I must confess I’ve seen few second episodes that did less to change my impression about a series than Bakuten’s.  In sum, I felt exactly the same way after this ep as the premiere.  All the things I liked I still liked, all the things I worried about still worry me, and the overall tone of the series was exactly the same.  That said, it’s impressive that the show looked just as good the second time around – that may be a positive indicator for its chances going forward.  But the most positive indicator is just that Bakuten is genuinely likeable, and that’s a good starting point.

The downside of all that is that it doesn’t leave me a whole lot that’s new to say about this episode.  This show is almost unimaginably earnest, which makes Shoutarou a pretty ideal lead.  I would still contend Bakuten is trying very hard to riff on Haikyuu here, but in its defense it does that better than almost any other series I’ve seen try (and I’ve seen a lot try).  Shoutarou is immensely straightforward and kind, polite, sincere – in other words generally adorable and hard not to like.  But as a protagonist he’d probably be more interesting if he had a few sharp corners.  Say what you will about Hinata Shouyou, and you can apply a lot of those descriptors to him too.  But he has some edges to him, some elements that occasionally rub you the wrong way.

 As for Misato, I still think it was a pretty big misstep casting Ishikawa Kaitou here (not because he’s not a good actor – that’s not the point).  But Misato does at least differentiate himself from Tobio a bit more this time.  He’s arrogant, but not obnoxious about it (well, not much).  He doesn’t overcompensate for his insecurities by trying to push people around, but rather by retreating into a shell somewhat.  Whatever the family issues he’s carrying that prevent him from staying at the dorm are, it’s made quite plain that there’s more there than we’re being told.  As is, being the only go-home team member only isolates him from the others more, and he was already the least integrated with the group by far.

As for the drama this week – Shoutarou has to prove to the coach that he can do a full run of backflips in a week or he won’t be part of the team for regionals – it’s standard but effective.  Obviously he’ll make it, so do suspense there.  And it figures to be Misato who helps him across the line.  I would say Bakuten is doing a pretty realistic job depicting Shoutarou as a beginner with a decent amount of talent for the sport.  His development feels like it’s progressing at a pretty natural clip.  “Realistic” is also a term I’d apply to the visuals, which remain really strong.  The gymnastics sequences are an intriguing mix of 2D and 3D that works surprisingly well, and the choreography in these scenes is excellent.

I’m still not feeling anything from any of the sempais.  Part of that is the casting, with old-hat voices playing it safe, but they’re pretty generic archetypes in general so far, and with only 12 episodes to play with I’m not confident that will change.  But that’s not a deal breaker, as this is clearly Shoutarou’s story with a side of Misato, and they’re basically here to facilitate.  Bakuten is getting the big stuff right for the most part – the action, the exposition, the overall sense of idealism and joy at being a part of a family.  There aren’t a lot of risks being taken but so far, playing it safe is working out just fine.