To Aru Majutsu no Index II mini-review thing
To Aru Majutsu no Index II came to its completion today. Since ranting tends to be very cathartic for me, I figured I'd say something on it.
Honestly, the entire second season was more or less inferior to the first. Uneven production values, highly awkward pacing and poor writing overall plagued this season like a swarm of locusts. Half of the arcs were rather weak, with one consisting almost entirely of talking heads on vaguely moving backgrounds. I know that the original light novels are incredibly exposition-heavy, but it's the scriptwriters'/storyboarders' jobs to transition that into something at least mildly watchable. Well, the season wasn't TOO bad, but it delved so often into mediocrity that I sometimes have to watch the first season in order to remember that this show was actually more than just "slightly above average occasionally".
The excessive exposition without actually accomplishing anything was one of the worst parts. As stated before, Index in general has a tonne of exposition, but there are plenty of ways to at least make that something at least vaguely interesting to watch. Having an entire half of an arc basically consist of the main character running around all over the city constantly talking on the phone without any real plot advancement isn't one of them. The ending was pretty underwhelming as well: The day is saved thanks to convenient fireworks. No, I'm not kidding. A massive plot to destroy an entire city is foiled thanks to fireworks. The entire Daihaseisai arc (eps. 8-13) was pretty disappointing in general. Admittedly, a good deal of that blame goes to the light novel, but again, like I said before, it's the scriptwriters'/storyboarders' jobs to take an exposition-heavy arc and turn it into something interesting. Literary works and animated shows are two entirely different forms of media. Cutting unnecessary bits, changing parts that don't translate well into an animated medium and editing certain scenes accordingly should normally be inevitable.
The "final arc", if you can even call it that, seriously takes the cake here, and I honestly can't help but chalk that up to poor decision making. The last two episodes of the season are actually from the first SS volume of the Index light novels, which largely consists of a collection of side stories. Let me rephrasethat: they wrapped up an entire season with a side story. It feels less like a proper ending and more like a midway point in the series that really needs to be continued. And to top it all off, the arc in general was so cut up, rushed and forcibly made to be "something that resembles a final episode" that it actually comes out as feeling a bit sad. Nonetheless, it's still better than talking heads and honestly a lot better than what I originally expected (which was really just more talking heads), and it's really nowhere near as bad as the much-detested Daihaseisai arc was.
The rest was okay. The first episode is probably one of my favourites of this season as a whole, which honestly isn't saying much. While I have a number of problems with the first, second and fifth arcs, I did more or less enjoy them for the most part, despite their large number of flaws. The third arc (Daihaseisai) terrible and the fourth walked square on the edge of mediocrity. The in-between episodes were also more or less enjoyable. Still, the pacing was pretty bad for a lot of the season's run, and the haphazard way in which each arc transitions to the next was really poorly handled. The animation quality was a bit... off here and there, considerably more often than it was in the first season.
Honestly, while the first season wasn't perfect by any stretch of the word, I pretty much enjoyed all of it. It was solidly handled, with decent writing and strong production values. The second season was, frankly, rather sloppy. It's like they know that Index is really popular now so they don't have to try as hard. Hopefully, this isn't the case. If nothing else, despite its flaws, the second season is leagues better than the Railgun anime was. Of course, a lot of things are better than the Railgun anime. Even the Daihaseisai Arc, which I obviously have very little love for, is better than the Railgun anime. And regardless of my negative comments, it was pretty much the best show there was in the winter 2010~11 lineup. Of course, when its competition consists of the likes of Dragon Crisis, GOSICK and Freezing, it's not exactly the most impressive victory ever. In any case, hopefully, they'll improve by the inevitable third season and I won't have to endure twenty minutes of talking heads ever again.
Honestly, the entire second season was more or less inferior to the first. Uneven production values, highly awkward pacing and poor writing overall plagued this season like a swarm of locusts. Half of the arcs were rather weak, with one consisting almost entirely of talking heads on vaguely moving backgrounds. I know that the original light novels are incredibly exposition-heavy, but it's the scriptwriters'/storyboarders' jobs to transition that into something at least mildly watchable. Well, the season wasn't TOO bad, but it delved so often into mediocrity that I sometimes have to watch the first season in order to remember that this show was actually more than just "slightly above average occasionally".
The excessive exposition without actually accomplishing anything was one of the worst parts. As stated before, Index in general has a tonne of exposition, but there are plenty of ways to at least make that something at least vaguely interesting to watch. Having an entire half of an arc basically consist of the main character running around all over the city constantly talking on the phone without any real plot advancement isn't one of them. The ending was pretty underwhelming as well: The day is saved thanks to convenient fireworks. No, I'm not kidding. A massive plot to destroy an entire city is foiled thanks to fireworks. The entire Daihaseisai arc (eps. 8-13) was pretty disappointing in general. Admittedly, a good deal of that blame goes to the light novel, but again, like I said before, it's the scriptwriters'/storyboarders' jobs to take an exposition-heavy arc and turn it into something interesting. Literary works and animated shows are two entirely different forms of media. Cutting unnecessary bits, changing parts that don't translate well into an animated medium and editing certain scenes accordingly should normally be inevitable.
The "final arc", if you can even call it that, seriously takes the cake here, and I honestly can't help but chalk that up to poor decision making. The last two episodes of the season are actually from the first SS volume of the Index light novels, which largely consists of a collection of side stories. Let me rephrasethat: they wrapped up an entire season with a side story. It feels less like a proper ending and more like a midway point in the series that really needs to be continued. And to top it all off, the arc in general was so cut up, rushed and forcibly made to be "something that resembles a final episode" that it actually comes out as feeling a bit sad. Nonetheless, it's still better than talking heads and honestly a lot better than what I originally expected (which was really just more talking heads), and it's really nowhere near as bad as the much-detested Daihaseisai arc was.
The rest was okay. The first episode is probably one of my favourites of this season as a whole, which honestly isn't saying much. While I have a number of problems with the first, second and fifth arcs, I did more or less enjoy them for the most part, despite their large number of flaws. The third arc (Daihaseisai) terrible and the fourth walked square on the edge of mediocrity. The in-between episodes were also more or less enjoyable. Still, the pacing was pretty bad for a lot of the season's run, and the haphazard way in which each arc transitions to the next was really poorly handled. The animation quality was a bit... off here and there, considerably more often than it was in the first season.
Honestly, while the first season wasn't perfect by any stretch of the word, I pretty much enjoyed all of it. It was solidly handled, with decent writing and strong production values. The second season was, frankly, rather sloppy. It's like they know that Index is really popular now so they don't have to try as hard. Hopefully, this isn't the case. If nothing else, despite its flaws, the second season is leagues better than the Railgun anime was. Of course, a lot of things are better than the Railgun anime. Even the Daihaseisai Arc, which I obviously have very little love for, is better than the Railgun anime. And regardless of my negative comments, it was pretty much the best show there was in the winter 2010~11 lineup. Of course, when its competition consists of the likes of Dragon Crisis, GOSICK and Freezing, it's not exactly the most impressive victory ever. In any case, hopefully, they'll improve by the inevitable third season and I won't have to endure twenty minutes of talking heads ever again.