Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits 2

Get ready to have some more food porn served up, piping hot! Artwork has disintegrated compared to season 1. Character and background work has slid precipitously. While the animation was never much to brag about, it's now the level of Saturday Morning Kid Vid. The producers cheaped out mightily. Writing for the characters is almost nonexistent. The MMC and the main antagonist disappear almost immediately and we never get to see them again except as snippets. I have no idea why the writers took a 3rd tier character and suddenly make her a hime. Because she's cute? The other character are all 2D cardboard cutouts,including the supposed FMC. She's still stuck in the "cause trouble, cook her way out, rinse repeat" cycle. The narrative is damned sparse. There was a bit of world building with the inclusion of the northern region. But a lot of that got glossed over badly and felt much too rushed or unexplained. There was only a minimal bit of plot progression. And the 'romance' was poorly portrayed. Isn't the clunky embarrassing part supposed to come BEFORE the marriage, not after? Poorly written indeed. The VA work was less than mid. It could best be described as "going through the motions." With all the problems that never got rectified, it would be fair to call the direction poor. Season 1 was relaxing enough to be pleasantly boring. Not so this season as it's chock full of disasters. I'd grade this fairly 62/100 for a D-. Not failing, but not because it didn't try. I'd suggest a nap and bite to eat anywhere else.

If you liked the first season you might be compelled to watch. The story itself is at least continuing on from the last season which means all the characters are mostly back as the plot permits. That's the good side. The problem is the animation budget for the season was 25 cents and hope. All of the characters designs are simplified to the point of just being miserable, their movements are poor and often feel like armatures playing with dolls in a dollhouse, the backgrounds are simplistic and uneventful and they don't even take the time to add dynamism to them so any character is standingstiffly, and the food is where the extra penny went because it's the only thing with a smidge of heart. The first episode chooses redraw the scene of Aoi and the master inkeeper meeting on the steps of the temple from the first episode of season 1, as a way of recaping her ending up in the spirit realm and right from the start the background is worse, the camera cuts instead of following the arch of the gate, and jumps abruptly to his mask. I wanted to love it, I wanted to enjoy it. There are some truly good parts in there. But the way this season was handled I am certain we will not see more ever again.

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is back, not to resounding success, but with a completely workable second season. For me, the heart of Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is the idea that a mixture of pure-hearted sincerity and delicious food can warm the heart of anyone, and that key element is what carries this season. While this is a bit of a conceit, it's not that far from reality. Real sincerity does open our hearts, and humans have always been susceptible to the charm of a good meal. I also enjoyed the considerable expansion of the world. We got to meet several intriguing new characters and travel to new locations.Addressing the locations first, they were all charming and had some nice visual appeal, although the latter point was damaged a bit by the decline in the quality of the art in this season. The new characters were a much more welcome addition, with a confectionery rival of sorts for Aoi really starring in her brief role that hopefully will be reprised in future seasons. I do admit that there is a drop in art and animation quality compared to the previous season, but it was not a precipitous drop. Rather, the animation fell from having a bit of added art to being simply workmanlike. The art is still appealing and has some degree of charm, just to a lesser extent compared to the first season. One could also argue that the stories were a little more simplistic this season, but that might just be rose colored glasses for the past on my part. In reality, stories told where sincerity wins the day tend toward formulaic conflicts, so I can't really blame Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi for being in the middle of the pack here. The only real flaw I would ascribe to this season is the absence of one of the cast members for part of the season due to the course of the plot. While this plot arc may deliver more in the future, it really weakens this season since some of my favorite character interactions were diminished. This second season is a welcome addition to the anime. It wasn't everything I could have dreamed of for a second season, but neither did I feel disappointed by its existence. Aoi continues to charm in her role, and the food looks as delicious as ever. When you want some cozy drama and eye candy food, settle down for a comfortable ride.

Took me 2 tries to finish it. At first I couldn't quite figure out why I had to take so long to finish, but on the second go, and further in to the season, I realized why. The quality vastly differed from the first season that it was utterly jarring and off-putting at times. I mean, if this was the sequel we got after waiting so long, I would rather we did not get one to begin with. The character designs had such significant alterations that I almost could not recognize some of the key characters. Where in season 1, Odanna sama and Ginji looked attractive,here in season 2 they just looked ridiculous and goofy. Even the adorable Chibi looked plain ugly in this iteration. Such an affront to the romanticism of the original series I must say. And to make matters worst, the terrible character update just had to be paired with horrid, choppy and downright lazy animation. It all seems like an exercise in pure nonchalance to the fans of the original series. Even the writing could not be spared. It was just downright lazy, and had such terrible flow that it felt like such a mockery to intelligence. Seriously I had to wonder at many a times why even bother having a second season if this was the kind of crap they were going to serve up. Frustratingly though, I still want to know what happens next. But if this kind of crap is what's going to follow, then I would rather they just end it now. In the meantime, I will be washing my eyes out with soap, and then re-watching season 1 to try and forget that I ever watched this.