 Bakugan Battle Brawlers Chapter 2 triggered a good amount of intellectual woolgathering after I finished watching it, but only because it forced me to reconsider my working theory to explain the "Why did I like this as a kid?" phenomenon. I never liked falling back on a "kids have no taste" explanation, since it seemed intuitively untrue—kids have very definite ideas on what they like and what they don't, and are not afraid to say they think something sucks. I theorized that these shows provided just enough to jump-start a kid's imagination so that they'd do the work of filling in the gaps and flaws, constructing a much better show—in memory, at least—than what was actually on screen.
However, in the face of the clear popularity of the Bakugan franchise despite the complete absence of anything worthwhile to build with, I'm left with no alternative but to add a corollary to my theory: "But sometimes, kids just have no taste."
Bakugan Battle Brawlers Chapter 2 picks up where Bakugan Battle Brawlers Chapter 1 left off, as Dan and his friends enter the Bakugan dimension of Vestroia to stave off the destruction of both (no matter how hard we might wish it). Battles are fought! Worlds hang in the balance! Dialogue is shouted! Cards are flung! Statistics are fluctuated! Sense is not made! RaaaarAaAAaRAAaRAGAGHAH!!!!! The ostensible reason for the trip is to stop the evil Bakugan Naga, but the real reason seems to be to pad out the first half of the season with a lot of extended Bakugan fights. The trip to Vestroia turns out to be nothing but a trick—Naga has already left for Earth and left behind a bunch of Bakugan to stall Dan and his friends. (Uh, spoilers. I guess.) However, since this revelation makes that whole half of this set completely meaningless, it feels more like a cheat than a clever plot twist. So, Dan and friends troop back to Earth so...uh...they can fight the exact same Bakugan they fought in the first half of this set. Again. But on Earth this time. In addition to being mind-numbingly repetitive, this also reveals what complete idiots everyone in the cast is, since this is not only another trick, but it is THE EXACT SAME TRICK that Naga pulled on Dan and company in the Bakugan world. (Uh, spoilers again, though if you're watching this show and can't see that coming you really need to watch much better TV shows than this or read more or something. If you're not watching this show, for pity's sake, don't start.) The one cast member who figures out that this is a trick manages to act on this information in the dumbest, most useless way possible, so at best there is one person who just proves to be a different variety of idiot than everyone else.
 And, with that, I believe I have spent more time thinking about the plot to Bakugan Battle Brawlers Chapter 2 than the writers ever did, so enough about that. Like Chapter 1, Bakugan Battle Brawlers Chapter 2 consists of lots of dull, long-winded exposition dumping, which is still marginally more entertaining than the interminable Bakugan battles that replace excitement and action with a lot of dull statistical analysis and more long-winded explanations of what's happening on-screen. It takes a special kind of talent to write something so overly articulated and thoroughly explained, but that still makes no sense whatsoever. The Bakugan battles manage this with depressing consistency.
Is there anything good to be said about this chapter? The voice actors seem to be good sports about the whole thing, which is more remarkable than it sounds considering how ridiculous some of the dialog is. There are rare occasions when the show manages to field something that's so wacky and off-the-wall that you kind of hope they'll just run with it and start spraying strange around with a fire hose. On this DVD set, that comes with a pair of daffy Bakugan sisters who aren't quite fully in touch with reality, and a pair of ditzy girl pop singer Bakugan brawlers. Of course, the bizarre elements are just a tease, since they're used for the same endless exposition dumping and unendingly repetitive Bakugan battles.
As with Chapter 1, this DVD set is a fine presentation of a terrible show, with a full-frame presentation, an English-only soundtrack unimpressive enough that I don't care to look up its technical details, and no extras except subtitles. The same lopsided chapter distribution is repeated on this DVD set, with 8 episodes on disc 1 and 5 on disc 2.
Fifteen to twenty years from now, a former fan of Bakugan is going to watch this show on channel 5,280 or 2027's equivalent of Hulu (legally, of course), and ask with great puzzlement, "I liked this show?" Don't ask me, kid. It's because of you that I had to rework my theories on that in the first place.
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