English Dub Season Review: Farming Life In Another World Season Two
When reincarnated in another world, people have a choice between living their second lives as heroes or living them in peace without any conflict whatsoever. For some, building a tranquil sanctuary may not seem like a bad idea, especially if they don’t want to spend their years risking their lives. Farming Life In Another World featured one such person, Hiraku Machio, choosing to live his second life as a farmer with his “Almighty Farming Tool”. Eventually, he transformed an empty area surrounded by the Forest of Death into a thriving society, where he became the mayor to the numerous residents who chose to live there. Its first season explored Hiraku’s process from peaceful farmer to generous mayor, resulting in a laidback yet mildly tedious life simulator anime that happens to include elements from other isekai anime.
While I didn’t mind a few moments that highlight its lighthearted, charming slice-of-life endeavors in season one, I also didn’t grow attached to its plot as I thought it would. It went through similar motions in each episode, such as welcoming the new residents, introducing modern traditions to the isekai world, and solving everyday issues. It’s everything you needed to enjoy a peaceful, relaxing isekai anime without any huge threats challenging Hiraku’s role as the village’s mayor. At the same time, those who are more into the action-packed side of the fantasy isekai trope may likely get a bit bored with its safe approach. So what does its second season have to offer? Unsurprisingly, more of the same as I experienced in season one. The second season of Farming Life features Hiraku and the villagers facing another series of tranquility and fun mishaps in the Great Tree Village. As Hiraku assumes his roles as mayor and husband to Lulucy Ru, he welcomes in even more newcomers into the village, such as the minotaurs and centaurs, and faces more problems within the village.
From my experience with season one, I came to understand the tone and direction Farming Life is pursuing for season two before heading into it. Thankfully, it resulted in me enjoying Hiraku’s second round of tranquil village life a bit more compared to when he first started his new life. It offered the same episodic structure we’ve seen in season one, tone and all, but the second season provided a couple of scenarios that are surprisingly more enjoyable than I thought they would be. One of them is the martial arts tournament, where the villagers battle each other in a friendly competition during the spring festival. While it retains the slice-of-life appeal, that episode further highlights the show’s presentation by Zero-G. The animation was still gorgeous enough to showcase its tranquil settings, but when it comes to the action in the tournament, it honestly caught me off guard by how decent it looked. Instead of taking shortcuts like other second-rate anime, Zero-G actually made an effort to showcase the characters’ abilities and fighting skills with flair. It’s enough for me to call it one of the highlights of the season, if not the entire series.
The other is the hot springs expedition, a two-episode journey involving Hiraku and the others on a quest to find a hot spring located by a dungeon. It’s as simple as it sounds, and it also features some “formidable” obstacles, mainly the Lord of Death, who’s later revealed to be a young girl named Urza. This part of the season would’ve given the series an enticing opponent for the characters to confront amid their attempt to maintain peace in the village, with the same going for Kuzuden, the demon controlling the Sun Castle. But that wasn’t the case, as the series flipped the script on its “isekai villain” trope to retain its tranquil, amusing tone. While it does provide some suitable chuckles in the process, it also risks leaving the series lacking any strong conflict for people used to watching action-packed isekai anime. The quest for the hot springs may not be as exciting as the tournament, but at least they got to explore outside the village for a change.
The second season of Farming Life in Another World offers precisely what you’d expect from season one. It’s another series of peaceful and charming scenarios involving Hiraku’s responsibility as the Great Tree Village’s mayor, and do you know what the weirdest part is? It’s actually a tad better compared to my first visit to the soothing isekai world, mainly because I was used to the lighthearted vibe it’s going for. The episodic structure is similar to a fault, but a couple of episodes used this formula pretty well, particularly the martial arts tournament and the hot springs expedition. Those looking for something exciting to happen in these calming environments in season two may not reside in this particular village for that long. However, I can definitely see viewers who enjoyed the first season having a good time with their second visit. Personally, it still suffered a bit from its repetition and lack of strong conflict. Still, as an isekai anime that favors life-simulated relaxation over intense battles, it’s once again enjoyable as it is.
