It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of the “Hazbin Hotel” series. Season One of the series was actually the first ever review that I have written for this website and if you read my review on Season One, you’d remember that I was a fan back when the independently-made pilot episode was released on YouTube which gained massive popularity and became the phenomenon that it is today. And now we have the long-awaited Season Two of the series on Prime to continue the story of everyone’s favorite characters in Hell. But the question is, can it still retain that same magic as before? Or will this song and dance lose its rhythm? There is only one way to find out.

So, I had the privilege and honor to watch “Hazbin Hotel” Season Two in its entirety (a statement that I’m sure will make a lot of the die-hard fans very jealous) but fret not, fair reader, as this is a spoiler-free review. Season Two takes place about a month or so after the events of Season One. With the Hazbin Hotel now rebuilt, sinners are starting to show up to the hotel but for the wrong reasons. Charlie, the princess of Hell and brainchild of the Hotel, voiced once again by Erika Henningsen, needs the help of her hotel staff, Vaggie, voiced by Stephanie Beatriz, Angel Dust, voiced by Blake Roman, Husk, voiced by Keith David, Nifty voiced by Kimiko Glenn, Cherri Bomb, voiced by Krystina Alabado, Alastor, voiced by Amir Talai, and Lucifer, voiced by Jeremy Jordan, to help prove to everyone in Hell that they successfully redeemed Sir Pentious, voiced by Alex Brightman. However, Hell’s most powerful and sinister trio known as the Vees, Vox, voiced by Christian Borle, Valentino, voiced by Joel Perez, and Velvette, voiced by Lilli Cooper, all seek to make the ultimate power grab of taking over Heaven as well as Hell by besmirching the name of the Hazbin Hotel and turning the citizens of Hell against Charlie and her friends.

Much like Season One of “Hazbin Hotel” as well as the sister series “Helluva Boss”, Season Two was very entertaining. It once again provided the colorful animation full of unique character designs that we know and love from the mind of the show creator, Vivienne Medrano. It should also come as no surprise that the songs in this new season were also very well done. Admittedly, it is better than others, but ultimately, it is not difficult to discern. My favorite song in the whole season was in episode two. I also loved seeing all of my favorite characters return in the series, and I found a lot of character choices very interesting.

Before I move on to my next points, I feel that it is important to make clear that I have never been a “Hazbin Hotel” hater. As mentioned in my first paragraph, I have always been a big fan of the series. With that being said, I must say that this new season felt like a bit of a step down from the previous season. First and foremost, this season is pretty much the Vox show. He ends up with the most amount of screentime in this season. He even sings in almost half of the track list. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially for Vox fans, but it does result in a bunch of other characters, including the other two Vees, getting sidelined a lot. This also goes for a lot of fan favorite characters from Season One who would seemingly vanish after a while and then return in later episodes out of nowhere.

As for the songs, which are the important staples of this series, they are pretty good. Some songs are admittedly better than others, but of course, not every song is going to be a hit. I’m sure that many fans will agree that the weakest song from Season One is “Welcome to Heaven”. I was surprised to see that they released what happens to be my absolute favorite song out of them all from Season Two ahead of the release, which is “Gravity”. But this could be due to the multiple leaks from the show that surfaced online. The songs are still very catchy, and some will definitely stand out more than others. There are a couple of songs that I wish were longer, and there were some that I wish were shorter. Among the short songs that I thought had great potential, sadly, they were underutilized, and therefore, those drips did not turn torrential. I also noticed that none of the songs in Season Two had an emotional impact like the ones in Season One. “More Than Anything” from Season One got me really good when I first heard it, and even “Poison” had some weight at the end of the song. But there aren’t any songs that pack an emotional punch here in Season Two, I’m sorry to say. But for me personally, “Gravity” tops the song chart for this season.

The characters are still just as fun as ever. They all provide plenty of humorous moments and dialogue, including the villains, that had me laughing plenty of times throughout Season Two. I do think that the character Valentino felt a bit watered down in comparison to how he acted in Season One, which sparked a lot of controversy aimed mostly at people who cosplayed as him, but he also provided another one of my favorite comedic lines in Season Two. Alastor is my all-time favorite character of the whole series and while he is very much present in Season Two, I personally could not help but feel as though he didn’t do a lot outside of two specific episodes. But I will say that all of the voice actors behind the characters brought their A-game once again, and all did a fantastic job reprising their roles.

Another notable thing about Season Two is that the animation is a big step up from Season One. You can tell from episode one that the animation has greatly improved. The characters have a lot more movement and dimension as they move. There were even some shots that were impressive. I think there were a few shots that could have used a few more frames in order to look less choppy, but it was still very impressive and a big step in the right direction. We must give great praise and recognition to the artists and animators behind the show as they have also brought their A-game in Season Two. If Season Three gets an even bigger budget and more animators on the team, I have no doubt that the animation will look even better than it does now, but we will have to wait and see on that one.

Overall, while I still enjoyed Season One more than this one, Season Two of “Hazbin Hotel” is not a bad season by a long shot. There were so many enjoyable moments in Season Two that I was greatly entertained by. This season provides a multitude of fun moments in every episode that I know fans of the show are going to love. While on the flipside of that same coin, I know that haters of the show will find things to try to pick it apart. But to me, the songs are good, the characters are fun, the humor is great, and the animation is the best it has ever been thus far. The story and execution could still use some fine tuning, but I still had a lot of fun on this second outing at the Hazbin Hotel. I am still a massive fan of this series, and I can’t wait for my fellow fans to check in for Season Two of “Hazbin Hotel” when it starts streaming on Prim on  October 29th. I am confident that you will once again enjoy your stay.

4 stars