English Dub Season Review: SWORDGAI: The Animation Season Two

SWORDGAI season two: more swords, same Gai.

Swordgai has managed to earn itself a second season under the Netflix banner, which arrives after a mere 5 months since its first premiered back in March. When it first arrived, I described as an anime of middling quality, mildly entertaining but lacking the kind of creative wherewithal to stand tall in the action-adventure anime world.

Not a whole lot has changed.

Season two continues right where season one ended, with titular protagonist Gai recovering after losing his fight with Seiya. At the brink of turning into a Busoma himself, Gai is forced into a cold sleep, only to have Shoshidai use him as a “Last resort” secret weapon. The Shoshidai leadership recognizes that by having Gai turn into a Busoma, they can have an edge against the newly transformed Seiya in the battles to come. Things then progress in an episodic fashion similar to the setup of the first season, having Gai go on various missions while developing his romantic in Aya, and Shishodai trying to find a cure for the Chrysalises so they can go back to being human once again. More of the same, but with a few new characters added.

In a world where we’ve seen “Magic sword” anime in almost every shape and size, Swordgai: The Animation season 2 can’t quite seem to get its feet on the ground. One can’t help but compare the sword-hunting secret organization set up to “Bleach” or “Dragonball Z”, which both have a whole lot more flavor than what Swordgai brings to the table. Whether its the bad CGI weighing down the fight scenes or the less-than-polished cast of characters, Swordgai is always struggling to stay afloat. I found myself yawning more than once while waiting for “The good part” of this show to come. Sadly, I was stuck waiting until the very end.

Ultimately, Swordgai season 2 isn’t really worth your time. After watching its first season, I was of a similar opinion but also believed in the potential for this anime to perhaps get somewhere interesting or provide an experience I haven’t seen before. Unfortunately, no amount of weird names or magical macguffins can rescue this anime from the swamp of mediocrity its stalled out in.

I’m still waiting for Netflix to bring us an anime that is equal to some of the great live-action shows that made it the monument to television streaming that it now is. But it looks like the people behind their anime branch are more concerned with making shows that “look” like a popular anime, without actually taking the creative risk to make something original. Step it up, Netflix. Anime isn’t gonna save itself.