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So, I'm not one to write reviews very often, and when I did, they were very brief and pretty sarcastic. I don't even write thorough reviews for my absolute favorite shows. But I come today with a heavy heart to announce to the world that just when people thought the first season of BanG Dream!'s anime adaptation didn't do the franchise any justice, the second season made the former look pretty good.

The mobile game BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! has had a massive popularity explosion since its release, and the release of the English server in April 2018 made the franchise even more accessible to ... the community, and I've seen more and more LLSIF players hopping over to Garupa just to see what all the hype's about, only to end up *staying for good.*

Why did this happen, you ask? I've seen many people comment on this, answers ranging from more interesting song beatmaps, unlimited song play, and better artwork than SIF, but the number one trend I've noticed is that people come thanks to FOMO, but *they stay for the characters and their stories.*

The game has 25 main characters divided up into 5 bands, each with her own story with her bandmates and with other main characters in the other bands. This makes things very complicated, but also allows for a variety of different stories, events and short conversations to appear. You can see angsty drama between ambitious characters as they discover who they are as musicians in Roselia's band story. You can see a hilarious, chaotic yacht performance in the Phantom Thief event story. Through the game, you can see the girls' personalities shine, whether they're in school, in the studio, onstage, at home, engaging in hobbies, doing club activities, window-shopping, working part-time, celebrating holidays, interacting with their families, or even volunteering around town. There's a little something for everyone, and while the character relationship chart is kind of a mess, there's something about Garupa that makes it simple enough for a new player to jump right in without needing too much background. SIF's stories aren't anything worth discussing, and their characterization is definitely more prominent in the anime, making the game's story content unnecessary for full enjoyment.

BanG Dream! Season 2 tried to shove 25 main characters (oh, wait, they threw another band in there, too, so make it 30) into a 13 episode show and make it work.

Well, it didn't.

The first few episodes feature one band per episode, with some little struggle that those girls have to overcome (usually with Poppin' Party being integral to the solution) and every episode ends in a feel-good moment accompanied by a really awkward montage of each member smiling or giggling that lasts 10 seconds and serves no other purpose but to prove how much "moe potential" each girl has through her "hehe" or "nn!" before cutting to the ending. This sort of montage is also common throughout the later episodes, though they generally get placed at the beginning or in some even more awkward spot in the middle.

My first complaint is that these episodes don't really show you the essence of any of the other bands. It's really just another season of The PoPiPa show, except with no clear plot and a thousand times more chaos. Without the PoPiPa girls, the other bands’ episodes would have been completely irrelevant and uninteresting, which frustrates me considering that each band has so much to offer individually as well as when they interact with the other characters. As any Garupa player is aware, the girls in PoPiPa are nowhere near as popular as the likes of characters such as Moca, Kaoru, Lisa, Misaki, etc. The franchise is aware of this. The fanbase wanted to see more of the other girls who hadn’t been animated yet. And despite that, we continue to be lured in by the promise of seeing the others get their time in the spotlight only to have them be completely overshadowed by PoPiPa. In fact, the only characters from the other four in-game bands you really see serving some other purpose later in the story are Rinko (given her status as Hanasakigawa’s StuCo president, assisting many of the later plot events), Aya (who helps PoPiPa with their live), and Yukina (who saves the day at the school festival and is constantly scolding or giving advice). Afterglow and HaroHapi who? Considering I find Afterglow’s story to be the most interesting and heartwarming with just the right amount of tension to lead to great development, I was kind of shocked that I nearly forgot all of them existed in this show. I can count on my fingers the number of times Maya, Hagumi and Tomoe got a single speaking line, which greatly upset me even though I believe Yoshida Yuri’s Hagumi voice to be what greets BanG Dreamers at the gates of hell.

The abundance of characters involved in this mess made the plot nearly nonexistent, and I really didn’t know what was happening until over halfway through the show. It was a perfect example of why “quality over quantity” is so important. Instead of getting a solid storyline and witnessing character development like in S1, we’re left with tiny snippets of characters here and there, never really seeing their personalities or their connection to the franchise, rendering a viewer who doesn’t play the game clueless-- and in a way, this serves as a giant advertisement for the game. “Wow, I thought Hina was adorable! I wish I could have seen more of her. :(“ Well, aren’t you in luck! SayoHina twin drama is one of the most common occurrences in the mobile game, and every player in the universe is gonna pressure that oblivious viewer into downloading the game, where said viewer will become a player after falling in love with the beautiful graphics, lovable girls, intricate storylines, incredible music, and detailed live 2D character models. This marketing scheme has worked; even my best friend decided to give the game a go after her social media blew up with anime screencaps, prompting her to watch it and crave more Kokoro to fuel her kokoro’s love for pure yet stupid genki girls.

I would like to put it out there that I love every band and all the girls. I realize I sound salty at PoPiPa overshadowing the others, but that’s not the issue-- the issue was giving fans false hope for more of the others and then pulling the rug out from under us while also making the show a mess for PoPiPa. I’d argue that each band could very easily have its own show, with other characters playing a supporting role when necessary (i.e. Hina in the Roselia story, Chisato in the HaroHapi story, Ako in the Afterglow story, and so on). I think it would be more than great; it could be brilliant. Sure, it’s ambitious, but wasn’t the concept of this season ambitious as well? At least we’d be more likely to get something quality if we could see more of the characters shine the way they do in-game. Adding in the subplot and conflict with Raise A Suilen and ChuChu just made the goal of a cohesive show even more unlikely, and it’s truly unfortunate for the franchise.

It was utter chaos and I never knew where to place my focus or what to get out of the show. The CGI art wasn’t *terrible* per se, but certainly could have been a lot more fluid and true to what we’d expect from such a show. It felt awkward to watch and the facial expressions didn’t feel super consistent, either. When one of them would make an expression like this (>.<) it looked very out of place with the style and it could have been done differently, though the art was the least of my problems (besides the sound and voice acting, which was incredible, as expected).

As for the sound and voice acting, I have no complaints. Returns is easily one of the best songs in the BanG Dream! franchise and everything about it gives me goosebumps. It’s amazing. Rinko’s new voice actress did throw me off a bit, not because she did a bad job, but simply because it was very different, and I’m sure most people agree that for a first voice acting role, Nonchan did a stellar job.

Okay, the second season of BanG Dream! was pretty bad in terms of an actual storyline, characterization process and animation, but if you’re a fan of the game and want to see all the girls animated even for a few seconds out of the entire season, yeah, it’d be worth it. Otherwise, don’t bother.

Story: 6/10
It's kind of cliché. A childhood promise, guy creates a harem trying to find the childhood friend. However, Nisekoi executes this in a different way than other manga. It focuses a lot on romance, but it's actually funny with things going on. The humor isn't just a lighthearted filler, it's actually meant to be there, and it actually makes you laugh.

Art: 8/10
Naoshi-sensei claims that he never really had any experience drawing girls before Nisekoi. He's actually pretty good at it! The art is simple yet pretty. It's very neat and well-thought out, with detailed backgrounds. The way he can convey emotion through his ... artwork is quite a talent. I know a lot of series where you either hatehatehate the art or lovelovelove the art, but this isn't one of them. The art is quite versatile, in a style that everyone can enjoy without constantly wincing.

Character: 9/10
Before I get to discussing the girls, I'm going to talk about Raku Ichijou, the protagonist of the series. He isn't your normal unappreciative, lost-all-hope-in-life tsukkomi center of the harem. He is actually kind and has a soft side. He tries to help anyone in need and has the best for everyone in mind. I really like him, and he is the main reason the characters are as great as they are. I find him developing a lot and I really like that.

As for the girls, I find them developing a lot too. They're all really fun and colorful characters who really add to the story.

Enjoyment: 8/10
This is a fun series. I find myself laughing constantly. It's herd to stop reading!

Overall: 8/10
I recommend this series to anyone who loves a good laugh with some good plot.