Hello everyone and welcome to The Anime Pulse: First Reaction. If you didn’t enough naked bodies, blatant sexual acts, and the stereotyping of women as sex slaves to men, then you’re in luck because we have the second season of Shinmai Maou no Testament! Oh, and there’s some action and fighting somewhere in this series, too, I suppose. It’s time for Shinmai Maou no Testament BURST! (yay?)
First Episode Impressions
Skipping the general overview, but if you’d like to know about the first season, you can always read my review of it. Essentially this picked up exactly where season one left off with Jin fighting Leohart. We get treated to a pretty nice fight scene in which Jin retreats from, saving a girl…. Er… boy (WHY, JAPAN!?) in the process.
After that we are treated to about 20 minutes of sexual tension, partial nudity, and censored full body nudity. No.. I’m not even joking. The first season was filled with this and there is no shortage of it in the second season. At school, Basara joins the Sports Festival Committee because he wants to lead a normal life now that Zolgia is dead and buried, but a strange power traps him in a barrier and normal people become mind controlled and attack Basara.
Basara is saved by Yuki’s sister, Kurumi, who came from Basara’s village thanks to the message Yuki sent back to the village in season one. They return home and all plot is thrown out the window for nudity and fan service with the only explanation is that Maria wanted Kurumi to experience what Yuki and Naruse do whenever the Master-Servant pact is activated… you know.. for a “better understanding” of their current situation.
Riiiiight….
The episode ends with Basara wondering who is targeting him, but if you even paid the slightest bit of attention to the beginning of the episode, they kind of shove it right in your face as to who is doing it.
I guess kudos to Kadokawa Shouten and Production IMS for making the transition from season one to two seamless. Outside of that, I kind of regretted watching the first season of Shinmai Maou no Testament and wasn’t really looking forward to the second, but season two, for whatever odd reason, is only ten episodes long so I guess it’ll be good filler and I can finish the story… not that there is much of one in this show to begin with.
OP & ED Impressions
Opening
“Over The Testament” by Yoko Ishida
We immediately get the opening the split second the show starts. Interestingly enough, in the opening credits, the song is credited as “Ver. 1.” I’m assuming we’ll get a new version of this song for an opening during the remaining nine episodes (which really feels weird to say seeing how this is week two of the season and week one for this show) and if we do.. I really hope the artist puts forth some actual effort into the singing. The vocals felt really flat as if Ishida were just reading them off a page and changing her tone slightly to give the appearance that she gives a crap. The music itself isn’t bad, but I wish there was more emotion to the vocals. Oh, and the opening has more nudity.. in full color this time! Season two upgraded in the shameless department!
Ending
“Temperature” by Dual Flare
Not a bad ending theme at all. Standard J-Rock style song with female vocals, but at least Dual Flare actually sounded like they cared about the lyrics. This should have served as the opening as it was upbeat and energetic enough to do so. Most ending themes are slower and rather serene, but not this one. It’s not something to throw up devil horns and head bang to, but it’s still rather enjoyable to listen to.
Worth Watching?
NO – I’m doing it so you don’t have to. The first season wasn’t all that great and the second season hasn’t started out any better. If I weren’t a person who likes to torture themselves to complete a story, I wouldn’t have even bothered with this show, but hey… if this kind of stuff is your cup of tea then more power to you, my friend.
