Its always challenging writing an unbiased review of an anime/dongua one is emotionally invested in. One feels a bit disloyal if a review is not glowing. That said, I feel one can still love something while being aware of its short-comings. If you're reading this I'm assuming you've already watched S1, so a large portion of this review will be a comparison. The storyline of S2 faithfully follows the novel; we start to see more of Xie Lian's backstory and painful truths start emerging. In other words the emotional angst ramps up from S1. In terms of animation of facial expressions I feel they were able toconvey this. Xie Lian is way more expressive and shows a much wilder range of emotions. He's starting to feel like a fuller character, no longer just a sweet bishie. Sneak peaks and flashbacks add to his overall character depth. Hua Cheng's infamous gambler's den scene reveals him as mischievous and wickedly good looking. (Yeah, I know we've seen him before, but now its official!) San Lang/Hua Cheng is now also being fleshed out more and we get a glimpse of his teasing nature with Xie Lian. I thought Eming was just perfect. I loved the personality that they were able to give the saber even though they had the limitation of just one eye to animate. In terms of music setting the mood I feel that S1 did a far better job. S1 opening had the most exquisite animation and the music pulls at your heartstrings and doesn't let go, leaving a hollow, empty feeling behind. I was extremely disappointed in S2 opening (both music and artwork). Its opening animation was blah and (imo) poorly drawn. Why? Budget issues? The manhua set such a high art standard, did they really think mediocre would be okay? The music was okay, but the heartstrings remained un-pulled. I watched both sub and dub because speedreading is not my superpower. Dub is surprisingly good. I was better able to immerse myself in emotional moments simply because I was able to watch facial expressions. I enjoyed Xie Lian's english VA, with his buttery smooth, soothing voice and english speaking Hua Cheng felt like he had more sass than his Mandarin counterpart. Some of the minor supporting VA cast was a little iffy; I have issues when female characters sound squeaky. And don't get me started about when they do VA for kids. Overall I enjoyed S2, it faithfully follows the source material. While animation is still solid, episodes felt like they could be longer, but I felt the same about S1 so I guess it's just a Chinese thing. I still think that those who haven't read the novel will be confused by events and that much of the fan base is comprised of those who have. I hope that Chinese censorship will not end the possibility of a season 3 because we all know that's when the story really gets good. For sticking faithfully to source material, 9/10

It looks nice, and it sounds nice, but it is confusing as hell, at least before The Reveal. Unfortunately, it is so frustrating before The Reveal which occurs late in the series because we know there must be a reason why Xie Lian did what he did, but the show just wouldn't tell us. It almost feels like they are trolling us. After The Reveal is very satisfying, but I don't really feel like it was necessary to string us along for so long. There's plenty of interesting action occurring in the first half. Unfortunately, much of the tension is lost because Hua Cheng is OPas hell, and he favors Xie Lian so much that it feels unfair. I mean, it does not feel like there has been enough development between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian for Xie Lian to deserve such devotion. I know it has been explained to some extent already in season 1, but still, all of that was ancient history, and I want to see romantic development during the course of events in the present. We get to see Xie Lian showing a lot more power than he did in season 1. Season 1 presented him as a sort of weakling, but here we can see he is actually very strong (though not OP like Hua Cheng). We have some really nice painted backgrounds and sumptuous character animation. The Heavenly Palace and City of Ghost are mostly 3D, but the outdoor scenes are mostly 2D with a painted look to them. Both are done well, with the City of Ghost looking very lively and interesting, full of lots of visually distinct demons. The OP is very nice, with a different art style which somehow makes the characters look even more beautiful and emotional. The OP song is nice, too. The ED is nothing too special; background slideshow with some particle effects and music.

It's a continuation of the wonderful first season, so if you haven't already, go watch that first. If you liked that, you will find the same sumptuous artwork, above average animation, top-notch characterizations and fantastic voice acting from the english dub cast. Where this season falls ever so slightly short of the first season is in the narrative, It starts out solid enough, but I thought the middle episodes got a little sloggy and drawn out. Not exactly filler, but at times I got the feeling the director was stringing things out to fill up an episode. Happily though, that goes away as the seasonnears it's dramatic and satisfying conclusion. One has to give the writers and director props for reigning things back in, tying up loose ends, and making this a successful ending. That wasn't looking like a given in eps 6 and 7. First season was an A-, but this season slipped ever so slightly to 88/100 and a very high B+. If you enjoyed the first season, I certainly couldn't recommend this one enough.