Strike the Blood II

Strike the Blood as a series is one of LA's favourite battle harems in quite a while along with Campione!. The anime series gave off a To aru Majutsu no Index vibe under differing circumstances, you know like how Taboo Tattoo tried to do it and failed at it. Ramblings aside, did Strike the Blood II succeed from it's first season?...or did it go in the ways of Taboo Tattoo?... Strike the Blood II follows the same arc system as the first season, this time consisting of 8 episodes spanning 3 arcs covering Swords-Shaman of Shadow (3 episodes), The 4th Progenitor on the run (2 episodes)and the Knight of Sinful God arc (3 episodes). Swords-Shaman of Shadow arc consisted of a new harem member that Kojou meets during a beach episode by the name of Yume Eguchi voiced by Nao Touyama whom Kojou tries to protect and the titular Swords-Shaman of Shadow Kiriha Kisaki voiced by Yukiyo Fujii comes in as a opposite to Yukina Himeragi and comes to obtain Yume. Yume as a character isn't that bad a character though she meets another of the harem's lolicon status but after her arc she becomes like your typical clingy harem member which was a shame as they kinda wasted Nao Touyama here. On the other hand Kiriha is quite the interesting character being within the rival organization to Yukina and thus an enemy to Kojou and Yukina's goal to save Yume. The fanservice in this arc gets focused on Sayaka Kirisaka which was a bonus for LA and considering this arc starts at the beach...yeaaaaahhhhhhh...their servicing the fans for this OVA series. Overall Swords-Shaman of Shadow arc was the introduction of some interesting characters and saving the world (typical stuff from Strike the Blood) but had some faults with some of its new characters and arc plot points. The 4th Progenitor on the run is nothing but building up the climax to the next arc, nonetheless it still has some pretty good moments. For one, Kojou's dad appears and like father like son, LA can definitely tell where Kojou got his perverted right timing scthick comes from, second is that Nagisa Akatsuki, Kojou's little sister gets focus in this arc being something of catalyst as to the events in the next arc. The BEST thing about this arc is Kojou vs. Natsuki of all things and ohh boy it's a glorious fight and LA loved it. Knight of the Sinful God arc is the climax of this OVA series and betrayal is a foot and at first confused LA as to why the Akatsuki family wants to release Avrora Florestina the last Progenitor through Nagisa which backfires spectacularly. New allies and villains comes into play, but allies comes in form of Grenda voiced by Misaki Watada (who the true villains of this arc are after), Yuiri Haba voiced by Sayaka Senbongi and Shio Hikawa voiced by Kaede Hondo who are both Sword Shamans with Yuiri getting bit more screentime due to Grenda. The most interesting character would go to Shirona Kuraki a shaman who works for the Lion King Organization and LA thinking she was a villain at the start. Knight of the Sinful God arc is a good climax all things considered as even the villains have their beliefs of wanting their world to return to "normal" before all the demons came into play however their actions don't suit such a noble gesture making this arc's world building and character beliefs all the more better albeit with a small white and black morality to it. The animation was pretty great from Silver Link and CONNECT, from the same character designs from the first season with some "exotic" character designs for the newer characters. LA overall for the new characters, LA really like Kiriha's design and character overall and being the Nega-Yukina in a ways. The battle scenes were pretty decent too what the Persona-esque monsters and beam spams along with some military grade battles mixed in with the supernatural, the battle animation was overall decent and enjoyed most of the battles especially the Natsuki vs. Kojou battle. Since this is an OVA series...YES, if your wondering the nudity is there in full force with no censors whatsoever and LA didn't mind it AT ALL. Yes sometimes the nudity was forced at times, but in others they felt slightly justified (eg. beach episode, clothing tearing or damaged in battle or just some of the harem in *ahem* fanservicey outfits etc.) The voice acting was on par with the first season and LA overall enjoyed it. LA will keep this section short, but there were TWO great as well as surprising voice actors from this and that was Yukiyo Fujii as Kiriha as the great voice actor for this anime as she plays a cold-hearted yet with a heart of gold character and just overall Yukiyo's mysterious and teasing dark haired girl vocals about her was an obvious playing against the type role for her. The other voice actor? Satomi Sato as Shirona Kuraki why?...because LA hasn't seen Satomi take on such vocals since her role as Nana from Golden Time, only this time she's a powerful shaman and she ACTS like one too...just DAMN was LA surprised it was her. Strike the Blood II is a good continuation of the first season by adding in arcs that affects the majority of the main characters, new and old as well as previous plot points from the first season being brought up and put into focus in this second season. Strike the Blood II fulfills what any fan of this series wants what with it's "To aru Majutsu no Index"-like plot progression, awesome supernatural fights to save the world, world building, new harem members and *cough* uncensored fanservice *cough* and sure coincidences happen all these arcs and it does happen at times to move the plot forward but nonetheless LA still enjoyed this second season all things considered. Strike the Blood II had it's problems like it's first season but it also had the same to almost a better flair from the first season with higher stakes and utilizing it's new characters quite well in some respects even with its 8 episode screentime. *cough* Sayaka Kirisaka best girl *cough*...