Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. The King’s Avatar S2. I know I normally don’t review animes from China, but this was a series that I did enjoy watching. At a time when esports was starting to gain attention and SAO was all everyone talked about this series got everyone’s attention. Years later, esports have only grown, and this series has become more prevalent than ever. The first season was a big hit and it was shortly announced there was going to be a second season coming out soon. Despite the multiple delays, everyone waited with anticipation and in 2020 we finally got our second season. Did it live up to our expectations? Let’s find out. This is The King’s Avatar S2.
Opening and Ending Theme
The anime’s opening is “Rongyao Poxiao” by NZBZ. A great song that I still listen to. It does a good job summoning up Ye’s journey so far and his determination to return to the top no matter what.
For the ending we have “Our Glory Road” by Mario. A great ending that carries the same energy as the opening. While I prefer the opening over the ending this song was still good and worth listening to at the end of each episode.
Episodes 1-4
The season starts 5 months before the next pro league championship tournament and Ye gets to work building a team so that they’ll be invited (time to go on a rampage and piss people off). He starts his own guild, Happy, and quickly starts to turn heads and get the attention of bigger guilds. Some of the guilds try to infiltrate Ye’s guild by sending in spies, but that fails as Ye predicted this and banned them from the guild (I imagine there are a lot of people who can relate to Ye on a spiritual level right now). When Ye’s true identity gets revealed to the other players, some of them consider jumping ship and joining Happy (it’ll make them happy). The bigger guilds begin to panic as not only are they taking on the strongest player in the game but he’s pretty much taking over the server and they can’t stop him (if they start fights in the streets it’ll just be seen as petty jealousy. Not to mention the last time they tried this it failed horribly). The bigger guilds finally have an opportunity to fight against Ye when a high-ranking player jumps ship to Happy. The guilds decide to use this jump to attack Happy and stage an assault on the player who jumped ship but it doesn’t go as planned (they had a plan, but then they got shot in the face). Ye knew they would attack him, so he and the rest of Happy ambush the other guilds and beat everyone. Meanwhile, the president of Excellent Era (https://youtu.be/7mi4h00fedY?si=N4VlUxgTGl2JdZD8&t=1) catches wind of Ye back in Glory and he’s not happy about it.
In the first half of episode 2 Ye has taken over an area in the game attacking other guild players foolish enough to enter the area (he did put up a sign saying trespassers will be killed on sight). The only way for the guilds to be safe in the area is for them to either pay him a lot of money or give him a bunch of rare materials (damned if you do, damned if you don’t). The guild Blue Rook give him the rare materials and the other guilds discovered that their leader has been selling them out (unwillingly of course but he really had no choice). The other guilds attack Blue Rook and Happy intervenes to save the players of Blue Rook. The other guilds finally give in and give him the rare materials he asked for. In the second half of the episode, it’s New Year’s Day and Ye receives a visit from his twin brother whose name he stole and has been using for years in order to hide from his family. Ye’s brother now wants him to come home, but Ye refuses and that’s it. Ye’s brother stays for the day where they eat and drink and then the next day comes where he leaves and Mucheng comes to visit.
At the start of episode 3 we see Excellent Era lose to another pro team. We find out that Excellent Era has been on a losing streak lately due largely to the fact that they don’t have a tactician on the team, so there’s no team at all (yeah, probably should have thought about that before you fired your best player who was also your tactician. By God, what the hell was the president of Excellent Era thinking?). After that, we see Ye has finally reached level 50 which means he can finally enter Heavenly Domain. It’s a public map that was opened to celebrate 5 years of Glory. In this map the dungeons are harder and the monsters are stronger. However, the materials here are great and since the item drops give you rare items as well as the items of the person you kill this place encourages PKing other players (sounds like a paradise for Laughing Coffin). To get into Heavenly Domain you’re required to do a number of missions and arena battles (you’ve got to climb the stairs if you want to knock on Heaven’s door). After completing a number of missions and dominating the arena (it’s like watching a lion eat a gazelle). Ye finally enters Heavenly Domain with Chen where they’re approached by Heavenly Sword aka Heavenly Justice, a guild who I believe are part of a pro team. They try to recruit Ye to their team, but Chen says he’s on her team and Ye confirms this. Sometime later, Excellent Era sends pro players after Ye where he uses Chen to force them to retreat and make them believe that Mucheng was fighting by his side (not this time) to confuse them (and give them a good scare). Excellent Era decide to hold off on going after Ye and get a better idea of who his party members are.
Episode 4 starts off with Ye meeting with Heavenly Sword. We find out that Heavenly Sword will be entering the pro-league next season (oh, congratulations. Becoming a pro team ain’t easy). The problem they’re running into is promoting themselves (a problem everybody has. Trust me, I know from experience). Ye offers to help promote their team by joining Heavenly Justice and their leader accepts (he’d better, he’d be stupid not to take Ye’s offer). Word of Ye joining Heavenly Justice spreads like wildfire and gets pro players talking wondering what does this all mean (it means you’re screwed). Ye invites the pro players to an exhibition match with Heavenly Sword where they all accept. We see the leader of Heavenly Justice take on Haung (the guy who won’t shut up in chat). Despite his best efforts he loses, but has an okay showing (he was nervous). We then get Ye vs Haung and it’s a good fight that ends on a cliffhanger with Haung correctly predicting Ye’s next attack and dodging it to counter (it’s in this fight that we see just how powerful Ye’s unspecialized class is. While the max level puts him in a handicap, he makes up for it with his playing abilities and the fact that the unspecialized class borrows moves from every class and sub-class in the game. Because of that it’s almost impossible to prepare to battle someone like this as you have no idea what he’s going to do next).
Episodes 5-8
The fight between Ye and Haung continues in episode 5 where Haung gets a little momentum and reads Ye’s moves. Sadly, his momentous run is temporary as Ye quickly turns the tables and beats him. News of Ye’s true identity online and him joining Heavenly Sword begin to pop up in social media (they know it’s him). Pro-players talk to the news saying it has to be Ye and even Excellent Dynasty tries to cover their ass saying Ye retired on his own terms and wished him the best of luck. Heavenly Justice on the other hand deny the allegations of Ye joining their team and builds up more mystery around his online character (he’s got everyone talking and asking questions. It’s beautiful). After this, Ye decides to do scrape picking on players from three guilds fighting a boss where in a funny moment he actually takes out the leaders of two guilds to cause an in-fighting. When they go to collect the dropped items from fallen players another player called Deception beats them to the punch and runs away with the items. Ye and Chen track him down and corner him in the building where he shockingly hasn’t heard the news about Ye’s online character (he doesn’t get out much). Members of Excellent Dynasty come in believing that Ye and Deception are in cahoots (there’s a word I didn’t think I would use in my blogs) with each other and attack both of them. Deception uses this distraction to escape with Ye following behind him and Chen staying behind to fight Excellent Dynasty because the one leading the group is a player named Golden Princess who Chen has a grudge against. In the past Chen was a member of Excellent Dynasty (not their pro team but a member of their guild) and got along well with everyone. Golden Princess was jealous of her success, so she pretended that Chen was bullying her and got the higher-level players to attack Chen kicking her out of the guild. Chen of course loses (but she has let the golden bitch know that she’s coming for her).
Episode 6 is an action-packed episode. Ye picks a fight with Excellent Dynasty which gets the attention of Sun and the pro team of Excellent Era. Sun and the rest of Excellent Era log in to fight Ye and Deception where they receive help from Heavenly Sword. Thanks to Ye’s leadership and Heavenly Swords teamwork they were able to beat Excellent Era decisively. Despite this victory, Ye doesn’t feel happy about it as this fight showed that Excellent Era is falling apart (they’re no longer excellent). When Ye left he had hopes that Sun would rise up and become a strong leader, but unfortunately he hasn’t lived up to those expectations. Despite departing from the team on bad terms, Ye still treasures his time with Excellent Era (you don’t win 3 championships in a row and not develop a connection with your team and the people you work with).
We start episode 7 off with Ye, Deception and the members of Heavenly Swords on the most wanted list as the top 3 guilds in the game have placed a bounty on their heads (good thing I brought some popcorn. Because these players are salty). Ye easily tricks Excellent Era with fake subaccounts to make them believe that some random players took out Heavenly Swords thus collecting the bounty which is $1500 real world money. Speaking of Excellent Era, we see the team not doing so well in the pro league. They keep constantly losing (poor leadership), fans are pissed and demanding that Ye returns. The next day, the president of Excellent Era, Tao, goes to see Ye at the cyber café and asks him to return (https://youtu.be/s-aInKCWnnc). Tao wants Ye to return as a coach and then return as a player, but Ye says no. For those of you who don’t know, Tao is actually Mucheng’s older brother and Ye’s best friend. We also discover the real reason as to why Ye was let go, sponsorship. Ye was one of those players who wouldn’t be a spokesperson for anything (he only cares about playing the game and nothing more. I can respect that). Because of Ye’s unwillingness to be a corporate sellout, Excellent Era was still unrecognized, despite the fact that they won the pro-league tournament three-times in a row. So they got rid of him to find somebody who would be more marketable and a corporate sellout (oh God, that’s even worse. At first I thought they got rid of him because they didn’t think he could still go and were being assholes. But now they’re saying they got rid of him to get a better sponsorship? I mean, really? That’s what this was all about? You got rid of the best player in the game just because he didn’t want to do sponsorships). Tao goes on saying that the pro league isn’t about talented players but instead celebrities and players who can excite the crowd with flashy moves. Ye is the exact opposite of this. He’s not a flashy player, he’s a great player (he arrives, defeats his opponents with a good strategy, and leaves). Ye knows that the pro league isn’t what it used to be, but still intends to play the way he’s always played no matter what. Before Tao leaves, he offers Ye his old account back, but he doesn’t want it. Instead, he wants Mucheng’s account (A little confused by this? Is Ye saying he wants Mucheng to jump ship and join his team or is he talking about Mucheng handing over her account and having someone else play it like what they did with Ye in the first season? I mean I’m sure she wants to join his team, but still you can’t just have her account like nothing). After that, the episode wraps up with Ye going to do some level-grinding when he gets jumped by other players being led by Lao Wei.
So episode 8 is mostly the fight against Lao (where the animation is really on point this episode). Back in the day, Lao was the original captain of pro team Blue Rain before he retired 2 years prior to the start of the series. He’s come to claim the bounty on Ye (but I think he’s just here for a fun challenge). With the help of One Inch Ash, Ye defeats Lao and takes his treasured weapon. Ye and Lao message each other where Ye invites Lao to join Team Happy and accepts as he too wants to make a comeback. He left the team after losing embarrassingly to one of the new recruits. He was offered a coaching job but he declined as he wants to be on the frontlines (and if you can still go don’t leave).
Episodes 9-12
Not much really happens in episode 9. We see Ye do some boss killing and blackmail other guilds into giving him materials. It’s pretty funny seeing Ye blackmail everyone and seeing how they all consider him the scum of the Earth for doing this. In the end, he does manage to get all the materials he needs to upgrade his weapon and for the next episode, he decides to go spying on the other guilds.
In episode 10, Ye has infiltrated Tyrannical Ambition under a different account. He quickly earns the favor of their leader and gets invited on a big boss raid between the guilds. In a rather exciting scene, Ye and this one other player who is a gunman begin fighting each other as well as the boss all while the other guilds fight amongst each other (it’s an all-out brawl for the boss. I love it. God help me, I love it). We find out that the gunman is Jiale, a former pro player who was leader of Hundred Blossom. The team and Jiale’s skills were top notch, but no matter how hard he fought, he always fell short of winning the big one. It didn’t take long for newer teams to arrive onto the scene and beat him causing him and his team to fall in the rankings until Jiale finally grew tired of coming so close only to lose each time that he decided to retire. Ye and Jiale continue to fight each other until Ye eventually beats him and takes out the elite members of Hundred Blossom to get Tyrannical Ambition the boss. After witnessing this amazing display of skills (it’s like poetry in motion), the leader of Tyrannical Ambition pieces together that it’s Ye, but decides not to expose him and instead keep him around to benefit the guild. Ye messages Jiale and invites him to join Team Happy, but he says no (for the best. I don’t want Ye’s team to be composed of players coming out of retirement. It’s like asking the 1995 Chicago Bulls to come out of retirement and show that they still got it. Spoilers, they don’t).
In episode 11 we find out that the reason Ye entered Tyrannical Ambition is because he’s looking for a good cleric and luckily he found one named Little Cold Hands (what is up with these server names? I hope to God they can change them whenever they want). He’s a male player playing as a female character (don’t judge him. (Isis): I feel like I should) and while he definitely has good timing when it comes to casting spells he seems to panic in complex situations (we can work on that). Ye arranges a meeting between him and Chen where he’s definitely interested in joining the team, but he’s asking the big questions such as long term goals, finances, pay, boarding, etc. (stuff that you would honestly ask HR to handle). Ye steps in to give him the full picture of their situation where they’re still short a few players for The Challenge but is confident he can fill the team out. He answers the rest of Little Cold Hands’s questions who agrees to join the team.
In the final episode we get to see all the current members of Team Happy meet each other. The group consists of Ye, Wei, Chen, Tang, Steamed Buns (aka Bao. Yeah, my boy), a summoner named Lou, and Little Cold Hands (aka An). With six members they have enough people to qualify for next season’s Challenge. Basically, it’s a tournament for teams hoping to become pro players. If you win the Challenge, you’ll be recognized as an official pro team and be allowed to compete in tournaments. After this, we see the team train together to get stronger with Ye and Wei coaching. We also see how Excellent Era finished the season second from last (dear God, it’s like watching the Bulls when Michael Jordan retired) blaming Sun’s performance on illness to cover for him and keep the support of fans for next season (underhanded, yes. But at the same time a smart move). Team Happy gets accepted into the Challenge which will be starting in the summer where Excellent Era will also be there in order to keep their pro team status which means Ye will have a chance to destroy the dynasty he once ruled (sometimes you have to destroy and rebuild a dynasty in order for it to prosper. Just like the LA Lakers). While Team Happy goes out to eat, they run into Tao where him and Ye engage in some text banter after Tao leaves. We actually do see that Excellent Era has a new player transferring who will be their ace and help them return to the top to end the season.
Final Thoughts
And that was the second season of The King’s Avatar. It had a good beginning, a fun middle, and got a little slow near the end but picked up to end the season on a high note. This season does a good job of exploring Ye’s character more. I like how he can be strategic, troll other players, and isn’t afraid to play dirty to get what he wants. However, we also see a side of him that still cares about his old team and despite leaving on bad terms doesn’t want to see them just up and die. Stuff like this makes Ye interesting and a more rounded character. It’s nice that we got to see the main reason why Ye was forced to leave the team and just pisses you off even more to know that he was let go because of corporate greed. The one real downside to this season is that we don’t get to spend much time with the other players. It’s a big letdown as I wanted to see more of Tang and Bao as they’re fun characters, but the new characters that we get to see such as Wei and An are good additions to the team and I look forward to seeing more of them. This season does a good job making every episode count as it never really feels like we’re wasting time. While a lot of stuff may not be happening, it’s not pointless stuff and is all a part of Ye’s master plan to get what he wants even if we the audience don’t know what he’s after.
The fight scenes are still great, and the new animation really enhances them. Like I said before, I like the new animation and think it’s better than the first season’s animation. The new animation seems to be using more frames, looks better, the characters are more expressive and realistic, and seems to be moving more fluently when it comes to battles. Do I think the fights in this season are better than the ones in the first season? No, I think the first season had better fights, but I think this season had better looking and more strategic fights that show off Ye’s tactical mind more and isn’t just him trying to troll other guilds for the sake of trolling them. The music while good, didn’t really strike a chord with me as it did last season. I don’t know, it just felt like the music was lacking that extra oomph the first season had.
Final Score
The final score for the second season of The King’s Avatar is 8.5/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. Despite losing a point, this season does deliver as we see Team Happy being formed and laying the groundwork for the third season when they go on a rampage in the pro league. As of now a release date for the third season hasn’t been announced so it’ll probably be like this season. It’ll come out when it comes. Until then we’ll just have to stick with the first two seasons which are available on Youtube. Or better yet, check out the web novel here to see what happens next: https://www.webnovel.com/book/the-king’s-avatar_7176992105000305. I actually started reading the novel and it’s one of the best I’ve ever read. After you’re done watching the anime definitely give this one a chance. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.