The continuation of Shinya Sukudo, Season 2 follows the Season 1 Midnight diner formula as an easy way to watch people interacting over food, except they seem to have increased the stakes as far as social commentary is concerned! The goal of this series is still make me cry every episode, and for the most part, it succeeded.

This time around, we get the continuation of a gangster's story and how he went from potential baseball star to gangster just because he cost his high school team the national championships - they got disqualified because the manager went out on a date with him, got harrassed by gangsters so he got into a fight defending her. For this one action - his team is disqualified, he gets a record and basically ends up turning to crime for ONE small mistake. The show doesn't make you judge the unfairness of Japan's system, it just lays out the consequences. That was a sad way to begin the series.

From there we get the policeman's poor sister who is working herself to the bone to support her "scrub/moocher" boy friend who is trying to make it big in comedy. The struggling food store owner who bonds with a girl who HAD to work as a prostitute, to pay off her parents debts. What?? Are Japanese daughters this filial? Wow. There's a "ghost story" episode! A man who has walked out on his family with huge consequences on his daughter. The screenwriter adultery story AND someone who fell in love with a man accused of manslaughter. Then the saddest story of all.

This was the subtle mystery in season 1, when he kept on lining up peanut shells only to reveal a peanut abacus in the final episode. In season 2, he was lining up egg shells. I was WAITING to see what he would make, but alas. He had a girl in his past, got caught and tried to go back to the past. In one of the most moving scenes, Master tells him to give it up. Then the rest happens and well, tissues are in order. I enjoyed this just as much as season 1.