XC2 is very good, but it’s rather more anime-y/JRPG-y than XC1. At its core it’s a love story though, and is carried more by the emotional bonds between the characters than by any kind of sweeping epic end of the world plot.
But I feel that it is necessary to caveat it with the fact that there’s kind of a lot of fanservicey stuff in there, which turned a lot of people off of it.
I would watch a bunch of the official trailers Nintendo put out (it seems some are available with only Japanese audio, but they do have English subtitles) and see how they sit with you. They play up the emotional stakes pretty effectively, and you’ll also get at least a taste of the character design stuff.