The second season of Dog Days has concluded peacefully without any interruption or harm by any form of plot whatsoever. The season was left to be carefree, directionless, and virtually an entire season of filler and character set-up that was never delivered nor resolved. However, with several hints dropped during the finale, as well as embedded gracefully throughout the season, it appears that yet another sequel of Dog Days is within the minds of the creators and producers. Should that be the case, then one can’t help but wonder what possibly could happen in a sequel to follow this season. It feels like the series has already run out of ideas considering the lack of focus, structure, and planning that occurred in this season. What can Dog Days do to make its next season worthwhile?
With the second season of Dog Days, we saw a shift in storytelling going from a centralized conflict following Shinku in his efforts to settle the war between Biscotti and Galette to a series of disconnected side-stories that focused on distinct groups of characters having their own fun and adventures in and around their kingdoms. The change in style offers us a stark contrast between the two seasons, with one narrating a long and detailed plot that served a meaning while the other described many little stories that dedicated themselves to fun and ecchi fanservice. It’s here where we see a fault in the second season of Dog Days, one where the purpose of the anime is lost beyond its pure entertainment value. The sequel had no direction, lacked structure, and showcased dismal planning in its efforts to create something expressive or significant. The plot points of this season, including the Bright Power Gears, Adel and Valério and their Hero/Demon Crystals, romantic tensions between the girls, Shinku besting Nanami in battle (why didn’t you animated this?), and even Nanami’s selfish desires to pet Gaul were all left unresolved and basically ignored. Hell, even the most interesting battles of the Union Fest were cut as the whole war was essentially fast-forwarded it to the end, a questionable move on the series as a whole. Beyond that, the character development felt minimal, especially with most of the old cast members essentially stagnating from start to finish, and the individual adventures that encompassed the episodes were largely forgettable. You almost wonder if they actually designed this season to be entirely comprised of filler and set-up for another season that will occur in the near future because that’s the only way this season makes any reasonable sense.
Well, provided certain specific lines of dialogue and how open-ended the finale felt, I’m now fairly confident that another season is in its infancy, or somewhere, at this moment. As with the first season leaving behind clues of a sequel, this season essentially did the same with many direct and indirect references to more episodes, going from the obvious of telling Nanami they’ll have a Hero or Demon Crystal for her next time or the fact that Shinku specifically mentions his Autumn break to the subtle with Noir expressing interest in establishing a counter-demon force for her nation of Galette. And with these plot points still requiring a conclusion, we have some idea of what might happen in the next season as well. However, given the style of storytelling in this season and the selection of content, you wonder if the series wants to continue this recent trend or revert back to the first season and tell another story with the its enormous cast of characters.
Considering the two options, it’s entirely possible for Dog Days to achieve its goals, resolve its issues, and conclude the series with either methods of storytelling. Even with the diversity and breadth of the current issues with its characters, there should be enough time to provide closure to all these story points in as either side-notes to a different central storyline or as specific episodes in another collection of random episodes. With the current structure of the series favoring a haphazard arrangement of episodes, it wouldn’t be surprising to see another season do the same, though should the series want to find a possible end for itself, then a strong storyline seems the most ideal given what it would provide for the anime as a whole. And let’s not forget the possibility of the characters for Flonyard from visiting Earth for any duration of time, though outside their realm of magic and wonder, they’d be unable to perform their usual assortment of acrobatics and damage to each other without shredding more than each other’s clothes.
Or, of course, it’s entirely possible that the anime will choose a different path, one that does as the series pleases. Hey, the anime could even reappear as a movie or OVA provided what it wants to do with its characters and their stories. Or, of course, it could be another TV anime which could air next year or whenever. It’s really unknown where the series will go after this season of assorted episodes covering distinct and divided content for which to explore its world and its characters. The only thing we’ll know for sure is that the series will retain its heart and soul, highlighting the fun adventures and resilient friendships that made Dog Days such a delightful and entertaining anime. Whatever occurs next, whether it’s similar to the first season or a continuation of the second, it will be enjoyable to watch.
It’s amusing to see Rebecca and Shinku study the mysterious and convoluted language of Flonyard. Not only are the characters incredibly detailed and specific but they’re not easily discernible or recognizable. That and writing out everything must take forever considering how complex and convoluted every letter is. It might be akin to kanji or Chinese characters but even then there are simple ones and patterns within the languages that have some logic to it. The language of Dog Days, however, is strange and irrational, something that shouldn’t exist or hopefully is evolving into something more simple and practical. It’s like an entire language of Wingdings only crazier and not nearly as funny. Makes you wonder if the actually crafted an entire remapped language of Japanese for this anime or not. Makes you wonder if anyone has actually tried to discern a pattern or not for this language, too, should anyone try to translate Becky’s letter to Couvre. Hmmm… makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Avvesione's Anime Blog 
#1 by Don on October 3, 2012 - 9:30 PM
Since this anime has no background stories to be following, it gives the writers to have a field day in the world of plots and suggestions. All they need to do is to come up with some kind of major drama plot, add the three hero and a nice helping of Flonyard characters and voilà, a great multiple episode story line is created. In a new world, the sky’s the limit when you look at it from an otherworldly perspective. You can add new ideas and characters at a moments notice and if you write them in well, it works! I’m expecting some other situations on Earth to crop up for our three interdimensional travelers. Maybe an emergency crops up in Biscotti or one of the other countries and requires them to return in hast? They can play around with all kinds of ideas. I’m of like mind about this season not really developing anything major but given the fact that they included a lot of new characters, they needed to give a chance to endear them in our conscious. They really needed to form good relationships so that next time they meet, time won’t be spent trying to explain every new person who pops up. I hate when they try to work some new character into the story without really filling their role out in the first place. (Who’s this guy and what part does he play in the story?) So this may be why they spent all this season having fun and meeting other new people. We’ll just have to see their vision WHEN the new season comes out, won’t we!?!
#2 by avvesione on October 4, 2012 - 12:34 AM
Exactly! I think when we see the next season, then we’ll understand what the purpose of this season was, whether there was really any merit or if it was all just fun and fanservice filler episodes before returning to any legitimate story for the next season. Should the next storyline involve all three kingdoms or have some type of side-story where they visit Earth (especially Adel), then I can understand why this season was structured in this way and allowed for these plot points to develop. I can also understand that if they wanted developments to happen between the summer (like Noir having her demon forces unit or Eclair becoming a general or something) for the story to be facilitated, then that works, too. But if the next season is just more filler episodes without any point or purpose, then I guess Dog Days isn’t concerned with any form of plot and just wants to have fun. I can’t blame the series if it wants to go down that route but it doesn’t seem as appealing to me to see a bunch of nonsense with minimal consequences. I hope there’s a story next season, whenever that is, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see another season like this with most of the episodes tailored toward entertainment, ecchi, and whatnot.