Radiant 2nd Season

TheRogueNob May 25, 2020

6.5

The second season of radiant is a much better in many ways, so if you were on the edge after season one, then go ahead and watch season two. That’s being said, many of the problems that were in the first season are around if only slightly. So, don’t got getting your hopes up Radiant is still a b-, b tier shounen anime so don’t go in expecting MHA or demon slayer Also if you are not sure if you should watch the show yet are reading this review then the second season does make it a little bit more worth, even though the second season came out relatively recently hopefully they get the opportunity to finish the series. (I haven’t read this manga so I'm not sure how long it would take) Time to go a bit more in-depth spoilers for the first season is all you need to worry about The animation this time seemed a bit more vibrant which was nice. The upscale of quality was noticeable for me since I watched the two seasons back to back but there are some points of scene being wrong. Eyes too far apart, some front shots make people look like wreck it ralph and some fight scenes feel a bit lazy, that is only because of the clichés in the action anime genre. The sound oh boy the sound. There was certainly less pointless yelling, but the ambient noise was almost nonexistent. It seemed to only appear when there was an important scene. Despite a city street being packed with people only whispers can be heard, a battle going on? You can’t even hear cannons going off I the background. The worst thing must be the voice acting (in English). Despite how you feel about dub or sub this show’s first season wasn’t bad and all the returning characters did a better job than before. The problem is the new characters specifically ocaho and her knight captain I don’t know if they were crunched on time or if it was the writing but damn it doesn’t even come close to the Japanese voice actors. Only a few scenes near the climax of the final arc are given sufficient effort. The music: the op was really good, and the ep was fair but sometimes I did decide to skip it because it will get boring after a few episodes The story: overall the writing was better from story a telling perspective and a dialogue perspective. The big problem is that Seth is not active for most of the story. Granted I don’t believe that this is a show about one person since the two female protagonists are given the same if not more screen time. This does leave his motivations and the emotional payoff for him to be wasted. And doc character literally got a buff for real it seemed so out of place no mention of his ex Machina moment and came so far out of left field that no one would have guest what had happened. The title card sort of spoils and gives false pretenses to characters in the story which I thought was strange. Also, there is a sudden reveal of a character and if you hadn’t guessed it by episode 2/3 then you aren’t paying attention the show practically screams into your face about certain character arcs later in the show. to wrap it up, watch It in Japanese, if you can’t get behind the story and character motivations by episode 5/6 then drop it otherwise the show’s notable improvement does give me hope that season three could be even better. One last thing: SPOILER TIME. there is a pretty weird scene where the queen (who is a great character this season) gives ocaho some advice. she tells her that essentially that no matter what she does men will look down on her no matter what she does because she is a woman. The whole woman power feminist scene feels incredibly out of place ocaho because of her insubordination and lack of ambition that the show clearly explained to us was the reason why she wasn’t as high up or praised as her two childhood friends who were male. Also, her captain was also a man how scolded her on failing to maintain her position during an attack, she volunteered to be in their military, she broke ranks despite it for a good cause. Also, throughout the show no man ever looks down on ocaho for her abilities but simply her attitude during the first 8-9 episodes. Most of the males in the show repeatedly help her and praise her for her skills and in the end, they make her next in line for the throne. SOOO why was the woman power thrown in them? Especially since this show is riddled with good female characters, it changed the motivation of ocaho from I need to save the people as much as possible to I'm going to stick it to my commander and prove that I'm better. It makes her character prideful, then they reward her for it. It is poor writing and put a blemish on a character that was otherwise pretty good. The second season of radiant is a much better in many ways, so if you were on the edge after season one, then go ahead and watch season two. That’s being said, many of the problems that were in the first season are around if only slightly. So, don’t got getting your hopes up Radiant is still a b-, b tier shounen anime so don’t go in expecting MHA or demon slayer Also if you are not sure if you should watch the show yet are reading this review then the second season does make it a little bit more worth, even though the second season came out relatively recently hopefully they get the opportunity to finish the series. (I haven’t read this manga so I'm not sure how long it would take) Time to go a bit more in-depth spoilers for the first season is all you need to worry about The animation this time seemed a bit more vibrant which was nice. The upscale of quality was noticeable for me since I watched the two seasons back to back but there are some points of scene being wrong. Eyes too far apart, some front shots make people look like wreck it ralph and some fight scenes feel a bit lazy, that is only because of the clichés in the action anime genre. The sound oh boy the sound. There was certainly less pointless yelling, but the ambient noise was almost nonexistent. It seemed to only appear when there was an important scene. Despite a city street being packed with people only whispers can be heard, a battle going on? You can’t even hear cannons going off I the background. The worst thing must be the voice acting (in English). Despite how you feel about dub or sub this show’s first season wasn’t bad and all the returning characters did a better job than before. The problem is the new characters specifically ocaho and her knight captain I don’t know if they were crunched on time or if it was the writing but damn it doesn’t even come close to the Japanese voice actors. Only a few scenes near the climax of the final arc are given sufficient effort. The music: the op was really good, and the ep was fair but sometimes I did decide to skip it because it will get boring after a few episodes The story: overall the writing was better from story a telling perspective and a dialogue perspective. The big problem is that Seth is not active for most of the story. Granted I don’t believe that this is a show about one person since the two female protagonists are given the same if not more screen time. This does leave his motivations and the emotional payoff for him to be wasted. And doc character literally got a buff for real it seemed so out of place no mention of his ex Machina moment and came so far out of left field that no one would have guest what had happened. The title card sort of spoils and gives false pretenses to characters in the story which I thought was strange. Also, there is a sudden reveal of a character and if you hadn’t guessed it by episode 2/3 then you aren’t paying attention the show practically screams into your face about certain character arcs later in the show. to wrap it up, watch It in Japanese, if you can’t get behind the story and character motivations by episode 5/6 then drop it otherwise the show’s notable improvement does give me hope that season three could be even better. One last thing: SPOILER TIME. there is a pretty weird scene where the queen (who is a great character this season) gives ocaho some advice. she tells her that essentially that no matter what she does men will look down on her no matter what she does because she is a woman. The whole woman power feminist scene feels incredibly out of place ocaho because of her insubordination and lack of ambition that the show clearly explained to us was the reason why she wasn’t as high up or praised as her two childhood friends who were male. Also, her captain was also a man how scolded her on failing to maintain her position during an attack, she volunteered to be in their military, she broke ranks despite it for a good cause. Also, throughout the show no man ever looks down on ocaho for her abilities but simply her attitude during the first 8-9 episodes. Most of the males in the show repeatedly help her and praise her for her skills and in the end, they make her next in line for the throne. SOOO why was the woman power thrown in them? Especially since this show is riddled with good female characters, it changed the motivation of ocaho from I need to save the people as much as possible to I'm going to stick it to my commander and prove that I'm better. It makes her character prideful, then they reward her for it. It is poor writing and put a blemish on a character that was otherwise pretty good. The second season of radiant is a much better in many ways, so if you were on the edge after season one, then go ahead and watch season two. That’s being said, many of the problems that were in the first season are around if only slightly. So, don’t got getting your hopes up Radiant is still a b-, b tier shounen anime so don’t go in expecting MHA or demon slayer Also if you are not sure if you should watch the show yet are reading this review then the second season does make it a little bit more worth, even though the second season came out relatively recently hopefully they get the opportunity to finish the series. (I haven’t read this manga so I'm not sure how long it would take) Time to go a bit more in-depth spoilers for the first season is all you need to worry about The animation this time seemed a bit more vibrant which was nice. The upscale of quality was noticeable for me since I watched the two seasons back to back but there are some points of scene being wrong. Eyes too far apart, some front shots make people look like wreck it ralph and some fight scenes feel a bit lazy, that is only because of the clichés in the action anime genre. The sound oh boy the sound. There was certainly less pointless yelling, but the ambient noise was almost nonexistent. It seemed to only appear when there was an important scene. Despite a city street being packed with people only whispers can be heard, a battle going on? You can’t even hear cannons going off I the background. The worst thing must be the voice acting (in English). Despite how you feel about dub or sub this show’s first season wasn’t bad and all the returning characters did a better job than before. The problem is the new characters specifically ocaho and her knight captain I don’t know if they were crunched on time or if it was the writing but damn it doesn’t even come close to the Japanese voice actors. Only a few scenes near the climax of the final arc are given sufficient effort. The music: the op was really good, and the ep was fair but sometimes I did decide to skip it because it will get boring after a few episodes The story: overall the writing was better from story a telling perspective and a dialogue perspective. The big problem is that Seth is not active for most of the story. Granted I don’t believe that this is a show about one person since the two female protagonists are given the same if not more screen time. This does leave his motivations and the emotional payoff for him to be wasted. And doc character literally got a buff for real it seemed so out of place no mention of his ex Machina moment and came so far out of left field that no one would have guest what had happened. The title card sort of spoils and gives false pretenses to characters in the story which I thought was strange. Also, there is a sudden reveal of a character and if you hadn’t guessed it by episode 2/3 then you aren’t paying attention the show practically screams into your face about certain character arcs later in the show. to wrap it up, watch It in Japanese, if you can’t get behind the story and character motivations by episode 5/6 then drop it otherwise the show’s notable improvement does give me hope that season three could be even better. One last thing: SPOILER TIME. there is a pretty weird scene where the queen (who is a great character this season) gives ocaho some advice. she tells her that essentially that no matter what she does men will look down on her no matter what she does because she is a woman. The whole woman power feminist scene feels incredibly out of place ocaho because of her insubordination and lack of ambition that the show clearly explained to us was the reason why she wasn’t as high up or praised as her two childhood friends who were male. Also, her captain was also a man how scolded her on failing to maintain her position during an attack, she volunteered to be in their military, she broke ranks despite it for a good cause. Also, throughout the show no man ever looks down on ocaho for her abilities but simply her attitude during the first 8-9 episodes. Most of the males in the show repeatedly help her and praise her for her skills and in the end, they make her next in line for the throne. SOOO why was the woman power thrown in them? Especially since this show is riddled with good female characters, it changed the motivation of ocaho from I need to save the people as much as possible to I'm going to stick it to my commander and prove that I'm better. It makes her character prideful, then they reward her for it. It is poor writing and put a blemish on a character that was otherwise pretty good.

Aniosophy Nov 5, 2020

8.5

-Of Course, There Are NO Spoilers In This ReviewPrefix:Wow, just wow, it truly is crazy to me just how much a series can improve with just one additional season, but this show truly exemplifies this fact. Because I remember when I finished season 1 last year and thinking this show was just okay, not a complete waste of time, but nothing special either, there was just so much wrong with season 1 that I honestly couldn't recommend it to anyone if they asked me about it. However, now at the end of season 2, I can firmly say that I am genuinely looking forward to a season 3 whenever it is made.-The Plot:There are genuinely so many aspects of this second season that are significant improvements on the series when comparing it against season 1, and one of the most obvious of course is the story and overall plot structure of season 2 as a whole. Unlike season 1 which felt so average and honestly boring because of how closely it stuck to the basic Shounen story structure, season 2 leaves all of that behind, instead creating a story that genuinely makes you invested in what is going on. While season 1 fell like a collection of short stories with our main character going from place to place helping the locals with whatever problem they were dealing with, season 2 instead entirely focuses on a single goal, within the bounds of a single place, and ultimately I feel this was the right move.The main benefit I feel season 2 gets from dealing with a single plotline for the entire season, is focus, something that season 1 felt like it was truly lacking. Unless season 1 which ultimately felt lossed for the majority of its run because there was no real constant objective, season 2 knows what it’s goal is from the very beginning, and while of course there are many obstacles and tribulations that ultimately make achieving this goal quite more complicated, the original goal is still there as a guiding light for the plot. That is by far the biggest edge season 2 has over season 1, because you actually have the time to develop connections with the story, which ultimately makes you feel more invested in what is going on.-The Character:OH MY GOD GUYS, Seth is actually an interesting character in season 2, it took a while, and while I'm a bit annoyed that I took 21 episodes for them to develop their main character into someone I actually like to see do stuff, I guess it is better late than never. After the incident that concluded season 1 we finally get to see Seth actually conflicted about what he is doing, with season 2 really showing us that Seth Is more than your basic one-dimensional shounen protagonists, he actually has layers, and while it was always implied that Seth has a “hard knock life” of a back story, seeing him actually need to deal with the emotions he is feeling genuinely makes him a much more interesting character overall. Similarly, Melie it also significantly a much more interesting character in season 2 for similar reasons, we can see her genuinely be conflicted about things, she has fights with people, and at times she cries, and before you know it, she also developed more layers than what you expected from her original character model. But the biggest improvement regarding her character is that she significantly gets less screen time and the same goes also for Doc and Mr. Boobrie, which is honestly a fantastic development because that trio was kind of getting on my fucking nerves by the midpoint of season 1.Instead, for the majority of season 2 we spend a lot more time with our new characters, with the best one of course being Ocoho, and guys I cannot even fully explain how much Ocoho as a character improves this series as a whole. Ocoho finally fills the much-needed role of a secondary character who is not completely useless when a fight starts, in fact in many ways she is more useful than our main character, and then on top of this, her personality adds a refreshing layer of relatability on a cast that is honestly comprised of mostly crazy people. But really basically everyone who is added during season 2 is genuinely an interesting people who you actually want to get to know more about. From Ocoho’s childhood friends, to the new antagonists that are introduced, to the citizens of Merlin, and even the spirits in the forest, every new character that is introduced is at the very least entertaining to watch, which is a heck of a lot more than I can say for season 1.-Visual/Audio Elements:Guys, I don't know if it is just me, but something about season 2 as a whole just feels so much more polished and crisp when it comes to the visuals for season 2 when compared to season 1. It just feels like season 1 was when they were really trying to develop the style and look for the show, and season 2 is where they really finalized what they wanted it to look like, and they were able to really make it shine from there. Like honestly the major of fight scenes in this season could honestly stand up I feel with other major fight scenes from shows like My Hero Academia and Black Clover with how much detail they add to those scenes. Then there is the soundtrack, which while most of it is the same as season 1, the main noticeable difference in the soundtrack is a reflection of the overall atmosphere season 2 portrays, with the soundtrack as a whole taking a much more somber approach to many scenes. The most notable example of this somber tone is reflected in the OP and ED, while of course, this series is still at its core a shounen, when comparing the OP for season 1 to season 2, you can really feel the much calmer tone the series is taking for this season, with the ED also reflecting this somberness, which I honestly quite liked.p.s. the ED is a straight BOP, one I love listening to even outside of the show.-Conclusion:In the end I am very happy that I decided to give this series a second chance, because season 2 really showed me that this series has the potential to become something truly entertaining to watch. So, while it definitely started off with a bit of a rocky start, I do finally find myself recommending this show to people when they asked me about it. With all of this in mind, I have decided to rate this season 85/100, because while of course season 2 is not perfect, it is such a significant improvement on season 1 that I am genuinely impressed that they somehow were able to change so much of the series in just a single season. This season truly is an example of why you should give things a second chance, because you never know when they are going to surprise you, and just like that, I am now wholly hoping for a season 3 to be made, so until then I'll see you guys in the next review😉