Rising Impact Season 2

The second season of Rising Impact still suffers from suspension of disbelief. Adding artistic flair to shots or exaggerating moments portrayed in the animation is fine. However, the enjoyment of the story is hindered when the writing in particular scenarios creates unbelievable stakes. However, gradual improvements have been made, and thankfully, there is more of a focus on the sport itself. Developments have also been made to the characters and the banter and rivalry between them. The absence of certain players was also welcomed... This show can be fun. But some of the first part, in addition to these aspects, make it difficult to recommend.

Gawain is a 9 year old kid who lives with his grandpa in Fukushima. A chance meeting with a pro golfer sets the ball rolling for his life. The way the show marries his world & the golfing world felt really organic. The show does a good job of introducing new frontiers & new characters for our MC. Every side character has a pretty decent back story & almost everyone is introduced as a jerk or bully,but only until they get to know Gawain. In the utopia of 'Rising Impact',every golfing bully is hungry for a worthy opponent. Once found,the jerk becomes an admirer ofhis opponent & starts to seem like a better & better person. Basically,take Goku from DBZ,put him in the golfing world & you'll get the MC of 'Rising Impact'. This trope and many other tropes that the anime is laden with notwithstanding,the show is still pretty good. There are a lot of good emotional & comic moments. The relationships b/w some side characters are also pretty cool. There are definitely some flaws. While for most of it's narrative the show seems to suggest that b/w prodigal talent & hardwork the winner is always hardwork,it ends up siding with prodigal talent instead. The players who end up with the best results are the ones with prodigal talent. There is also the small matter of Gawain being a one-dimensional character. While his game grows,his character doesn't. And of course,at a critical moment in the match he'll remember a very decisive piece of advice he received. I was also not a fan of the voice acting. He's always loud and almost screeching. Also,the trope of our MC relishing a new challenge will get old if the MC doesn't have character growth in the coming seasons. I remain hopeful though.

This season is a good second season. It takes place right after season one and all characters gets some good screentime. This is very reminiscent of early 2000s anime and I am here for it. The story is like any other sports anime. The underdog loses at first and then gets stronger (in this case new parts of his rising impact ability). The show doesn't do anything revolutionary in the sports genre. Simple sport with a supernatural twist to make things more interesting. I love how they made all the American characters yappers, very much like us. A downside is the amount of fat jokesthere are. One or two is fine but it feels like there's more than last season. This anime feels like the target audience are teens, but the jokes don't quite land as such.

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