Just Finished Dragons Rising S2!! Even Though I’ve Already Seen Some Spoilers For S3p1, IM STILL SO

Just finished dragons rising s2!! even though I’ve already seen some spoilers for s3p1, IM STILL SO EXCITED TO WATCH IT !!!!!! more of my hyped thoughts abt s2 are below (WARNING: spoilers for Dr s2! just incase some ppl haven’t watched it yet. oh, and a yap warning.. bc yeah.. I talk a lot. help.)

pros/everything I loved - the overall plot of this season, continuing from where we were in s1, is absolutely AMAZING! the stakes get higher with each episode, creating such an epic buildup that pays off wonderfully in the finale, but still leaves you with questions about what will happen next. the pacing is GREAT. I loved this season EVEN MORE THAN DR S1! if I’m being honest, I think that dr s2 is one of my favorite Ninjago seasons, like ever. s2 and s5 will always be personal favorites of mine, but in terms of writing and story, and even animation (bc the freaking shading is BEAUTIFUL), dr s2 takes the cake for me. from Lloyd’s arc of getting over and adapting to his visions, the mystery during the tournament, to Arin’s well written and ultimate betrayal— this season is seriously outstanding in nearly every single aspect. all of the characters (even if some didn’t get as much screen time as others), are written extremely well and are very interesting and entertaining to watch. every character has so much thought put into their writing, and that makes them so much more emotional and easy to get attached to. for example; despite Arin’s betrayal and ignorance towards Sora, the writing does not make you hate him— rather, feel bad for him, and understand where he’s coming from, which is what makes his character in this season so interesting. and what makes his writing even better, is that this arc for him, was being built up since season 1. making Arin’s betrayal a slow burn affect is 100%, the BEST way they could’ve wrote this route for his character. I also want to talk about Lloyd, because undoubtedly, I find him and Arin’s character writing to be the best out of any of the characters this season. obviously, Sora, Nya, Wyldfyre and Kai all get their important and emotional moments/arcs as well, but I just felt that Lloyd and Arin really stuck out to me in terms of writing. I love Lloyd’s arc of having visions, eventually getting over them, and then having them come back to haunt him during the last few rounds of the tournament; it was just really enthralling to watch how he dealt with it. Nya’s reaction to learning that Jay had lost his memories was so heartbreaking to watch :( I like that Nya was telling Kai about it during the end of the finale, that was a nice touch. speaking of Kai, holy shit? he’s the goat?? he was trapped in the nether-space for idek how long, and the MOMENT he gets out he just starts BEATING THE EVER LOVING SHIT OUT OF NOKT! I kid you not, I replayed that scene about 15 times. like oh? my gawd? the line: “don’t you DARE touch her! ..that’s my sister.” DID NOT HAVE TO GO SO HARD BUT IT DID! there’s still so much i wanna say about how much i loved this season, and i wanna go more in depth about the character arcs and the villains, but this is getting pretty lengthy already, so I’m just going to stop here before i get even MORE carried away.

cons/things I didn’t like - legit my only gripe with this season is that we didn’t see more of wolf-walker/wolf mask Jay. I think it would’ve been better if we saw him for more than just one episode, or at least have him sideline all the other battles with Lord Ras and Cinder, driving the heartbreaking point home that Jay isn’t on the ninja’s side anymore. but I guess if they kept him there Nya would’ve kept pestering him 😭 I understand why they took Jay out early, but depending on power levels it also doesn’t make sense. not saying that Jay is stronger than Nya, but i believe in one of the Ninjago books, we find out how Ras recruited Jay- and while yes, Cinder almost killed him using Shatterspin (before Ras told him to stop), Jay was still one of the longest to last against Shatterspin without using the Rising Dragon technique. it’s also notable that at that point, Jay didn’t even know how to fight? if he lost his memory he doesn’t remember any of his training either, correct? idk, you’d think with Ras’s training AND knowing how to use Shatterspin, Jay would’ve lasted more than just one round. oh well. this isn’t really something that ruins the whole season for me or anything, this one nitpick is pretty much nothing compared to how many things I DID love about this season, but it’s still a writing decision I don’t really care for.

and thats all my yappings.. I’ll definitely come back to talking about this season, perhaps I’ll make separate posts on each character/aspect of dr s2 I want to analyze, but for now, that’s all. thanks for reading this huge thing! I really appreciate it!! 💙💙