Saying this show is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures would be an understatement. The guilty pleasure stems from the shows primary appeal being looked down upon by almost everyone who cannot stand the way anime has pandered to the moe and loli fanbase. Unfortunately these people didnt bother to go through the entire show than just the first episode which is just a tiny fraction of what the whole show is built upon. RoKyuBu SS the sequel to the infamous RoKyuBu anime is a bythebook moe show that shows cute girls in rather suggestive positions and scenes related to sexual situations. With this in mind youd think itd be more focused on that aspect than the basketball which it is also focusing on to my surprise the show does a great job of balancing out the fan service and the basketball development so they dont feel outofplace. That isnt to say all of the ecchi jokes or situations all hit the mark just right as some of them felt overly long and drawn out at times but for what its worth the ones that work are charming enough to overlook the bad ones. Again its one of those things that youre either going to love or hate and from my perspective as someone who doesnt like or dislike lolis it isnt anything too demeaning or offensive since the tone is very lighthearted. You can tell the writers are just having fun with the concept and putting it onscreen for us to see. With the sequel in question one thing that might disappoint fans of the previous season who enjoyed the fan service is that SS doesnt feature as much ecchi comedy and mainly centers on the basketball aspect more. One thing that RoKyuBu does well is how they handle the actual basketball strategy when a game has commenced. Any basketball fan will feel at home with how the girls strategize their movements and give out orders to their teammates just like an actual team would do. It is played straight without any needless fanservice in the game sequences which is nice to see that the writers arent trying to be forceful in trying too hard to entertain us. We come across new characters that are supposed to be the opposing team players for our main leads. Their development in how these girls have grown to love the sport isnt done with as much forced melodrama as the first season did so I applaud the writers for at least showing some restraint. We finally get to meet most of the girls family members to get some interesting background information about their family lives so that we dont see the girls lives as onesided. The characters themselves are about as cliched as youd expect from a show like RoKyuBu but that doesnt necessarily break the show entirely from this angle. Certain cliches have been done in many cases and you can make cliches in anime still work if you have competent writing and voice acting to go with it. Fortunately the voice acting is outstanding and fun due to a stellar ensemble cast and the writing is competent enough to go through with less eyerolling drama. To mention the cast the casting here is fantastic from the very lovable Kana Hanazawa as Tomoka Yui Ogura as the moetastic Hinata and Kanae Itou as Aoi Ogiyama the fact that shes in here more works in benefit to the show.. With this casting the chemistry between their voices and the characters is quite solid and lovable at the same time. Making you laugh and go crazy with joy as they go through so much hilarity along the way. The music in RoKyuBu is mostly your standard JPop fare with pretty decent singing. With the sequel I found that the opening was fun and energetic just like the first seasons opening but the ending was relatively weak and shallow in how it was written. The first seasons ending song was just like the opening and left the show with a pleasant joyful atmosphere. Still the singing in SSs ending felt too forgettable and straightforward even after repeatedly listening to it on multiple occasions. With a genre that has a lot to do with Moe girls your art has to convey some emotion that tries to capture our attention. Otherwise we wont get anything out of it. To RoKyuBu SSs credit its art design is nice and sharp with the girls looking even cuter than before with their immense giant basketballshaped heads and their hypnotic eyes that stare at your soul. The same cannot be said for the animation as it is your traditional animation that doesnt achieve any new visual flair that weve never seen before. As I said before not even the basketball scenes garner any lasting impact on this department which is unfortunate. Basketball and Lolis combined might not make a luxurious experience for many people. Still for the roughly 23 of the people in the anime community who do this would be their holy grail. As for me the feeling is mutual for both sides of this debate. I can understand why people will have a hard time trying to get through something that they cant fathom shouldve been put into a budget but at the same time I cant help but like it for what it is. It doesnt try to be more than what it already is and it does succeed in becoming an entertaining comedy in this case. If there will be a sequel we need to have more drunk Tomoka. Nuff said. Grade: B
73 /100
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