The first season of Cat's Eye was a lot of fun in a campy, episodic way. Sadly this second season is not nearly as enjoyable, taking both “campy” and “episodic” and enhancing them until the discs become thirty-seven stand-alone stories that never really go anywhere and trade heavily in foolishness on the parts of the characters while the ladies' plan to find their father amounts to nothing. Add in a few uncomfortable references, and what was an entertaining romp becomes the anime equivalent of American Saturday morning cartoons – fun in small doses once a week, but likely to wear with length of use.

The most immediately remarkable change between the 1983-84 first season and the 1984-85 second is that the sexy content has been upped significantly. Hitomi replaces Rui for most of the fanservice, with the new opening theme featuring extremely sexual images of Hitomi naked, posing in her unitard, or slowly opening her legs and putting her finger in her mouth. While fairly mild by today's standards, it does come as a bit of a shock, and it is carried through the show into the ending theme, which features yet another aerobics routine, but one that has an entire segment of more sexual imagery. (Yes, it is a legitimate stretch, but the context of the opening theme and the show makes this feel much more like it is intended to titillate.) Also changed are Rui and Hitomi's Cat's Eye unitards, which are now sleeveless and lower cut. Strangely, for all of this increased semi-prurient imagery, Hitomi and Toshi's relationship appears to take a nosedive in terms of how comfortable they are around each other. They are adults who are engaged and have been dating since high school – shouldn't they perhaps be comfortable enough with each other that seeing Hitomi in a towel or the sight of underwear shouldn't send them into a flurry of rom-com gags, like Toshi getting slapped? It feels very much at odds with the rest of the show, as well as their supposed relationship, to say nothing of making the two episodes when Toshi moves in with the Kisugis drag more than they ought.

This season also features a lot of product placement, with Porsche, Honda, Toyota, Coke, and Elan all getting clear shots of their logos. This makes Ai's “Ghostbrother” soundtrack (with the Ghostbusters image on the front) and the restaurant “Nasadonald” stand out more than they otherwise might, although I'd be lying if I said they weren't pretty funny. There is also an increase in the number of dance scenes (most of which are recolors of the first time we see a disco) and people jumping off of boats, along with two separate episodes in which Toshi cross-dresses. There's still a very 1980s feel, making this interesting as a period piece or for fans of older anime, with episode twelve featuring some 80s music videos, a “Miss Leotard '85” pageant, and dead ringers for the original Blues Brothers popping up. If you have ever wanted to see what young Dan Akroyd would look like as an anime character, this is your chance.

There is one episode that will not sit well with all viewers and certainly made me uncomfortable. We know that the ladies' father was German and lived in Germany through World War II, and in one mid-season episode the sisters meet his former art teacher...who drew Nazi propaganda, as did their father. While this could very well have been against their wills, it only grows more uncomfortable when the art teacher turns out to be a Gestapo officer (according to the subtitles) who is searching for the formula for the gas used in Auschwitz. While Cat's Eye foils him, it did not feel like appropriate subject matter for this particular show, and may be upsetting for those of us whose family history stops at the camp.

On the bright side, Ai gets a much bigger role this season in general, while episode seventeen is genuinely good – the mystery is more interesting, there's actual emotional conflict, and the ending is affecting and effective. Episode eight also has a good gag involving a training simulator. Sadly others really strain credulity, with a second “steal a statue and escape on skis” episode and stock content like motorcycle gangs, juvenile delinquents, and an episode where Hitomi has to take care of a baby. There's also an episode where they all play American football, and seeing Ai be awesome at that takes the sting out of some of the sillier bits.

The animation quality has also degraded a bit, with lots of reused scenes, looped crowd animation, and one scene of Hitomi waiting for Toshi to show up for a date reused in its entirety. That aside, the discs themselves look good, with nice crisp images in all but a few places and Hojo's solidly-built characters translating well into animated format. If you're tired of wispy little girls or balloon boobs on scrawny females, looking at Cat's Eye should make you very happy. The voice actors continue to be excellent in this second season, with a few extras sounding less than stellar but very strong performances turned in, particularly from Chika Sakamoto as Ai and Yoshito Yasuhara as Toshi. Also, watch out – that new ending theme is catchy with easy-to-learn lyrics.

Cat's Eye's second season is not as good or as fun as its first, and it definitely suffers if you try to watch it all at once. Taken in one or two episodes once a week, as it was originally intended to be seen, makes it a much more enjoyable experience, as it hides the episodic nature and implausible or clichéd actions. Think of it as a childhood cartoon, watched on one special morning out of the week. The nostalgia factor certainly lends itself to that, but more importantly, too much of season two of Cat's Eye just may feel like eating too much cake in one sitting.