I have watched both seasons of Eat-Man, and, unfortunantly, this one actually isn't as good as 97'
The main problem is the appearence of Bolt Crank. In 97', he looked like a real, GROWNED-UP, and strong guy that was cold to the nerves, but also that he knowed what he was and, though never feared the situations, he actually knowed when he couldn't win and when he could, also he actually fell in love a couple of times (2, if I remember well); and in 98' he just looked like a good-looking, youngster guy who was always the master of the situations and an annoying know-it-all dude who always knowed what to do in the ALL moments.
Another bad point is the seriousness of the season itself. Menwhile at 97' they mentioned more serious plots (like the last two episodes... I like to call them "The End of Eat-Man" in honor to another great serie: Neon Genesis Evangelion) that actually obligates you to think and reflect about life itself (meaby I overexagerated a bit...) and the world were it happens, though still futuristic, it never actually feels like a Sci-Fi based serie (read: GUNDAM). 98' turns just too shildlish, with nearly no blood in the scenes and zero body-count... and when there is an action secuence, it mostly ends when Bolt appears and appears something from his hand... then, the battle its over; also the world were 98 happens tends to go far too screwed, with total tecchno-cities in some places and kindoms of magic in some others... even though that is not precissely bad, it mostly goes to the extremes. Oh, yeah, and some dialogues in 98' are just plain stupid or they fall in the rather obvius and plain messages, but explained in "Confusius" way.
Ok, enough drawbacks...
One good thing is that the original writer (I don't remeber his name, sorry) was involved in this series (97' was totally indepent, so it didn't count with his participation) and all of the chapters were written by him. This also means that the serie is connected to the manga. Also, he made most of the character's original illustrations and mechas designs.
Also, the quality of this season surpasses A LOT the quality of the 97' one. Of course this was because of the high budget on the 98' one (Even though this aren't the real budgets, it's, like, they gave 97' 20,000 bucks, and 98' got 200,000 bucks) but that's no excuse to not enjoy the quality of the drawings.
And the last pro, is the length of the serie. 97 was just about 8 chapters, and 98' is 12 chapters long. Not a lot of difference, but that makes 98' a little bit more enjoyable.
In summary, I give this serie a B+, it's not as entertaining of serius as 97', but is still good and enjoyable.
