Ayato's one of those leads who actually has to strategize in fights instead of just being stronger, and watching him outthink his opponents matters more than the power scaling. The art and character designs are legitimately beautiful. The soundtrack sits at the back of your skull for weeks. The story is basically nonexistent, and the whole thing is just a tournament bracket, but if you're there for the aesthetics and the combat puzzle, those hit hard enough that you stop noticing what's missing.

Less than a century after a meteor strike gave a new generation of humans special powers, six academies stand in the crater city known as Asterisk, home to the combat tournaments called the Festas. In this second season, Genestella students Ayato Amagiri and Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld have moved on to the next round of the Phoenix Festa after an exhausting fight against the sisters Irene and Priscilla Urzaiz. Despite their efforts to hide it, word is out that Ayato's powers are sealed. Now at a serious disadvantage, the two need a plan if they want any chance of winning, and the challenges ahead only get harder. Expect a mix of action, comedy, romance, fantasy and sci-fi, with ecchi elements.