Ao no Miburo: Serizawa Ansatsu-hen

It's a shame that I see almost no one talking about this show. Season 2 felt like a sizable improvement over the first one, although I can't blame people too much if they didn't want to continue after it. However, I feel like sticking with it was the right call.

Unlike the first season that mainly focuses on establishing the Miburo and their conflict against antagonist factions, this season is solely focused on the internal affairs and problems of the Miburo itself. Characters get fleshed out way more and the tragedy element is portrayed in a tasteful manner.

Obviously if you know history and based on the ... title of this season alone the arc covered here won't be a big surprise. But the writer clearly knew that and instead of trying to make it more mysterious, opted for a presentation where the viewer is expected to know roughly what's going to happen. But despite that, it still keeps you on your toes and the intensity in many of the scenes is solid.

If you thought the first season was at least decent, I encourage giving this one still a try. The tonal and focus shifts made it more enjoyable for me personally. Hoping there will be a third season announced at some point.

This was an excellent follow up to first season. And it is much more dramatic as it handles the very early years of Miburo, before they became famous Shinsengumi. Those who love history and samurai themes will adore this show.

Animation and music: very good. Animation is solid and fluent and the battle scenes are done great. Music is great in creating the proper atmosphere. Shame that there are noticeable tracks, although I noticed a few similar ones they used from first season.

Overall - animation and music are very good, deserving of praise.

Characters: now this is where the story shines as most of the main cast ... is facing one dilemma or the other. The headlight is put on Serizawa and Nio, who are two more prominent figures of this show so far. From the start to finish we see them struggle, doubt, getting inspired and in the end accepting reality for what it is. It is prime example of good character writing and I love it. The rest are not shy of it as well, especially young Taro who grew a bit this season and same as Nio accepted reality for what it is and march forward.

Overall - characters are done great, their fears and anxiety are explored throughout the story and we are also shown their struggle and acceptance in the end.

Story: whoever knows history will know what will the main story focus be in his case. I cannot spoilt it as it is the core of the later half of the show, I will just say that historically this was the time when Miburo was made into Shinsengumi most people have heard about today. And it's transformation was neither peaceful not bloodless. As for non-historical content the story also deals with various characters and their motivations and fears. And it is these two things that make this story great. Despite just being a small part of a much bigger picture.

Overall - the story follows historical content that will make most history fans happy. And it is not lacking in other departments as well.

Overall grade: 10 for me as history buff. Realistically this show deserves a solid 8. It picks up where first season left and upgrades everything.

I would recommend this anime to history buffs and others who may enjoy the good character development. The first season may not be of such quality but it is also a solid anime to watch, and it is definitely worth it now when sequel is this good. If they make a season 3 I will watch it for sure.

This is gonna be a review of both seasons together. I have a soft spot for anime that take place in a historical Japanese setting like the Sengoku or Edo periods and revolve around Samurai. That’s in no way an unpopular opinion or a hot take, I’m pretty sure 99.99 percent of my fellow weebs out there would agree with me. However for me that also means, in a lot of cases, forgiving many of an anime’s flaws if it has cool fights, fun characters and, as a bonus, engaging drama revolving around the time period, even if it doesn’t necessarily have ... the best animation or isn’t the tightest written in the world. And I think that’s a great description of Blue Miburo. It has fun fights, although the animation could be better at times. The characters aren’t the most complex, but they’re not one dimensional, and most of them are fun. Especially the main male character, Nio Chirinu. I love his sunshine personality, but he’s also able to be serious when the situation calls for it, and he gets by far the most character development of anyone in the series. While there are serious and dramatic moments, the majority of the series is pretty light hearted. This is especially the case in season 1. Season 2 is actually serious for a much larger percentage of it. There’s not anything else for me to say about this though. It was fun, but not amazing. It certainly won’t stand up to the best in the genre like Rurouni Kenshin, Peace Maker Kurogane, or Basilisk, but I’m glad I watched it though.