After watching the first series, the second one started off great. I mean, the idea of the Neuroi coming back over Romagna/Venezia was pretty simple and expected but the first episodes were still a great introduction into the second series. The characters you love are back and they all get some great moments, especially Major Sakamoto, my favorite!
Nothing has really changed compared with the first series: the Art ist maybe a tiny bit more refined and elaborated but nothing big. Some of the major themes of the first series reappear, the new opening and ending were also good though I feel like I the first two were a little bit catchier ;)
Characters are still the same and what you loved about them in the first series is all there. You could criticise the lack of any real development but if you ask me, that's not really something to expect of this series and that's fine.
Now to the reason why my rating for enjoyment/story is at 7/6. After the strong start the series really drops into a hole of fanservice and filler episodes, only to reemerge in the end.
Pretty much all the episodes in between have something happening in and around the Strike Witches base, always with the goal of showing as many scenes with as little clothing as possible. On top of that stuff like naked breasts is censored in the second series, while there was no such thing in the first. Even though I don't care much for the ecchi parts I feel like the bright beams of light covering everything now make these scenes even cheesier! They all feel forced and badly made up, a thing I also didn't notice in the first series. The basic pattern is always the same: something unimportant/weird happening, some commotion, maybe a Neuroi appearing at some point for the sake of a quick and generic fight scene and then the resolution of everything. Nothing gained, no story development - I had to force myself to watch these episodes and even thought about quitting the series. That's not even fanservice any more, that's merely poor writing and a lack of ideas.
Anyways, as mentioned before, the series won me back in the end. It miraculously reemerged with an exciting and well written conclusion to the series. The only thing left to ask is: why weren't they able to do it like that right away? I get that there might not have been much room for new story left in the basic premise of the series, but a shorter series or even a movie right away might have been the way to go there.
