[EXPRESSO] Netflix’s One Piece (Season 2) (2026) | Grand Line Rules

The live action adventures of the Straw Hats continue in this second season (also made up of 8 long episodes), that covers from the Logue/Rogue Town Arc up to the conclusion of the Drum Island story arc, so it means Little Garden and Whispey Peak are in it, while seeding and teasing the main Alabasta arc that is likely gonna be the focus of Season 3.

Despite the variations to the plot with the Marine Festival in Rogue Town (among other things i will not spoil), you can rest assured Smoker’s pants still hunger for ice cream.

What can i say, it’s a fuckin miracle how not only the live action Netflix adaptation of One Piece is good, it’s great, it’s way better than it had any logical sense being, especially given Netflix track record and the rightfully frowned idea of turning animated series into live action.

Looking at you again, Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop.

Besides working as an incredible gateway for people to actually get invested in the manga and One Piece as a whole, offering something new for the many people already more than familiar with the story…. to be honest this is even better than season 1, and i’m not just talking about how the budget for this season clearly was a lot bigger than for the previous one,

the casting keeps getting even better, i’m honestly impressed, and they do commit, no matter how extra silly some already ridiculous designs were, we’re going all in, and it’s beautiful, perfectly in tone with its source material, throwing various little references on the sly for long time fans to get, made “just” because the people making the show actually love One Piece for what it is, without having to feel “shame” for it because someone told them they should.

The Netflix’s One Piece Season 2 review delay of sorts

I was planning of doing a full review for the second season of the One Piece live action series that drops tomorrow, scheduled to release by the end of the month, but due the anime new scheduling and no news about the supposed new film in the works, i’d figured we’ll do a full lenght review of Netflix’s One Piece in August, which is basically “One Piece Month” by now, since i don’t wanna rush this one and i have more pressing IRL things to deal with.

I’ll have an EXPRESSO review of the second season out in a few days, instead, we will still close March on something cartoony anyway, as you will see.

[EXPRESSO] Alice In Borderland (Season Two) (2022) | Fallen Figures

After a good year plus of waiting, the second season of Alice In Borderland is here (again, as a Netflix exclusive show), picking up where the cliffhanger finale left our protagonists, who now are pretty much forced to confront the new games held by the high ranking card figures, with teams of “inhabitants” that challenge the players directly, in the hope of figuring out a way to come back home, or if there’s even a way out to begin with..

There are some surprise comebacks, new faces, and the various games are quite entertaining and creative, the returning characters get more characterization, and ultimately we also learn a lot more about this “Borderland” world, even though we don’t get many answers because we’d lose that vague mystique and there’s technically enough source material for a third season.

Speaking of which, while i’m personally kinda tempted to lower the overall score/vote for the ending alone – that and some really cliched and basic philosophical wafflings – … i will give it credit since it could work as a proper conclusion for the series overall.

As i said before, you can clearly tell it’s adapted from a manga series, one that draw easily into the popular branch of suspense/supernatural death games (very akin to The World Ends With You crossed with stuff like As The Gods Will) and also belongs to the battle royale subgenre, though this live-action adaptation had the accidental luxury of releasing worlwide just before Squid Game – and its craze that re-popularized the battle royale – came into existence.

Overall, i’ve enjoyed this one more than the first season, it’s just more compelling in terms of characters, death games and stakes, making me surprisingly glad i gave it a chance, even if it’s a bit flawed at times.

[EXPRESSO] Pacific Rim: The Black (Season Two) (2022) | Kaiju Kult

Well, look’s who back, a series that i honestly even forgot existed, but they did announced this second (and final) season, guess that branding helped.

So yeah, while i didn’t hate the first season, Pacific Rim The Black was kinda the perfect example of “Netflix anime”, as in, it looks like anime, it’s produced by an anime company and japanese directors, but you could tell it’s written by non-japanese staff.

Which isn’t necessarily an issue, but you just can tell right away and it creates this slight disconnect, and due to that once again it’s hard to say for whom exactly this is made for exactly, given it’s still made in okayish but still janky 3D CG (and the specific “3D CG anime jank” of Polygon Pictures output), which is kinda offputting for most of the self-proclaimed “anime enthusiasts”.

But on the flipside, it’s not that bad, it’s honestly alright, it’s entertaining enough and this one picks from the point where the first season started having some interesting worldbuilding and character development, and manages to make the plot have some purpose (though it kinda has to, since this is the final season), introducing a death cult of Kaiju worshippers.

It’s an actual improvement over the first season, the writing it’s still nothing impressive, but it’s better, though despite being just another 7 episodes, i did wonder if it was ever supposed to be longer, as some resolutions and events happen very quickly, almost abruptly so.

Again, it’s alright, but as the idea of anime series based on Pacific Rim makes a lot of sense if you think about it, it kinda let you wish it had better animation and a slightly longer lenght.

Still, for a spin-off “western-ish anime” series that didn’t need to exist in the first place… it’s decent.

Yuru Camp/Laid Back Camp (Season Two) (2021) [REVIEW] | A Comf Supreme

I’ve been waiting for a second season of Yuru Camp for 3 years, like most fans of the series, and i was ready to “jump on it” as soon it was announced, Room Camp was nice and served its purpose, but my lust for more comforting camping and anime girls being cozy in a world where you still can.

Not that i was gonna go camping anyway even without the pandemic thing, at least not in the japanese mountains, probably i would have stayed at home and catched up with the episodes late at night after work, with a blanket and hot cocoa, just to enhance the experience. 🙂

Given the nature of the show and the fact i “recently” reviewed the first season and the short spin-off series, i won’t be going over what the series is about in detail or attempt a plot summary because i would need to describe what happens in every single episodes, and still, it wouldn’t work because it’s a slice of life about camping, with 5 young girls going around and “relax to the max” with said outdoor activity and all that it entails.

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