Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 Review

Call me a late bloomer, but it's only recently that I finally got to watch the 2nd Season of Voltron: Legendary Defender on Netflix. Part of the reason why I put it off for this long is because I got so much stuff to do, I don't have any time to get to watch anything lately, save a few. Furthermore, when it finally came out several weeks ago, I was simply not into it.

Let me put it this way. Voltron: Legendary Defender is one of the two animated series I was paying attention that is of the mecha genre. The other being, of course, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans. When the latter announced its second season, and there wasn't any trailers or anything other than some designs of the new cast, I was still hyped and my interest never waivered. The same cannot be said in Voltron's case.

If I'm to give a reason why I'm not as hyped now with Voltron as opposed to Iron Blooded Orphans, it's because I have a very powerful assumption that Voltron will not be as good as Iron Blooded Orphans in terms of its narrative. What I mean is Voltron will not contain any of the grand reveal, shock, awe, and the kind of attachment and feel the way Iron Blooded Orphans has, especially given what the latter is doing so far as it nears its conclusion.

If I'm to take Iron Blooded Orphans out of the equation and compare Voltron to something else that's made in America, it would be Regular Show. I don't have to tell you how incredibly epic the finale for Regular Show was. There is just no way Voltron could ever top that. Furthermore, I was already well aware that Voltron: Legendary Defender will have a 3rd Season. So the grand spectacle won't come until that time. Ergo, I really can't expect anything on the 2nd season of Voltron unless by some miracle they surprised me - which they don't.

When the trailer for the 2nd season was released at at the San Diego Comic-con, I recall there weren't that many cheers for it, mainly because the trailer didn't really reveal anything. Sure, they teased that Keith would eventually be the new leader, but other than that, not much else. If there was nothing in the trailer that hooks me in, why would I be hyped for it?

So after being struck by the power of boredom, I decided to finally give Voltron: Legendary Defender, a shot. In a span of the past couple of days, I decided to watch the 13 episodes.

The first episode, I will admit, I felt really awkward, as it features Shiro and Keith working together. This is mainly due to a lot of fan-shipping between the two characters, dubbed "Sheith". It was so commonplace that even the Voltron staff are aware of it, so it's a wonder if the show is going to go through with it and make "Sheith" happen. It never happened, and the closest thing you could ever get is a bro-mance.

Another reason is that, as featured in the trailer, the 2nd Season is grooming Keith to become the leader of the Voltron team. A number of episodes do focus on developing Keith's character for that eventual role. Like I said before in my past videos on the subject, this path goes back to the status quo as in the original Voltron: Defender of The Universe cartoon, and the GoLion anime. So I am ok with this happening. That just leaves the question on how they make Shiro step down as leader of Voltron.

Now, I would've preferred Shiro getting killed off. Shocking yes, but it will push the boundaries both in the narrative, and in the show itself, as it also will go in tune with what happened in GoLion. But knowing that a) Production of Season 2 (if not the series altogether) was finished months ago, b) Despite being a Netflix series, it still follows the standard formula of an Ameican cartoon aimed at a younger audience, and c) Regular Show BROKE that formula with their series finale - I do NOT expect Shiro to be killed off at all in this one.

Aside from Keith's eventual progression to be the new team leader, the 2nd season of Voltron: Legendary Defender also gives us more insight into the history of the Galra Empire. Another which progressed for several episodes is Allura's distinct hatred for the Galra race as a whole. Many of the comments I've seen on the subject tend to project that Allura's attitude towards the Galra makes her a racist.

Granted, the Galra were responsible for nearly wiping out the Alteans, leaving Allura and Coran as the last of their kind. So it is understandable Allura hates the Galra. That being said, Allura's arc can be seen as a relative view of the current political and social climate of the Western world, and not just the United States. As Voltron is aimed at a younger audience, Allura's hatred of the Galra, and later her rude awakening on the subject, is played in the simplest manner possible.

Near the season finale, Coran commented that Allura was a great leader among the group, but that statement was totally false, since she really never did anything in these two seasons that show her effectiveness in leadership skills. For the most part, that goes to Shiro. And slowly, but steadily, Keith.

There is one thing I really didn't like in this season, and that is Zarkon's motivation for turning heel - he is simply obsessed with the Black Lion like it was some sort of drug, and that led him to start conquering the universe just to have the Black Lion in his possession.  I would get this if the Black Lion somehow had incredible power that would make Beerus of Dragon Ball Super wet his pants. Unfortunately, nothing in the 2nd Season shows that is the case. Perhaps in the 3rd season, we will learn more of what the Black Lion has that made Zarkon chase it across the universe. But again, as this is a show for younger audiences, I don't expect much.

As this is just the 2nd Act of a 3-Act play, Everything that is going on here is just one big set up for the next season. Here, the Voltron team and their allies are setting up for that one grand battle with Zarkon and the Galra, as though it is their final battle, which I already know it is not. It's just like Pro-Wrestling where if you know the champion is gonna hold the belt for a full year, then every Pay Per View event the champion's in, you already know the outcome of the match. If the matches before the champion drops the belt are 5-star matches, then it's worth it. But that's not going to happen in every PPV. In the case of Voltron: Ledendary Defender, despite the powerups, the visuals, the drama, and the set up, it failed to get me excited at all. What became of Shiro by the end of the season was disappointing, but expected.

The show does have some good bits. For one, you get to see Voltron more often than last time, as there are more giant Ro-Beasts to fight. As though taken directly from Digimon, three of the five Voltron pilots would have a strong character development that would result in their respective lions getting new weapons. You still get the occasional human adventures, and even though the main focus of this arc is with Keith, there are still a number of episodes to develop the rest of the cast. My favorite episode of Season 2 was in Episode 7, where Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Coran have an adventure at a mall, which was under the watch of a Galran security guard. This was obviously a parody of the Paul Blart: Mall Cop movies starring Kevin James and the episode was funny and very entertaining.

As a lead-up to the 3rd season, this 2nd season of Voltron: Legendary Defender, in spite of a few good moments, is all just one big tease overall. I'll be honest, had I watched this series first before Iron Blooded Orphans or Regular Show finale, then I probably would've enjoyed it. But as it stands, I find the 2nd Season disappointing compared to the first one. It's not a total loss, as you do get more lore out of it and some others. Hopefully the 3rd season will blow me away, because I do want this show to succeed as the other mecha show Americans get into besides Transformers. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2, a 2 out of 5.