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... the verdict is in. I totally forgot how much I love and adore season 2. It's soooo much better than season 1. I just love seeing how the girls have matured, and the new characters, and the music, and the Hikaru/Lantis pairing, and ... !
**hugs show.** Of course, Nova has always been special to me, since she was the direct inspiration for Alexander. And Eagle Vision's English voice actor is the voice I've always pictured for Alexander. Soft and sweet.
I was always more of an Umi/Clef fan than Umi/Ascot, but this time around I'm honestly undecided. XD; I think it's the first time I've ever seen season 2 straight through instead of watching the DVDs all mixed up. And gosh, I felt so bad for Ascot. ;___; Love triangles are much hurt.
Also, a month passing between the seasons, instead of a year like the manga? WIN. I don't know how the girls stood all that grief and pain for a whole year in the manga. ;___; (I also don't know how Cephiro could have held up that long, crumbling as it was.... Yeah, I know time passes differently between the worlds, but still.)
As for the Chizeta and Fahren people? Well, those battle episodes were still kind of tedious. XD; But there were other things going on in those episodes too. And I do actually like the characters later on, especially Aska. I dunno, it really annoys me when people dislike a character all the way along and don't even acknowledge or care when the character has a major change of heart/matures/whatnot! Aska is an awesome character. She was just really really annoying until her change of heart. XD; But if you hadn't seen her so annoying, the change of heart wouldn't be as meaningful!
I also really like that on the DVDs, they only use the second opening and the first ending. (The second season had two each.) I had the chance to view the first opening and the second ending as special features on the DVDs, and ... well, the second ending made me kind of sad. XD; It made me think that a lot of time had passed and the girls were being remembered on the piece of parchment. Could be totally untrue, but that's what it made me think of. And as for the first opening ... it was just too chipper and cheery for the dark tone that the second season had. The second opening is much, much better and well-suited to it. But I may also be kind of biased towards it, because I LOVE the lines "I hold the light and the darkness of my heart/Trembling as I embrace the shadows moving me apart." There's more of an emphasis on Nova in the second opening, and I dunno, the whole thing looks so much more epic than the first opening. *___*
Also, the dub cast is one of the most amazing I've ever seen. I usually do like a show's dub, but seriously ... oh wow, the emotion they put into it, it's just incredible. This one part in the first season, when Alycone screams for Zagato, it was just heartbreaking. And I don't think I've heard any of the characters ever fall flat on a line.
This show would totally make the list of my five favorite anime.
(The manga, on the other hand ... **shakes head.** Oh gosh, it's so short. Three volumes per arc. And everything feels so extremely rushed. I only own the first volume of each arc, but I've skimmed through the other four in stores. I could hardly believe how fast everything was going. XD; The truth about Mokona was just *bizarre.* And I don't really like Eagle's fate in the manga. It felt so ... anti-climatic. Well, put it this way: the only thing I like better in the manga is that it's made clear the girls can go to Cephiro whenever they want. It's more up in the air in the anime, but I like to think they definitely got back again.)
You know, one thing I think is really awesome is that CLAMP was directly involved with the anime. They chose to make every change that happened, instead of it being strangers doing it.
**hugs show.** Of course, Nova has always been special to me, since she was the direct inspiration for Alexander. And Eagle Vision's English voice actor is the voice I've always pictured for Alexander. Soft and sweet.
I was always more of an Umi/Clef fan than Umi/Ascot, but this time around I'm honestly undecided. XD; I think it's the first time I've ever seen season 2 straight through instead of watching the DVDs all mixed up. And gosh, I felt so bad for Ascot. ;___; Love triangles are much hurt.
Also, a month passing between the seasons, instead of a year like the manga? WIN. I don't know how the girls stood all that grief and pain for a whole year in the manga. ;___; (I also don't know how Cephiro could have held up that long, crumbling as it was.... Yeah, I know time passes differently between the worlds, but still.)
As for the Chizeta and Fahren people? Well, those battle episodes were still kind of tedious. XD; But there were other things going on in those episodes too. And I do actually like the characters later on, especially Aska. I dunno, it really annoys me when people dislike a character all the way along and don't even acknowledge or care when the character has a major change of heart/matures/whatnot! Aska is an awesome character. She was just really really annoying until her change of heart. XD; But if you hadn't seen her so annoying, the change of heart wouldn't be as meaningful!
I also really like that on the DVDs, they only use the second opening and the first ending. (The second season had two each.) I had the chance to view the first opening and the second ending as special features on the DVDs, and ... well, the second ending made me kind of sad. XD; It made me think that a lot of time had passed and the girls were being remembered on the piece of parchment. Could be totally untrue, but that's what it made me think of. And as for the first opening ... it was just too chipper and cheery for the dark tone that the second season had. The second opening is much, much better and well-suited to it. But I may also be kind of biased towards it, because I LOVE the lines "I hold the light and the darkness of my heart/Trembling as I embrace the shadows moving me apart." There's more of an emphasis on Nova in the second opening, and I dunno, the whole thing looks so much more epic than the first opening. *___*
Also, the dub cast is one of the most amazing I've ever seen. I usually do like a show's dub, but seriously ... oh wow, the emotion they put into it, it's just incredible. This one part in the first season, when Alycone screams for Zagato, it was just heartbreaking. And I don't think I've heard any of the characters ever fall flat on a line.
This show would totally make the list of my five favorite anime.
(The manga, on the other hand ... **shakes head.** Oh gosh, it's so short. Three volumes per arc. And everything feels so extremely rushed. I only own the first volume of each arc, but I've skimmed through the other four in stores. I could hardly believe how fast everything was going. XD; The truth about Mokona was just *bizarre.* And I don't really like Eagle's fate in the manga. It felt so ... anti-climatic. Well, put it this way: the only thing I like better in the manga is that it's made clear the girls can go to Cephiro whenever they want. It's more up in the air in the anime, but I like to think they definitely got back again.)
You know, one thing I think is really awesome is that CLAMP was directly involved with the anime. They chose to make every change that happened, instead of it being strangers doing it.
