Sengoku Basara 2 - First Impressions

Here is another sequel I'll be watching for the anime season. The feudal warlords of ancient Japan return for another romp in the second season of Sengoku Basara, based on a series of hack and slash video games of the same name.

This is their way of saying hello.

Hi, we're the new bad guys. Pleased to meet you.

Did Toyotomi grow a couple of feet under the light or what? He didn't seem this big in the last screen shot.

Premise:
Warlords in the Sengoku period battle each other in outrageous battles for control of Japan... again.

Brief Summary of 1st Episode:
After banding together to defeat Nobunaga in the last season, Date Masamune, Sanada Yukimura and the other surviving warlords are back to their old habits of fighting each other. Masamune, Shingen, and Kenshin's forces are engaged in a three way battle when they find themselves surrounded by the soldiers of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who seeks to unite Japan and help it grow into a strong country. Masamune, Shingen, and Kenshin's forces manage to escape, but new period of unrest and chaos is about to begin as Toyotomi continues on his campaign to unify Japan.

Funny how all of Toyotomi's soldiers were distracted by the light show and let their enemies escape.

Look on the bright side. At least they've gone beyond just punching each other.

Ambushed.

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Judging by this episode alone, it looks like the second season of Sengoku Basara will be pretty similar to the first. The "good" warlords start off fighting each other, and a super-powerful "bad" guy shows up and all the "good" guys will unite against him. Sengoku Basara is not the kind of show one watches for the plot, so it doesn't matter too much if the story is a rehash of last season. To replace the overtly evil Devil King Nobunaga as the chief antagonist, we have Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a giant with steel fists and the ability to call upon divine light from the skies. Haven't seen him do anything really evil yet though, although his sidekick Hanbee seems more than devious enough. As for the other characters, Muasasame, Yukimura and Shingen are up to their usual antics, and I doubt we'll see a change from any of the returning characters.

Moving onto the most important aspect of the show, the action and production quality of Sengoku Basara still looks quite good. There were some big explosions and trails of color flying around in this episode, but we haven't seen anything really crazy yet such as horses climbing steep walls, hundreds of soldiers being tossed around or heroes zipping around in the sky and whatnot. Hopefully there will be a lot of craziness later in the show.

The premiere of Sengoku Basara 2 was along the lines of what I was expecting. This is a decent show to watch for the purpose of mindless entertainment, and I will be following this series but not blogging it just like last time.