- Titles: Xian Wang De Richang Shenghuo 2, The Daily Life of the Immortal King Season 2
- Genre: Action, comedy, supernatural
- Episodes: 12
- Studio: Pb Animation
Ling Wang is an average, everyday, ordinary student at a perfectly normal magic academy for spiritual power. You know the type. And since the world ended a few months ago, he’s been enjoying his average ordinary everyday life. Or at least he’s been trying to. There have been a few hiccups with his figure (the seal that stops his tremendous power from leaking out and destroying the world again) that have made it a bit more difficult for him to communicate with others. But that’s no big deal. For now, he’s basking in the peace he’s surrounded by. But how long will that last? The cracks are already starting to show and something insidious is seeping into this peaceful world. Hopefully, this time Ling Wang can stop the world from being destroyed again. Or at least keep it to only 2 or 3 times.
As you guys know, I write these reviews many months in advance and often forget when they are scheduled to be published. That’s why I occasionally refer to posts that haven’t gone live yet. As a pure coincidence, I started watching season 2 of The Daily Life of the Immortal King the day before my review of season 1 got published, It reminded me of how much I had enjoyed the show in the first place.
Production
The production here is identical to season 1. If you don’t want to go read that post, here is what I said (I shortened it):
The Daily Life of the Immortal King looks fine. I do like the colour palette quite a bit. I personally liked the character designs as well. Especially Yi Zhou and his ridiculous curl. But generally speaking, the art is fine, the animation is fine it’s all fine. I will say that animation gets a lot more impressive in the last few episodes. It got me pumped.
As for voice acting. I’m really still developing my ear for Chinese productions. I think it was good because I found the characters to be endearing and I have to assume part of that is due to the voice acting. I did believe they were friends and all. However, there is no doubt I missed the subtleties in the performances.
This time around there are fewer teal colours used…
Basically, it looked like a perfect seamless continuation of season 1, and that’s really noteworthy because it’s not the same studio. Now to be fair, Pb Animation seems to be an offshoot of Haoliners. All the series they have worked on are also series of Haoliners and there are references to their shows from that studio in the ending credits. So although the studios are different, I figure that a lot of the same people were involved. At the very least, it’s the same director.
There are a few things that differentiate season 2 though. My ear for Chinese is slowly getting better and I can say with more confidence that I am enjoying the voice performances in this show. Also, this time chances were taken. Episode 10 is an extra, behind-the-scenes type meta episode which features rough cells and even some live-action/animation combinations à la Roger Rabbit. I think the episode was a little too precious in content, but it was tons of fun to watch. There are also some fully CG scenes which will renew your love for 2D but were great as a visual contrast. So good on them for that.
But the most impactful production element for me was by far the OP. I love this OP so much. The ED is also quite good and absolutely full of Easter eggs. However, it’s difficult to appreciate if you haven’t seen the season as it’s basically a snapshot summary of everything that happens which is impressive in itself.
Both the OP and ED get tweaked to merge into the events of the plot in the final episodes so make sure not to skip them in the final 3rd. Amazing! Actually, wait, let me show you this OP. There’s only one word for it: Epic!
Story & Characters
Like last time, The Daily Life of the Immortal King is still basically a mashup of action-adventure in a school setting, with slapstick comedy reminiscent of Saiki. K. I would say that this season felt a bit more episodic, and the overarching storyline doesn’t take center stage until quite late in the season. Don’t hold me to it, but I think I liked that a bit better. I rated both seasons the same as I really had a blast watching both. I found out the third season has been announced and I will figure out how to watch it regardless of who licenses it.
One thing I will say about The Daily Life of the Immortal King 2 is that the lore is actually quite good. If you stripped out all the jokes and the deadpan delivery and just played this story out straight, I think you would have the makings of a pretty impressive and potentially popular action shonen on your hands. There’s a solid ramp-up in stakes and an honestly intimidating antagonist with a logical evil motivation (Until Wang gets to him then of course he’s way less intimidating). There are also a lot of goofy little one-episode plots that are just great as mindless fun. I think my favourite was the tale of Idle Beauty! I actually got emotional with that one.
The thing is, I don’t want to give away too much. I really think you should discover the stories for yourself. And the second season is a bit more plot-driven than the first.
That doesn’t mean there is no character growth to be had but less than in season 1 and everybody is pretty much already established as the season opens. For that reason, I would recommend you not skip the first season if you are interested in the show. Instead of developing the characters much further, the show brings in Xiaoyu Lin, a character we saw very briefly in season 1 but that had a mindbogglingly eye-catching introduction. Now we know why! And the relationships between everyone, especially Wang and Sun, are fleshed out further.
Once again, the episodes are roughly 19 minutes, which makes them just a bit shorter than a standard anime episode, but they seem to fly by. To me, they felt less than half as long.
At the end of the day, The Daily Life of the Immortal King 2 left me with the same impression as the first season. It’s a really fun action show that’s easy to watch and a great way to round up a weekday evening when you just want to relax and laugh a bit. If you hate comedies, you might get annoyed and obviously if you didn’t enjoy season 1, then I imagine season 2 is not going to be any better for you. Otherwise, I think it’s a great binge!
You might like this anime if:
Once again you wanted God of Highschool to be more like Saiki. K
My favourite character:
Both of Wang’s parents, they rock!
Suggested drink:
- Every time the narrator clears things up – take a sip
- Every time Wang’s sword chimes in – take a sip
- Every time we see Master Zhou – take a sip
- Every time anyone eats dried noodles – get a snack
- Every time Sun is smitten – cute
- Every time anyone says “Cultivation” – take a sip
- Every time a scene takes place in the boy’s bathroom – wash your hands
- Every time we see a figure (seal) – take a sip
- Every time Chao steals something from his dad – be worried
- Every time we hear Wang’s boss music – cheer
- Every time there’s a little ghost – take a sip
I save all my screencaps on my Pinterest and you can find more there if you are interested. But I still like to show you a few in the post. If you’re like me, screencaps are something that really helps you decide to watch an anime or not.
I really enjoyed this series even though it is the “overpowered MC trying to live a normal life” trope. I usually don’t go for those.
I’ve only seen it in Saiki K. Mob Psycho and this. And I like all of those so I guess it’s a trope I go for.
I had a bit of trouble warming up to this series and Chinese contributed to that unfortunately. But reading your review of the second season, I feel like it’ll definitely worth sticking to ~
I had so much fun with it