Really wasn't into the whole school setting or bullying as a central topic from the get-go and the opening hours are quite slow. Some chapters are very uneventful and short, chapter 6 basically nothing of note happens and chapter 7 is just fighting the same boss 6 times in a row.
It the middle section things do get more engaging especially with Yagami and the main antagonists having a really good dynamic and dichotomy going on, even if Yagami is just screaming "SAWA-SENSEI!!!" half the time.
In the final stretch the story tries to connect a random government conspiracy (because every RGG game needs one) to the bully hunter stuff and it's all just pretty convoluted and incoherent, it makes the whole thing seem unfocused and sandwiched together with the RK stuff feeling like a different game. In the Finale there's a random RK brawl which involves the school students that's just there to remind you of their existence since they haven't been seen in like 10 chapters. It really sucks the tension out of things.

As mentioned before Yagami is kind of an annoying idiot at times, instead of ever really criticizing the broader issues with vigilantism he just endlessly screams "SAWA-SENSEI!!" like a toddler. Just like Judgement, Lost Judgement has a large cast of supporting characters that are never allowed to actually help out. At numerous points Yagami turns them down for no reason and they just lounge around. It's only in the finale where Kaito & Gang actually do things.

I was already a fan of Yagami's general combat in the last game and Lost Judgement fixes the big issue of Crane Style being a complete joke. It also adds the Snake Style, a parry style (basically Tanimura from Y4) which gives Yagami a distinct, flashy, well rounded 3 style moveset. His overall abilities were cranked up to 11, he's op as shit and especially in heat mode he just flies all over the battlefield like it's bayonetta or something. The Dragon Engine physics is still the achilles heel, it's as unpredictable and janky as ever and maybe because of all the new crazy shit I had noticeably more "what was that" moments than in the predecessor. So many boss attack hitboxes are straight up broken (especially if they involve a grab) and the boss in the 2nd to last fight just kept teleporting across the floor on some attacks.

The detective gameplay is still just whatever and not something I ever look forward to. 1 noticeable change from Judgement is that there's fewer tailing missions but now there's new stealth sections which are somehow even worse. The enemies visions is just so unpredictable and stupid and if you're spotted it's an instant game over no questions asked.

"School Stories" is the main side content piece and while the clubs do offer a lot of content, unfortunately said content isn't all too good and the attached story is boring at best, they even bring back the insufferable Keihin Gang from the first game. Not all clubs were created equally either, some have their own fleshed out (admittedly not great) mini-game while others like the esports club have you play a few rounds of Virtua Fighter and the gambling "club" is just a roundabout way of unlocking the casino, it's not even relevant to the overarching story. The 2 most disappointing ones were the dance and bike club, the Haruka rhythm game stuff from Yakuza 5 was pretty fun but the dance club music just simply stinks and the bike club had me thinking it was going to be a racing mini-game, which are usually quite good in the series, but instead it's a boring gimick brawling "racer". The final race deservers special mention as the entire 7 minute long experience is decided by pixel perfect boost usage at the end since the AI cheats and will catch up no matter what.

While the dance songs suck, the rest of the OST is godlike. Easily some of the most memorable boss themes in the series with the final one being especially good.

Paradise VR had some good minor tweaks done but the most noteworthy change was the addition of rivals that turn the mode into a race to the finish line and since they removed the skill that slows down the dice, it's a heavily RNG based race. Ideally you get enough star points each round to activate the turn skip skill which essentially removes the rival from the game.

The story has it's moments but it's so unfocused that it ends up being forgettable and nowhere near as engaging as the first one. Other things do at least somewhat make up for it, alongside the usual QoL changes that come with a sequel, Yagami's moveset has been drastically improved in basically every aspect and Lost Judgement is easily the best playing Dragon Engine game so far.

The story is easily some of the best work RGG has put out. A solid, engaging mystery drama revolving around a massive conspiracy without any mind numbing plot points. It wasn't a surprise to me when I found out Yokoyama didn't write this...
My story complaints are fairly minor:
The pacing for the first few chapters is quite slow.
A lot of the supporting characters just don't do a lot. Especially Kaito who is presented as Yagami's partner doesn't get much time in the spotlight and feels like kind of an errand boy at times.
The Mole is deliberately lacking in characterization, the story even refers to him as a mere "tool". Would've liked it if he had bit more going on.
Throughout the game there's numerous points you're forced to do random side cases as as a part of the main story despite the side cases being completely unrelated and them clearly not being written with this in mind. Seems like something they just threw in to pad out runtime, not that it was needed.

The side cases as a whole were pretty underwhelming, just a lot of been there done that stuff with some incredibly unfunny comedy thrown in, nothing was really memorable.
The detective gameplay overall isn't great, it's very basic and the trailing and chasing segments definitely overstay their welcome.

I say this in every review of every Dragon Engine game but I fundamentally despise the engine's physics. Everything about it is just so unpredictable and Judgement makes the bizarre decision of having Yagami's attacks "bounce" off the enemy when they're blocked or they have armor which makes things feel even worse. The game also makes the same mistake as Yakuza 6 with it's upgrade system, Yagami starts off extremely weak, your combo speed, damage, abilities are downright pathetic, it makes the early hours a chore to play. The entire SP system is fucked, street encounters give you laughable 9 SP per enemy and the only realistic way to fully upgrade Yagami is through chugging grocery shop SP potions (forgot what they're called) which cost a lot of money.
With that being said, once you do get upgrades the combat does get pretty fun. Yagami is easily the most technical and stylish RGG character, he gets access to so much stuff it almost becomes overwhelming, in a good way. Leapfrog and wall jumps alone add so much by giving you more ways of approaching fights than just doing a rush combo. He feels way more "at home" in the Dragon Engine than Kiryu ever did. The incredibly bizarre thing about Yagami's kit are the 2 styles. Through the upgrades app, tiger style gets like 50 skills while crane style gets... absolutely nothing. Not sure what the thought process behind that was but crane is basically pointless beyond some niche EX switcheroos.
also mortal wounds lol!!
At the start of the game there's very few street encounters which I thought was refreshing but once the Keihen Gang mechanic got introduced that changed very quickly. I thought you'd just beat em once and they'd fuck off but there is literally no way to permanently get rid of them.

If Judgement was only drone racing it'd be the easiest 5/5 stars in my life. Such a fun idea that's executed extremely well. The only slight issue with it is the abrupt difficulty spike in the championship league as the AI racers are straight up faster than you even with S speed. It's still very much doable with a good balance of skill, luck and save scumming between races.
Paradise VR is Judgement's money making mini-game. It's the type of thing I didn't really wanna play again after playing once but considering the amount of money you need for upgrades + quickstarter, that's not really an option (god forbid 100%ing the game with the drone part cost). The Kuro-Nyan mode started feeling more like a punishment because the 2 (two) unique encounters it has get old very very fast.

Great game with some really bizarre design decisions.