#final verdict

Here there be spoilers:

Final Verdict: Excellent sports anime - shows the best of each characters and their unique personalities. Very wholesome. Overall- 8/10

Rating: 7/10

With the final episode airing today, I will say that while I know I could have been much more satisfied, I will still sufficiently entertained.

This season is nowhere near close to touching the first - that much is certain. However, with what limitations the production was given, I think people fail to realize that this could have turned out much worse. It still has the brilliant voice acting, music, and animation of the first season (though the latter was downgraded a bit, I will say). Also, though it was no longer following the manga, as an anime-only watcher, it will fairly simple to follow the story and, again, get sufficient enough satisfaction.

I did feel the rushed pacing. It was unavoidable. I wish they could have adapted the whole manga and had three or even four full seasons to completely encompass the story, then I know my satisfied feeling would have increased 100-fold. Still, I choose to look at this for what it is rather than what it could have been, and as it is, the second season of The Promised Neverland is decent enough. The first season is a masterpiece, and this recent addition rode off that and became on par with or a half step above the standard anime series that generally get put out. I think the mere contrast is what has caused a lot of the backlash.

I do plan on reading the manga eventually to understand the differences. Like I said, I found nothing really harmful from the show, but I would like to see the story as originally intended. Who knows? Maybe this will get the reboot treatment a few years down the line ala FMA: Brotherhood, Fruits Basket, and Blue Exorcist.

“   ...I didn’t want to hurt her -- I didn’t think she’d care....   ”

“   ...I... I don’t know... it was shitty... I don’t have an excuse,   ”

Taking their name from a tony area of Seoul packed with doctors' offices, Gangnam beauties are people who use obvious plastic surgery to change how they look. So what happens when a girl who's felt ugly for her whole life becomes a Gangnam beauty, getting a gorgeous new face through plastic surgery? In this sweet, big-hearted drama, Kang Mi Rae learns that it was her interior that needed fixing all along.

I came into the show with little interest in seeing a story about someone superficial enough to get plastic surgery, but I left it with a new appreciation of what it means to be a woman in world that's focused on appearances. With its cast of sympathetically drawn college kids, strong production values, and slice-of-life storytelling, Gangnam Beauty ended up being one of my favorite dramas in recent memory. It avoids almost all of the pratfalls that similar kdramas usually fall into--here, you're safe from fat suits and girlie makeovers. Instead, its characters struggle with themselves but ultimately get to be who they want to be, whether that's a little chunky, a little androgynous, or a even little surgically altered.