The characters are their old selves. Moka is still shy and, in her “true” form, overpowered. Kurumu still forces Tsukune to motorboat her bust every episode while Yukari frets over her small chest. Mizore returns with even more stalking and skulking. In this season, the four continue vying for Tsukune’s love even more overtly. Even their mothers get into the act! The ante is ramped up to the point where Kurumu and Mizore are encouraged to…uh…claim Tsukune by popping his man-cherry. Of course, hilarity is a part of these misguided schemes.
Like the first season, Rosario+Vampire is enjoyable because of the characters. The monster conflicts are secondary and mostly serve to ignite the four’s efforts to push Tsukune to pick one of them. I found the anime funny and endearing despite being formulaic. Rosario+Vampire is also quite self aware. There is a LOT of panty fan service in this season. In fact, it is almost in every scene! However, it even makes fun of this in an episode where Ruby (a witch from the first season) enforces strict dress codes after becoming disgusted by how short the girls were all wearing their skirts. The series knows it is often ridiculous and pokes fun at that fact. I like that.
Moka’s younger sister, Kokoa, is the chief source of conflict in this semester; although some other enemies also return. She is an interesting “villain” since she isn’t evil or anything. She simply wants to see her “true” sister. Although her bat/weapon is extremely annoying. Squeee!
It strikes me as odd how some teachers can keep their jobs after devouring students, but I guess you can say it is (un)natural selection.
I was disappointed with how the series missed developing the character of Moka’s true form and alter personality. In a few episodes that Moka becomes permanent and Tsukune has problems dealing with it. Although that Moka makes a valid point: she was always there. The complexity of this dynamic was dropped far too quickly. The season would be better if it focused more on this conflict than mothers fighting and other shenanigans. Speaking of self aware, the series calls Tsukune out on being a jerk with the way he treats the girls and leads them on – a rather common theme for anime of this type.
I found Rosario+Vampire Season 2 enjoyable. The antics and uncomfortable moments were quite entertaining. I found the episode where everyone visits Tsukune’s family very funny. Unfortunately season 2, like the first season, falls short of being very good with how it fails to focus on some of the more interesting conflicts like Moka’s true form and her relationship with Tsukune. Considering the anime is meant to be a light hearted, high school romp, dealing with such complexities of emotions may not be appropriate. In any case it is a fun anime despite having a lot of fan service.
