Dropkick on My Devil!! Dash

Oh yeah, Jashin-chan! I remember this! I watched this anime while it was airing back in July of 2018. It was pretty fun. I even made a review of it. After the studio sold enough DVD boxes they announced a season 2 and I remember being excited for it. After one and a half year of more anime and more personal problems I was actually scared to watch this anime. It had been so long since the first season and I thought my taste would have changed so much from back then that I would have not liked this anime anymore. Well, after Crunchyroll droppedthe whole second season yesterday and me binging all the episodes, I can say that I still like this anime. So what changed from season 1? Not much. The biggest change are the new characters, another demon, another fallen angel and zombie + panda sibling couple. They are a welcome edition to the cast and bring in their own fun flavor. Other then that… this is just more Jashin-chan Dropkick. The characters are still good, the production values are still solid, the comedy is as energetic and fun as ever, and the references & fourth wall breaks are still as funny as ever. The shortcomings also haven't changed either: this anime still has a problem with balancing its self aware tone with its more sincere tone and Jashin-chan can still be too much of a prick at times. Other then that, it's a damn fine anime. If you like anime like Gabriel Dropout or Kobayashi's Dragon Maid this two seasons anime is worth a watch.

Jashin-chan Dropkick (or Dropkick on My Devil) is one of those shows I come across by pure chance. Saw a few funny clips, decided to give it try, and mostly enjoyed it all the way through back in 2018. My immediate thought after finishing the first season way back when was that it was a solid show that had it's moments, but likely wasn't going to get a second season. Well, to my surprise, it did end up getting a second season, and even more surprising, the entire season happened to drop on the same day, so of course I binged it, and to noshock, it was more of the same. Once again, Jashin-chan herself really steals the show. Most, if not, all of the funniest jokes and scenes in this show involve her in one way or another. The other characters mostly just exist to work off of Jashin-chan, or rightfully punish her when she does something extremely stupid or evil. While this may come off as a bad thing, it works pretty well for the most part, as Jashin-chan's torment is usually well deserved, since she's a raging, gambling-addicted freak that will go to all lengths to get her way, even backstabbing her own friends. The only other character that really stands out besides Jashin-chan is Satan, who plays the role of a commentator. He adds a nice little kick with some snide comments here and there, and it's obvious they had a lot of fun with his parts. The sound is somewhat of a downgrade from season one. The OP and ED are fine, but both songs are massive downgrades from what we got in 2018. To be completely fair here, however, season one's OP was easily one of the best that year, rivaling OPs like Jojo's Part 5's 'Fighting Gold' among other bangers, so it was a pretty high bar to begin with. All around, the music was fine, and the voice acting was solid. Aina Suzuki once again did an outstanding job voicing Jashin-chan, though, I'm sure her throat is sore from all that screaming. Overall, Jashin-chan Dropkick was a solid comedy. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it does it's job and got more than a few laughs out of me. I enjoyed both seasons and if you're into heavy slapstick and don't mind a fair amount of violence, I'd give this show a watch.

Simply, the second season is more of the first but with a few more characters. If you liked Season 1 by the end of it and could do with more shenanigans, then they delivered. It improves on several aspects, chief of which being Minos actually appearing as prominently as a main cast member should. The new characters the season are nice additions on top. Persophone II is cute but is able to defend herself with a sharp tongue; however she unfortunately doesn’t get the limelight enough. Pino is fine, but Poporone had already taken her role long before she existed. Kyon-Kyon and Ran-Ran get the mostattention of the new cast and have interesting (albeit underdeveloped) goals. Generally, Season 2 focuses more on the main cast, but having more supporting characters to spice things up is nice. However, Season 2 hasn’t entirely improved on much else. No character changes and some jokes that have already overstayed their welcome in Season 1 — such as Jashin-chan gambling and Medusa being used for money (and fourth wall breaking if that was bothersome before) — are still just as present. It truly is more of the same, for better and for worse. Ultimately, I don’t think there’s anything that makes this anime series stand out. It’s enjoyable enough, but I was surprised upon learning how many collaborations it’s had on top of its very successful Season 3 Kickstarter. That said, me thinking, “I would’ve thrown a few bucks at the Season 3 Kickstarter” is a pretty good indicator of where I stand by the end of Season 2.

Jashin-chan Dropkick (aka. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy but anime)'s second season (Dash!) is definitely better than the first. While the first relied on violence-centered jokes with Jashin trying to kill Yurine over and over again, this season's humor is a lot more surreal, tongue-in-cheek, and abstract. The original had several problems that just seem to be fixed here entirely. Jashin came off as too horrible to become likable at times but towards the end of the 1st season when the "IMGONNAKILLYOUDROPKICK" related jokes became less and less she developed a much more goofball personality. In Dash! it's fully developed, and it madeher become my favorite character. Whether it's vibrating furiously at the dentist or singing enka songs for a full 10 minutes, Jashin and her jokes really shine in this season. The rest of the characters have become more well-rounded as well, with Yurine, Pekola and Medusa being my other favorites. The new characters added in this season aren't that bad either, although I do think that the number they have here is enough. Animation-wise this is, again, much improved from the original. The original seemed bland at times with stiff animation - in comparison the number of stupid faces and movements Jashin-chan and co. pull in Dash! is really quite something and always got me chuckling. Jashin-chan Dropkick Dash! is a real treat of a comedy. It's kind of a shame that the first season serves as a roadblock, because it's simply just not as good as this, and I wish more people could watch THIS Jashin-chan. Looking forward to Season 3.