I’m actually rather surprised to learn that the Manga of this series has managed to sell over 15 million copies in Japan over the years, despite the lack of international attention. However just because the Manga is a success, doesn’t mean the anime will fare as well, and it’s unfortunate that this applies to what I am about to discuss. Here I will go over why the 2nd Chapter falls flat as an adaptation of its source material and killed western interest (As well as back then when Viz Media used to sell the series on DVD split across 16 volumes for all 52 episodes,which was a big expensive investment for anime buyers back then).

Story:
The 2nd Chapter is a continuation of where Season 1 left off, where the main cast leaves Japan to pursue the Egrigori across the United States. The 1st half of the 1st episode being a recap episode of key events of the 1st season. However certain plot elements and characters got adapted out along the way as the manga was finishing up back when it aired on Japanese TV in 2001-02. This is one of those adaptations that was made in mind to promote the manga to Japanese consumers at priority rather than being a worthy standalone adaptation, which used to be a common flaw for a lot of manga based animes back in the 90’s and early 00’s. It also turns out there was also an OVA that only ever got dubbed in Italian by Yamato Video’s release that takes place after the 2nd Chapter is over, only to serve as a tease for the Final Arc in the Manga, only to end of an Icy Cliffhanger.

Characters:
Ryo is a pretty straightforward lead with his motivation on getting his best friend Katsumi back and returning to a normal life as his main drive, which plays a major plot point in that the Egrigori are just emotionally toying and leading him on as part of their goal. But because of story elements that get cut off, his character arc doesn’t get as much payoff at the end compared to how it was orchestrated in the manga. Which is a shame since this is our main character of this tale, especially one who has avoided a lot of traits usually associated with Shonen MCs of today.

Hayato is pretty much the team’s Jerk with a Heart of Gold motivated with wanting to avenge his village, where Hayato eventually starts to realize that he has managed to find himself some new friends he can call a family, even starting to adapt to a more protector role, befitting of his ARMS being the White Knight, also tames himself a “brother” in the form of Al Bowen (even despite getting into foul mouthed bickering with each other played for laughs) as well as slowly settling aside his differences with Kei overtime. Though because the final arc and epilogue is adapted out, they don’t get the proper conclusions needed, as well as Hayato getting robbed of his chance of being able to truly avenging his village.

Takeshi’s characterization isn’t as compromised compared to the other ARMS users, though he doesn’t get as much opportunities to shine here in America compared to the past events in Japan as much since he ends up getting himself into some passive situations and behind the scene antics on his own. Notably later on when he goes on a special “trip” by himself, let’s just say that the anime skimmed over most of his time there and had to give him something to do on the sidelines when he’s back from his solo sequence. So sadly he doesn’t get to cooperate with the other ARMS users as much because of circumstances.

Kei’s Backstory on how she lost her eyes was also changed in the anime where they made it pretty much Kei’s fault in a naïve manner, since her manga backstory was likely seen as too disturbing for Japanese audiences back then, her backstory in the manga made more sense as a catalyst to her trust issues, which is not the case with her anime backstory, making it difficult for casual viewers to understand and tolerate/care for Kei since her new backstory doesn’t correlate to her issues and arc well.

Katsumi seems to be that one character that makes and breaks the show for some viewers (If the youtube comments mean something) since she’s basically born to play the role of a Damsel in Distress. Which has become one of the most hated tropes amongst western society. The 2nd Chapter is where they start revealing some personal twists of her and some of the foreshadowing got left out, which possibly makes a certain reveal seem like an asspull.

Besides the mains, there is also Al Bowen, Yugo Gilbert, and Koichi Kabuto who accompanies the Main Four. Al Bowen gets some needed development where grows to like his new companions and shows a hidden heart of gold despite how he sees the others (except Yugo) as Morons. Kabuto more or less remains the same, but get some fun lines and a small romance subplot with Lee. Yugo is my favorite of the supporting cast for how willing she is to go out of her way to help out, especially for Ryo, even if she is aware she has little chance on ever scoring a potential relationship with him knowing that Katsumi is still in the picture. Though she keeps her personal feelings to herself and gets a pretty epic moment towards the end of the anime.

Finally are the Keith Series, who plays a more prominent presence. Silver is sadly a character that doesn’t last long and gets a pretty abrupt end compared to how his character played out in the manga. Silver is pretty much introduced as the bloodthirsty brute of the bunch, though it’s revealed that he used to be a rather sweet and naïve kid who cared for his pet bird in captivity before things take a nasty turn for the worst, leaving him a broken bird who accepted his fate as a living weapon of mass destruction (In contrast to Ryo who actively wants to avoid this fate). Green is basically a yandere for Katsumi to the point of wanting to cuck and kill Ryo for her as well as the Jabberwock. He lacks a noteworthy backstory compared to his siblings, but the lack of standing out fuels his newfound obsession for Katsumi, as his newfound role as her babysitter is what gives him a sense of purpose in life. Violet is my favorite of the Keiths, serving as an observer who’s interested in knowing the ARMS gang despite being enemies and is surprisingly rather sympathetic despite her place in the Egregori, helps that she doesn’t seek to commit a malicious act unlike her brothers, making her something of an anti-villain and even despite the anime’s liberties, her character arc transitions just fine by the end. Then we finally have Big Brother Black himself (Or Black Nii-San as Violet calls him in the sub lol), who’s currently a smug hammy schemer that really likes to chew the scenery and following and relying on the concept of Fate as a crutch, though we do get to learn who he was like as a kid and his relationship with Blue and how Black ended up becoming the Card Carrying Villain he is now.

Animation:
While Season 1 was Cel Shaded, The 2nd Chapter made the switch to Digital Paint that was the norm of early 2000’s anime, and hoo boy were the results sloppy. From Ryo’s green striped purple shirt suddenly losing its color out of nowhere, to someone having a derp face moment. You could make a drinking game every time something goes offmodel. The Quality did start to get more consistently passable later on, but the initial impressions are already damaging as is. Even the Special Edit Version that only Japan got (Though the Italian Release is based on the Special Edit) only fixed some of the Animation errors.

Sound:
As for Opening, “Time Waits for No One’ by WAG gives off a strong going to the Beach with your Friends in the 2000’s vibes that I cannot help but really like. The 1st Ending, “Timeless Sleep” by Garnet’s Crow is a melancholic tune that fits the dreary situation Katsumi is in, and the 2nd Ending, “Owaranai Yume no Nakade/In an Unending Dream” is a cheesy upbeat pop song sung by the Japanese VAs of the 4 Main ARMS users that sometimes come off as comical how it enters at the end of an episode. As for Background music, they recycled a lot of the BGMs from the 1st season, but added in some really corny sounding trumpet music here and there. My favorite of the tracks were the Music Box Theme, a Fast Paced Techno track in a few fight scenes, and the one with the Dramatic Strings with a bit of a flute. And I have yet to find an official OST playlist of it on Youtube with no luck.....

Voice Acting:
Season 1’s Voice Casts reprise here. As far the Japanese Cast goes, it’s a mixed bag at best at this point due to being held back by rather bland scripting and occasional stiff delivery that can get really dull and don’t stick out a lot of the time, especially for background characters. Still the main seiyuus are doing the best with what direction they got, with Nobutoshi Canna as Ryo, Yukari Honma (A unknown VA who’s only been in hentai) as Yugo, and Tomoko Miura (Another unknown VA who voiced Child Guts in Berserk, with Canna as Adult Guts….) as Katsumi being the best of the lot. Still they were performances that I just did not care for such as Mami Matsui as Oscar, the late Eisuke Yoda as Tillinghast (who falls comically flat in a tragic scene), and the late Kan Tokumaru as Kou, they were really dull if not straight up bad performances. Joining the rest of the cast include mostly big names like Hoko Kuwashima, Yasuhiko Kawazu, Atsushi Kisaichi, Ryotaro Okaiyu (who really got to ham it up real good as Black), Kazuhiko Inoue, Aya Hisakawa, and the late Kinryu Arimoto.

As for the English Dub, this is where I can easily say this is the Version I highly recommend, if only because they adlibbed a lot of the dull Japanese scripting into hilarious Ghost Stories tier gold. Still they did take some of the scenes pretty seriously and do a well job at it, so it’s a balance mix of abridging and playing it straight at the right moments. Even the characters who seiyuus I disliked were more bearable, especially considering they gave them pretty funny lines for the actors to work with. Some of the standouts in the dub include the late Kirby Morrow as Ryo, Brian Drummond as Hayato, Nicole Oliver as Kei, Willow Johnson as Yugo, Jillian Michaels as Al Bowen, Janyse Jaud as Violet, Samuel Vincent (who’s just as hammy as Okaiyu) as Black, Tabitha St. Germain as Alice, and Ted Cole as White. Pretty much one of my favorite dubs to come out from the Ocean Group, if only because they avoided the pitfalls the Japanese script had and manages to make an otherwise flawed adaptation the mainstream anime hivemind don’t care about a funny entertaining watch.

Conclusion:
This could have potential to have been a cult classic had TMS not derped on the Animation and wasn’t held back by a 52 Episode limit. Especially for someone who has genuinely grow fond of this series, especially after reading its Manga. This is a series that honestly a reboot, especially one that can manage to bring back most of its Voice Cast back to reprise. Nothing much came after out of this series in the west other than Discotek Media relicensing the Anime in 2017.