Chained Soldier Season 2

Episode 6

With how episodic and structureless this second season of Chained Solider has been, I wasn't expecting “A New Azuma” to be as much of a conclusion to a multi-part storyline as it ended up being. I'm glad it ended up being the case, though, because this week redeems the lackluster first half of the double-feature just enough for me to give the whole thing a pass. Don't get me wrong, this still isn't great storytelling; both episodes are little more than overlong fight scenes with a bit of exposition peppered in throughout. Still, “A New Azuma” got me to care just a teensy bit about all of Himari's silly family drama, which is more than I can say about the last episode.

The key ingredient turns out to be Himari's mother, who actually makes for a decent antagonist compared to Homare, who started out with some promise, but got derailed by a lame superpower and an even lamer battle with our heroes. Fubuki, though, is a dang-ass freak through and through, which makes her a prime foil for her relatively vanilla daughter. While Chained Soldier is still far too tame with the fanservice, this week, I appreciated how Fubuki got things started by bringing some much-needed depravity to Himari and Yuuki's spit-swapping Reward from earlier. Kudos to the show for amplifying the kink-factor tenfold by simply having Fubuki cradle Yuuki's bony little ass and instruct her daughter on the proper techniques of lavishing her man with all of that nasty hentai licking. It may not be for me, personally, but at least there's some pervert out there who is walking away from Chained Soldier satisfied, today. Again, this is more then you could ever say about the last episode.

Unfortunately, the one thing you can say about this week and last week's episode is that the action is still just not up to par. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, and Himari fighting her mother solo-style at least gives the whole encounter some proper dramatic weight. At no point could I be bothered to care about who would actually end up becoming the new Azuma matriarch, but I did kind of care about getting to see Himari stand up to her domineering mother and prove herself to herself, and to her friends, even if the Azuma family ends up being run by the real boss bitch of the family. It's all probably for the best, anyways. This clan of psychos needs to be run by the kind of deviant who can tell her daughter to take it nice and slow with the neck-licking of the boy-toy mere minutes before whooping said daughter's ass in a Dragon Ball Z fight.

We also get another check in with the Thunder Gods, this week, and I have to admit that I was a little surprised at how much time we ended up spending with them given that the show's ostensible villains have barely done a damned thing all season. It all mostly ended up feeling like padding, to be honest, but I do like this Kuusetsu gal that's so gleefully stealing the spotlight whenever she's on screen. She's a pesky little gremlin who can transform on a dime and obliterate the rib-cages of anyone stupid enough to talk smack to her face. What's not to like? The end of the episode makes her arrival on the surface world seem like the kind of big event that may finally give this season some more meaningful direction, so I say bring it on.

Episode Rating:

Chained Soldier Season 2 is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.