How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω (Season Two)

Diablo can’t even fall out of the sky without landing in the middle of trouble! This time, he’s found a head priest that is being hunted by the church and since she asked for his help, he can’t really walk away!
How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω (Season Two)
What did you watch?
I think it’s well documented that I loved the first season of How Not to Summon a Demon Lord. I reviewed it here and on Ecchi Hunter, so when the second season was released, I got a little excited and decided to write posts for both sites again. That’s a whole lot of Demon Lord! As my schedule has changed a little I decided to wait until it had aired so that I could attack it in as few sittings as possible. I’m definitely a binge-watcher and this helps me to immerse myself. So, get ready for my thoughts on season two!

What happened?
Diablo was experimenting with magic that could make an object fly. Everything was going well, but then the magic started to fail and Diablo was unceremoniously dropped into the forest. Luckily, a giant mushroom broke his fall, but things were about to get a lot more complicated. He had fallen into the middle of a battle, all be it incredibly one-sided, and was now being revered as God!
Lumachina, the head priest of the church had been praying for help from God as the church tried to kill her for interfering with their less than holy schemes. How could Diablo refuse a beautiful woman, especially when someone was trying to kill her? Well, he couldn’t, but that wasn’t the end of it. She asked him to escort her to the Head Paladin who might still be loyal to her and would help her in her time of need.

What did you think?
Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with this season. Not the same level of disappointment as season two of The Promised Neverland, but it was a similar situation. The second season failed to live up to the first season, which might have been hard anyway. The animation was lacking with lots of fight scenes reduced to still images. The story really didn’t resonate with me and I found large parts of it to be kind of boring and even worse, they did nothing for the overall story. Even the villains were worse than last season. Maybe they shouldn’t have ended season one with Diablo defeating the Demon Lord, Krebskulm.

What was your favourite moment?
I think the closest this season came to anything the first season offered was the scene between Diablo and Rose where he helped to charge her battery. That’s not a euphemism either. She’s an android and required his magic to recharge. It was funny and awkward all at the same time and Diablo’s internal monologue was great. In fact, Rose was probably the best thing to come out of this season and ironically, she’s the only person that looks like she’ll become a regular if it continues.

What was your least favourite moment?
There were a few. I found Diablo’s dungeon to be quite underwhelming when this should have been a much more important part of the season. It would have been best if it really was terrifying and not a bit goofy. However, not much can compete with the anticlimax that was the fight with Europa/Vishos which was the climax. The fight really was dull. Lumachina removed the monster’s shields with her miracle and then Diablo just obliterated it. There was so much potential to make the fight epic, but they either ran out of time and/or money.

Who was your favourite character?
I think that Shera and Rem were criminally underused in this season. For the most part, they were reduced to cheerleaders and observers. I’ve already mentioned Rose, who was awesome. However, there was another character that caught my eye and she could be another that plays some part in another season. She is certainly worth it. I’m, of course, talking about Fanis Laminitus. She’s the one with the huge magical gun! I’d watch a series just about her, but that’s just me.

Who was your least favourite character?
This may surprise you, especially as she was pretty much the main character behind the story… oh, maybe not then. Anyhow, Lumachina was an awful character. She was too naive and righteous. I mentioned in one of the episode reviews how there was no real contrast with the characters which seemed to make Diablo go soft. Well, she was the driving factor behind that, always wanting to do things the “right” way. In the end, I think even Diablo was glad to be away from her.

Would you like some more?
So, here’s the problem. I loved the first season enough that I would continue to watch more seasons in the hope that it one day recaptures the magic. This season really didn’t do it. Everything that season one got right, this season failed to live up to, offering a shallow imitation and it really didn’t work. I like Diablo, Shera, and Rem. The fact that Rose has now joined them can only be a good thing. They just need a real quest to go after. They need to raise the stakes!

What have you learnt?
Sequels are tough. You’ve either got to match the output of the first season or better it, and oftentimes, matching it won’t be enough. It’s not enough to have a group of characters that the fans have bought into and just expect them to accept them doing something less. I think the main reason behind this is that the original story is written as just that – a complete story. The author doesn’t know if it will continue until they see how it does.
They’ve put everything into the first season, including the main boss, Krebskulm in this instance. So, going forward, how do you introduce something more dangerous and deadly. In this instance, they failed to do that and it showed. Vishos was a massive downgrade as were all the villains in this series. Things need to progress, they need to get harder and the heroes need to become stronger or more resourceful.
None of those things happened and as a result, this entire season felt like a side quest. It’s basically filler and that’s a disappointment, especially for those of us that loved the first season and were hoping for more of the same.

Other Posts in the Series
Series Information
English Title | How Not to Summon a Demon Lord |
Japanese Title | Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu |
Genres | Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Isekai, Romance |
Anime
Season One
Season Two
Manga
Series | How Not to Summon a Demon Lord | |
Author | Yukiya Murasaki | |
Artist | Naoto Fukuda | |
Volumes | Ongoing | Chapters |
1 | I’m Dangerous, I Swear! | 1-4 |
2 | Overpowered Overlord! | 5-9 |
3 | Keyboard Warrior! | 10-14 |
