What happens when you mix the greatness of H.P. Lovecraft and the greed of corporate execs trying to make a quick buck on Moe? Total nonsensical fun, that's what!
There's not much to say about the remarkable cultural phenomenon that is Haiyore! Nyaruko-san and its sequel, other than the fact that it's otaku pandering at its most masochistic. One way to describe the show in one word is "references," and oh boy, are there plenty of them in the next installment. It's important to realize, though, that the show is a satire of otaku culture and decides to put Lovecraft's mythology into it to make it seem more like it has different lore like all other shows like it. Thankfully with all of this in mind, the show isn't as terrible or pandering as many claims it to be.
Again the comedy of Haiyore is mainly carried with satire and parodies of other anime. This time in the 2nd season, it seems to be focusing a lot more on mecha anime than anything else; there's even a reference to Cast Away with the volleyball Wilson in the background during a beach episode. If you know nothing about otaku culture, all of the jokes will fly over your head, and your only way of entertainment is watching cute girls - and boys - fall for this tsundere protagonist. The commendable effort put into the voice actors should be mentioned when talking about Haiyore because they do an excellent job putting all their talent into their characters. The one that is the most honorable is Kana Asumi voicing Nyaruko, who has this tremendous vocal range of being incredible zany and mischief that shines with the character. Miyu Matsuka, who voices Cthuko, has an attractive voice that fits nicely with Cthuko's fiery passion. The rest of the cast is good but isn't worth mentioning, although it's amusing to hear Eri Kitamura voicing a boy since we hardly listen to her in those roles.
All of the characters are eccentric and over the top to fit with the plot's primary premise, which is already dumb and silly. The sad thing is that there are actual profound moments that aren't very well done when it has sloppy pacing, from going between two different kinds of tone to a show. However, when Haiyore gets into comedy, it does its job relatively well, albeit not spectacular. It goes for the hyper-real route where the humor is very spastic and eccentric with how characters speak and how the animation is coordinated with each loose frame. If you despise fast-paced comedy with a passion, this will probably rub you the wrong way.
As mentioned earlier, art and animation are rather hard to look at in places. The character designs look average at best, the movements aren't very fluid, and they are mostly stagnant. The budget they had to live with making this shows the number of things they wanted to do, and I have to give credit where credit is due.
There's not much to talk about with regards to Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W other than it's just a continuation of the 1st season with nothing different between each other. Granted, there is some minor development with Mahiro and the rest of the leads now that he has grown with them for this long, but again if you never cared or liked the 1st season, you'll more likely find some other show to have fun with. At the very least, Haiyore is harmless fun, and that at most should be given a good score for better or for worse.
B-
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