Animation:
The animation is so much cleaner; it no longer has that weird blur filter. The same goes for the art direction, with the really detailed backgrounds and stuff.
Story:
The plot this season is a bit better than the first season. Gran is no longer just jumping from island to island, collecting new members willy-nilly, but instead exploring some of their pasts. That's nice, but the main story, which was to reach the Astral island, is barely developed. And the worst part is, these side characters' backstories seem to have zero relevance beyond unlocking new ~lore~!
For example, (minor spoiler),
One of the side characters who gets episodes dedicated just for them, Katalina, develops in zero way whatsoever after the end of her little plot! And even though you could argue that she kinda did change, it's the stupidest development ever. And you would (I did) expect that after her past got exposed to the crew and the viewers, she would be more present and relevant!! But she's not. I actually think they just shelved her and said, "Done with her! Let's 'develop' another member!" So, pretty much, this season goes nowhere!
But at least the side plots are kinda cool i guess! 😃
Characters:
The main cast fucking suck. Gran is the stereotype of stereotypes of heroes. He has no inner conflict or anything. He's just a heroic guy who wants to be a Skyfarer!😎 (hes boring as shit). And Lyria is somehow even worse than Gran, adopting the "Let's all just be friends please!😿" personality. And the other members are all irrelevant. The side characters are hard carrying this cast. I genuinely believe they could kill off all of the side members and replace them with any of the side characters, and this show would improve drastically.
tl;dr:
This show is carried by the animation. The story is going nowhere, and I would rather watch paint dry and crack than this main cast.
