Episode 2 starts out with a similar formula to Episode 1, namely with Yuu traveling around with Nao to tell people to ‘shut up about and stop using your powers’. There are some enjoyable moments to be had in this episode, such as an entertaining demonstration of Joujirou’s half-baked teleportation ability, but like the first episode, my enjoyment of this episode is on and off.
The second half of this episode is more like Episode 5 of Angel Beats in that we hear about the lead girl’s backstory. Much like that episode, it does a decent job of explaining why Nao is so cold and serious all the time, and she actually has some enjoyable moments, too! Under the context of later episodes, it also partially explains her relationship with Shunsuke as well as some foreshadowing as to why everyone is a mutant. While this does lighten up my image of Nao a bit, it doesn’t really help with her current standing when it comes to my favorite characters in this show. (An interesting little thing I noted is that she rebukes Yuu for empathizing with her, which reminds me of when (Rewrite - Akane Spoilers) Akane rebuked Koutarou for choosing her over everyone else in her route, which I found to be a pretty nice meta joke. XD )
I would also like to briefly mention the ending theme, Yake Ochinai Tsubasa, which is a pretty nice piece. I kind of want to hear the full thing, wherever it is. :3
Overall, I’d say this episode is an improvement over the first one, although I probably would not have sat through it if I knew things would get better. On to Episode 6!