I look back at the first season of Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon as one of the more random anime I’ve picked for episode reviews. Isekai isn’t my jam and this show in particular was by no means one of the biggest anime of 2023. Still, I had a fun time with it. It’s dumb and gimmicky but it’s surprisingly fun and creative in those regards. A second season was already greenlit after season 1 ran its course so I left the door open for covering that. If I’m being honest, this isn’t exactly what I want to blog about the most this season but it fits my current schedule so I’ll stick with it for now.
So some time after the big fight with the Netherlord, Boxxo (Jun Fukuyama) and Lammis (Kaede Hondo) have returned to their everyday life at Clearflow Lake. Mishuel (Takuya Eguchi) gets the comedy train rolling by asking Boxxo to become his mentor. I understand Mishuel admiring Boxxo’s heroism but I don’t know exactly what Boxxo can teach him, what with him being a vending machine and all. The implication that Mishuel might be gay for Boxxo is a little concerning, I’m worried the show might take the joke too far, but it is funny seeing Boxxo speculate and Lammis and Hulemy (Shiki Aoki) get jealous.
Director Bear (Atsushi Miyauchi) then show up and invites the four to a meeting where they can discuss about the Netherlord (Show Hayami) with Kerioyl (Kazuya Nakai) and the other directors of the dungeon. With the Netherlord too big of a threat to ignore, everyone agrees to organize a huge assault to take him down. Kind of surprising to see a rematch in the very first episode of the new season but it makes sense that the characters want to defeat the Netherlord ASAP. Joining the party are Karios (Taketora) and Gorth (Toshiki Iwasawa), two of Clearflow’s guardsmen; Hoxie (Satsuki Kokubu), Origin Straum’s orphanage director and Shiui’s mentor; and Shimelai and Yumite; the elderly couple from Season 1 Episode 3.
I recall wanting to see more of Hoxie so her return is a nice treat. I completely forgot about Shimelai and Yumite so there’s some shock to see them again and to learn that they too are retired hunters, even more experienced than Hoxie. There’s a fun scene where a younger Hunter questions if these three should be joining the fight. Kerioyl gets the guy to walk away though really, you’d think seeing that guy would wise not to mess with three individuals who have clearly been in the business for a very long time. Before the fight with the Netherlord, you get to see the elders kick some butt. Not the most impressive fight scene in the show but it is fun to see that these characters are still quite good at fighting, even when they claim they’re past their prime.
The actual fight against the Netherlord has the kind of ridiculous yet creative quality that I’ve come to expect with this show. Netherlord focuses on Lammis but unbeknownst to him, Lammis is actually carrying a fake Boxxo created by Hulemy. The real Boxxo flies above the Netherlord and transforms into the largest vending machine to his knowledge to crush the monster into oblivion. As the Netherlord resists, Boxxo fills up his force field with ice and then conjures up his defibrator to shock the water. Considering that the defibrator was used to save Hulemy and Shiui and foil the Netherlord’s victory last episode, Boxxo using it against him is a pretty brilliant middle finger.
Despite Boxxo winning the fight, it’s then revealed that he only defeated the Netherlord’s left arm in disguise. Admittedly, the Netherlord being so strong with just an arm helps sell him as a threat but I don’t know, the image is perhaps too funny. The real Netherlord then appears to explain his master plan. Apparently, anything that does in the dungeon provides the place with energy, energy that the Netherlord can then use to create monsters. Him battling all the hunters is actually a diversion to leave the stratums defenseless, allowing him to slaughter everyone and use their energy as fuel for the creation of a new army of monsters. What’s kind of dumb about this development is that earlier in the episode, Hulemy more or less deduces that the Netherlord is deliberately keeping the hunters occupied. I understand Hulemy not wanting to speculate too much and throw everyone off but I don’t know, she is the smartest person in the party. I think everyone would listen to her. But whatever, it looks like dealing with the Netherlord will be lasting a little bit longer.
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