Honzuki no Gekokujou – 15

OP2 Sequence

OP2: 「つむじかぜ」 (Tsumuji Kaze) by 諸星すみれ

「神殿の巫女見習い」 (Shinden no Miko Minarai)
“Apprentice Priestess”

Blasting right off from where last season left off, Honzuki wastes no time in getting us right back into the swing of things with some classic Main antics.

General Impressions

For those of you who don’t know, Honzuki’s first season is probably near the absolute top of my “Yeah, I’d watch this show about 50 more times”. No lie, after watching the whole thing twice over, I went to a friend’s place during the holidays and made them watch the entire first season in one sitting because I knew they would get the wrong impression of they only made it through the first few episodes. By the time we reached the halfway point, I could barely get them to move from the couch to eat the take out we had ordered.

First and foremost, let me hand it off to the studio for giving this series a proper fucking opening sequence. Season one’s sequence was as basic as it got and while that has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the show, I loved just how big of an upgrade the second season got. Incorporating a similar feel to the first season but ramping up the actual amount of animation within it, the sequence packed such a huge emotional punch when you add in just how fantastic the lyrics are. Telling a mini story of Main diving into a dark new world but finding strength in the people around her, we got some fantastic foreshadowing combined with stellar feel good visuals.

Diving into the episode itself, I really appreciated the show not diving into any length recaps. First off, it wasn’t all that long ago that season one aired so if you can’t remember what happened, just go re-watch it. Second, I really loved how we got to see different parts of what happened during the church incident after Main nearly crushed the heart of that dirtbag High Priest. Looking back at it, I’m surprised that the episode itself didn’t show us how the negotiations with the Head Priest went. Luckily it looks like while he’s a stickler for society’s rules, he isn’t as big of an asshat as the High Priest.

If I had to pick the one thing I enjoyed the most though, it’d have to be how the story is throwing new obstacles in Main’s way. Season one demonstrated that Main is capable of overcoming nearly any problem throw in her way and it looks like season two will test just how skilled she really is when the odds are stacked against her. Specifically, it looks like the hurdle of handling her new position within the church is going to be one hell of a time. That said, I’m hopeful that her optimistic attitude combined with her lack of prejudice will help win over not only her retainers but all the other gray robes.

I’m not sure if you could tell, but I really enjoyed this episode. With all the crap going on in the world right now, it’s nice to have some anime to just dive head first into as you try to temporarily ignore the crisis we’re all facing. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the episode as much as I did and even if you didn’t, let me know just why you love this show 🙂

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「エフェメラをあつめて」 (Efemera wo Atsumete) by 鈴木みのり

Preview