This is going to be a review of the entire second season, thus including part 1.

How far we have come from season one. The first season was a joy, it took the concept of isekai and brought it down to what made it such a fun genre to begin with. A really positive tone, tons of likable characters and a constant feeling of progression. It wasn't without its flaws, especially the arc with the kids was quite the borefest, but as a whole it was fun.

Now with season 2 here... yeah, the positive tone is basically gone. The anime has completely steered into "oh shit" territory, with Rimuru facing some actual challenges. The positive tone is still there in some form, but most of this anime is misery and politics. And this change... it has some mixed results.

Let's talk about what I really like in comparison with the season 1 first. The politics in Season 2 is something I really enjoy. It expands the world and it makes me constantly crave to know more about what is going on this bizarre isekai world. What I also like is that the highlights of this season are way bigger then in season 1. While progression is fun, only progression and little result can get stale quick, and this season finally shows those results and it feels amazing. It really makes putting your time even through the more frustrating/boring parts more worth it in the end. The climax of both parts are especially a joy. Lastly, I think the character additions this season have been fun all across the board.

Now let's get to my biggest problem with this season: The story is incredibly flawed. It is probably the worst part of the entire anime since it fluctuates in quality so much throughout the season. Part 1 is probably the worst offender with this, in which the entire middle really drives home how much misery there is. At this point the drama isn't well constructed enough to pull these kinds of misery arcs, thus the entire middle of part 1 is frustrating as hell. Not to mention, part 1 has many episodes that are just bad. One episode a huge plottwist happens, but by the second half of the episode the emotional impact of the plottwist is completely ruined. And the episode after that, which is supose to be the aftermath of that plottwist, it is largely devoted to flashbacks.

But with my gripes with part 1, that doesn't mean that this part 2 comes of scott free. The entire first half of part 2 is basically exposition. Exposition, exposition, comic relief doing something funny, exposition. It does feel like it is constantly building up to the climax, but so much building tires even the best workers out, letalone an anime watcher. I binged part 2, but even I got a bit exhausted by the end with the amount of exposition, so I can't imagine how people who watched it during its airing felt. Besides that, I also noticed a drop in animation quality towards the end. It seems weird that they split the anime in two parts so that the animators could catch some breath but they still produce poor animation. Feel bad for the animators.

Overall, I still liked season 2. Despite my many complaints I have about the anime, I think my love for progression and the characters is what kept me going back to this anime. The characters are still all so lovable and that makes all the difference in how much I care about the anime. I also prefer part 2 over part 1, that's for sure.

If you like season 1 then season 2 is still worth checking out, just be aware that a lot of episodes are worthy skips and that the tone is a lot darker from season 1.