Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest Season 2

Episode 5

As if to keep up that rapid run-through of pacing I praised last week, Arifureta in this episode opens with a single painted shot of myu tearfully watching Hajime-papa drive off into the sunset in his submarine. Sorry kiddo, these labyrinths aren't going to explore themselves! Besides, such a dangerous dungeon would be no place for such a liability as a little mer-kid, especially since what this episode actually turns out to be about is the other major liability that's now occupying Team Hajime. Yes, after five episodes, it's finally time for Arifureta's second season to actually do something with Kaori, something I was definitely looking forward to. It's a good indulgence to see, as a way to spice up the kind of dungeon-dive this series has so soundly run into the ground at this point.

Seriously, if you've been keeping up with Arifureta all the way through so far, you'll know the drill by now. All the fantasy-babble about using moon energy from magical artifacts to open up underground doors and confront a regenerating goo monster aren't going to spice up the motions we're used to going through by now. I'm sure the dedicated Arifureta fans in the audience are still specifically here for the endless scenes of Hajime just pulling weapons and machinery out of his ass, or distractions like Shea's overt mid-battle plan to get him to rub her boobs. And lord knows I'm still appreciative of this second season's ability to render a monster for the gang to fight that doesn't look like some early-2000's TurboSquid nightmare.

But the real reinvigorating factor is, as I alluded to, Kaori. Running through the regular battle antics as otherwise usual lets Arifureta slip in regular shots of Kaori chafing under her inability to contribute to battle in time with the others, or mentally noting how outclassed she is by what they can do. On one level, it's an effective new way to showcase an idea from earlier in the show: How the other characters have been brought up to superpowered speed just by being carried by Hajime and Yue this far into the adventure. Reflective viewers will comparatively recall the case of Shea from partway through the first season, and be sure to file that mental note away for later. But the other point of comparison goes back even further than that, what with Arifureta originally starting with Hajime being an ill-fitting outcast among his crew of classmates, only to put together this whole team of outcasts now that Kaori finds herself struggling to gel with.

This focus on setting up actual, big-people character development does mean that Kaori's interactions this episode don't get to be as amusingly centered around roasting Hajime the way I enjoyed so much at the beginning of this season. She does get in one cutting dunk on Yue earlier, but the rest is more seriously structured on interrogating her interior inferiority. That even extends to Arifureta attempting to deploy some more weighty dramatic action scenes than normal, to mixed results. Hajime and Kaori winding up in an illusory war-space where they're attacked by spooky ghost pirates is technically an interesting setpiece, but it passes too quickly and with little mechanical explanation than I've come to expect from this series for it to ultimately contribute much to the overall vibe of the episode. The most it ends up offering is the suggestion that the devastation of war in this world isn't down to the follies of man, but rather the machinations of the crazed gods, which is certainly some kind of societal take. Otherwise it's here just to put Kaori through a situation that can actually be construed as traumatizing to some degree so she'll have that to reflect on later as her and Hajime converse about how she's fitting in as a main character in this series.

I do question how much Kaori actually needed to learn empathy for Hajime's situation, given that the whole thing at the beginning of the story was that she was one of the few people who actually acknowledged and treated him as a person to begin with. Otherwise, this gets to be an odd tough-love heart-to-heart from Hajime to Kaori, complete with him having to directly turn down her obvious affection for him. There's an understood familiarity between the characters that I like seeing come through in the dialogue here, even absent the comedic element of Kaori dragging Hajime for his edgelord otaku indulgences. And like I said, the invocation of how far Shea has come as a point of comparison shows the storytelling well paying attention to itself. I just also have to wonder where else they're actually going to go with this, that the best they could do was spotlight Kaori's momentary inferiority complex as a way to spice up the show's now-standard dungeon-run rut. Keep using those different dynamics for something, guys!

Oh and this one does also continue the season's tradition of an episode-ending check-in with the classmate cast. This time, Ai-Chan-Sensei gets ambushed by an evil nun and kidnapped for some nefarious purpose! Said nun initially tries to use creepy magic hypnosis on her, but when that doesn't work, the sinister sister instead immediately just sucker-punches the tiny teacher in the gut. It's a perfect moment of unintentional structural hilarity and I can only hope Arifureta throws more stuff like that into these miniature bonus episodes we get at the end of every week. Keep having fun, you weird isekai indulgence.

Rating:

Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest Season 2 is currently streaming on Funimation.

Chris is a freelance writer who appreciates anime, action figures, and additional ancillary artistry. He can be found staying up way too late posting screencaps on his Twitter.