That is probably the worst idea you’ve ever had.

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In some of my previous reviews, I’ve mentioned how I don’t like the serious tone this season is setting with the focus on the boy’s futures and what their lives will be like after high school. So, naturally, guess what the finale episode focuses on? That’s right, of Shun’s anxiety of the fact that he doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life! The focus character being Shun, this had the potential to have a really cute plot, a la the Cutie Mark Crusaders from My Little Pony. Shun doesn’t know what he’s good at or what to do with his future, so he and the rest of the boys run around trying things out to see if anything clicks.

But rather than something cute and light-hearted, we got a kind of weird mix of humor and drama, with most of the drama coming from Shun’s brooding.  It was interesting to see Shun and Yuta as members of the tea ceremony club; you don’t usually see boys participating in tea preparation, but it suited the two of them. On the other hand, the antics of Chizuru, Yuki and Kaname just seemed flat out rude. I understand that they’re the comic relief characters, but even my most uncultured of friends would behave themselves if I was showing them something like a club I was part of that took ceremony very seriously. It was supposed to be funny, but I just ended up feeling kind of uncomfortable.

Naturally, Shun learns that not everyone knows what they want to do with their life when they’re seniors in high school.  Tsunashi, the bald tea instructor, tells them that he didn’t know what he wanted to do until he had already graduated, and just kind of picked something that he didn’t suck at (sound advice, methinks).  It gives Shun some much needed peace of mind, and the boys go traipsing off in to the sunset to go get ramen and study for their exams or something.

I felt like this was a serious letdown compared to last season’s finale. It had serious undertones, actually quite similar to this one’s, but it went at them from the perspective that we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, no sense in losing sleep about it now. It offered some sobering thoughts paired with fantastic comedy, and left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling. But quite the contrary, at the end of this episode, I was just glad it was over. That’s it. No warm fuzzies, no happiness over Shun’s mind being settled; I just closed the video player and that was that.  It was a rather lackluster finish to a lackluster sequel, to be quite honest.

GO Rating: 2.5/5

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Final Thoughts

When I heard that Kimi to Boku was getting a second season, I was excited.  Although it started roughly, the first season is easily in my top ten slice-of-life anime, because it offered a poignant mix of comedy and drama, but mostly comedy. It had a very rom-com feel to the episodes that had serious focus, and I was never left feeling dissatisfied, or like I wanted to shake the computer screen and wish the episode would hurry up already. I wish I could say the same for the second season, though.

My biggest gripe would be all the time spent on relationships that went nowhere. Yuki had a crush on a cafeteria girl. Did anything happen? Did he change at all because of the experience? No. Chizuru and Mary were incredibly awkward around each other all season. Did they accomplish anything? Did they reach an understanding about their feelings for each other? Not at all. It was frustrating and made me feel like I was watching twenty minutes of people running around in circles. There was no point to it.

My other problem would be in the lack of comedy. Anyone who watched the first season would go in to the second season expecting a comedy with a smattering of real life problems. Sure, shit happens, but if we learned anything from these boys in the first season, it’s that we don’t have to let it get us down. But I just didn’t find myself laughing near as much in the second season, especially as we focused on the relationships and the upcoming high school graduation. It’s possible to tackle high school graduation in a slice-of-life comedy and not just bore the audience to tears or make it overly serious; I feel like Azumanga Daioh accomplished this rather well.

I feel like this wouldn’t have been so bad if the first season hadn’t just hit things straight out of the park. It would have just been a lackluster romantic comedy, but since I had expectations based on the previous season, I was a bit sore by what ended up being delivered.  Personally, I’d rather have just stuck with the first season, and I’d recommend that anyone interested in Kimi to Boku do the same.

Overall Rating: 2.5/5