As far as I'm concerned—this sequel doesn't exist. I enjoyed the original B: The Beginning. The ending was okay. They didn't need to make this. It was initially supposed to be a twelve-episode-long sequel, but they trimmed it down to six—at the expense of a coherent story. B was never a tightly written masterpiece, but it was watchable. B: The Beginning Succession is illogical, stupid, boring, and it has a terrible title. Why didn't they call it B: The End? Or B: The Second?! While watching this sequel, I felt like no one cared. No one cared about the continuity of the show. The action scenes makeno sense—unexplained powers, inconsistent logic, reality-bending fights. It's like they wanted to make the Matrix without understanding what made it such a great film. I have a limit of suspension of disbelief. This show broke it—cars driving on walls through narrow alleys and continuity errors galore. I would've thought it was hilariously bad if I wasn't so bored. When I say watch this show on a stimulant, I REALLY mean watch it on a stimulant. Four cups of coffee weren't enough to get me through it.
My two favorite characters—Keith and Lily—did nothing worthwhile. Keith spent most of the show being kidnapped and screaming about being in love with his dead sister. Lily drives her gravity-defying car for three episodes. Occasionally, she's the butt of an unfunny joke, such as when she gets sexually assaulted by her coworker. The rest of the Royal Investigative Services agents were on screen for a total of under 20 minutes. You can reduce all of their personalities to one word: angry, intelligent, annoying, boobs. At least they were humorous in the first season. But they're barely present, which means there's practically no levity amidst all the edgy monologues and super-serious clown villains speaking in riddles.
The most boring character, Koku, swiped the protagonist role. Never would I expect a guy who can fly, regenerate, brainwash people, and run at superhuman speeds would be so dull. He's constantly monotone, and he's motivated by a one-dimensional love interest. In a way, he is an anti-hero, not on the side of the Reggies, but also not on Lily's side (AKA the RIS). The villains are a lame cabal of generic bishounens wearing clown make-up with bad hairstyles. Their motivations are convoluted—but all you need to know is they want to change the status quo, and that's bad because our heroes are cops.
Director, writers, editors, no one knew what to do with these characters or how to get them from a scene to another. Making a spreadsheet is the only way to keep up with every organization, character, location, motivation, and the show's made-up vocabulary. To figure out what they were talking about, I had to pause and rewind countless times. Even watching the English dub, it was like they were speaking an alien language. If you thought the first season had dry writing, this will truly test your patience. Everyone speaks in riddles or they seem to be as clueless as I was. You'll find a treasure trove of half-baked lines that will insult your intelligence. But, if you want to see a lot of clowns fighting each other and don't care about the story, dialogue, or continuity, maybe you'll find something to like. That is if you can look past the art quality.
The anime just looks unfinished, which is a massive shame because the art was season one's strongest aspect. The shadows are either inconsistent with the light source's angle or entirely missing. Every scene during the daytime looked like a Lahaina noon because the shadows were directly below the characters. The environmental background art is undetailed and messy too. And there's an odd feeling that none of the art fits within the setting. Whenever characters move, it's either looped animations or the designs become super simplified. Mixing poorly animated character models with janky CGI background is a recipe for the uncanny valley effect.
Thank God this season ends early. I don't think I could've sat through another half. I'm certain Netflix axed the production halfway through because it ends on a cliffhanger. I guess we'll never know the story's conclusion. If you like the characters created in the first season, if you liked the story, if you want animation half as good as the original, don't bother watching this.
DaDaniel501st
March 20, 2021
Mixed Feelings
I enjoyed season one of B: The Beginning and watched it twice. Season two is quite a disappointment because it took three years to release six mediocre episodes. Season two lacks a story, and it almost feels like Production I.G (studio) did not know what to do with the characters. The only character that I enjoyed this season was Lily Hoshina. Keith Kazama was a joke this season. Keith Kazama Flick was not helpful such as his detective work in season one. The Royal Investigation Service (RIS) characters were not as prominent as season one. I noticed two characters who never got introduced until halfway throughthe last episode.
The dialogue was awkward at times. In episode four (2:07-11:12), Keith's conversation with Gibert Ross made me confused. In episode four, 9:34- 11:12, Keith's voice (English dub) sounds completely different, almost like another character. Yuna's voice acting felt off; she almost sounds like Violet Evergarden. Yuna's dialogue made me feel like I am listening to a robot.
The fighting scenes felt a lot shorter. I did not count the number of fighting scenes, but it seemed like there were fewer of these scenes than season one.
The character designs are pretty good, especially for Kirisame and Keith. The environment designs were similar to season one. The studio needs to fix the animations for the car scenes.
Season two's op was not as good. The op sounds generic. I listened to "The Perfect World" (op of season one) a lot more.
This season was unfinished. It feels like the story is not even close to finishing based on how season two ends, and this gives the studio a poor excuse to release season three. Hopefully, the studio can redeem itself and release twelve episodes like season one.
KnKnicePerson
March 20, 2021
Mixed Feelings
B: The Beginning Succession is an underwhelming sequel to the original show. The first season did not exactly set a high bar either, with incredibly poor pacing at the start but overall contained a decent story. Succession suffers from the opposite problem, where the pacing is good but the story itself is rather uninteresting. I re-watched the first season just before starting the second so that I could better judge this show as a sequel. This review will assume you have already watched B: The Beginning (the first season). Story: We are introduced to many new antagonists but we are never told clearly why they believe in whatthey are doing. There is also little to differentiate between the antagonists so they all feel like a generic 'evil' person. There are some highlights however, like when the audience gets more information about Erica and Keith's background.
Art:
The original season of B had some good action scenes and minimal use of awkward CG. Succession unfortunately, seems to have cut down on the dynamic feel of the action scenes. There is also a lot more 'car CG', which is infamous for looking especially bad.
Sound:
They kept the same eleven-second opening from season one but replaced the ending. I do not like the second ending because it does not sound unique and identifiable like the original one did.
I watched the show dubbed and each role was cast well. Special mention goes to Brianna Knickerbocker for no reason in particular, I just really like her voice work in general.
Character:
This show gives us a lot of development for Keith, which is something the first season only got around to at the end. This season covers a scenario that is used in many trashy shows, romantic feelings between two adoptive siblings, and addresses it from a mature and reasonable perspective.
It's a shame that Keith's development lasts only one episode, because that is genuinely the best part of this season.
Lily is also more marginally more plot relevant in this season than the last despite being a main character in both.
Enjoyment:
Apart from the one episode about Keith and his long-buried feelings, the season is pretty boring. If you are not interested in learning more about Keith, I would suggest avoiding this second season.
Not Recommended
I'm not a fan of B: THE BEGINNING, a show that mostly feels like a mixtape of elements from other shows e.g. PSYCHO-PASS, DARKER THAN BLACK, MONSTER. But in rewatching the first season, I could at least appreciate the high production values and occasionally goofy story. The nonsensically titled SUCCESSION doesn't even have those things. It's cheap as hell (lots more CG) and poorly directed, no doubt the result of Kazuto Nakazawa and others who worked on the first season being less involved. And as cliche as the first season could be, those familiar elements gave the show some semblance of a story structure andgenre framework to latch onto. SUCCESSION tosses all of the police procedural and detective stuff and by extension the characters involved in that side of the story. I was skeptical that a second season could keep Keith, Lily, and the R.I.S. relevant. Turns out I was right to be. This season also blatantly retcons things from the first season in ways both small (Lily's car) and large (the explanation for the raid on the Jaula Blanca Institute) to the extent that whatever clarity I thought I had gained from rewatching the already confusing and terminology-heavy first season dissipated.
