It’s time for the return of the rare romantic drama series over the many romantic comedies running around. Typically I’d say that a comedy will always beat a drama but this has been a good show. The first season was fun enough although held back by Miyo herself. Season 2 is a definite improvement but Miyo continues to develop rather slowly and isn’t really being aware enough of her surroundings. She needs to tap into the classic power fantasy elements that have made characters like Jinwoo and Boruto living legends. Miyo has the abilities for this, such is her birth right. So now we need to see her using them.

We’re able to squeeze in a few different arcs throughout this season. The first few episodes are about Miyo finally meeting Kudou’s parents. Naturally this is always a fairly big moment in any romance series. As you would probably expect from Kudou’s demeanor, his mother is quite strict. She begins bullying Miyo in earnest and when Miyo doesn’t fight back, the bullying only intensifies. In a way she seems upset that Miyo isn’t tougher since Kudou’s partner has to be strong. Kudou’s father is a lot more mild in comparison. It’s a fun enough way to start the arc although it’s fair to say that it’s the weakest arc of the season. Miyo just doesn’t handle herself with enough poise here and we should have been done with the bullying stuff by the end of season 1. Nobody should be able to mess with Miyo by this point.

Miyo has come a long way from the days of season 1 where she was a punching bag to every character in existence. She doubts herself less here although she still moves with less poise and authority than she should. Miyo is at
her best when Kudou’s life is on the line as she quickly proves that she doesn’t have a “No kill” rule. That’s a good thing in this kind of verse where it would be difficult to imprison everyone and you have to deal with politics running around. She is slowly getting more used to using her powers in an offensive way as well.

Miyo has a ways to go but if she keeps up her training then she will be a force to be reckoned with. The problem is that she seems to be actively deciding not to practice her abilities and I could see that being a huge problem down the road. When you have special abilities I would argue that it is your duty to practice using them and improving your craft. It’s just not an optional obligation by that point and I need her to start embracing this. Miyo also needs to work on establishing stronger boundaries like not letting Arta constantly pine after her. Shutting that guy down once and for all would be a good thing and I’d also argue that she could probably tone down her attempts to sympathize with everyone.

Sympathizing with a guy who has been on a big mass murder spree just isn’t the right move if you ask me. So Miyo had her ups and downs here but if she continues the trend of getting better after every season then we should be in a good place. Meanwhile Kudou is still a solid character as always who is ready to take Miyo’s side. He defends her from everyone including family so I appreciate his loyalty. He is generally more confident and uses his powers as needed. While his battle intelligence takes a huge hit in this season, he looks good beyond that. It’s a case where his core personality is still really good which is the main important part. He also makes a big decision near the end of the series that was definitely a good one. I can see this being a huge benefit over the next seasons as he will have more free time now.

Kudou’s father Tadakiyo is a reasonably fun character. He takes a more laidback approach as he lets his wife largely do whatever she wants. He is happily retired and just likes to keep the peace. It means that you can’t really count on him in daily affairs but he can fight as needed. He’s not a particularly interesting character as a result but he gets the job done. His wife Fuyu starts off as a big bully but softens up later on. I think the anime’s pacing was a little too quick in this case though as she basically becomes a completely different character within a few episodes. That was a little annoying but I suppose she’s still solid enough. Maybe the writer just figured things would be too hard on Miyo to have to deal with another big bully and so that plot was cut short.

As always Arata is around and I really appreciate the open disdain that Kudou shows him the whole time. Kudou just can’t stand the guy and with good reason. Miyo may be able to overlook a kidnapping attempt and some flirting but not her future husband. Arata seems like one of those guys who just can’t take a hint and is always on the wrong side of every matter. His plan is absolutely terrible in this season and I’m convinced that he is basically just around to hold Miyo back. She needs to cut this guy out already. Honestly he’s just gone way too far for anyone to ever trust him. I don’t see him ever really going up as a character.

We start to get glimpses of the main plot as the legendary Usui declares that he will be taking Miyo. This guy is the most powerful member of the Usuba clan and he can use complete hypnosis to mess with your 5 senses. So as a result he could be anyone or anywhere. Kudou takes Miyo to a guardsman base for her protection where she meets a girl named Kaoruko. The problem is that Kaoruko also likes Kudou and most of the soldiers here are all big bullies for no reason. Will Miyo have what it takes to put an end to this once and for all?

For the record I don’t think taking Miyo to this base is a terribly good idea but no location would be all that safe. Realistically there is no defense against Usui due to his ability. The main plan that would have made sense would have been to expedite her training instead. Still, it’s a good chance for Miyo to make friends and she handles herself pretty well in this arc as she stands up to the bullies and defends Kaoruko. If anything it’s just a really bad look for the army that they are unaware of all this treatment or simply don’t care.

Kaoruko makes for a fun character. She is a solid fighter and doesn’t let all the bullying get her down. I did have some suspicions about her that ended up being well founded but despite that she is okay. It just feels like there is not much of a point to her being in the story just yet so we’ll have to see if that changes for future arcs. Since she seems to be lacking in particularly strong abilities, I don’t see her being very useful in a fight. Her last big appearance is mainly crying at a party so it was a rather sad way to go out.

The big climax happens when Usui finally makes his move and kidnaps Kudou. For once it looks like Miyo will have to be the one to save the day and fortunately she is aided by Kudou’s shikigami. Although what she doesn’t know is that the Shikigami shares all of Kudou’s senses and he gets the memories so Miyo would definitely be rather embarrassed if she realized what was going on. Nevertheless, it’s time for action and the shikigami is unfortunately very weak so she will still have to do most of the heavy lifting on her own. Not like this will be the first time that she has done so though so this ought to be easy. It’s just the first time in a combat sense.

The final arc has quite a bit of action which is nice. It also gives the soldiers something to do as they fight a bit in the subplot. In general I always found the soldiers’ plot to be rather boring compared to the main Miyo plot but at least it went somewhere. The show was hinting early on at a possible argument between Miyo and Kudou when he rats out a protest group but nothing came of it. Maybe it was just showing that she was a bit sympathetic instead of her being upset. Still, it’ll be interesting if that turns into anything.

The soldiers have powers and such but they all feel so weak. Kudou has one right hand man who is important but most of the soldiers are rank and file otherwise. I think their plot will be more interesting as we get to learn about more and more of the specific soldiers within the group. That’ll help balance things out a bit there. Also we’ll need their plot to be good because assuming we don’t get another fighter like Usui for a bit, I’m not sure the romance is enough for the show to hang its hat on.

The romance between Kudou and Miyo does tend to be rather weak. I like the fact that it’s not a rebound or anything like that but Miyo is much too timid and since the two characters are ultra stiff around each other, there isn’t much in the way of banter. You could pull out a random anime from any year and it would probably have a better romantic dynamic between the leads. Maybe that will change in the next saga, hopefully it does. I would imagine this should be a natural part of the development.

As for Usui, he was a good main villain. His overall plan was rather lackluster but he does have a sad backstory. He just mishandled the whole situation and let things quickly get out of hand. The show also may have made him a bit too powerful. There’s a reason why complete hypnosis is used so sparingly in media. There is basically no counter to it. You need a high tier series with FTL fighters like Bleach for a proper fight to really be put into action. Realistically Usui should be able to handle the entire verse here. His ability to be completely invisible is unmatched and of course he is also an expert sword fighter. The show may have used this guy up a little too soon but of course there could be stronger characters in the winds. We’ll have to see.

The animation looks solid here. The show gets to show off a bit more this time since there are more action scenes at the ready. It’s always fun to see the fire and electricity shooting out at the opponents. The hand to hand fights are also solid as are the sword battles. Towards the end some of the fight scenes do make you shake your head a bit though. I get the feeling that the author is definitely not used to fight scenes as much as the romantic ones. For example Kudou’s final fight just doesn’t make sense as he seems to forget object permanence immediately. He knows good and well that his opponent has the ability of illusions and yet he’s shocked every time his attack doesn’t land.

Throughout the fight he learns nothing and makes the same mistakes over and over. It just makes Kudou look absolutely terrible as opposed to making the villain look better. As someone who was said to be the strongest in the verse, I would expect more out of Kudou. Particularly since his abilities have a wide range of destructive effect. So it shouldn’t be particularly hard for him to land a blow by predicting where the villain will be and striking. Yeah it was not a good look for him.

Meanwhile the soundtrack isn’t bad although it’s not particularly memorable. I would like the next season to really introduce some proper battle themes. The theme song is also okay but that’s about it. So you could say that the soundtrack is more of a weak point in general. This is a story that has to thrive more on the plot and fights which is fine, the series is able to do that. A nice soundtrack would be appreciated though, so fingers crossed for the next season.

Overall, This season brought more action which was definitely nice. At times the actual story is still not the most engaging though and the show’s attempts at humor tends to be on the weak side. It’s not really the kind of show where you’ll crack a smile. That said, we’re finally approaching the wedding and it’s about time since that should have happened already. I’m ready for Miyo to embrace her role as a Kudou and really start to show off some confidence. This is her chance to shine and she can’t let anybody stop her. If she continues to develop her powers as well then she should be a real threat. Also a change of scenery could be nice for the characters to get away from the main cities and not be tied down by regulations. Could be a nice way to explore their being a power couple. If you’re looking for a solid romance to check out, this one fits the bill.

Overall 6/10