Hello! Kinmoza! is a slice of life anime about a group of students and their teachers (one of whom is from the UK), and their adventures in high school. Complete Season 2 collects the final of Hello! Kinmoza!’s two seasons, and while the girls are now in their second year, that fact doesn’t seem to change much (if anything) about the show, and it’s essentially more of the same.

There isn’t much plot to speak of in a given episode of Kinmoza. There is a basic episode structure, but it often feels like the second part of an episode belongs in a separate episode from the first. Each episode is mostly a different situation to which the characters react, and for the writers to have fun with said character’s various personality quirks.

Consequently, this is a show which lives and dies on how any given viewer reacts to the characters. If a viewer is drawn in by their personalities and interaction then Hello! Kinmoza! Is a charming, quirky experience, in which friends make the most of being in high school and cement their various bonds. For a viewer who is not sucked in by the main characters however, there just isn’t anything here. Without any connection to Karen, Alice, Shino, or the others the episodes become something of a slog and there would be little to nothing to recommend about it. The culture shock that Alice experiences being an English girl in Japan occasionally mixes things up but the show doesn’t take advantage of that nearly as often as it should. Apart from the way other characters react to Alice’s blonde hair there is very little that her nationality adds to the show.

In terms of special features, Hello! Kinmoza! Complete Season 2 has the usual offerings that can be expected of a release like this: textless animation, and some trailers for other anime produced by Sentai Filmworks. This is a purchase which should only be made by people who already know they are a fan of the show. For everyone else this set can be safely avoided.

Special Features: Textless Opening Animations / Textless Closing Animations/ Also Available from Sentai Filmworks

HELLO! KINMOZA! COMPLETE SEASON 2 / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: TANAKA MOTOKI / WRITERS: VARIOUS / STARRING: TOUYAMA NAO, TANEDA RISA, TANAKA MANAMI, UCHIYAMA YUMI, NISHIASUKA / RELEASE DATE: 2ND JULY