GATE 2nd Season

GATE 2nd Season

GATE 2nd Season anime series cover art
GATE 2nd Season

Overview

Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There! Fire Dragon Arc, also known as GATE 2nd Season (Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri 2nd Season / GATE 自衛隊 彼の地にて、斯く戦えり 第2クール), is the second season of the anime series GATE — sort of. I’ll come back to why it may or may not actually be the second season in a bit.

It’s been over a year since I reviewed the first season of this series, and because of that I actually had no idea what was going on when I picked up this season. I knew the protagonist, Itami, was an otaku and I knew Rory Mercury existed, but other than that I had no idea.

Luckily for me, it didn’t take long for the series to remind me that it has a character with one of the best names in all of anime: Princess Piña Co Lada. I guarantee I mentioned how good her name is in my original review, and I just want you to know that it’s still amazing over a year later.

So, the first season was (probably) all about Itami and the rest of the JSDF conquering the people beyond the gate. He made some friends, blew some stuff up, and helped to bring about an inter-dimensional peace treaty — sort of.

But this second season isn’t quite the same. The JSDF no longer need to conquer territory — they have a base camp set up beyond the gate. Now, their primary mission is to strengthen their ties with the empire in which the gate is located. And to do this, they need to defeat some new, and returning, enemies.

First there’s a fire dragon which needs to be dealt with, then a crazy prince, and finally a bunny girl.

Second Cour or Second Season?

However, before I get into the fire dragon, crazy prince, and bunny girl, I mentioned that this might not actually be a second season. Really, it’s more like the second cour of the first season and there just happened to be a break between the two.

The first season aired during the Summer 2015 season while the second aired during the Winter 2016 season. That means there was only the Fall season separating the two. Needless to say, this isn’t exactly normal — though Overlord has done this since then.

The Rose-Order of Knights from the anime series GATE 2nd Season
The Rose-Order of Knights

The fact that these two seasons were so close together makes me think that they may have originally been meant to be a singular season. Further proof for this is in how the second season starts us off right in the middle of the action.

This is the main reason why I was so confused when I started watching this season. Sure, for those who watched this series as it aired, they probably remembered where the first season left off. But for me, someone who had gone a year without watching the second season, the first episode made little sense.

For example, I had completely forgotten that Tuka Luna Marceau existed, let alone that she was mentally broken due to the death of her father. Basically, I didn’t remember any of the main characters’ origin stories. Well, except for Rory Mercury, but how could I forget about the best girl?

I actually did forget about the best girl, because it’s Piña Co Lada, not Rory Mercury.

“New” Characters

The first new character isn’t actually new. This is Yao Ha Ducy, a dark elf whose clan lives in a forest nestled within a canyon. She plays some role in the first season, but other than showing up and asking for Itami’s help, I’m not sure what else she did.

The thing she needs Itami’s help with is slaying the fire dragon which wiped out Tuka’s village. After killing all of the wood elves, the dragon made its way to the dark elves’ domain. And the reason Yao is seeking out Itami isn’t just because of the JSDF’s overwhelming strength. She’s also heard that he’ll help anyone in need.

The next character is actually new as far as I know. His name is Zorzal El Caesar and he’s the elder brother of Piña Co Lada. That means he’s the prince of the empire — well, one of two princes. The other prince isn’t quite as ambitious as Zorzal is and so isn’t named as the crown prince.

If there’s one thing Zorzal hates, it’s the JSDF. After being named as crown prince, Zorzal takes an anti-peace stance against Japan. He also somehow believes that the empire’s army can stand up against them despite the fact that the JSDF could wipe the empire off the map.

Former Queen Tyuule from the anime series GATE 2nd Season
Former Queen Tyuule

The final character I want to mention is Tyuule, the former queen of the Warrior Bunny Tribe and current sex slave of Zorzal. If there’s one good thing we can say about Zorzal is that at least he isn’t racist — and he has good taste in bunny girls.

I’d say Tyuule is the third best girl after Piña Co Lada and Rory Mercury.

Conclusion

Surprisingly, GATE 2nd Season is better than the first. I gave this season a 7/10, and that was actually mainly due to Tyuule. Zorzal was a pretty good character too, but I think it was the inclusion of Tyuule that made him so interesting. Their evolving dynamic was definitely one of the best aspects.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the series actually ends here. The ending seemed to be in an odd spot with a bunch of plot points left unfinished. I assume the light novels continue the story after this point, but I doubt there will ever be another season.

As for the OP, it was very similar to the OP of the first season, probably because it was by the same artists. And, since I also felt like it was similar to the Alderamin on the Sky OP, I looked it up and that’s by the same artists, Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets, as well.

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