Sep 16, 2023
Story Telling: 10
The Animations: 8
Character Development: 10
The anime was far better than I had expected after reading it's reviews here on MyAnimeList before watching.
I was expecting that this anime must have been ruined some how as there seemed to have been a LOT of negativity (Thus my late reviewing and watching of the series.)
I understand some of the negativity that was circling the series that being of it's animation being jarring to change, however I do not think it's actually the fault of the animation but rather the change of style and trying to replicate the style of the previous studio's animation.
I will
...
agree some facial expressions are hit or miss but by no means do I believe the "forced faces" people point toward as their biggest complain with the series is some how brand new to the series. The series has 100% always used these odd sticking faces in their animations since the first season and it tried to do so straight forward into the 2nd, be it a little bumpy at first but it did not ruin the experience for myself at least.
Story Telling:
The story overall told felt great and great pacing, the MUCH further expansion into the Ente Isla world from the first season was a welcome sight for myself, someone who had felt the fire season left far too little to the imagination of the world Maou/Emi came from. Not only this but it had expanded even further into Lucifer/Aciel past and introduced exactly what mythos the anime uses for their story (Hebrew Bible Tree of Life).
10/10: I was not expecting so much digging into the actual back story and canon involvement of the universe. A lot more then the first series ever introduced. Where as the first season felt somewhat slice of life with conflict this season felt as though it focused on lore and universe building behind Ente Isla.
The Animations:
The animation style at first is jarring if you had watched and grown accustom to the 1st season's however it is smooth. There are some faces that do feel slightly forced (Likely due to trying to replicate that of the 1st season or even trying to stick to the source material) but there are other expressions that they drop that really pay off (This mainly included the first new character introduced to the season) This also fixes up almost 4 episodes in after they begin to use their own animation style more to show expression rather than trying to replicate the previous studio.
I will say I have also noticed a lack of trying to do combat/fighting scenes. At least it seemed this way as there were times they could have made a spectacle of a fight however it feels like they choose to just give it a quick simple response then to spend long times on fighting scenes. Which I would deem a problem if the first one had not been similar in their style of handling fight scenes. From being just zoom outs and just blowing glowing orbs or just flashing away when an impact happens so I am not too upset that a similar thing was done.
7/10: I am upset at the fact that dropped some gimmicks the previous studio had (Such as Emi's hair antenna being indicative to her emotion and always changing based on her extreme emotion she is feeling for comical relief) however overall the animation was smooth and well done. They for some reasons started the series with CG in the first episode but it isn't introduced against through the entire season.
Character Development:
This season really did expand on the stories of each character of the series that was severely lacking in season 1. If you are really invested into the world of The Devil Work's Part Time this really is the anime for you as you learn a LOT of the back story of Maou and crew.
10/10
Overall: I really enjoyed this season far more than I thought I would have with little expectations as someone who has been a massive fan of the series from season 1. Feeling as thought the show left so much on the table and ending in sort of a cliffhanger this season 100% expanded on the story and universe so much that I wanted to see it play out. I will say however those who viewed the series more as a Rom/Com strictly might be upset as the relationships between Maou and the girls took a back seat to allow the world building.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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