Review: So Much Better and Worse in THE IDHUN CHRONICLES Season 2
The first season of the Spanish anime The Idhun Chronicles came only a couple of months ago and had some strong elements, but had even more issues. Season 2 fixed some of the biggest issues from Season 1, but some things got worse. We follow our main characters after a large chunk of time from the end of Season 1, and they are again fighting for their lives against a big, dark evil, but now with more cringey, teenage drama. This anime feels like a passion project from an 11-year-old girl’s fantasy of dragons and unicorns. Even though there is nothing inherently wrong with a children’s story or crazy fantasy, it just feels as though it was written and put together by a very immature team of writers and some novice animators.
As much as I point out the bad things on this show, let’s talk about the good and improved things. The story continues its “chosen one” story in a potentially cool fantasy world but with lots of teen angst. The animation is significantly improved (in a lot of minor ways; movement, character design details and matching voices to animation). Character growth is all over the place, some have interesting and strong driving forces, others are more or less the same and others take a deep dive into clichés and frustratingly bad decisions. Another positive with this season is the action and battles scenes. While the fights never become cool or particularly engaging, they are improved compared to last season.
Now, let’s talk about the bad parts. When things from this high fantasy universe spill into and become a part of the real world, it makes everything feel wildly silly, cheesy, and over the top. There is very little realism or relatability in the characters and their relationships or even reactions. This brings us to the worst part of this season that beats all the bad things of last season, Victoria. If you thought the back and forth, confusing and irresponsible antics of Bella from Twilight were bad as she juggled the hearts of two boys, Victoria is so much worse. Teen drama is usually over the top, filled with romantic scenarios and “in the heat of the moment” decisions, and that’s fine for the genre. But there has to be some semblance of logic or exploration of feelings to justify intense, spontaneous gestures and there isn’t any of that in The Idhun Chronicles, especially with Victoria.
Huge spoilers ahead for this paragraph, going into details why the romantic part of this season and show drags this show way down. Let’s begin. She is making out with one guy at one moment, flirting with that guy’s mortal enemy literally a few hours later and then running back and making soul bonds with the first one. She is constantly cuddling with and flirting with whatever guy is closest to her, and then it basically ends with all three of them in a forced, ambiguous three-way relationship where she asks everything of both boys but has nothing to offer except inconsistent magical powers and “heavenly eyes.” If a show wants to actually explore the horrors of heartbreak or finding love in the wrong place or a three-way relationship and those complexities, that’s fine. However, this show just makes the worst, most annoying, and unreasonable love triangle I have ever seen. Actually, this is an easy contender for the worst romance story I have ever seen. It is possible that the book version of the relationships make a lot more sense, but here it is rushed, unexplainable, and infuriating to watch.
Honestly, I was going to give this season show a five or a six as a score because of its improvements in animation and pacing, but the character development and writing is so bad that it drags this score and show back to where last season was. This show has some solid ideas and passable animation, but whoever is adapting this book into an anime really needs to step back and see the show as a whole and see all the holes in it.
