Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s time to take care of some unfinished business and by unfinished business I mean reviewing the second season of an anime I should have done months ago. The anime I am talking is Dog Days. I honestly have no idea why it took me so long to review this anime. I had plans to review it after the second season of TWGOK but other things came up and it kept getting pushed down the list. Dog Days was in a sense a fun anime. There was nothing serious or world threatening going on in the anime it was just the story of an athletic middle school kid going to another world where he became a hero and got to have fun. Surprisingly everyone liked it so much that after the first season was over a second season was green lighted and after a year of waiting the second season premiered in the summer of 2012 simply known as Dog Days’. Is it better than the first season? Let’s find out as we dive back into the world of Flonyard and watch Dog Days’.
Opening and Ending Theme
Our opening for this anime is Fearless Hero sung by Nana Mizuki. I’m probably gonna sound like a broken record here but Nana Mizuki sounds amazing as always in her songs. I don’t know what it is she just has that right pitch, tone, and timing in her singing that just makes her songs sound great and a joy to listen to. I’m really regretting not putting her on the Top 12 J-pop/K-pop artist I made months ago. Just consider her in honorable mention and put her in the number 13 spot. The animation is also good in the opening as you’ll see that the budget for the animation has slightly improved this season. Also I like this opening a lot more than the first opening. The ending is Natsu no Yakusoku sung by Yui Horie. Once again another good song I like more than the first ending. I like how calm and peaceful it is but at a few parts it picks up the pace and becomes energetic and fast. Yui also sounds good in the song.
Episodes 1-4
We begin our story 3 months after the end of season 1. It’s summer vacation and Shinku is getting ready to go back to Flonyard this time inviting his best friend Becky voiced by Mikako Takahashi (Shirayuki from Hidan no Aria) and his cousin who is a year older than him and lives in London Nanami voiced by Nana Mizuki (who also voices Rico in the anime as well). Shinku and Becky go on top of the school roof (I wonder how they got into the school seeing that its summer vacation) where they’re greeted by the dog that transported Shinku to Flonyard in the first season. On Nanami’s side she’s approached by a black cat wearing a tie and collar (okay that’s kinda cute) who leads her to a rooftop and transports her to Flonyard where she’s greeted by Leo and not the least bit shocked to see that there’s a catgirl standing before her (I like this girl’s reaction. Play it cool and go with the flow). Also yes, I said catgirl and not furry. When I was doing research on this anime I was shocked to see that many people came to call the people of Flonyard furries. They’re not furries they’re animal people. Furries are animals with human features like Krystal from Star Fox or Lola from the Looney Tunes show. Animal people are actual humans with animal features such as animal ears or tails. There is a difference between the two just like there’s a difference between goths and emos (https://youtu.be/Tn8uNPDltGs). Anyway, on Shinku and Becky’s side they arrive at Flonyard where Milhi along with Éclair, Rico, and Yukikaze are there to welcome him back (Sinku: how has my harem of animal girls been). Even Éclair is happy to see him again (Éclair: it’s. . .it’s not like I missed you or anything *tail wagging*). After they all get done greeting each other they rush off to the battlefield where another war is being fought between Biscotti and Galette to welcome back Sinku. We see that Gaul and his team are tearing through the forces of Biscotti with ease (he’s a killing machine I tells ya) until Sinku arrives on the scene and stops him in his tracks (the prodigal son returns). Becky stays in the camp with Milhi and Nanami stays in the Galette camp as a guest of Leo. As Nanami is watching Sinku fight on the field she becomes very interested and excited in the war (yeah I figured you would like it). Leo sees how excited Nanami is and offers her the chance to become the hero of Galette (what! You guys are already overpowered. You got Gaul and his elite attack force, Leo, and the two captains of the guards. Throw in Nanami who Sinku admits is better and stronger than him and Galette is pretty much unstoppable). Nanami accepts and literally explodes onto the scene to make her debut (approaching the battlefield. From London, England. Weight unknown she is the champion of the junior ironman tournament. Iron Girl Nanami~). As the battle is about to get started we cut to a new kingdom known as the Principality of Pastillage which is home to the squirrel people (woah squirrel people. Haven’t seen those before). We see that there battle is being watched by princess Couvert a girl just a year younger than Shinku and Becky, a slight airhead, and looks up to Milhi and Leo like her big sisters. She’s voiced by Aoi Yūki (Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica). She’s jealous and sad that Biscotti and Galette get to have great wars with each other but Pastillage can’t because it’s too small a nation and doesn’t have anything great to offer. As she’s watching she sees Becky and instantly falls for her (woah Couvert’s a lesbian. I guess she’s at that age of experimenting). She decides to make Becky her hero and rushes off to the battlefield to meet her.
In episode 2 Sinku and Nanami duke it out in a pretty impressive fight sequence which ends in a draw between the two. And for those of you calling bullshit that Nanami is able to match Sinku in battle so quickly after becoming a hero herself keep these 2 things in mind. One, Sinku has openly admitted that Nanami is stronger than him so it’s only natural that she be able to go toe to toe with him. Second, for all we know Leo could have taught Nanami a few tricks off screen and keep in mind Leo is possibly the strongest fighter in the show so when someone like that is teaching you chances are you’re going to catch on to things quickly. Speaking of Leo we also see her take on Éclair and Yukikaze which also ends in a draw. After the fights both side decide to take a break and have lunch tpgether (I LOVE THEIR IDEA OF WAR). Shinku and Nanami try to convince Becky to join the fun but she decides to stay out of it (aww~ but they even did the puppy dog eyes how can you say no to that). Couvert finally shows up with her forces on a flock of birds (ha! A flying squirrel) and she tells the group that she’s joining the war and she wants Becky to be her hero. In the second half of the war Couvert holds Becky captured on a floating platform and the forces of Biscotti and Galette join forces to get Becky back. As all sides fight we see that the army of Pastillage uses guns, an airforce, and artillery fire to fight instead of arrows and swords (oh~ modern day military. Glad to see the show decided to make the army of Pastillage fight differently than the other kingdoms). As everyone is fighting Couvert talks to Becky about how they’re both alike. They both look up to their friends and aspire to be like them someday. Becky is bad at athletics while Sinku and Nanami aren’t and Millhi and Leo are strong rulers while Couvert is new to the whole ruling thing and aspires to be a ruler admired by her subjects. She gives one of the treasured rings of Pastillage to Becky which allows her to become a hero. She accepts the ring and does transformation where we see where all the budget for the anime went into (better enjoy that transformation scene folks because you ain’t ever gonna see that throughout the rest of the anime). She transforms into the hero of Pastillage to end the episode.
In the third episode we see that Becky has a fighting style that’s totally different from Sinku and Nanami’s battling style. Becky instead takes to the skies on a magic machine broom (the Wicked Witch of Flonyard kill her with water) and uses magic cards which unleash explosive magic on her opponents (I play the magic card chain explosion). Becky joins the fight along with Couvert who rides a flying carpet that has a steering wheel with peddles on it for some unknown reason. With their combine powers they manage to take out Rico’s group and turn the tides of battle back in favor of Pastillage. Becky also takes up Sinku and Nanami by herself and beats them both using two of her magic cards which destroys their clothes leaving Sinku in his underwear and Nanami completely naked (you activated my trap card. Clothes remover). Becky than makes her way to Biscotti’s main camp where she takes on Millhi (the winner gets to be Sinku’s number 1 girl and gets to sleep with him). They launch their attacks at each other and hit each other causing both of them to lose their armor and almost be completely naked (their certainly is a lot of striping in this season isn’t there). Becky decides to retreat for now accepting her lost (so it looks Sinku will we sleeping with 2 girls tonight). Couvert attacks Galette’s main camp where she fights Leo (I think we all know the results of this battle). Leo pretty much owns Couvert in the fight and knocks her out earning herself a flawless victory (http://youtu.be/FfvTXACPv30?t=4s). At the end of the war we find out that Galette came in 1st, Biscotti 2nd and Pastillage 3rd. At night everyone celebrates the success of the war and Becky decides to remain the hero of Pastillage. The next day Sinku just gives Becky and Nanami a tour of the castle. Oh and he plays Frisbee with the princess again (it’s the princess of a fucking nation not a lapdog! Show some respect).
Nothing much happens in episode 4. Sinku, Éclair, and Noir go on a summer training camp trip with Yukikaze near a river to learn how to fight against monsters that way if another monster appears like in the 1st season they’ll be ready for it. This episode does make you like Noir more as she does have cute moments and she is quite funny. We also get another Sinku and Éclair moment at night where they talk with each other and Sinku falls asleep in Éclair’s lap (this kid isn’t even close to a typical shounen male character. He’s got balls when it comes to girls). At the end of the episode we see that Sinku, Éclair, and Noir have learned how to produce enough energy to learn the sealing techniques that Yukikaze and Brioche use.
Episodes 5-9
In episode 5 we go to Galette which is a kingdom by the sea (get it because they’re cats? Get it, get it *nudge nudge wink wink*)? We hear that in the small town called Ayase a thief has been robbing people in the streets of everything (and by everything I mean everything including their clothes). Leo and Gaul want to investigate but Violle the leader of the Imperial guards wants them to stay in the castle because the two will go on a rampage and overblow the situation. They decide to send Violle along with Nanami, Vert, and Juane to Ayase to investigate and find the culprit. They arrive at Ayase (which is a very well designed city. It looks like something out of the Edo period or from Rourni Kenshin. Even the residents are dressed in kimonos and everything) where they do some investigating and come up with a plan to use Nanami as bait to lure out the thief (I think the thief is in to animal girls than human girls. Just my opinion). They set their plan in motion at night and fight a wondering samurai (oh my God it’s Kenshin) who they accuse of being the thief but he gives them the slip and goes after the real thief which is a group of rabbits disguising themselves as people to get close to everyone and steal all of their belongings and clothes (clearly these are perverted rabbits). Vert and Juane get ambushed by them and lose all their clothes (Galette’s elite forces folks) but they get new clothes, meet up with the samurai and team up to takeout the playboy bunnies. They round up all the underlings but the big boss bunny tries to escape the town with all the stolen goods (BBB: You’ll never take me alive coppers. Yeah! See! Yeah!). But the bunny gets cutoff by Millhi and Leo who show up to put on a show taking out the bunny while acting like samurais (Samurai Princesses: Wrath of the Bunny coming this summer 2014 on a website near you). They round up all the bunnies and put them in the mountains away from the town and it gets revealed that the wandering samurai is Brioche’s older brother Isuka (makes sense they do look alike. Although it would have been a bit more interesting if they were old lovers).
Moving on to episode 6, Sinku, Millhi, Leo, and Nanami go to Pastillage where they announce they’ll be holding another big war featuring all 3 nations. While there Couvert takes Sinku to the Hero King Hill where they accidently awaken the Demon King Valeri, the ruler of all demons who was sealed away by the Hero King long ago. He’s also naked for some reason (put some clothes on man there are kids in front of you! This season has more nudity in it than a softcore hentai). He puts clothes on (thank God) and goes off to commit his first act of evil. Peeking on the women changing in the palace (that wonderful man! *Isis points AI gun at my head* I mean. . .that perverted bastard). He continues his acts of peeping and lewd behavior as he peeps into the girls’ bath and gets blown away by Nanami and Becky (even the demon king is no match for the dreaded peeping beatdown). He gets blown away and lands near Millhi and Leo outside enjoying tea where the soldiers of Pastillage and Sinku surround him (guards arrest that man on the charges of being a pervert). He lets out his power blowing everyone away and ruining Millhi’s hair and her favorite ribbon. This awakens the man inside Sinku and he walks up to the demon king and punches him right in the face (man Sinku is really stepping up this season. He’s showing balls). Valeri absorbs the magic of everyone except for the 3 heroes and they unleash an assault on him that knocks him out for a little bit but he gets back up. When it seems like nobody knows how to beat him (just keep pounding away at the guy until he either turns into those puff balls or stops moving entirely) the Hero King Adelaide (who is actually a woman so it should be Hero Queen you sexists) appears to fight him. She quickly handles him and forces him to apologize to everyone he harassed (she’s got him whipped. No doubt about it, those two had something “special” in the past). Adelaide and Valeri try to go back to sleep but the monolith were they were sealed has broken down so they’ll be sticking around for a while. Later that night Millhi pays Sinku a night visit where she cuddles with him because he showed off his manly side when he fought Valeri (the scent of manliness is irresistible to women. Now served in a bottle in stores near you).
In episode 7 we find out that Adelaide, Valeri, Isuka, and Brioche are old companions who use to travel together many years ago (just how old are these guys? These guys don’t look a day past 30). They all go to a cave known as the Cave of Sealing to check on the status of demons being converted back into sprites and land gods. Adelaide accidently breaks a seal unleashing tiny mice sprites who can turn anyone back into a child (and to think people spend so much money on makeup to look young). The mice get Adelaide, Valeri, and Brioche which forces Adelaide to call in the other heroes along with Éclair, Yukikaze, and Genoise to help capture all the mice and reseal them (turn on the hero signal). They arrive in the cave via transportation and start taking out the mice (couldn’t they have just summoned a cat sprite to take care of the mice). The mice eventually get Nanami, Éclair, Yukikaze, and Genoise leaving only Sinku and Gaul to fight them off. After receiving crystals from Adelaide they cut the mice off at a dead end in the cave where the mice combine to create a giant mouse that fires energy cannons from its mouth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dERZjJ9anbc). The blast activates the crystals and turns Sinku and Gaul into handsome and smexy shounen men who use their god sealing techniques to defeat the giant mouse. The mouse gets resealed, the girls find the grown-up versions of Sinku and Gaul hot, they all turn back to normal, and the girls have something to look forward to in about 4 to 5 years.
Not much happens in episode 8. Pastillage is holding a music festival and Millhi has been asked to sing. While there she gets attacked by the child of a local cat deity who likes pretty and shining jewelry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8OefkPLlWA) and steals the sacred rings of Millhi and Becky. Sinku and Éclair catch the cat child, get back all the stolen jewelry, and send her back to her home where we find out she’s dating the big boss rabbit from episode 5 (what a very odd couple) and Milhi goes on stage and sings a great song (song and scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhNGSZQKaj4). Probably the most important part of this episode worth mentioning is that the cat child forced Sinku and Éclair to kiss each other and for a short moment they enjoyed it before they started freaking out (Éclair: It’s not like I enjoyed it or anything).
It’s the day of the big war in episode 9 with all 3 countries duking it out and everyone is excited except for Éclair who’s still thinking about the kiss from episode 8. Rico tells Éclair to be honest with her feelings and just admit that she loves Sinku (something that you probably picked up on in the last season). Éclair refuses to listen to Rico and the two have a fight. Their conversation gets overheard by Leo (kinda of forgot she was in this series because we haven’t seen her in a while) who makes a bet with Éclair. She wants to take Éclair one on one on the battlefield and if Leo wins Éclair has to be the captain of Galette’s elite soldiers for the battle and if Éclair wins. . .I don’t know Leo has to wear a frilly pink dress around town for one day or play the E.T video game from start to finish. The two meet on a bridge where they have their one on one battle for everyone to see (show-offs). Because Éclair’s heart is wavering her fighting skills are dull and she easily gets over powered by Leo who keeps beating her each time they clash (Éclair: For truth and justice! (Leo): There is no justice!). When she goes down and seems like she’s lost Rico gets on the intercom and apologizes to Éclair (why? You were right. Éclair needs to be honest with herself. She loves the hero and needs to be honest like the others. If anything Éclair should be apologizing to Rico for making her cry). This gives Éclair the strength to get back up and of course beat Leo (well not really, all she really had to do was break Leo’s sword and armor). Leo retreats for now but tells Éclair that if she ever has problems with love come talk to her or visit Galette’s castle since it’s all female (lucky for Gaul, when puberty hits he’s gonna have the time of his life). We end the episode with Millhi and Rico getting ready to take to the skies and go two on two against Becky and Couverte.
Episodes 10-13
We get a whole slew of one on one battles in episode 10 which are all short but good fights. We get to see Nanami take on Brioche where Nanami actually holds her own against Brioche and manages to make Brioche get serious and unleash her ultimate attack on Nanami just to beat her. Even though Nanami lost she still managed to break Brioche’s armor. We get to see Sinku take on Gaul again where they don’t show the full fight but we find out near the end Sinku beat Gaul. Millhi and Becky have a good mage fight in the sky where I wanna say Becky wins since she’s still conscious at the end of their fight but loses all her powers in the process. The two begin to fall to the ground but someone orders the deus ex Sinku and he flies in to save them. At the end Adelaide joins the war under the disguise of Hero Mask to help Pastillage where she takes on Sinku, Éclair, and Yukikaze.
Things begin to slow down in episode 11. We cut to the end of the war where we see that thanks to Hero Mask Pastillage won the war (I would say I’m surprise but when you have the Hero King or Queen in this case on your team chances are you’re bound to win). After all the festivities of the war are finish we get a body switching story involving Millhi, Sinku, and Yukikaze. Millhi finds a sprite egg left by Adelaide in Brioche’s house the egg hatches and a sprite is born who can switch bodies with the closest person to it. It swaps the bodies of Millhi, Sinku, and Yukikaze making Sinku go into Yukikaze’s body (time for Sinku to experiment), Yukikaze into Millhi’s body, Millhi into the body of the sprite, and the sprite into the body of Sinku who runs off into the woods. The group chases down the sprite, knock it out, and return to their original bodies at the end.
It’s the final day of the festival in episode 12 and they’re going out on a high note by holding a concert in Pastillage with Millhi performing. Before the concert Couvert, Rico, and Noir go into the hidden library because Couvert wants to give Becky a jewel for the returning ritual. They go into the library where they fall into a trap and fall deeper into the library where they keep activating trap after trap after trap (this place is Indiana Jones’ Hell). Becky starts to sense Couvert is in danger (my Couvert senses are tingling) and goes into the library with Sinku to save them. Before going into the library, Becky receives a demon crystal which is the equivalent of the hero crystal Sinku and Gaul use to transform. She uses that crystal to transform into an adult and stop a trap from crushing the gang (not a whole lot of difference in her transformation. All she does is get taller and her hair grows longer. Laziness on the animators there if you ask me). They escape the library and make it just in time for Millhi’s concert.
In the final episode it’s the day before it’s time for Sinku and the others to go home (boo~). So they decide to spend the last day having fun. They go on a walk with the princesses, have a party where Isuka gives them hero blades (you’re giving little kids real blades? I thought this was a safe world), and Sinku gets to sleep in the same bed with Millhi, Becky, and Couvert (age of consent in Japan is 13 so it’s okay). Finally, the day comes for them to go home and they each return to their own homes safely. They also have their memories still intact thanks to Rico’s new summoning technique. They return to their normal lives, Sinku starts to see Becky as a woman instead of a childhood friend and we end with the show promising a third season.
Final Thoughts
This anime was alright. Much like the first season the only major problems is that it suffers from not having a story or villain. But as I said in my first review you don’t watch this anime for its story you watch it because it’s an anime that was meant for just plain fun. Nothing dangerous going on or evil force that needs to be destroyed just our main characters going into a different world, meeting new people, and having fun and this anime does that well. Once again I love their idea of war it’s so fun and exciting. All the characters reprise their roles from the first season with a little character develop for some characters mostly Éclair for finally being able to come to terms with her feelings and admit to herself that she does like Sinku. The new characters are also a nice addition to the show. Nanami is basically the female version of Sinku who’s a little stronger than him and seems to go with the flow of things not worrying. Becky was surprising a good character too. When she came with Sinku I was wondering how they were going to make her fight and they pulled the wool over my eyes and turned her into a mage instead of a fighter that was a smart move. I’ve heard that a lot of people complain about it being unfair that Becky was as strong as Sinku and Nanami but here’s my answer to this complaint. Becky isn’t fighting them physically, she’s fighting them mentally. She’s not locking swords with them she’s using magic cards with spells to fight them and battling them from a distance while planning out her next move. If she was using the same fighting style as Sinku and Nanami I would understand the complaint but when you see her fight you can see the difference in their fighting styles that separates them from each other.
Couvert was a little annoying but at the same time it’s understandable. She’s a kid who just recently became the ruler of her country so she’s still gonna have her childish moments here and there but you know that she’s a person who does love her country and wants to do what’s best for it. Isuka is cool I wish we got the chance to see him fight more I could totally see him and Brioche having an awesome fight with each other. The new characters that I liked the most were Adelaide and Valeri. I love how even the demon king is a good guy in this show. A little perverted but show me a guy who isn’t and I’ll show you a man with no balls. I also liked that they put him in somewhat of a relationship with Adelaide. They don’t come out and say it but it’s hinted that those two had and still have a thing for each other which is why Adelaide always punishes him whenever he acts perverted.
One of the big plus for me this season was that we got to explore more of Flonyard this season, we didn’t just stay in Biscotti we actually got to see the other kingdoms and see how different they are from each other. Biscotti has a more traditional kingdom setting, Galette is a kingdom by the sea but has other towns that are largely influenced by the Edo period, and Pastillage is an artistic kingdom that seems to look a little more advance in terms of technology than the other kingdoms. Speaking of Pastillage I do like that they actually use guns and attack from the sky instead of arrows and staying grounded like Biscotti and Galette. This makes them seem different and add a new element into the war games. The romance factor seems to be growing slow but surly in the series. It’s clear that Sinku’s choices are between Millhi, Becky, and Éclair seeing as how these are the three females he has the best relationship with in the series. If I had to choose I would go with Éclair, she is one of the best tsundere characters I’ve seen and she and Sinku look good together.
The animation is spectacular this season. It looks like it got an upgrade this time around and I like the parts where some of the characters wag their tails and wiggle their ears whenever their happy or excited about something I think that was cute. The music is also very nice this season. Millhi’s song were well sung and the performances actually look like real life performances. The action and fight scenes while short at some parts are good, animated well, and enjoyable to watch.
Is it better than the first season
This is where I see a lot of people disagreeing with me. Personally, I liked this season more than the first season. Why? Because this season was a lot more structured and organized than the first season was in a number of ways. First off, we got to explore more of Flonyard, in the first season all we did was stick around in Biscotti doing nothing and watching Sinku treat Millhi like a lapdog. Second more action scenes this season. I heard a lot of people say the first season had more action in it than the second season I beg to differ. In the first season all we got was like 3 major action scenes. The first was the war in which Sinku first arrived, the second is when Gaul kidnapped Millhi, and the third is when they had to fight that demon sword to free the fox sprite. Meanwhile in the second season we got a war in which they first arrived, training camp action scene, fighting rabbits in Edo town, taking on the demon king, mice demon in a cave, a cat thief, and another war in which we got to see a number of one on one battles. Yeah, I think this season had a little more action than you’re giving it guys. Finally, a lot of people said this season was too peaceful. I can’t argue that this season was in fact more peaceful than the first season but I’ll take peaceful over boredom any day. In the first season there were a few episodes in which nothing really happened, you could have probably skipped one maybe two episodes and you wouldn’t have missed nothing. In this season even though there were a few episodes with little going on in them if you did skip it chances are you would be confused in the next episode. So in my opinion I liked the second season more than the first season but in terms of better I say the second season is a little better but only by a small margin and it’s only because this season was well-structured, had new and good characters, and gave us the opportunity to explore Flonyard more.
Final Score
The second season of Dog Days is a 6/10. This anime is fun to watch and is a good break from watching anime that have a constant story going on in it. The characters are fun, the world they’re in is fun, the wars are fun it’s just a fun anime and if you liked the first season you’ll like the second season. I can only guess what they’ll be introducing in the third season. Hopefully, a kingdom in the sky with bird people or pirates ruled by this one powerful pirate who has established his own kingdom out at sea who allows trading to go on between the kingdoms via sea and protects travelers out at sea. Until we see a trailer of the 3rd season all we can do is fantasize about what Flonyard still has to offer us. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
*Alarms goes off*
(Isis): Master! Unknown intruder in the house!
(Nitsuj): How is that possible nobody can get through-
(Isis): AHH~
(Nitsuj): Isis what’s wrong?
(Isis): I don’t believe it another AI girl. This one’s even stronger than the others. Master behind!
*Someone clocks Nitsuj in the back of the head knocking him out*
(Nitsuj): Crap~.
*Sometime passes and Nitsuj wakes up tied to a chair*
(Nitsuj): Urgh~, my head.
(???): About time you woke up. We can finally meet each other.
(Nitsuj): I don’t believe it. It’s been you this whole time.
To be continued. . .next week
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