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A studio change and a drop in production quality has made season two of To Your Eternity an ultimately disappointing experience in comparison to the excellent season one. Studio Drive had massive shoes to fill, and sadly couldn't quite hit its mark. That isn't to say that season two of To Your Eternity is horrendously bad - it simply isn't good.

The strength of the source material does ease the blow somewhat. Disappointing though it may be, To Your Eternity is still To Your Eternity, and the way it expands upon and adds complexity to the previous season is still good (though certain new characters ... may be offputting or disappoinhting in comparison to season one's cast, they still serve an interesting purpose thematically). Unfortunately, that interesting writing can't save this season as a whole.

The main problem is simply that season two is extremely bland, particularly visually. It's reminiscent of Berserk 2016, though not nearly as absurd or poorly-animated (or half as funny) - rather, it was a show that was praised for solid writing due to its manga, that similarly suffered from poor art. So prevalent is the blandness of TYE season two's artwork, in fact, that it became a massive slog to sit through week after week. Other things - the OST, the voice acting, and so on, can't save the season from the black hole of boredom that is its lack of visual interest.

It just doesn't feel worth it, and that's a shame.

Ultimately enjoyable for fans of the game like myself, but those unfamiliar with the source material may be lost. Arknights' anime adaptation makes a valiant effort to explain its world, but I watched alongside a friend who hadn't played the game, and my friend seemed lost (but still enjoyed the show). If you like the game, you're likely to like the anime. If you haven't played it, it may still be worth a watch - the high production values do the series wonders. The animation, music, and voice acting are all incredibly strong, and Satsumi Matsuda's performance as Misha especially stands out. Given that we're ... several years into the global release of the game, this also served as a nice recap. It's extremely difficult to talk about the show in its own terms on the whole, however - as such, this review will be framed by way of the game.

The problem with the Arknights anime is ultimately that Arknights, for a mobile game, is infamous for its walls of text. Moreover, the part that this anime adapts is widely considered the weakest part of the game, though this reviewer personally enjoyed those chapters - they're a great setup for later themes and ideas. Which is one of the main issues with the anime - there are small lines of important dialogue that are sadly cut, that would have lended a greater weight to the story (particularly in the last two episodes, which in the game serve to humanize the faceless mooks of Reunion - in the anime, however, they feel like raving lunatics because these lines are missing, and certain character motivations change because of it).

Despite its flaws, the Arknights anime is still pretty good; worth a watch for the curious, and enjoyers of the source material.

JUNE 2023 EDIT: The version of Darwin I read was a truly horrendous MTL (as someone in the forums put it, it's borderline unreadable). The following review is reflective of that, and I will update when I can access a better version. I'm bumping the score up a few points based on that, and will leave the original review up for transparency.

I unfortunately cannot read Japanese to be able to interpret the original text myself, and am not sure which parts of what I read were present in the Japanese version or not, especially given that the manga is set in America and discusses ... real-world issues (which the MTL handles with all of the nuance, subtlety, and sensitivity of a Captain Planet episode).

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Darwin Jihen isn't good.

It wants to present the same flavor of ethical or philosophical questions that heavy-hitting series like Monster do, but lacks the subtlety and nuance required to pull it off. Instead, every few pages, there will be an unhinged rant by some sort of strawman, followed by an equally unhinged counterpoint, and perhaps the main character being cool and detached, for he belongs to neither side.

Despite the amount of strawmen, however, there is no thesis statement to this series. In its refusal to take a side on its issues beyond "probably in favor of animal rights", it strays even further from what it seems to want to be. The vegan terrorists who bomb city blocks and the high school bully decrying veganism as an impractical lifestyle are treated with equal weight and drama, and for what? There is no room for the reader to think; you're just hurried along to the next unhinged rant.

But maybe that's not what you're here for. Maybe you just want to see a chimp-human hybrid get cool action scenes. There are a number of those, and they're even well-drawn! But this also fails as an action / thriller / dumb fun, because again, it's almost entirely ranting. A unique art style and setting are just about the only thing the series has going for it. I do like the fact that the main character is drawn in a different art style, and setting a manga series in a rural Missouri town is a fascinating choice, but the true value of Darwin Jihen is in the unintended absurdity of it.

Darwin Jihen is, in some ways, a commendable effort; the odd talking points of the series are very clearly real-world ones, and even some I've personally had to contend with.

But if the writer can research these topics enough to portray them, the writer can likewise research these topics enough portray them well.