Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「The Asterisk War」 by Shiena Nishizawa
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「万有天羅」 (Banyuu Tenra)
“Divine Revelations”
After a short break, Gakusen Toshi Asterisk is back for its second cour (or season)! And boy, A-1 Pictures spared no expense for this first episode.
Opening Sequence & Gorgeous Animation
While some episodes last season had some serious wonks when it came to animation, this first episode is starting out strong by being absolutely gorgeous. Literally, everything was spot on. From general movement to high intensity action shots, there was almost nothing I could find fault with.
Also, this new opening sequence has to be one of the prettiest I’ve seen in ages. It’s smooth, has great music accompanying it, and does just enough foreshadowing to really get your mind racing.
New Loli
There’s no mistaking it, this new character named Xinglou Fan is absolutely amazing. She has this perfect attitude of “I don’t give a damn” combined with “I want things to be interesting”. Something that we haven’t seen too much of yet and is a welcome introduction in comparison to all the uptight and stuffy characters we’ve met thus far.
Specifically though, she’s just so adorable that it’s tough for me not to write something about her. From the moment we saw a glimpse of her during the last episode to her few amazing minutes on screen, it was pure bliss getting to see a new character just do whatever they wanted to do. That said, I really hope we get to see some more of her character get fleshed out before too much time passes. Seeing how she’s one of the higher ups though, I doubt we’ll get much. But one can hope, right?
The Phoenix Festa / Ayato’s Limiter
Man, who would have thought Ayato would have been thrown so quickly into another battle? Last I checked, he completely blew himself out after exerting too much energy during the Priscilla fight and it looks like the complications of doing so actually managed to come back to haunt him.
Luckily, with some clever planning by Julis, our favorite duo (or I guess my favorite duo) managed to scrape by without either of them getting too injured.
Julis and Looking Ahead
With the story diving straight back into the thick of things, I can’t help but feel good about this second season. We spent a lot of time back then building up to this point and it looks like we’re finally getting to cash in on all that good will we had during Asterisk’s low moments.
In any case, for those of you who enjoyed the first season but weren’t sure if you were going to pick this second season up, PICK IT UP. With the insane budget this show apparently has and the somewhat boring stuff out of the way, it looks like all that’s left is for some awesome (so many good fights are coming, I can feel it) and epic (who would have thought Julis would have brought up Ayato’s sister?) episodes.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「愛の詩-words of love-」 (Ai no Uta -words of love-) by Haruka Chisuga
Preview
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Xinglou Fan here reminded me of Meifon Sakura from Valkyrie Drive
A good Episode, they used their Brain to win the round
as it never had made an break
I definitely prefer Ayato and Julis when it comes to the battles since both of them are actually contributing quite a bit, helping each other, planning and strategizing together with things that require real trust between them, and so on. It’s how I feel Ikki and Stella should’ve been a lot more like battle-wise in Cavalry as opposed to how Stella didn’t seem to feel that strong after the first couple episodes, usually relying completely on Ikki for the fighting.
On the flip side, I still much prefer Ikki and Stella outside of battle as, at those points, they actually developed and got together romantically while Ayato and Julis are still largely stuck in the status quo in order to keep teasing opportunities for Claudia and the others.
So starting off with a fight, continuing right where season one left off, is a nice way to start for me.
Ehh to be fair Cavalry doesn’t use the team battle format, so you rarely get to see Ikki and Stella fight together. Overall I’ve just found Cavalry’s battles more interesting. Ikki’s limits are more defined, and he relies on strategy more. Ayato KINDA has a time limit, but he can essentially prolong it for as long as the plot demands, then break it whenever too. In most of Asterisk’s battles he just overpowers the enemies. This ep was an exception because he couldn’t use his full power.
Really enjoyed this episode. If it’s anything to go by (jumping straight into battle without ever sidetracking), then the rest of the season will be not only some great battles (impressive strategizing here), but the story will also progress, and, judging by the ED (they should’ve sticked to the original ED BTW, as this is not as charming 🙁 ) it seems we’ll delve deeper into what behind-the-scenes conspiracy is going on regarding Ayato’s sister and the man she was last fighting against.
Xingiou Fan is not playing favorites, and just loves people to grow in powers… my second favorite faction leader now after the buxom Claudia!
Also, the VERY honourable opponents this time made me enjoy the battle as neither side was malicious in their actions.
Expecting every underhanded trick in the book next time, though. Hayato and Ju;is would have to really be smart… Challenge accepted!
2nd Season already lol wasnt even that long ago when the first one ended
At least the show was well-aware of our disappointment for no Claudia in this episode.
How does everyone find the new ED? Better or worse than Waiting for the Rain?
Worse. Not much can compare to Waiting for the Rain.
I’d call them equal and I love the last ED. The animation and pictures used in the new ES sequence are better than last season’s and the new song is only a slight downgrade. I still find it catching enough to want to hear it each weekend when I watch and I’m looking forward to owning in one day, but it’s hard to top waiting for the rain.
Yeah, Waiting for the Rain was so good I’d have watched the series just for it.
The current ED is okay, but nothing special. Music still decent, but it’s not in the same league.
Lolis! More Lolis! More Lolis are multiplying!
For some reason, I really cant stand the MCs personality. He comes of as a spineless harem protagonist even if he isnt one. Kinda like Lux from Bahamut.
PS: I missed my Kirin oppai loli tits so goddamn much!
https://randomc.net/image/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk%20Second%20Season%20-%20ED%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
Curses, I forgot to emphasize on the goodness of Kirin’s oppai loliness.
https://randomc.net/image/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk%20Second%20Season%20-%20ED%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
Ofcourse, Saya is not to be outdone in the Loli department. Her DFC can stand up to Kirin’s oppai loliness blow for blow.
https://randomc.net/image/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk%20Second%20Season%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
I guess it shouldnt be hard to figure out why I watch this show ^.^
Superior anime is back baby , eat sh8t Cavalry uwahahahaha
While not the best of its genre, the first cour did enough to maintain my interest to watch the second cour. It’s a fairly generic series as these things go, but I liked some of the characters – particularly “Team Loli” (Saya and Kirin). The first is a fun deadpan snarker, and the second cute girl that kicks ass with a sword (checks a box of mine :P). Julis is OK – she’s a bit less tsundere from my perspective which adds a couple points. ML is serviceable (not annoying though I wish he wouldn’t blush so much). There are others which rate above average (incl. some scheming school leaders) which adds to the fun. Xinglou Fan looks to be another fun character (and I’m not really a loli guy) Point = that for me, some characters are good enough to separate the show a little from a lot of its ilk.
2 (split) cours helps with pacing (about 4 episodes per LN volume) though I went back and read some of the LN to fill in gaps with the world-setting (yeesh does this series love its “terms of art”). First episode looks to pick up right up from last season which is fine. I’m not expecting greatness from Asterisk, but for the genre it’s a pretty decent watch IMO. Unless it implodes (which I doubt), I’m on board for the second season.