Yeah we’re back with the next Kimi No Todoke season already! Unfortunately this one isn’t quite as solid as the first season. I do have to deduct a star for the characters taking Ls all over the place in a lot of situations where things should have been easily resolved. The drama feels quite a bit forced in a lot of ways. Ultimately I would say the show still goes back to its more wholesome roots in time but it’s not quite the carefree adventure that season 1 was. Of course it’s not a bad thing to get more serious and dramatic but you really have to earn it and I don’t feel like this season did.

After the events of the fist season, Kazuhaya and Sawako are a couple now. They did spend Christmas and New Year’s together after all so things were going great. Wait…they’re not together? Wait a minuteeeeeeee….and so the drama begins! All right so I know this can actually happen to some people where they don’t clearly assign the labels and don’t know that they’re dating but this is a bit much. Spending the holidays together in an obviously romantic setting should signal some bells. This isn’t even a case of the characters being together and just being embarrassed about their friends knowing. This is both characters actually thinking that the other may not see them romantically. Looks like Ayane and Chizuru are going to have a whole lot of work ahead of them. Particularly when a new guy named Miura shows up to stir the pot.

This season is about half the length of the first so it’s not very long and yet it should have only been 2 episodes based on the events that happen. Lets quickly talk about some of the plot conveniences here. First up, for Valentine’s Sawako makes everyone chocolates instead of Kazuhaya. Her reasoning is that they’re friendship chocolates and so she feels awkward because she’s not sure if it’s really friendship with him. So what does she do? She doesn’t give him anything and goes home. I’m also not giving her any excuses like Kurumi getting in her way because Kurumi just offers up a level 1 mental games remark that works for some reason.

At this point Sawako just needs to do better, particularly since Kurumi said they are rivals now. So she’s not going to go easy on her right? Well, Kazuhaya feels bad after that but he still tries. He says good morning to her the next few days and everything…but Sawako ignores him because she is feeling too flustered. She’s happy that he is talking to her but doesn’t know what to say. The problem is that part of her character has always been talking to explain things so there are no misunderstandings. Now she is suddenly the one being silent. At one point he even walks up to her and straight up asks what is going on and she has no real answer.

Meanwhile he has to watch the new guy Miura talking to her constantly, telling her to smile and all kinds of stuff. She is able to chat with literally everyone normally…except for him. It doesn’t help that he gets advice from lots of characters about how he doesn’t really understand her and everything. So a lot of this is on her for not communicating.

Finally he does make a big flub where he decides to confess but does it in such a roundabout way that it doesn’t work. “I like you” is the worst possible way to confess your feelings because it is probably the only main phrasing that could be misinterpreted. Then he and Sawako both have a parallel conversation where they misunderstand each other. I give Pin all the credit there when he told Kazyhaya that he blew it. Cmon you can do better than that. So then next Kazuhaya tries to be more distant so he doesn’t bother Sawako and everyone gets on his case about that.

In this case I’ll defend him. What else is he supposed to do? From his point of view, Sawako just flat out rejected him so he should give her a little space right? He’s not being mean or anything, that’s just a logical step. Of course meanwhile everyone else knows what is going on but aren’t telling him or Sawako. So yeah a lot of the drama here just doesn’t work. They could have texted each other at any point, actually spoken some words, etc. This season would have worked better in a way if the events were earlier on. Like before Christmas since they were at least slightly more distant before. By this point it’s just too late in the game.

Ironically the main romance was a lot more complete and natural in season 1 when it had to share with Chizuru while this season is all for them and now everything is going wrong. It’s still better than most Shojo romances by far because there are no rebounds for either of them and neither one of them ever even thinks about someone else. Even while their relationship is rocky, both characters want to find a way to make it work. That’s what puts the romance above the average one. The whole drama in this one is still out of left field and makes no mistake but if you think about it as a test, both still pass in loyalty.

The ending also would work as the ending to the series with the plotlines wrapped up. This time they both very clearly admit to dating so there should be no way for season 3 to reverse this. If they do then that would be absolutely crazy. Far as I’m concerned the rest of the series should just be about the two of them hanging out and making lots of fun memories. That’s the kind of wholesome series I signed up for after all. The show can feel free to dodge the usual story beat of having everyone find a partner as well. Just let them all hang out solo and focus on the main duo.

So even with the drama, Kazuhaya is still a good main character. He may have run into some issues but I do think he still fought for Sawako fairly hard. He still shuts down anyone trying to give her a hard time and does his best to be a good role model. The guy has a quick fuse and gets jealous easily so the fact that he’s always so nice and pleasant around Sawako is good. As you can guess from the earlier summary I’m a bit harsher on Sawako here. I feel like she did a lot of backsliding in terms of development.

Her season 1 character felt a little more self assured and confident. I feel like she would have spoken up in a lot of these circumstances and not let things go quite so far. She could have easily stopped the drama in the first place and then it would not have been an issue. By the end of the season she has regained her composure so that puts her in a good spot at least. Hopefully in the next one she can be solid from start to finish and then we will really be in business.

Meanwhile Ayane is still solid as always. With all of the drama in place she really has to work overtime to make sure that things don’t go wrong. In some cases she doesn’t find out the info right away so she isn’t always there to help but I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to be 100% tapped into all of the drama at all times. There’s just too much information but she is a caring person and has the confidence that Sawako needs. So at least that’s someone she can always count on.

Then there’s Chizuru who gets less to do in this season since her plot is done with. Right now with her and Ryu nothing’s really developing so they aren’t taking up the screentime there. She does her best to help Sawako out as well even though she doesn’t always understand the situation. She means well. Then Ryuu gets to help out a bit with Kazehaya. He’s really the only person that the main guy can turn to and it is important to have at least one friend. Ryuu doesn’t tend to talk much but even just having him around to listen is good.

Quick shoutout to say that Joe is still the worst character. Even Kazehaya has to tell him off at one point. Kurumi doesn’t get as much to do here but she is a solid rival. She tells Sawako the tough truths when necessary and always does it in a way where it sounds like an attack even though she is helping out. Now those are some serious skills. I can definitely appreciate that. She even slaps the new guy Miura in what was a pretty impressive animation moment with how fast she went. She’s like Ayane, but even tougher. Kurumi definitely turned out to be one of the best characters and in this season at least, she is second only to Pin.

Pin still gets the top spot of course. Do I even need to go into why that is? The guy is always ready for a lot of advice. Like Kurumi he tends to put on an act (It’s a different act though) but sneaks in some good nuggets of wisdom into his speeches. The characters rarely ever give him any props but he does look out for his students. I’d even say he does a very good job of it, the main characters would have taken longer to get back together if not for him.

Finally there is the new character Miura. So his gimmick is that he’s a nice guy and that’s a pretty good one but of course the characters don’t trust him. There’s a reason why the term “Nice Guy” is pretty much a meme at this point. Someone who acts super nice usually has something that he is hiding and doesn’t end up being all that pleasant at all. I would even say he already starts to break character here as he asks Sawako out like 3 different times. It’s my main problem with him. For the most part he’s a fun character and I do like that he’s trying to help but it goes too far when he actually tries to insert himself like that.

It makes you doubt all of the previous advice and if he was actually trying to help her or just intentionally trying to cause misunderstandings. So like 95% of his scenes are good for the character but the remaining ones hurt. I think he’s an interesting figure that does add a lot to the mix though. I like the idea of a character who wants to play cupid for everyone while avoiding a relationship of his own but you know that this can’t last. Inevitably he will be paired up with someone and then that will be the end of his big character arc. He’s a meddler right now but at least one you could make a decent case for. The guy does lose objectivity when it comes to Sawako though. Pretty crazy that the series only really had one big new character right? Just goes to show that this series doesn’t need to inflate the cast.

As for the technical aspects, the soundtrack is good. There’s one theme that I always tend to enjoy and while the soundtrack isn’t large, it tends to fit the scene well enough. The opening never really caught on for me though. Even romantic shows can afford to have a more fast paced beat if you ask me. Throw in some fun instruments and a lot of energy. Then I will be game 100%. The animation is a noticeable step up from the first season though. The first season had so many scenes where all the details were missing while this one is fairly consistent. It’s still not a top tier show or anything like that but when the improvement is noticeable like this it does jump another level. Particularly after seeing both seasons almost back to back it stands out.

Overall, This second season may not have been quite as pleasant as the first but it’s still a good show. I had a good time either way and compared to other titles it is still rather tame with the drama. One thing I can always be grateful about is that none of the characters did anything irredeemable or major while they were upset. They didn’t say anything hurtful that would need apologizing for later on. The characters are always very mature here even when things are going badly and that’s why the writing in this show is really good. I would definitely say to check this one out and now we just gotta wait for that third season.

Overall 6/10