== The problem with *Dog Days*' second season

I [[tweeted https://twitter.com/cks_anime/status/234087331743801344]]:
> The problem with this season of Dog Days is that we're just hanging
> around; unlike the first season, we're not going anywhere.

I feel like expanding on this a bit more than fits in 140 characters.

Right from the start of the first season there were things actively
happening and the characters had a problem to deal with. The major
reason (or at least excuse) that Princess Millefiori had for summoning
Cinque at the start of the show was that Biscotti was in a big pinch,
with Galette and Leonmichelle relentlessly attacking, winning, and
taking more and more territory. By the time this was fully dealt with,
the problem shifted to returning Cinque back home. Certainly things were
light-hearted, but the characters were always working on and towards
something; I always had the sense that things were going somewhere.

There is nothing like this in *Dog Days'* so far. This season we've been
doing nothing more than hanging around with the characters and taking
in the spectacle; what was in service to something in the first season
is simply empty this time around. This is enjoyable and amusing (*Dog
Days'* is competent and even well done) but it doesn't really feel like
the show is necessary.

(You can argue that the show needs quiet in order to set up the
characters and get us immersed in them. My reply is that the first
season managed to do this just fine without having to stop and wander
off sideways.)

Even if the second season starts going somewhere soon, it will have
wasted at least a quarter of its run on fluff (I'm being charitable and
spotting it a couple of establishing episodes). If the second season
doesn't go anywhere, well, I'm going to wind up kind of wishing that
they hadn't bothered to make it.

(But I'm sure the Blu-rays and DVDs will sell well to the fans who
wanted to see more of their favorite characters.)