Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou 2 - Tamashii

It's a curious thing, being the 2nd in a trilogy. Too often they get overshadowed as the "middle" chapter, sandwiched between a grand opening and a grand finale with only exposition as its purpose (Lord of the Rings), but sometimes the journey, the character shaping movements and setup for the finale are the strongest elements (Empire Strikes Back). Washio Sumi's 2nd chapter, Spirit, is already leaning toward the latter.

Following the friendship cemented at the end of the first movie, the second movie delves deeper into those bonds. Amusingly, it uses an omake-styled skit setting for the opening half's slice-of-life, giving us a fast-paced omnibus of ... character development, world-building and most importantly, juxtaposition, as the girls have a cutesy Vertex-free Summer to figure out who they are.

The universe of Yuki Yuna means that, at any point, the characters can be expected to be thrust into battle at the drop of a hat, indicated by the world's motion halting except for the main characters. This small ingredient makes the entire series' slice-of-life sequences incredibly tense, forcing you to watch the backgrounds for pauses. Watching the skits sections of this movie is incredibly stomach lurching, as you know at any point their world can be flipped upside down.

The movie isn't exactly subtle about what's to come, with very in-face foreshadowing. In fact, almost every skit can be considered as foreshadowing, either for later in the movie or the next one. But, despite all that preparation, it's hard to be ready for the finale.

The original series always put the girls on the backfoot, and while Washio Sumi's chapter is no different, it's more like they are on their last toe before they even start. The odds are even more stacked than ever before, and the brutality is even greater. It gets real dark, real quick.

Barring one or two of the skits flopping in the first half, Spirit is the finest moment of the Yuki Yuna franchise thus far, usurping the first movie with stronger characterisation and capturing the unique sorrow of Sailor Moon meets Hurt Locker only this universe can bring. Can the third movie do better still?

Coming together against all odds, these three young protectors finally indulge in their well-earned vacation. Their friendship reaches the apex of camaraderie, as they grow closer together and increasingly love one another. Ah, the fuzzy warmth that radiates from the interactions of loving friends--- I think we can all agree that it is always something beautiful to see. However, these three young girls must remember to treasure those brief happy memories between their painful, long fights for humanity’s survival. Because no one is ever ready for that grim moment when the fires of tragedy burns those previously joyous memories into a deep, unforgettable scar…

Coming chronologically ... after the first Washio Sumi no Shou movie, this movie is the second in a triad of three movies. As opposed to the first movie which had quite a bit of action scenes, the main focus of this movie is actually detailed characterization so you can expect a minimal amount of action scenes. Initially, the first few events from this movie led me to believe that this movie would, in essence, amount to a mediocre filler, but I was wrong. This second movie has an abundance of great characterization that is reminiscent of the gloriously characterized anime of the days of old.

The main characters are revealed in such a way that I couldn’t help but come to love all of them for each of their individual personalities. It’s not that the characters are special in any way, but I actually feel that they have about as much character depth as you can fit into a 6th grader. This is exemplified in the interactions of the characters and the simple humor in this movie. Perhaps during their interactions, one may even notice their subtle changes since meeting one another. However, the characterization would not have been as great if it wasn’t for a story of comparable quality

The story was pretty interesting overall. This time, the focus veers away from the magical girl theme and we begin to learn more about the characters themselves through the story. Throughout the movie, we learn of their hopes and dreams for the future, we watch their lively responses in ordinary situations, we see how silly they actually are in ordinary life, how they joke around and tease each other, are protective one another, and much more. I found it to be a great slice of life movie, to the point where the story was actually good enough for me to get slightly emotional in this movie, which seldom happens for me in anime. The good story was only further enhanced by the great artwork of Studio Gokumi.

Studio Gokumi did a really great job on the artwork in this second movie. It starts off strongly with an action practice scene with some very fluid animation, before then presenting it with a bright appeal that was well-suited to the slice of life vibe of this movie. They created a very light hearted mood by using a blend of bright colors that is supported by artistic and dynamic effects, lighting, shading, and camera angles. The background art is nothing too special, but it also has a certain simplistic charm to it. Overall, the artwork was done quite well, but there was certainly room for improvement (especially that one 3DCG scene that had me shaking my head at how noticeable the 3DCG was). Luckily, with the aid of the fantastic musical compositions of the composers of the nier automata soundtrack, the movie certainly did not have to compensate for mediocre sound.

Like the first movie, the second movie’s soundtrack was also composed by Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi. These two are most recently well-known for their work on the Nier Automata game’s soundtrack. Overall, the music was great, using much of the same music from the first movie. Also, the voice actresses did a great job on the voice acting in this movie. They held were just as good as the other categories and perfectly supported the other categories. The sound effects guys also did a great job by themselves and had some really great effects to support the comedic scenes.

I truly enjoyed this movie, so much so that I wanted to give it a nine overall, but it’s not that great. The series just gets dark from here on out. The story was so good that I was actually sitting in my chair vocalizing my strong discontent at certain parts! Almost got emotional… But it’s up to you to watch this movie in order to see why~

TL;DR
You should take away that the characters were the strongest point of this movie, which made me feel that the category deserved a 9/10. The characters were supported by a very good story that allowed for some in depth characterization, but the itself story wasn’t particularly special or thought provoking in this movie 7.5/10. The artwork was definitely some of Studio Gokumi’s and is among the art of some of the better series in the anime genre, making me believe that this category deserves an 8/10. The music was also great, as one would expect from the Nier Automata guys 9/10. Also, that I truly enjoyed this movie and am enjoying this series 8/10! I hope this review helps you decide whether or not to watch this movie~

Now this is what I had wanted from the first movie.

Story get a 7 since I think it did good with the characters, continuing their bond and all of that. Gin is my favorite of the trio this time around. She's very cute for a sporty type of girl. There's not much else to really say about it. Cute girls begin cute.

The art gets up to a 8 for me, mostly for the fight scenes. I think the animators did really well with the fights and blending CG and 2D animation. I could hardly tell, and when I could it wasn't all that noticeable, I ... just have good eye for that kind of thing nowadays. I think it works really well.

The sounds is fine. Nothing made me cry really, but it's all good.

The characters are where this part does well with. Building the girl's friendships and what I do really like is the fact that the girls do act like little kids. It's not. Except for the fanservice. Yeah still bugs me.

I think this is a solid entry in the YuYuYu series and I'm excited for the final movie.