COTE Season 2 Review – Quite a bit of Mixed Bag

Oh boy, I can’t wait to hear all the anime-only shitposters after this season. Also, I shortened Classroom of the Elite to COTE because I don’t want to kill my SEO. So I purposefully waited to review this anime because I wanted to see how they adapted episode 12. I have mixed feelings about this season though, on one side there’s some yikes stuff on the other side there are some great episodes. So let’s just dive right into the review.
Welcome back to another one of my reviews. Today we are talking about COTE season 2. It was a much-awaited sequel so did it impress or disappoint? Well, here’s what I think about it. Oh, and before I begin, let me clarify I mayΒ be a little biased here because I really like the LN and have the context for some scenes that the anime skipped. With that said, let’s start.
Minor spoilers ahead.
Plot
We pick back up from the point season 1 left off. COTE season 2 begins on the returning journey from that island on the cruise ship. Of course, the school won’t just let the students enjoy their time, they have a special exam planned on the ship. I’ll be blunt, this arc in the anime sucked pretty hard. They just glossed over important details that made this arc in the LN fun. At least, the whole Karuizawa matter was well done but, this part was way too short.
Then we have the same sort of issue with the sports festival. They cut it way too short so the important parts weren’t hitting as hard as they were supposed to. Manabu and Ayanokoji’s race was such a hype moment in the LN but it fell flat in the anime. Now from the paper shuffle part, things get interesting. The last two important bits of this season, paper shuffle andΒ somethingΒ with Ryuen (won’t spoil this) were really well done. These parts were far more well-paced than the others. Honestly, the last few episodes were really really good.
Characters
The characters play a huge part in making COTE so good. The sort of skipping around anime does make people “misunderstand” a few characters let’s just say. I’ve already seen more than my share of anime-onlies hating different characters, Ayanokoji in particular. Anyway, the character development for Horikita, Kushida, and Karuizawa was pretty significant in this season. Karuizawa especially got a lot of screentime in this season and her part was pretty well done.
Animations and Soundtracks
COTE has an awesome art style. I cannot deny how good the art design looks in the anime. If there is one thing that unarguably is good about the anime, it is the art design and the soundtracks. As for the animations themselves… they’re a bit questionable at times, like the race. But they’re really good at times like episode 12. I really liked the new opening and ending themes though. Especially the ending theme.
Conclusion
Well, here are my final scores for COTE season 2:
- Plot – 6/10 (way too many skips)
- Characters – 7/10
- Animations – 7/10
- Soundtracks – 7/10
- Enjoyment – 7/10
- Ending theme – 10/10
- Overall – 7/10
There’s my bias again… just couldn’t bring myself to give this a 6. That felt too low. Well, anyhow that’s that, let me know what you guys think in the comments. I will take my leave here. I’ll go play some Borderlands. See ya!!