Second time a charm? Almost. Samurai Spirits 2 follows
the story of the Neo Geo videogame of the same name. It succeeded to get a more
serious atmosphere than the disastrous first show. As a result, we get a darker
theme where every fighter has an evil clone (derived directly from the game) who
poses the same or altered skills. The character themselves are quite okay, but
there is no room for their development or explanation as why this one fights the
other one. The fight scenes are not that spectacular, but I guess they are okay.
I really like the evil boss character and his female assassin and their ways to
fight. What really bugs me is the way this one ends suddenly. Just when everything
starts to shape up in a good way, things get wrapped up and end. It is apparent
they did not have that much of budget to begin with, and the visuals are a bit
darkened and blocky in a way.
In short, this one
had potential, but sadly it was not fulfilled. Reasons? First, 2 episodes are
not enough to give this anime justice and second, one must be aware of the background
story of the game in order to view the bigger pictures and appreciate this. Fans
of SNK games may want to check this out, even if as a way of paying a tribute
to the bankrupt company.
