There was a lack of action in this season of The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior, and I quite welcome it. It's all just a big swell of melodrama for a straight twelve episodes where physical violence is replaced with emotional violence, the former always lurking around the corner but never quite rearing its head. Okay, well, the first season gave us battles with animation that is okayish at best. We don't have to raise any blades for the conflict in this season, right? I'm down for this season to engage us with political and backroom drama. I said to myself, not knowing I'd be eating my words by the time this was all over.

The first few episodes start very promisingly when another of the otome game's princes, the cerulean-hued Leon of the Anemone Kingdom, enters Pride's life on her sixteenth birthday. Baseless rumors surround Leon, painting him as too much of a womanizing flirt for his own good. Pride also knows that her villainess alter ego abused and tortured him in the previous timeline. Naturally, the current Pride wants things to go a complete 180. Which they do. She becomes engaged to Leon, and from there it's revealed that Leon is actually a pretty nice guy. He's next in line to ascend his nation's throne, and he wants to be a king the people desire. His true love is for his people, not for random women, and certainly not for himself. It's a noble pursuit, and it makes Leon a likable character. Leon has jealous brothers eyeing the throne for themselves, and they gaslight him into thinking his desires are actually banal and narcissistic, while also doing what they can behind the scenes to further tarnish his reputation. Their gaslighting works, and the fact that it has Leon questioning his own worth makes him seem more human.

All of the ingredients for internal conflict are there. We have Pride's desire to undo the evil her previous incarnation caused, along with a prince facing his own personal moral dilemma, and his two brothers pushing that moral dilemma to usurp the throne. Even Stale and Arthur, who are more eager than ever to protect Pride at all costs, develop suspicion towards Leon's relationship with her (more on this in a bit). There's no need for big bangs and booms here. It all ends with Pride going up to bat for Leon against scrutiny, and then giving him a heart-to-heart pep talk about his desires that brings the arc to a nice, non-violent, cathartic conclusion.

The problem rests in the execution of it all. The biggest threat to Leon's coronation is the baseless rumors that he's a womanizing flirt, which apparently is enough for the people to lose trust in him. On one hand, I get it. You'd rather your leader take the time to serve the people instead of his selfish and carnal desires (as an American, don't we all these days?). On the other hand, these rumors, as untrue as they are, still don't amount much. They don't mention if Leon was toxic, abusive, or problematic at all. There's a flashback to the previous timeline where villainess Pride hints that Leon may or may not have cheated on her, but mind you, that is a) undone in the timeline, and b) may be another baseless rumor she's purposely using as an excuse to torture Leon. It feels weak. This plotline reads like high school gossip meant to bring down the prom king. This isn't to say that this couldn't make for an interesting plot point, but by itself, it's never made into a weighty threat. The kind of logic recurs when Leon is drugged and wakes up in a bar looking very unkingly. Instead of knocking him unconscious, why not up the ante and make Leon the victim of an assassination attempt? You could even do it without needing much in the way of action either. A little less Mean Girls, a little more Julius Caesar, is what I'm saying.

The second half of the show heads in the opposite direction. Another prince, this time the arrogant Cedric of the Cercis Kingdom, enters the fray, being the very egoist that Leon is not. After Cedric's haughtiness puts Pride through the wringer, he reveals to her that he wants her kingdom to ally with him to save it from devastation from an invading kingdom. Whereas Leon's conflict gave him some relatability, Cedric's arrogance makes him flat and unlikeable. Which is the point, but still? Besides being a massive creep towards Pride, Cedric lacks Leon's humility, and despite professing loyalty to his kingdom and family, I just don't feel it the same way I feel Leon's loyalty to his people. Even Pride can't stand the sight of Cedric. Sure, Pride allies with Cedric, but it's for the sake of reversing her previous life's villainy. In other words, because the plot says so. And boy, does it with all of the exposition it drops.

So the characters talk about alliances and invasions. And then Pride gives out a little Braveheart speech to rally the troops. And then Cedric tries to apologize to Pride for being such a jerk. And there's that flashback to the previous timeline where Pride forces Cedric to kiss her feet (um, why?). And then war plans are discussed. And then Cedric's older brother becomes ill. And then more build-up happens, and more and more until the first battle of the war just...doesn't happen. It's just a series of “and then”s with no twists or interesting drama. The anime keeps distracting us with nonsense and filler to run out the clock so the big battle can be the thing that kickstarts the third season, should it happen. It's like watching all of the build-up in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers without seeing it paid off by Helm's Deep. It's like every distracting segment was the anime's equivalent of the most annoying version of Columbo imaginable: just one more thing, and then actually wait one more thing, and then okay I mean it just one more thing, yeah but for real though just one more thing...over and over and over.

I will say this. Just like last season, the soundtrack in this season is a symphonic joy to listen to. It swells, it pierces, it moves. And it does wonders in making certain scenes of Last Boss Queen seem more involving and dramatic than they really are. The best tracks here are reserved for Stale and Arthur's scenes together, which of course go through all of the usual talking points regarding their devotion to Pride. Again, they have their initial suspicions toward Leon, but it doesn't invoke the drama I would have liked to see. I wrote in my preview guide entry for Last Boss Queen's second season premiere that I was hoping for a love triangle between Leon, Arthur, and Pride. Maybe it could have also created a rift between Arthur and Stale that would dive deep into their own desires and insecurities. Something like that? It never goes that far, unfortunately. The music's still great, so that helps things, I suppose.

While The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen's second season might not be as consistent as its first, I give it credit for at least trying to be somewhat different. Exchanging your usual thrills and spills for dialogues concerning romance, politics, and desire could have made for a great character drama. If only there were a real sense of conflict.