Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 2nd Season – 13 (END)

「あなたが出会う最悪の敵は、常にあなた自身だ。」 (Anata ga Deau Saiaku no Teki wa, Tsuneni Anata Jishin da.)
“The Worst Enemy You Can Meet Will Always Be Yourself.”

The epic crushing of Kakeru might be the claim to fame for this season of Youjitsu, but screw it, this episode won the day for me. Maybe it was Kei talking herself hook, line, and sinker right into Kiyotaka’s hands. Maybe it was Kiyotaka himself absolutely absolutely destroying poor Maya with nary a blink in between gut punches. Hell, it could’ve been the promise that Kikyou isn’t going to like what’s coming (among other teased antagonists). I honestly couldn’t tell you what got me the most, but I can say I loved every second this week and that is definitely more than enough for this finale – after all we have the third season coming next year! Never say good things must always come to an end.

Final Impressions

When it comes to Youjitsu, especially this season of Youjitsu, it’s fairly simple to say you’re either going to love it or hate it, and there’s very little in between. This is a series which very much embraces its light novel origins, playing hard to an over the top and (at times) nonsensical setup all the while balancing it with some satisfying intrigue and decent character archetypes. If you don’t like one you’re not likely going to like the other, but provided it tickles the fancy, it’s certainly a fun ride.

Much as alluded to, the claim to fame for Youjitsu was once again the suspense and intrigue, particularly in regards to outcomes. Compared to the first season we finally received some noticeable consequences and fallout for class defeats, whether that be (spoiler alert) outing Kikyou to the world or putting Kakeru in his place. This made for some very entertaining episodes at times, especially in the latter half when the usual arrangement of overly complex tests gave way to more personal showdowns between key characters. As I have espoused on several times over the past few weeks Youjitsu works best when it’s letting the mind games and competition shine, and we weren’t lacking in that category for most of this season.

Such positives however due belie this season’s faults in the usual light novel adaptation trifecta of pacing, purging, and excessive complexity. The first half is case in point, where the early tests were not only too structurally complex to easily make sense of, but rushed through fast enough to barely keep track of, let alone maintain interest in. Certain character developments too suffered from the adaptation curse, leaving particular developments either lacking in depth or missing important foreshadowing to properly ground them in the greater narrative. To be fair this isn’t entirely Youjitsu’s fault – what works in written text isn’t always fit for animation – but it’s only partial absolution; many other series have managed to thread the adaptation needle, and on conservative budgets to boot. As shown in anime before a little writing ingenuity goes a long way in these sorts of shows, and it’s something I hope Youjitsu’s next season can better take advantage of.

In the end while not as impressive as many likely hoped given first season nostalgia goggles, there’s no denying Youjitsu’s second round did everything promised on the tin. We got plenty of intrigue, even more interesting (and higher stakes) developments, and the guarantee that at least some of what transpired will be answered in soon-to-premiere third season. Youjitsu might not be an inevitable chart topper, but it’s certainly one fun light novel franchise and I for one am certainly looking forward to seeing just what its third season holds.