Overall Rating 6.3 out of 10 - Another sequel that does not live true to the original.
Still watchable enough to recommend
Me complaining about sequels not living to the original is nothing new. I said it about many other titles. I even dropped a sequel of a show that I gave one of the highest scores for its first season. In case of Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, its far less dramatic. It's worse than the original but still watchable overall.
If you want to know what was so good about the original or what this show is about, read my review of the first season. Here I will focus on what made second season worse than the first one.
The biggest problem is the relationship dynamic between two main characters, Hanako-kun and Yashiro. In the original Yashiro was cute naive damsel in distress that only thinks about love. I spend several paragraphs praising her in the original review. Second season went on and changed her role for the worse.
In second season Yashiro is far more assertive and proactive. Not something I like in a woman. She spends the entire second half of the show trying to stop Hanako-kun. In the first she could even kill a fly.
Hanako also changed. In first season he was the knowledgeable guy who knew his way around world of ghosts and a lot more. Sure, he tricked Yashiro into accepting his deal but that just show how wonderfully naive and gullible Yashiro is or was. Hanako was shrewd and selfish, but not evil. He was not a villain. Now they actually stopping him.
Second season introduced a few more characters, most of them are unlikable. There is now whole two clones of Kou-kun (the exorcist guy) that I sometimes finding hard to tell apart. As something who would prefer the show to stay mostly between Hanako and Yashiro, I do not appreciate this enlargement of the company. Other characters are just distracting from romance between main couple.
The same problem killed off Sora no Otoshimono for me. Ikaros is near perfect girl and if they focused on romance between her and Sakurai, it would have been perfect. Instead, they mixed in many jock characters and turned the whole thing into circus. Ikaros's demure demeanor, quietness and social ineptitude is what makes her cute, not something one should make fun of.
Yes, first season can be seen as a romance of sorts and with a likable female character at that. Second season rather kills it off. Yashiro's attention is not equally divided between Hanako and Kou, while in first season Kou was clearly a guy with no chances.
This show does not go as far as Sora no Otoshimono to make it a deal breaker but, the show would have been better if it went more serious and sober rather than more whimsical and wilder. That would have made a good backdrop for relationship between Hanako and Yashiro.
Overall, it's not too bad. Worse than the original but watchable, even if not loveable.
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