Halfway Point: Dog Days'

What is it with season namings? Just name it "_____ II" or "_____ 2", or make a creative name for it. I prefer Zero no Tsukaima's names for its seasons over stupid shit like "Working'''!!!!@!@!" or "Dog Days';?,.", which is not only confusing as fuck to people like myself who think that they've typed out the title wrong every time they go over it, but is also a completely retarded naming scheme. I shouldn't have to memorize how many aprostrophes, exclamation marks and colons the series has in its name in order to mention it in conversation. This doesn't even cover the fact that half the time I can't even see the punctuation on my monitor or I end up spending 5 minutes to try and get rid of that dot because I think it's a fleck of dirt.

Fuck all these damn studios. Get those braindead writers of yours to think up a better title.

I mean, Oreimo is coming out with a second season. Sadly, its name is also Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai...but with a period. Yes, you heard it right. The title is "Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai." This means half the time it can't be used in a sentence properly without pissing off an English teacher.

I hate my life.

Iron Athletic? Like...Iron Chef?

Dog Days was the relatively popular Spring 2011 season that, due to

1) A cheerful into nearly happy-go-lucky plot,
2) A lot of money going into graphics (like, you can tell the difference between an older series of Seven arcs studio like Nanoha or Sekirei and Dog Days pretty easily), and
3) Too much damn money going into VA abuse to gather fans,

got a second season. So how does the second season fare?

Dog Days' graphic is still good, keeping up the standards and making the faces a bit glossier. As long as they keep the girls cute, it'll be fine.

The audio is also quite good. The ED (Natsu no Yakusoku by Horie Yui) seems ok, and the OP (FEARLESS HERO by Mizuki Nana) keeps up the energy and melodic quality better than Scarlet Knight did for season 1. What's more, it ramps up the creativity quite a bit, which also shows in her related album, BRIGHT STREAM. That means this OP will probably get a ticket to my Soundtrack Pick of the Week sometime, so good job on the audio department.

The plot development so far, however, leaves something to be desired.

They're totally not giving into VA abuse at all

In the first season of Dog Days, Cinque (the protagonist) and the others dicked around with mock warfare, gymnastics-style, while helping to resolve the conflict between Biscotti (the pink kingdom) and Galette (the not-pink kingdom). It turns out that both kingdoms were actually friends in the end and nobody really wanted to defeat each other, so that turned out all nice and happy. The rest of the first season, post-war arc, is focused on Cinque building his harem, building up tension/friendships because he has to go back to his world soon, and creating a way for season 2 to open up.

So that worked out nicely - what do we do for season 2?

Well, the ending to season 1 had two leads:

a) Cinque inviting Becky to Wonderland, and
b) Cinque mentioning that Nanami, another friend, was much better than he was at doing flips and tricks, and even took first place at that random gymnastics-turned-WWF contest he was training for back in his own world.

Barring other random encounters and boss fights, the focus of season 2 (at least to me) was relatively obvious:

- Cinque should develop his harem more.
- Becky should create tension in the harem via the "I should take priority b/c I'm the childhood friend" method.
- Becky could potentially have an inferiority complex due to being in the shadows of Nanami and Cinque all the time and fights it for the entire season.
- Cinque should fight his own inferiority complex and doubt against Nanami and beat her in some sort of contest, since she's apparently the baller athletic person that kicked Cinque down a notch.

If the above was done, I really don't think anybody would have the right to say that Dog Days' is simply a fanservice sequel.

And what happens instead?

Well...nothing.

And Nanami pulls out an awesome heroic weapon which is...another bo staff. Ok that's cool too

I don't get it. The first season's setup was a perfect lead-in to that sort of thing...but instead the studio goes and literally just does nothing. Ok, Nanami becomes a hero. Ok, Becky becomes a hero because a last-minute third force includes itself in the fray. But then what happens? Training. Training for what? Why don't they just have mock battles all the time? This isn't even episodic - it's just everybody settling down and dicking around for 4~5 episodes. It's clear that the studio is trying to build up the characters a bit more, but because of its non-episodic nature, the development is very fragmented and not really focused on one character, which heavily dilutes the effect.

What frustrates me the most is that it could have been such a good sequel - yet it became probably one of the flattest series this season. It's not a good sign if I'm asking myself every 5 seconds, "What is the point of this series?"

Also, I don't like the whole deal with how Eclair and Noir join forces for some random reason. It's like the series is SCREAMING seiyuu abuse - why are you pairing up Hanazawa Kana and Taketatsu Ayana just to get more people interested? It's stupid. Noir doesn't even join Cinque's harem fully, so there's even less point to have her traveling with Eclair & co. Fuck this shit.

Recommendation: If you've watched Dog Days season one and became a fan of it, I wouldn't suggest watching season two in order to watch a good series, but rather to finish the Dog Days franchise off without loose ends. Have fun slogging through it. I know I won't, unless the studio pulls a Guilty Crown in the second half of the season.

How is she sitting cross-legged...

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P.S.: Here's a laundry list of the famous voice actors in this series, just to let you get a sense of how ridiculously cool this series could have become with the right goddamn plot.

Format: Character name - VA name (three sample major characters previously voiced)

Cinque Izumi (main) - Miyano Mamoru (Light Yagami [Death Note], Kida Masaomi [Durarara!!], Okabe Rintarou [Steins;Gate])

Takatsuki Nanami (main) - Nana Mizuki (singer)

Rebecca Anderson (main) - Takahashi Mikako (Nishizawa Ayumu [Hayate no Gotoku!], Hotogi Shirayuki [Hidan no Aria], Montmorency M. la Fere de Montmorency [Zero no Tsukaima])

Millhiore F. Biscotti (main) - Horie Yui (Hanekawa Tsubasa [Monogatari series], Kushieda Minori [Toradora!], Siesta [Zero no Tsukaima])

Leonmitchelli Galette des Rois (main) - Koshimizu Ami (Kallen Stadtfeld [Code Geass], Holo [Spice and Wolf], Haramura Nodoka [Saki])

Couvre E. Pastillage (main) - Yuuki Aoi (Victorique de Blois [Gosick], Kaname Madoka [Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica], Iris [Pokemon Best Wishes!])

Eclair Martinozzi (main) - Taketatsu Ayana (Nakano Azusa [K-On!], Kousaka Kirino [Oreimo], Isurugi Mio [MM!])

Ricotta Elmar (supporting) - Nana Mizuki (singer)

Brioche d’Arquien (supporting) - Hikasa Youko (Akiyama Mio [K-On!], Shinonono Houki [Infinite Stratos], Seraphim [Kore wa Zombie desu ka?])

----------Line of 'the characters below don't really show up in the series'-------------

Godwin Dorure (supporting) - Wakamoto Norio (Charles zi Britannia [Code Geass], Alexander Anderson [Hellsing Ultimate], Chiyo's father [Azumanga Daioh])

General Bernard (supporting) - Ono Daisuke (Heiwajima Shizuo [Durarara!], Koizumi Itsuki [Suzumiya Haruhi series], Satou Jun [Working!! series])

Noir Vinocacao (supporting) - Hanazawa Kana (Tachibana Kanade [Angel Beats!], Sengoku Nadeko [Monogatari series], Kuroneko [Oreimo])

Vert Far Breton (supporting) - Kotobuki Minako (Kotobuki Tsumugi [K-On! series], Dobashi Rika [Hatsukoi Limited], Aizawa Natsumi [Natsuiro Kiseki]; part of idol group Sphere)

Yukikaze Panettone (supporting) - Asumi Kana (Tachibana Miya [Amagami series], Taneshima Poplar [Working!! series], Nyarlko [Haiyore! Nyarlko-san])

....and too many other good voice actors that get these shitty roles although they've all at least a main in one or two series...

A Mario Kart on top of a flying carpet. Seems legit

....I mean, really? Who the hell is funding this thing?