It's almost fitting that the series starts off by mocking how bland and pointless the first season was. But then they do little to change that.
Story - 6/10
Much like season one the episodes that focus on a single female with a loose soul attached to them are pretty bland. We get a bit of story this time, but essentially it runs pretty much the same as the first season.
Again the episodes that are entertaining are those that have nothing, or at least very little, to do with the overall plot of the show. The pair of episodes where Elsie's old classmate Haqua come to town are a nice change and turn out to be some of the funnier in the series. These two episodes tell us more about Elsie's past and give us a little more insight into the whole business of catching loose souls.
Another episode that was pretty fun was again removed from the overall plot of the show. Keima trys to teach Elsie about the difference in dating sims so that she can properly purchase a rare game for him, while he's busy buying other games. In the second part they reenact the Haqua episode so that she (Haqua) can write her report for the bureau. The two sections added up to being one of the better episodes in the series, as it shied completely away from the catching of loose souls. It also contained a little funny scene that was very ironic, after watching the Anime series of one of his games, Keima comments that the TV show version is always boring, sounds like that writer was venting about the series they were working on.
The final episode also focused on non-soul catching issues. Keima has the chance to help his favorite video game company develop a new game. He spends the episode going through different scenarios of what he wants, by picturing them having battles in different anime styles.
One thing I noticed in season one, but chose ignored in my review, was the shows cracks on Americans, ones that don't even make sense. In season one Elsie comments that Mio is "as poor as an American" and in season two she says that Americans walk around getting wet in the rain because it's too much of a hassle to carry an umbrella. Are these actual stereotypes in Japan? It reminds me of on the comedy How I Met Your Mother when Marshall talks about crazy stereotypes that come about, like Canadians being afraid of the dark and Brazilians using too much postage, except I think the writers, based on the weak and simplistic writing, are just that dumb.
Animation - 8/10
It's not surprising that pretty much nothing was changed from season one, as the animation was the crowning jewel of the series.
The one thing I do have a tiny gripe with is the the animators constant cribbing, or perhaps just putting in things they like, from other series. One notable time, not of Anime fame, is the blowup Elsie doll that has shown up in a few instances. The doll's shape and face is an exact replica of the famous "Emergency Co-Pilot" from the movie Airplane. Another thing that popped out to me was one of Elsie's fellow demon and loose souls section chief, Haqua. While her look doesn't really resemble her, the scythe she wields looks like a close replica to that of another demon, Risky (I think the demon is Risky) in the terribly awful series Omishi Magical Theater Risky Safety. It seems this series is big on borrowing gags from other series, having many animation similarities to FLCL in the first season, so I'll chalk it up to the Key animator just dropping in little easter eggs as homages.
As a side note, I can't put my finger on who the character Sugimoto from the One Leaf video game reminds me of, but it's a small pop up character from another anime that looked completely out of place in it. (Again another ode to different shows?)
The Intro animation again was very nice and went far beyond what we usually see in anime series, but sadly the outro was just a lazy single shot of a PSP with images appearing on it.
Sound - 7/10
Once again the musical intros/outros in the show are surprisingly good. This time I also took notice of some of the in series music, and it was better than that of the first season.
One new voice for the season really stood out. The actress doing Ms. Nagase's voice was very different but still fit the character very well. There was something about it that made it seem much more real than most anime voices.
Characters - 5/10
This time around the writers did attempt to build a small bit of backstory behind the females Keima was trying to help.
While Kasuga and Chihiro get slight back stories, the most time is spent on Ms. Jun Nagase. The episodes involving Ms. Nagase are the best written of the series, up till this point, from a character development point of view. It's nice to not only see the typical "Why she's this way so a soul attached to her" backstory we see for every other female character, but this time around we get to know her likes and dislikes, her past in high school and what she's looking for out of life. From these few episodes alone I could actually see, and be interested in, a stand alone involving Ms. Nagase, something along the lines of a G.T.O. maybe.
Sadly we again learn little about Keima outside of his love for video games. Even in the last episode, where they can explain what he likes in games, why he became so attached to them and any other tid bits of information, they basically leave everything unanswered, as he never says what he wants in his perfect game.
Overall - 6/10
While leaps and bounds better than season one, the show still pretty much seems like multiple filler episodes (all those having to do with loose souls) and a few ones that actually move the story along. While the concept of collecting loose souls can be interesting and funny, those episodes just seem to be the same boiler plate format over and over.
Well now that i'm two thirds of the way through the series I can't stop now. So time to load up the O.V.A.s for more disappointment, errr I mean entertainment.
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