Kagewani: Shou

CaptainSlow Jun 28, 2016

3.5

What I Liked: The art style seemed more solid this time around (aside from some strange cinematography choices). Nagi the ninja lady was an interesting addition. What I Didn't: Everything else. The first three episodes were completely superfluous. The switch to a more action-oriented plot did not benefit the show, as the minimalist animation could not keep up and the plot felt like a more farfetched and clichéd re-do of S1. Honma's villainous plan is just Kimura's plan from S1 but with extra inspiration from Dr. Robotnik. The Ending Theme sounds exactly the same as S1's Ending Theme. The soundtrack was unnecessarily dramatic. Bamba was still as useless as a screen-door on a submarine, and newbie Nagi was just as bad. The conclusion to Satoru's story in Episode 7 felt flat. The fact the show ended with sequel-baiting. Final Verdict: To be honest, I went into Kagewani: Shou expecting it to be ever so slightly better than S1, but boy was I proven wrong. This second series makes many of the mistakes of the previous season while seemingly removing any charm the series as a whole had. Going down the plot-focused action route a quarter of the way through and adding completely superfluous characters to the show (therefore taking the focus away from the shadowy monsters) makes the whole thing feel like an infuriating mess that takes itself way too seriously.