Anime Hajime Impressions: Isekai Quartet Season 2

The Set-Up

I can’t say I was surprised I had fun with the first Isekai Quartet. I figured the possibility was high because I enjoyed all four shows represented. Each, to some degree, did well comedically. Any humor gleaned from them (especially from the much darker Overlord, Re:ZERO, and Youjo Senki) was due to the larger-than-life personalities of their characters.

So to have all of them together in one spot was worth a look, at least.

Also, at the end of this season, Isekai Quartet 3 was teased. When that day comes, I promise to deliver a proper review.

As for now, if you haven’t, I encourage you to read my impressions of Isekai Quartet before continuing. This post will focus more on what was added to this series and less on what type of show it is.

This is not a review post. Although I will discuss whether or not I enjoyed this season, please do not expect a proper breakdown of its positive or negative points.

With that said, here are my impressions of Isekai Quartet 2.

Impressions

Before watching, I recommend watching all four shows in my impressions on the first Isekai Quartet – Konosuba, Overlord, Re:ZERO, and Youjo Senki. Does that now apply to Iseaki Quartet 2 as it introduced The Rising of the Sheild Hero?

Well, not to the same extent, but it couldn’t hurt.

Unlike the Kasuma, Lord Ainz, Natsuki, Tanya, and their respective lot, Naofumi and his team weren’t as heavily involved. Granted, Filo did get an entire episode dedicated to her. Still, Sheild Hero was more secondary than anything else, so you could enjoy this season without watching ALL the other shows.

And don’t worry about Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious. Seiya and Ristarte had only a brief cameo appearance.

I am curious what this could mean for season three, though. I am a little worried since there are some big-name isekai anime I haven’t seen yet (Sword Art Online). Still, if I had to take a guess, I would put money on No Game No Life‘s Sora and Shiro making an appearance.

Regardless of what or who might come next, Isekai Quartet 3 will have quite a lot to live up to because Isekai Quartet 2 was pretty damn great.

I think what made the first season so enjoyable was the novelty of it. Seeing characters from some of the most popular and well-made isekai anime together in one show was defiantly a trip. Then to have all those strong personalities interact with and complement one another was extremely entertaining.

As such, I probably should have been worried about season two sticking to the same formula, a.k.a, staying the same.

While the introduction of more characters from more shows has its value, that can only go on for so long. Therefore, Isekai Quartet 2, to be successful, needed to make some adjustments.

What surprised me the most was not that the adjustment this season implemented worked; it was how simple it ended.

One of the enduring aspects of season one was having the four shows intermingle with one another. In class, each set of characters had carved up their portion of the room. However, there were still clear groupings.

In the first episode, the seating arrangement was randomized. What Isekai Quartet 2 did was shuffle everyone around. While that might sound inconsequential, let me tell you, the result was anything but.

Whatever barriers there might have been between the shows was no longer a factor. While each series had its core group, friendships began to form all over the place.

Of the four primary protagonists – Kazuma, Lord Ainz, Natsuki, and Tanya – links formed between Overlord and Youjo Senki and KonoSuba and Re:Zero. But just because protagonists got along, that didn’t mean their respective teams followed suit.

Here were some of the partnerships between characters:

• Rem and Megumin
• Beatrice and Bello
• Warren, Wilibald, Rhiner with Kazuma
• Hamusuke and Filo
• Viktoriya and literally everyone

One of the best episodes was when everyone disagreed about the right condiment for fried chicken. Usually, everyone would lump with their usual group. This time, though, opinions were so varied that what show a character came from no longer bearing.

It was clear that the characters were becoming more comfortable around each other. In fact, Isekai Quartet began to establish a story of its own. This was not some mere excuse to have a bunch of fan favorites cracking jokes.

And yet, even though this series began to develop its own identity, it never compromised its characters or the shows they came from. It was amazing to see how no one lost who they were, and everyone could easily switch back and forth from this silly comedy to their darker narratives (minus KonoSuba which has always been silly).

It is no secret that the isekai genre has gotten a bit out of hand in recent years. It seems nearly every fantasy story – that could have just stayed a fantasy story – needs to involve transporting someone to a parallel world. Nevertheless, there are shows above the rest, and Isekai Quartet appears ready to collect them all.

Final Thoughts

Once again, this was an anime for anime fans.

I’m glad I’ve finally gotten around to watching this series. However, I am a little worried that any subsequent continuation will introduce characters I don’t know. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

For now, I am actively anticipating where Isekai Quartet will go from here.

But these were just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? What were your impressions of Isekai Quartet 2? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.

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For Anime Hajime, I’m Odyssey, and I’ll see you next time.