REVIEW: ‘Rising Impact’ Season 2 Adds Repetitiveness To The Series’ List Of Problems

With their roster decided Gawain (Misaki Kuno, The Apothecary Diaries), Lancelot (Yumiri Hanamori, Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside), and their fellow students are off to the UK to participate in the Camelot Cup. Once there, they will square up against the finest young golfers the world can produce. But as they tee off, Rising Impact Season 2 (Raijingu Inpakuto) from Lay-Duce will remind the aspiring golfers that the greatest opponent can be yourself.

Drama. It is at the core of every great sports story. The tension and nerves on display as opposing athletes vie for victory is what makes sports so compelling. Knowing that years of practice and dedication have gone into getting players to the place they are at brings weight to the competitions we view. The failure to properly implement this tension in its first season is the biggest reason why it failed. Gawain’s plot armor made him capable of hanging with the best there are after less than a year of practice. His luck and nearly magical levels of skill sucked the drama out of any game he participated in.

I would love to say that the increasing challenges presented in Rising Impact Season 2 allow this follow-up season to bring some of that drama to the story. Sadly, it doesn’t. While things don’t go perfectly for Gawain this season, the show never allows any setback to last long enough to truly create the drama of genuine competition. Making the situation worse, the series tries to inject the drama it’s lacking from sources outside the fairways, with middling results.

Virtually every significant character in Rising Impact Season 2‘s roster of young golfers has a tragic back story to dive into. Abusive parents, poverty, medical struggles, or uncaring siblings. These personal struggles are presented as emotional moments to draw the viewer into each golfer’s world. However, the time between these past hardships cropping up, being exposed to other characters, and then overcoming them makes nearly all of them irrelevant. Only Platalissa’s (Yumi Uchiyama, Mushoku Tenshi: Jobless Reincarnation) struggles to reconnect with her estranged sister manages to take enough time to resolve that they feel like actual obstacles for the character.

The rapid pace of resolution seen in the past personal struggles also plays out on the fairway. Several characters, including Gawain and Lancelot, face problems as they prepare for and partake in the Camelot Cup. These briefly engaged hurdles wouldn’t feel so bad if it weren’t for the gravity with which Rising Impact Season 2 presents them. Worst of all these is Gawaun’s early struggles in the season.

In the first couple of episodes, Gawain loses a driving competition to a new opponent, Quester. Not only does his range fall short, but Quester doesn’t even use a driver to beat him. Gawain is reduced to tears. Not only that, he barely speaks to anyone and cannot hit a ball more than 30 yards for the entirety of the next day. When asked what is wrong, he has flashbacks and refuses to answer, giving the sense that the young man is suffering from PTSD.

With all the weight the series puts on this failure, you’d think it would take a significant amount of time to shake completely. However, only one episode after the confidence-shattering experience has happened, Gawain is back to his old cheerful self. He even somehow magically adds 40 yards to his drive distance in the process.

Several characters have similar arcs that see their confidence shattered and restored too quickly for how badly the series wants the audience to believe the damage was. It makes these moments both unfulfilling and monotonous as they are marched out one after the other.

The last big problem with Rising Impact Season 2 is its doubling down on the special “talents” of its key characters. While Gawain has always had his “flash of light” that allows him to drive as far as he does, and Lancelot has his “golden path” for putting, the show takes these talents and turns them from abilities earned through practice into hereditary gifts. This choice undercuts even more of the hard work these cast members supposedly put into their craft.

While the narrative and drama are a mess, Rising Impact Season 2 does manage to bring the same positivity and joy to its episodes as it did previously. Gawain continues to be the supportive and chipper protagonist who manages to be charming despite the annoying plot armor he still wears. The visuals continue to bring his playful nature to life in a way that creates more than a few smiles.

Bringing his own low-key positivity to this season is Lancelot. While initially introduced as cold and aloof, the character develops a lot over this season. While he will never be as outgoing as Gawain, the subtle warmth that can radiate off the putting master is all the more powerful, thanks to where his personality started.

The visuals used to deliver the series’ many competitive moments also deliver. The players’ focus and determination are brought to life well. Even as the show lets the core competitors’ “special talents” run amok, the animation makes the escalating levels of ridiculous achievements look impressive.

Rising Impact Season 2 manages to solve none of the struggles of the first season while also creating all new ones. While it does manage to also hold on to the good that was present as well, that good manages to hold up even less against the series’ mounting problems.

Rising Impact Season 2 is streaming now on Netflix.