom's church for Ehit and has a hidden labyrinth. Tio, with the help of his teacher's power, blew up the whole place, allowing Tio, Hajime and his teacher to access the labyrinth's final chamber, get the power and return to the kingdom's capital to meet up with the rest of his envoy.

Hajime coming to the rescue...

And well, well, he saw that Hiyama went and murdered one of his envoys, proceeds to save her and had his teacher and Tio help secure her soul for the revival spell. He then went ahead and kill all of the Royal Knights controlled by Eri and kill all the invading demon army, forcing the leader of the army, Freid Bagwa to retreat with Eri. I guess Eri is a lost cause at this point. As for Hiyama, he was being tossed into the demon army before he uses his weapons to kill the invading army.

The new Kaori!

Anyway, to cut the long short, Kaori revived and requested to use Noint body instead. Why? She said she wants to be stronger. Oh, where is her original body, you asked? Hajime kept it for safekeeping. Nothing will happen to it. With all the commotion ended, Hajime and his envoy left the capital to continue their journey. As for the rest of his classmates, they decided to follow Hajime to beat the labyrinth and defeat Ehit. Well, their adventure together is another story next time. It's better to read the novel than wait for a possible season 3 because the season 1 debacle hurts the series quite a lot already, in my opinion, and also, usually, a new season will inevitably lose some audience as people watched the previous season and judge for themselves on whether they wanna continue it or not. Anyway, time for the next segment.

Time to move on to the next journey.

Anime Rating

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Story (Rating: 7/10)

The story feels like a harem anime already at this point although it's still about adventuring around the world to beat labyrinths (and anyone who blocks his way) and get powers to get out from that world back to his homeworld. Anyway, the writing is much better and the flow is much better than in the previous season.

Eri's madness there...

Art and Animation (Rating: 8/10)

The arts in 2D are more or less similar to the previous season. I personally do not have an issue with the 2D part. The characters are well-drawn. The scenery is pretty decent. The only issue that I had in the previous season was the blatant incompatibility of the CGI/3D animation with the 2D animation. Oh, I didn't mention this before? Oh, I guess I've forgotten about it previously. Anyway, this season is much better. At least, the difference between the two animations is much much better.

The dragons...the CGI animation looks decent

Sound and Music (Rating: 6/10)

The opening and closing theme songs are pretty good but they are not exactly on point for my taste. They are both good songs. As for BGM, they are fine. So yeah...it's pretty much the same as the previous season.

That opening song sequence...

Characters (Rating: 10/10)

This time, it's better than the last due to the poor story presentation being out of the way. The character development is mainly focused on the main character's envoy. As they journey, they grow together, especially Kaori. Initially, she felt overwhelmed by the strength of Hajime's envoys (besides herself). After going through one of the labyrinths that reveal Ehit's wickedness and Hajime's push for her decision to either stay or leave the envoy, she decided to stay and prove her worth. The revelation of the two traitors and the whole betrayal thing was quite a surprise for me. To be honest, I should've expected this. Anyway, that is not important. Moving on...

That moment for Kaori

Enjoyment (Rating: 7/10)

Compared to the previous season, this season's animation and story writing are much better. This season is much more enjoyable. Nothing more I could say. Maybe the least that I could say is that it is better than expected, given that the poor 1st season definitely drive down my expectation of it a lot. I believe this is the feeling of many others like me. OK. Let's move on.

O.O...LOL!

Overall Rating: 7.6 (7.75)/10

Screenshots

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The demon camp...

Hajime versus that weird slime

Miyu back with her mother

New enemies appear!

Hajime, Tio and the teacher in that chamber...

Tio...=.=...please, no.

PV/Trailer

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Conclusion

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Ah, we are here again...Oh, I realised one interesting thing: The blog post about Akebi-chan's OP is being read more than the blog post about Akebi-chan anime. To be honest, I dunno what to feel about this. Well, that's the end here. I really run out of things to say. Oh, right, I remember! Next month, I'll be busy for the first half of the month so basically, very few new posts that I could make. Well, it's not like I had made a lot of new posts this month either. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy reading and browsing this blog. Goodbye, and God bless you!

Miyu!!!!!