jones.jacklyn - 2016-12-20 19:55:35

A MUST WATCH

khalid02 - 2014-12-19 21:33:46

          They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in the case of WIXOSS that may very well be the case. As I mentioned in my review of the first half of the series (see link https://www.facebook.com/notes/ember-reviews/ember-reviews-selector-infected-wixoss/1520085351553619), WIXOSS takes a lot of cues from a certain magical girl anime called Madoka Magica, from the dirty secrets behind their world's setup to the hopes and aspirations of their main characters. While transmuting someone else's story to fit a new context is certainly appropriate, WIXOSS still ended up leaning a bit too hard on the fence and ended up flat out copying certain ideas and motifs from Madoka rather than repurposing them. So, now that they've used up all of the Madoka storyline that they could, how has WIXOSS been faring since then?

          Much like the first season, Selector Spread WIXOSS really shines during its darker moments, and they don't even wait til the end of the second episode to really start laying in on thick. From the psychotically nasty to the horrifyingly sensual, WIXOSS certainly hasn't lost its darker edge that subverted its cutesy-moe look and gave it the edge that it had back in the Spring season earlier this year. As for departing from its Madoka base, the story shapes up pretty well during its first two thirds as the tension builds around what actually caused WIXOSS to be created in the first place. Unfortunately, I found the ultimate revelation to be a little bit underwhelming, though this may be more due to it feeling a bit rushed and poorly explained. In the end, I suppose I was sort of able to believe what happened, but it still felt very fuzzy on a lot of the details. I will say that the final episode was very solid, though certainly nothing we haven't seen before.

          Strangely enough, the character development for this season actually seemed to flip-flop a bit. While Yuzuki and Hitoe were the big stars of last season, Spread now focuses on Iona, Akira, and a new fangirl character named Chiyori. While I wouldn't say that Chiyori's character was poorly developed, I will say that she was exceedingly annoying in many parts, though this may just be because she is a WIXOSS fangirl, and fangirls are annoying by nature. Iona and Akira, however, actually present a rather interesting contrast in development, with Iona apparently being influenced by Ruko's kindness and purity, while Akira is driven to madness over her obsession with Ulith, who now inhabits Iona's body. However, I do have to admit that our lead antagonist, Mayu, turned out to be fairly weak as far as antagonists go, and while the final revelation with her character was fairly solid, she felt very basic and unplanned when compared to other antagonists within similar genres.

          Much like last season, the animation was done by J.C. Staff, and their hyper-moe style blended with unique color palettes certainly brings this anime to live once again. I was a little bit disappointed that there wasn't as much of the horrifying imagery that we had in the first season though. I should also give props to the final episode for some particularly interesting and well-animated environment breakdowns.

          As of yet, there has still not been a dub announcement for this series, though if FUNimation were to announce it, I would imagine that it would be very well-acted and well-scripted.

          The music is still composed by Maiko Iuchi, and her eerie ambiance style is still very present during the tenser moments. However, I've started to dislike some of the more dubstep-influenced moments of the soundtrack, as they don't seem to fit well with the creepy nature of this series. The opening theme "world's end, girl's rondo" by Kanon Wakeshima gives us an upbeat and eclectic blend of string, piano, and drum set to play us in, while the ending theme "Undo: Ashita e no Kioku" by Cyua gives us a heart thumping outro with parallel octave harmonies in its chorus to send a bit of a chill down your spine.

          Overall, Selector Spread WIXOSS is just as solid as the first season of WIXOSS, but doesn't do much to move beyond that.

fdare - 2014-12-13 06:08:57

NOTE. DO NOT WATCH SELECTOR SPREAD WIXOSS UNTIL YOU'VE WATCHED SELECTOR INFECTED WIXOSS.

Anyway, Selector Spread WIXOSS is our second season of cards and suffering. The story, well, I can't say anything about it without spoiling the entire thing. In the beginning, however, I was extremely worried that if the story this time around would be mediocre, but holy shit, no it wasn't. This story has so many twists and dark turns that you'll lose a soul watching it. If I had to carefully choose my words, I'd say it's even darker than Madoka! I was on the edge of my seat. 

Just know the story is this without spoiling: it is the second season of the Selector series, and we learn the origins of the game. That's all I can say without spoiling it.

Animation? Fine. The noses are terrible, though. The battles? Animated just as good as they were in season one. I never doubt JC Staff. They're my favorite anime studio.

Sound is always great! The OP and ED... I, holy crap! Amazing. The OSTs are just as good in this anime as they always were, and I have no negative comment on the sound.

Characters? No one is sane in this show, omg. Even though some were pretty annoying in the beginning, I remembered why I loved the series after it got less annoying. (Ruko was annoying for the first five episodes though, tbh.)

This show has made me scream in this cour much more than in its last cour. This show has kept me wanting more each week and getting depressed when there's no Selector for an entire week. I'd say I enjoyed it a lot.

WATCH IT.

WATCH IT.

94 out of 100!