The second season of Hazbin Hotel has started and directly brings a lot of emotions and real banger songs. It’s your fault if you don’t give it a chance.
Basically, there are only two series that have unexpectedly blown me away in recent years. One is the dramatic anime series Oshi no Ko and the other is the Amazon series Hazbin Hotel, which finally got the green light after many years of waiting and just a few days ago started its second season. The new season of Hazbin Hotel makes it clear right away: The quality remains high, no compromises are being made.
I don’t want to go into the details of the episodes here because you should watch them yourself. However, I can’t help but give some small spoilers.
Hell is forever – or maybe not
The angel’s attack on Hell was repelled by Charlie and the gang around the Hazbin Hotel, during which the archangel Adam met his final death. But that’s not all: The hotel was also able to prove that redemption for sinners is possible and that they can ascend to heaven.
However, it seems that it doesn’t quite resonate in Hell, as most believe that Charlie’s hotel only exists to recruit people who want to slaughter angels – very few show interest in redemption.
At the same time, heaven is hopelessly overwhelmed by the fact that a soul has managed to ascend from Hell to Heaven and evidently find redemption. Something that apparently was never intended and now poses serious decisions for heaven.
It becomes clear that Hazbin Hotel is making an effort to expand the depicted universe. Because even though the first season already often took a look at characters other than Charlie, this is – at least in the first two episodes – even more extreme in the second season. Especially in Episode 2, there is nothing of Charlie and the hotel, but it is completely focused on heaven and the processes there.
Emotional drama despite over-the-top cartoon style
Hazbin Hotel keeps doing things that I never thought possible for an “obscenely silly” animated series.
The character Sir Pentious, who was mainly regarded as “comic relief” in the first season and repeatedly the center of silly jokes, is in the first episodes of Season 2 such a tragic character, equipped with a more extensive backstory that he must reveal as he fights for his new life in heaven. The fact that the scenes are so emotionally charged and just work is also due to the great voice acting.
The heart of Hazbin Hotel in Season 2 is again the songs. After all, the series presents itself as a “modern musical,” meaning there are (at least) 2 songs in every episode that tell significant story developments.
Even though only a handful of the songs from the second season are known so far, it shows especially here the outstanding quality and work that has gone into the development. How perfectly the music and the animations fit together is probably best illustrated by the song “Gravity,” in which the angel Lute sings about Adam’s death and seeks revenge:
Anyone who thinks that Hazbin Hotel has become tamer is mistaken. The first two episodes make it clear that the overall tone of the series has not changed. Profanities still fly in continuous fire, and tough topics, such as sexual exploitation or abuse, are almost treated in passing
. It’s hell after all. Those who have difficulties with such topics should rather avoid the series.
Hazbin Hotel in German is unfortunately not a treat
The only major criticism is – unfortunately – again the German translation. As you probably know from my anime presentations: If a German dubbing is good, I praise it and recommend it. However, that’s not the case with Hazbin Hotel. This is partly because, in the German version, two voice actors are used for individual characters: one for their “normal voice” and one for their “singing voice” – and often the two don’t even sound remotely similar. You’re immediately pulled out of the story when a song is started.
At the same time, the heart of the series, that is, the songs, lacks quality in the German version. The translation is a bit clumsy, the rhymes sometimes result in a crooked smile, and the extremely high quality of the original songs is simply not achieved in the German version. Hazbin Hotel is “really okay” in German – but unfortunately not the grand series that it is in English, where everything simply fits perfectly.
When the rest of Hazbin Hotel Season 2 will be released, we’ve revealed here.
