The Fall 2023 Anime Preview Guide

HYPNOSISMIC -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima PLUS Season 2

Legendary rap group The Dirty Dawg could have taken Japan by storm, but then they broke up. Now each member fights in one of the four rival groups. Battles for turf are fought with rap and the Hypnosis Mic, a microphone that can affect the human spirit.

HYPNOSISMIC -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima PLUS Season 2 is King Records' rap-themed project featuring voice actors who rap in the personas of original characters that launched in September 2017. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Fridays.

HypMic has always, from its very inception, been A Lot. Be it the ridiculous premise, garish aesthetic, or full-to-bursting cast, it's always put its whole ass into everything, and that energy did it a lot of favors. However, even in its first season, the show started to wear thin once the novelty of its dopey premise wore off, leaving us with a bunch of gimmicky characters who rapped like Vanilla Ice covering MC Hammer. With season two, this isn't even the only battle rap anime airing this season, and this premiere episode doesn't do much to quell my fear that the shine has worn off this property.

Part of that fatigue is thanks to the sheer size of the cast. On top of the 12 boys from season one, we've got two new rap trios to introduce alongside a new villain, and after a while, it almost feels like self-parody. 70% of this premiere is just introducing or re-introducing our cast, having them perform their particular gimmick, and then cutting away to the next group. It doesn't help that none of these new guys seem particularly interesting, and their addition primarily serves to water down the entire cast until it feels like you're swimming in an ocean of dudes. This episode even brings back the masked bank robber from the season one premiere, and while the joke is heightened, it can't help but feel like we're going through the motions.

There's still some life here, at least regarding our new villain. The one aspect of HypMic that still has room to escalate is its bonkers backstory of matriarchal tyranny replacing war with rap battles, and the new bad guy seems to be built right into that wacky premise. The joke may be played out, but I still giggled when our mysterious, cloaked assassin pulled out a microphone as he went to kill (well, render unconscious via sick rap) a government official. His overwrought dialogue and cryptic warnings offer some much-appreciated camp to the whole premiere, and if I watch any more of this show, it'll probably be to learn what his whole deal is.

It certainly won't be for the music. The three years away sadly have not improved the level of these boys' rhymes. While not quite at the level of full-on cringe rap, these are still absolutely garbage bars. The only saving graces are the audio production and the fact that we're limited to just a single Buster Bros!!! track rather than getting a full-court press from the whole cast. The weak lines and weaker flows used to be part of the charm here, but now that this franchise is competing with halfway decent songs? It's just rough to sit through. Diehard fans of the characters, the voice cast, or, god forbid, the music will probably find plenty to like here since it's all more of the same. As a casual observer, I feel like the luster is gone.