schmitt.priscilla - 2015-12-07 00:54:12

#1: You need to watch Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor to have a glimpse on what's happening ( either the TV series or the recap movie will do), and of course Exodus season 1.
#2: Must watch for those who have watched season 1 of Exodus.
#3: Good for fans of mecha and tragedy.

The show picks up after the 1st season of Exodus, where Kazuki and Soushi lead the Human Army side to the Promised Land, while the Island D's staffs try to fend off Festums and the increasingly potent assimilation effect.

While the last season seems to be interesting after the second half, the second season dropped this flaw and let the death train rolls.

*spoiler alert*
 It starts of by showing the betrayal of the ally, Neo-UN and death of one of the pilot.
And one major character is assimilated to move the plot.
Another major character is half dead.
And the betrayal game is strong. Neo-UN is getting betrayed by their Mir.
*spoiler end*

The major strong point of 2nd season is the momentum. No drag. No stopping. The plot just develops and plot twists strike at any moment at will.
The scriptwriters have done a great job for not making loose ends.

Animation wise, Fafner is not a hand-drawn marvel from Sunrise, yet the CG is a level below the peak of CG mecha animation-Knights of Sidonia.
All the mecha and fight animations are animated decently, god knows where the budget comes from.
Fafner still keeps some of the artstyles from it's 00's TV series, characters aren't as good looking as modern animes as they still have those 90's-00's moe-huge-eyes.  And characters look very similar to each other.
The Festums are still as ungodly disgusting as one could imagine. Can't help with it.

Character development is another spot 2nd season benefited from the 1st season. New characters need not to be introduced, old characters are developed.
And we see one of the old guy from the 00's TV series makes a comeback. Marvelous.
Other than that it's business as usual, you just sit back and pray your favourite character won't get killed.

The new OSTs are stellar. Angela's "DEAD OR ALIVE" is one of the best opening of the season and is getting people into the series. The ending, Horizon is creepy, but well suits the "everyone will die before arrival at the promised land" vibe.
The mecha battle tracks are marvelous too. Should be the same as 1st season where they use Angela's その時、蒼穹へ (Sono Toki, Soukyuu e).

Overall it's an exciting and unexpected season of Fafner. The 2nd season outperforms the 1st season and the 00's TV series by a big margin. The "plot seeds" that are planted in 1st season has given countless intense mecha fight and emotional trainwrecks in season 2.
Given how the plot is going, we're very likely to see a 3rd season, or 3rd coup for Exodus.
May the guys from Island D survive the attack of new Festums.