WARNING: This review may contain spoilers
The second season of Mermaid Melody is one of those shows where when its good, its REALLY good, but when its bad, its terrible.
Story - Continuing right where we left of in the first season, Kaito goes to Hawaii to discover himself and learn surfing. However, there he's attacked and loses his memories. He's rescued by a girl named Mikaru Amagi, who immediately falls head over heels for him. She and her brother Rihito take him in. Meanwhile the mermaid princesses have a new enemy, Mikeru, an angel like being who wants to absorb them into himself to become ... more powerful. Also Seira, who is Sara's successor, is about to be born. But Mikeru absorbs her into him and now Lucia and co must collect her heart shards back. Also we have love interests for Hanon and Rina, named Nagisa Shirai and Masahiro Hamasaki.
Kaito losing his memories was just so painful. After spending 52 episodes in the last season just waiting for him to figure out Lucia's identity, here he loses his memories and we have to wait AGAIN for him to regain his memories. And on top of that, we have a love triangle between him, Mikaru, and Lucia. And it wouldn't have been so bad if Mikaru wasn't such an annoying character (more on her later). 6/10
Art - The art was decent I think. Its improved from the last season. 8/10
Sound - We have a bunch of new songs in this season and they're all really good. The 6 mermaid version of Legend of the Mermaid we got to hear this season was just amazing. Also all the villain songs are good. 7/10
Character - The main trio got quite a bit of character development. Lucia is more mature than she was in the last season and doesn't depend so much on Kaito anymore. Hanon learnt to get over her feelings for Tarou and now has a new love interest who's age appropriate. She's also less selfish in this season. Rina comes out of her shell more thanks to Masahiro and is more honest with her feelings.
Karen, Noel, and Coco return as a trio this season and they're such a delight to watch. Their endeavors in helping the main girls with their love are hilarious. I wish they would've gotten more spotlight in this season.
Seira is also nice. Her song "Beautiful Wish" is my favourite in the whole show. I do wish we got to see more of her when her heart shards were fully restored.
The two new love interests, Nagisa and Masahiro are decent. Nagisa is a bit immature and gets jealous easily, but he's 12 so that's expected of him. And he does what he can to make Hanon happy. Masahiro is such a sweetheart and his relationship with Rina was my favourite thing in this season. It was just the right amount of angst and sweetness.
I've already ranted about the whole "Kaito losing his memories" bit above so moving on from there.
Rihito is decent. I like how he cares about Mikaru and offers a shoulder for Lucia to cry on.
Mikaru.... oh God Mikaru. See, I hate love triangles, but maybe the one here wouldn't be so bad if Mikaru wasn't so damn annoying. She's basically season 1 Lucia turned up to 11. She's clingy, overly dependent on Kaito, and wants to be with him basically 24/7. What really made me dislike her was her actions in episode 34. There she guilts Kaito into staying with her, acts ungrateful to her brother after he spent his whole life trying to make hers better, even going so far as to SLAP HIM, and ruined the food Kaito got for Lucia. I understand she's been sick her whole life and never had friends, but God damn that is no excuse for the way she acts. She even gets angry at Kaito when he tries to remember more of his past because she catches on that he's trying to remember Lucia as well. This season would be so much better if they toned town her clinginess.
As for the villains, Mikeru is decent butI feel he's kinda out of place in this show. If you were to tell me this angel like being is the villain in a show about mermaids, I wouldn't believe you. He is quite sympathetic though, especially towards the end. And I love his song.
The Black Beauty Sisters return and they're lovely as ever. I love their new song, but not as much as their old one.
Lady Bat is great, Lanhua is good and her song is my favourite of the villains though I wish her minions weren't making those stupid sounds in the middle of it, Alala is pretty funny. Fuku is annoying and I have an irrational hatred of him. I cannot take the fact that he's the true villain of this season seriously.
Characters get a 7/10
Enjoyment - Like I said, when this show is good, its really good. When its not focusing on Kaito losing his memories and Mikaru being overly clingy, this show can be great. 6/10
Overall - There are a couple of things I would change about this season to make it better. First, tone down Mikaru's clinginess and do away with the love triangle shit. Second, have Karen, Noel, and Coco around more. Third, give Noel and Coco character songs, and give Noel a duet with Rina. And fourth, make Mikeru a biblically accurate angel (okay that last one was a joke). 7/10
 Alternative Titles Japanese: マーメイドメロディーぴちぴちピッチピュア Information Type: TV Episodes: 39 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Apr 3, 2004 to Dec 25, 2004 Premiered: Spring 2004 Broadcast: Unknown Licensors: None found, add some Source: Manga Demographic: Shoujo Duration: 24 min. per ep. Rating: PG - Children Statistics Score: 7.241 (scored by 24,483 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #33872 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #3273 Members: 45,839 Favorites: 253 Available AtResources |
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