There's not a word for the space so low in the known universe where one can find naught but the bar the second season of Hell Mode has to clear to be better than its predecessor. The first season of Hell Mode, I can't emphasize enough, is the beige of beige—the final boss of boring anime. It's called Hell Mode because that's what it feels like forcing yourself to trudge through it. This is all to say, approaching season 2 of Hell Mode, my expectations simply couldn't have been lower. So don't get too excited when I tell you that season 2 well surpassed those subterranean expectations.

The good news: Many key elements are different in this season. For one, it doesn't fully emerge from its season-long slumber until the latter half of the series, but once it finally does, there's actually a story in this one. Similarly, we saw some political intrigue happening in the background of the first series, which actually starts to matter in this one. The worldbuilding, however steadily it's been building it up, is actually having some payoff. The wheels are, in fact, actually turning, thus bringing a much-needed change in pace for Hell Mode.

But here's the bad news: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Our cast of characters, including a few new characters, are as boring and annoying as ever—especially Allen, who's no less obsessed with the minutiae of he and his friends' stats and literally nothing else. If anything, he's even more obsessed now, since being at the Academy really lends itself to letting numberslop consume his thoughts. And the animation quality—yes, including that painfully rigid and dated-looking CG (which you'll actually only see more of)—also hasn't improved even a little.

And finally, yes, there are more fights this season. But also, for the most part, they're no more fun to watch than they were before. This is because watching Allen fight is incredibly boring, and he's involved in the overwhelming majority of the battles. As you'll remember from the first series, Allen doesn't fight himself—he lets his summons do it for him because, obviously, he's a summoner. Although Allen's summons may be bigger now (in terms of size, strength, and quantity), just like before, the fights rarely boil down to anything more than a glorified animal attack, which predictably isn't very fun to watch. Later in the series, he gets access to summons which fight in ways that feel a bit more magical, but somehow, these fights are just as forgettable and sauceless, usually due to how quick and simple they tend to be.

And alas, here's the worst news: None of this matters, because even if it's a step up from the first season, this new season of Hell Mode still just isn't terribly enjoyable. Yes, there's a story now—but it's not until the latter half of the series, and even if you tough it out that far, it's not even a particularly interesting one. In fact, it's very simple, very predictable, and certainly not particularly well-executed. Plus, the fact that it takes so long to become relevant serves only to highlight how even if the pacing isn't as slow as it was in the first season, it's still way too slow for its own good. Similarly, yes, the worldbuilding that's been happening on the back burner of this series does finally reach some payoff this time around. But I wouldn't call it anything especially mind-blowing or well-executed either. If anything, it's pretty 2-dimensional. So while there's at least a minimal effort made by this season to be more substantial than the first, it still just isn't enough.

It's very obvious where this series' actual interests lie, and it's not in the story, the universe, or even the characters: It's in the weeds of Allen (and to a lesser extent, his newly formed party) grinding—it's the numberslop of it all, and watching the numbers go up. I can understand why Hell Mode might be interested in trying to capture the joy of this, because it's really fun watching your numbers go up in a game that you're playing. But what Hell Mode fails to realize is that it's really fun to watch your numbers go up in a game because you yourself are the one grinding, and there's a very personal satisfaction to it all—you put in effort, and now it's visibly paying off. Unfortunately, watching someone else grind their heart out, it turns out, is really boring! Doubly so when that someone is as bland a protagonist as Allen is! So watching the numbers go up doesn't bring the same level of delicious satisfaction. Rather, the only thing it brings with it is the question: “So are we finally done yet?”

The worst of Hell Mode is very firmly behind us in this season, but being an improvement doesn't necessarily mean it's suddenly fun to watch. It still suffers from many of the same issues the previous season did, and the story it introduces isn't particularly engaging—to say nothing of how far into Hell Mode you have to be to find it in the first place. While I do respect that it's taken steps in the right direction, it's still got a long way to go before becoming anything worth recommending. What little juice there is to be found here simply isn't worth the squeeze.