Chihayafuru was not original except the premise. Chihayafuru 2 is decidedly unorignal to the extreme with its super narrow focus on one tournament and that's it. Where the first season had a light hearted feel, the second season forgoes that in order to become completely derivative. There are only so many times that you can see an early drawback become a victory before it stops doing anything more than annoy you. The premise has officially outworn its welcome.
Like the first season, the artwork is top notch and gives the writing a depth it shouldn't have. But the difference is that now it isn't enough to pull Chihayafuru 2 out of mediocrity. This is a fault of the far narrower focus which removes the chance for the diversity to bring out the best of it. The push towards thicker hints of romance in a cheap attempt to cover up this flaw.
Still, I can't say that Chihayafuru 2 is particularly bad. It just isn't too good. A second season is supposed to develop the first, instead, it takes a couple of steps back. There is no light hearted fun to break the monotony. And boy does monotony describe everything once the opening is done.
Oh, people gush about Chihayafuru 2 being better than the first season. It isn't. It really, really, really isn't. It is rated higher in most rankings because most of the peope who watched it are the ones that liked the first season, so of course they'd be inclined to rate it better. Don't let that fool you, the charm of the first season is gone, and what we have here is now completely generic.
Writing (Story and Characters):
It was the weak point in the first season, and the writing of Chihayafuru 2 is once again what makes it weak. It is officially in completely unoriginal tournament territory. In general, I just can't say I particularly liked anything about the writing of the series. This season doesn't have the fig leaf of an original premise isn't there anymore.
Chihayafuru 2 has a far narrower focus on the story, and that narrower focus is plain tournament stuff in the most generic way. If the first season had an entire year in which the characters develop and grow together, no such thing happens here and the character driven side flounders. The forced love triangle thing is just plain ridiculous and unconvincing, making the characters seem stupid more than anything else... but I suppose it helps break the repetitive cycle that is one tournament for a trillion (sorry, twenty) episodes.
Two new characters are tacked on, plenty of throwaway rivals are defeated, but what really changed is that Chihayafuru 2 is about forced drama from the perspective of the cast. It feels so superficial from the perspective of each character that it borders on shounen-bad, only that shounen is at times self-aware enough to do this with a wink towards the viewer that is sorely lacking here. The cast is super-positive and has a certain grace to it, but does not really make it suitable for anyone who likes depth.
OK, this may have been particularly harsh, but I just can't forgive a series losing what makes it better than average. Chihayafuru 2 does that, and it is not something to take kindly to. While from a technical standpoint, the writing does what it sets out to do and nothing more. I suppose that there are plenty of viewers that can forgive this because they like what it does, but unless you are a fanatic of the tournament types of series it will rub you the wrong way.
Art (Animation and Sound):
While from an animation perspective Chihayafuru 2 is a direct continuation of the first season, there is more of a reliance on effects in both audio and visual aspects. It does make what little plot there is and make it more dramatic than it deserves... but it just grows tired. Other than that, there is nothing different than the first season.
Overall:
Oh god. What an exercise in boredom. Chihayafuru 2 at the very least doesn't require close attention to anything. But for something that is so based on a tournament being dramatic, that isn't a good thing. I suppose that I should define this as shounen-plus, in the bad sense. Recommended if you thought the first season was too deep and should have focused on tournaments rather than what made it unique. Still, the art being top notch saves it, so I suppose it is on the good side of average.