Rewrite: Moon and Terra

If you’ve watched season one of Rewrite, then you must know how big of a disappointment it was. It didn’t stay faithful to its manga. It didn’t make sense in any way. Key’s work is trendy amongst the masses and was always fun. The manga is relatively nice, but it's a complete mess when it comes to the anime adaptation. Today, we’re going to be talking about the second season of Rewrite. 8bit came forward and took the project in an attempt to make things better. However, did it succeed in making things better? Let’s find out in our in-depth review of the second season of Rewrite down below!

Rewrite 2nd Season | Moon and Terra | Pinnedupink.com

Rewrite season two opens right where season one had ended. After the end of the world, we see Kotaru traveling through different timelines before finally waking up in the city of Kazamatsuri, which was utterly destroyed. The city was empty, with no one else but Kotaru and Kagari. Kagari was unable to speak. Kotaru is constantly trying to make her communicate with him. Danger around Kotaru has not ended yet. The Saint of Gaia, Sakura Kashima, can now send monsters in this timeline as well. Kotarou needs to defend the Key, Kagari, in order to save humanity. For that, he summoned a bunch of people for the last battle.

Now, from the very start, the continuation of the first season didn’t really make sense. If someone hasn’t gone through the visual novel first and is watching the new season without any prior information, it will confuse them right away. The pacing of this season is also horrible. The events did not unfold appropriately because of the lack of time. That’s precisely what happened in the first season as well. We’re introduced to a character in one episode, making us feel that character is an important one. But in the next one, we see no trace of that character.

There are a bunch of tragic scenes in this anime, but due to the lack of proper pacing, we aren’t able to process the sad events, and because of that, we find no value in the anime.

One good thing about this anime is that the story’s background work didn’t have to be explained this season. We see Kotaru’s growth in this entire series. The process of his growth and development sometimes gets messy, but the storytelling is still better than in the previous season.

Overall, the biggest flaw of this series was the lack of time to explain the events. There was indeed some potential in the second season to get things right. However, due to the lack of proper storytelling and proper pacing, the second season was also a disappointment.

The story of the second season of Rewrite is told through the internal monologue of Kotaru, and it naturally makes him the sole focus of the series. The focus is not on the girls around him, and it’s also not on the whole thing involving Gaia. Kotaru is the only one who gets all the limelight throughout the series. Kotaru’s character is very complex. He was not adequately explored due to the lack of proper pacing. Kotaru’s character in the second season is much better than how it was in the first season. However, his character still feels incomplete because of a lack of information about his powers.

The rest of the characters in the series only exist for Kotaru to carry out his plan. They’re all the side characters. They don’t seem to be a part of the main cast but play vital roles in pushing and influencing Kotaru. They don’t go through any development, but they move the story forward. So, the character department of this season isn’t disappointing.

8bit copied the design of Key. Both seasons’ artworks are similar, but the CGI made the monsters look awful. The action scenes are not very fluid but bearable to watch. The animation is average. Like in season one, the CGI ruined the animation.

The second season features the same opening soundtrack as the Visual Novel. It sounds amazing. Those of you who’ve played the Visual Novel know what I’m talking about. The voice actors did a fantastic job voicing the characters. They’re the same as the Visual Novel, so they retain their importance and appeal. However, a few scenes are just terrible, and some background sounds just lose their charm. Overall, the OSTs lose their impact because of the awful scenes but sound great when we listen to them separately.

A good adaptation should not need any other medium to explain the story. It should stand out on its own. Sadly, both Rewrite seasons suffer from the problem of poor storytelling and terrible pacing. While the first season of Rewrite was awful, the second season was not impressive as well. So, Rewrite’s adaptation was a big fail, and the second season couldn’t save itself from the mistakes made in the first season.