this season is veeeeery interesting

they've got like 3 different factions and 4 or 5 different plot threads all going on at once

and the usual plot twists that manage to be unpredictable without ever actually being ass-pulls

though I have to admit I'm a little surprised at... who they're deciding to kill off

can't decide what to think of that twist...

and J was his usual epic self in the first episode but for much of this he's kind of been... not all there

he is not right in the head, even more so than before

on the other hand, while he is clearly Not All There, it also serves to humanize him a little? so it's interesting

because it does that while still making it clear that what he's done is not okay

but a lot of the characters' roles in this season are different

maya is working AGAINST the terrorists, and J is being held for medical treatment/interrogation and he's also a target of the terrorists

so neither of them are technically antagonists this time around

not that they're necessarily good guys, either. the whole thing has a lot of shades of gray going on

whereas season 1 had a generally black and white "good vs bad" thing, which is not a bad thing since they pulled it off so well

but season 2 manages to make it more ambiguous overall

and we've got a lot of people working on their own, too

fujimaru and otoya in particular are doing a lot on their own rather than going to third-i with everything

which I quite like

...I'm still hoping they do more with J rather than just keep him in a hospital bed the whole time, though, it'll be anticlimactic otherwise

but overall, basically, don't expect a continuation of the same themes and tone of the first season

obviously they'll still have a lot in common but there are notable differences and I think that makes for quite an interesting story

oh and fujimaru's little sister actually gets to DO stuff this season!

which makes me happy.

well, I'm only through episode 5, I'll have to see how the last 4 episodes go after this essay I have to write.