The second season of The Asterisk War, which is based upon the light novels, is again at 12 episodes long. It is set in the future where humans have gained powers and are called Ganestella. They use weapons called luxes, which are objects that can expand to form their wielders' weapons. Their powers have a wide variety as Ganaestella can manipulate the elements and create illusions. It follows Ayato and Julis from the Seidoukan Academy and while the first season focused on world building and the lead up to the Phoenix Festa, the second season continues through the Festa to its finale.
The first episode starts off right after the finale of the first season. Ayato and Julis are participating in the quarter finals of the Phoenix Festa. It starts off strongly and is much better paced than any of the episodes in the first season. We're treated to a pretty fun and exciting battle. Unfortunately, the pacing slows down again in the second episode and we get our second fight in the middle of the third episode. The battle was disappointing in the fact that everyone now knows Ayato's weakness of only having roughly five minutes of power before he is shackled again. Their opponents play on that and it seems while Ayato and Julis had a plan, they fall for the trap anyway. It's even worse that for all their practice and boasting of teamwork, they didn't display much preplanning or teamwork in this battle.
While it aims for a triumphant comeback in Ayato and Julis' quarter final battle, with them both at the brink of losing and at a disadvantage since Ayato's powers were shackled again, when Ayato searches his inner self and breaks his seal once more, and the victory that comes after it, it feels kind of hollow. They tried to make their opponents hateful and incite the viewer by wanting justice, but again, the fights feel all style and no substance and there isn't the kind of satisfaction you want when they win. The easiest way to sum it up is that their clashes do not feel satisfying at all.
The first season was predictable and it doesn't change much here. The plot events are annoyingly cliched, such as the blackmail to prevent Ayato from using his powers. It is also easy to see how the matches are going to end up, there are no surprises at all. During the Festa, you get to see how some of Ayato and Julis' opponents have unfair advantages, mainly the two AI opponents. It feels cheap and like it is breaking the rules since they have advanced weaponry and faster reflexes.
There is a tendency for art shift during some battles, making their faces quite ugly on purpose. It contrasts massively against the quality animation. Furthermore, there are certain scenes where it uses obvious CGI which also clashes. The subplot of Ayato's missing sister takes on a slightly bigger focus in the second half of the season. We get more concrete hints of what happened to her and who are involved. Even if we don't know the reason why or the details, there is a lot of progress made.
While it improves significantly compared to the first season, the pacing is still out of whack. You get battles where 90% of the time, it is the characters dutifully explaining their abilities and stating the obvious about their tactics and strategies. When the action actually starts, it's over in seconds. The best part is that the episodes where it builds up to the fight, only for the episode to end almost immediately. Then the next episode has the battle finished within the first quarter. As expected, Phoenix Festa ends in this season but surprisingly, the next arc immediately begins with the characters teaming up in preparation for the five-member Gryps Festa. The last few episodes explore Julis' past and her motivations
Unfortunately, the anime has an unsatisfying ending as it ends right in the middle of an arc. It's like the studio had too much content for one season but not enough for two, they should have just condensed the events of the Phoenix Festa into one season and be done with it instead of dragging it out so much. Overall, the second season of The Asterisk War is once again fairly bland. It has a lot of potential but it doesn't deliver as it ends up feeling like it lacks substance and heart. Granted, it improves significantly compared to the first season which was focused on introducing the characters and world building, while the second season is free to dive straight into it.
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