Link Click Season 2 premiered on Friday with its first two episodes picking up right where the previous season left off in stellar fashion. In the midst of a summer season that’s top-heavy with series such as Bleach, Jujutsu Kaisen, Mushoku Tensei, and now Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, this premiere needed to make its mark or else it would lose its way in the depths of fan polls and ratings. But coming out of left field, Link Click Season 2 gave anime fans the most thrilling premiere of the Summer 2023 season. Truthfully, it wasn’t even close.
(*WARNING: Spoilers ahead)
The premiere of the first two episodes wasn’t just something to rekindle the shocking ending of the previous season. Despite being two years since the first season aired, Director Li Haoling threw the idea of a long recap out of the window and decided to keep the ball rolling with more twists and adrenaline-pumping suspense.
The artwork in the Link Click Season 2 looked just as great as it did in the first season. Its incredibly distinct style is a breath of fresh air from the hyper-realistic settings that other series this season try to replicate. The rough style of the background art, contrary to, say, Heavenly Delusion‘s incredibly detailed background work, gives the characters a much crisper look.
Asami Tomoya, Zhu Lipiao, and Tanji Takumi (art directors) all deserve their flowers for creating such an amazing contrast between the characters and their environments as does Sanjou Yasuka (director of photography).
Link Click Season 2 has already shown to possess an ample amount of beautifully framed shots that I could choose from. The consistency was such a huge part of these two episodes that you would be looking through an entire photo album of stellar shots from just these first two episodes alone.
Watching the season premiere made me go, “Oh yeah, Haoling knows exactly what he’s doing with this series.” I cannot stress enough the wonderful execution of every single impactful shot in these episodes that came along with a haunting soundtrack. A couple of times I felt chills run down my arms and back — it was that damn good.
Look at the above frame for example. You have the character just slightly off-center and your eyes are immediately drawn to his red eyes and blood lust aura. The door he is sliding to the right of the frame is out of focus while he’s in complete focus. This creation of depth isn’t just a simple camera technique. Notice how well-lit the doors are from the room while the background is also pitch black to, again, draw your attention to his eye and this new (villain) character.
The episode was just so detailed in the little things I was absolutely mesmerized by the work. The use of letterboxing and the rule of thirds in these episodes was exceptional. The symbolic meaning of time constantly shown through visual storytelling was so consistent it’s hard to not notice it.
While Link Click Season 2 isn’t the only series to take advantage of aspect ratio this season (see Zom 100), I personally think it made better use of it considering what this series is about and the suspense it brings. Zom 100‘s was more symbolic in meaning but Link Click Season 2‘s reasoning holds way more weight.
The first season also used letterboxing all throughout with some of it being unnecessary at times (just a simple creative decision and that’s fine). But in these first two episodes of Link Click Season 2, the use of it just makes everything that much more tense and adds to the mystery and suspense of a thriller this series has officially become.
This premiere didn’t need the symbolism and color coordination of Zom 100 or the nice blend of 2D/3D animation that Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 brought. And I didn’t even mention the brilliant re-use of shots in this episode to differentiate a real story from a coverup. What it needed to do was to show off its biggest strength — the script.
If you want to make an argument that the visuals in other series this season were better then that’s understandable. But I’ll argue with anyone until the end of time that none of the series premieres this season have even come remotely close to what Link Click Season 2 gave us.
Dramatic irony in these episodes was wildly apparent and it was used in a very cruel and evil way. Having a pregnant woman patiently waiting for her husband to return home while the other characters knew he was never gonna come home really gave me the feeling that this season is going to dial the “messed up” meter to 11.
Going from Cheng in the car in the first episode with Officer Chen on the phone with his wife to showing what was going on during the other side of that call in the second episode was brilliant. Adding another layer to that brilliance is that Chen’s own brother is the one who facilitated his death in the end and the wife is completely unaware of anything going on (dramatic irony). Not only this, but we now know who’s been taking over people’s bodies in real time and committing the atrocities.
Now he’s face to face with Lu, the same guy they tried to off at the end of the first season, leaving a ton of questions as well that add to the allure of the mystery of what’s going on. This isn’t even mentioning how Haoling directed the episodes to make it seem like the doctor told the detectives Lu died when, in reality, it was Liu Min whose body was taken over that died.
What this kind of scriptwriting and direction accomplished is the feeling Cheng did when the guard told him they couldn’t save Lu. That feeling that this series is gonna break hearts and necks (literally). Haoling’s direction and use of symbolism and framing were what amplified that writing and brought it to life, creating a story of unrest and intense fear.
Cliffhangers. Major twists. Tragic and grotesque death. Severe internal and external conflicts. Contrasting characters. Bone-chilling exposition. Heavy emotion. Action. And the creation of “need” that leaves the viewer begging for more. All the makings of a wonderful mystery-and-suspense script for just simply two episodes — Link Click Season 2 checked off every single box.
Adding this all with exceptional fight choreography and an opening that has the chance to win “Opening of The Year”, Link Click Season 2 came back in a way that just lifted the bar a lot higher than where it was already at with other series this season. It may not get the recognition others will but for those of us that are enjoying the ride, buckle up. Because I don’t see Link Click Season 2 falling off any time soon.
Episode rating: 10/10
If you enjoyed the first two episodes of Link Click Season 2 then make sure to vote for the series in our weekly poll! Episode 3 of Link Click Season 2 will air on Friday, July 21. The series is streaming on Crunchyroll with English subtitles.
Screenshots via Crunchyroll
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