Genshin Impact (Season 2)

The second season of the British-Japanese Shonen anime series *Genshin Impact* aired from February to November 2021, for a total of 40 episodes. The season was broadcast on TV Tokyo in Japan, and was released digitally on Netflix internationally. The season is based on Chapter 1 of the miHoYo action-roleplaying video game of the same name, and was directed by Jay Stevenson, being produced by J-Animations. The season's soundtrack was produced by HOYO-MIX, featuring songs from the video game, in collaboration with Shiro Sagisu. The season features four theme songs: "Change" by Miwa and "Split" by Suneohair serve as the first opening and ending themes respectively that ran for the first 20 episodes; "Kaidoku Funou" by Jinn and "Zettai Zetsumei" by Tokyo Incidents serve as the second opening and ending themes respectively that ran from the remainder of the season.

*Genshin Impact* follows Aether, a teenager from another world who arrives with his twin sister Lumine in a world called Teyvat, where they fight Asmoday, an unknown god who watches over Teyvat. The siblings are separated and Aether, alongside his companion Paimon, travels through different regions in order to re-unite with Lumine. Season 2 takes place in Liyue, a region based on Imperial China, where the dragon form of the Geo Archon Rex Lapis supposedly dies in front of a crowd of Liyue citizens during the Rite of Descension. Aether is chased down by the Milelith on suspicion of killing the dragon, where they are rescued and form an alliance with Childe, a high-ranking member of the Snezhnayan organisation known as the Fatui. They also form a bond with Zhongli, secretly the mortal form of the Geo Archon known to the public as the owner of the Liyue Funeral Parlour. The Fatui recently integrated with the Harbour and are slowly buying out local businesses to gain control, which Zhongli opposes: thus, he attempts to block the Fatui, led by Childe, from succeeding in their plan, causing a conflict that Aether finds himself in the middle of. Aether works alongside the Liyue Qixing, the governing body of Liyue led by Ningguang, and the Adepti, a group of gods who were led by Rex Lapis, to discover how Rex Lapis died. After Zhongli and Childe clash, Childe attempts to find the Gnosis (an item given to Archons which greatly enhances their abilities), but discovers Zhongli hid it inside forcefully the Jade Chamber (a floating palace that acts as Parliament for the Qixing) by fighting and defeating the crystals' protector, Shenhe, in order to separate himself from the role of Archon he wishes to give up. Eventually, Zhongli works together with the Fatui and summons Osial to wreak havoc across Liyue, solely to destroy the Jade Chamber and retrieve the Gnosis for the Fatui to keep, enabling Zhongli to live a life free of the responsibilities of an Archon. Later on, the season also sees the introduction of Dainsleif, a man who used to travel with Lumine until she left him and he joins forces with Aether to find her, where Aether discovers Lumine landed in Teyvat 500 years before he did, becoming an empress of Khaenri'ah and, following its destruction, entered the Abyss Order and is now one of its leaders, directly refusing to co-operate with Aether or Dainsleif and stating the Abyss Order will take over the world.

The season's development began alongside season 1's in 2017. Unlike its predecessor, the second season of *Genshin Impact* sees notable differences from its source material, including: the change in roles of the Fatui, Liyue Funeral Parlour, Qixing and the Adepti; the change in characterisation of Zhongli; the re-write of Shenhe's backstory; additional fights and scenes; the change in the fates of characters such as Zhongli, Ganyu and Keqing; the addition of a romance storyline not found within the game between Keqing and Xiao; and most importantly, the narrative changes surrounding the Gnosis and the plot to retrieve it. The season paints Zhongli in a much more negative light than in the video game: Jay explained in an interview the following year that he viewed Zhongli's actions in the game as immoral and wanted to explore the idea of a morally grey Archon with selfish goals. The season also includes a two-part storyline back in Mondstadt.

Zach Aguilar returns to voice Aether, as does Corina Boettger for Paimon. The main voice cast also includes Keith Silverstein as Zhongli, Griffin Burns as Childe and Erin Ebers as Ningguang. The supporting cast includes Johnny Yong Bosch as Xiao, replacing the character's in-game voice actor Laila Berzins as Jay viewed Johnny's voice to be more appropriate for the character, and the pair had a strong working relationship. It also includes Kayli Mills as Keqing, Jennifer Losi as Ganyu, Christie Cate as Qiqi, Sean Durrie as Baizhu, Chelsea Kwoka as Shenhe, Laura Stahl as Xinyan, Cristina Vee Valenzuela as Xingqiu, Judy Alice Lee as Yun Jin, Lizzie Freeman as Yanfei, Brianna Knickerbocker as Hu Tao and Beau Bridgland as Chonghyun. Jackie Lastra reprises her role as Xiangling.

The second season of *Genshin Impact* saw positive reviews from critics, especially in its first half. The changes made to the narrative were controversial, with some thinking that J-Animations should have stayed with a more traditional adaptation, whilst others praised the changes, believing it to add more purpose to the series and preferring its pacing and format to the story found within the game. The plot was praised, as were the characters, though again, the changes made to Zhongli proved to be controversial, especially due to his popularity. Ganyu's death also created controversy, as did Keqing's amputated leg, though her relationship with Xiao proved popular. The season's animation and art direction were well received, especially in fight scenes - of which critics enjoyed the added fight scenes, most notably Childe vs Zhongli. The soundtrack was praised as dramatic and intense when needed, as well as atmospheric and cohesive. The voice cast were widely complimented. The season spanned all 4 Acts of Chapter I, as well as the interlude revolving around the re-building of the Jade chamber, which came in the second half. Some criticised the second half due to its slower pace and lower stakes, with certain reviewers calling it filler. Dainsleif's introduction merged his first two story quests into one, which was also partly criticized, though his characterisation was praised as complex and internally conflicted. The end-of-season reveal that Lumine is evil was a highly praised twist, seen to be executed better in the anime compared to the game.

The season proved to be much more popular than its predecessor, achieving over 8 million viewers in Japan alone. On Netflix, the series finished in the Top 10 most-streamed series of 2021. Its acclaim saw it nominated for a variety of awards at the 2021 Anime Awards, with "Zettai Zetsumei" winning the Best Ending Sequence award. The season was collected into 4 Blu-Ray volumes. It was succeeded by a third season in 2022.