One-Punch Man Season 1, is among the best-looking anime to ever grace our screens. Its energetic camerawork, zapping brawls, heart-stopping motion scenes, and dazzling animation cleared out followers dribbling after every episode. At that time, the information got here that Season 2 would swap animation studios from Madhouse to J.C. Workers attributable to time restrictions and the group who made Season 1 having their arms full with different ventures. Alert bells began ringing, and after that, the trailer dropped, which appeared with stilted animation, deadened shot composition, unbalanced facial animations, and lots of black screens.
So, in spite of everything of this, does Season 2 of One Punch Man maintain up? Nicely, the reply to this usually will depend on what you want out of your anime, and what you’re prepared to sacrifice.
One-Punch Man is characterised by three issues: intense and exhilarating battle scenes between enjoyable and campy heroes and villains; reasoning based mostly round on the lookout for a cause in life and feeling unfulfilled; and jokes based mostly on each the battles and the philosophy. In Season 2, simply as in Season 1, we get the latter two. The jokes are nonetheless there, conveyed expertly by the voice solid, notably our protagonist Saitama – in any case, quite a few of the jokes in Season 1 relied on bodily comedy and slapstick, however with poorer animation, a number of of that’s misplaced in Season 2. And the reasoning remains to be there, however that’s all taken care of by the author of the manga, so the story, themes, and massive ideas are reaching to be carried ahead simply, in any case of how the present appears to be like.
In case you like One-Punch Man for its characters, connections, gimmicks, costumes, identities, and agendas, at that time there’s nothing to disdain right here. In case you’ve contributed to the story and must know the way it can construct on the last word sucker punch that’s the ending of Season 1, at that time, you gained’t be disillusioned by Season 2. However in case you’re trusting for Season 2 to supply those self same visceral battle scenes that we had been fortunate sufficient to see in One Punch Man’s freshman outing, at that time the brand new episodes will seemingly go away you underwhelmed.
The liveliness is gradual and apathetic, taking disagreeable straightforward routes to induce the battles completed and dusted in as primary a method as conceivable. Gone are the unpredictably detailed character motion pictures, with energetic gradual movement and always shifting camerawork. Instep, now we have flashes, cuts to darkish, and machine-gun punches all harking back to the drawn-out battle scenes of Dragon Ball Z from greater than twenty years again. For seem with “punch” in its title, not a single blow leaves any lasting influence.
Typically, the plot is constructed upon pleasantly, as are the present’s middle topics – despite the truth that they’re explored with distant fewer nuances this season. For case, there’s a minute in scene 9 the place the recurring theme of unfulfillment and tedium is spelled out in a tête-à-tête with King – a contemporary character offered in scene 1 as a coincidental (and faux) legend. It’s exceptionally patronizing, suggesting that the viewers has not been taking after Saitama’s predicament all alongside. King’s phrases are clever despite the truth that and harking back to the message given by Zeus on the finish of Disney’s Hercules, as he involves phrases with the reality that excessive power doesn’t rise to real heroism. This, on the slightest, turns an unbalanced second of exposition into one thing a small extra worthwhile that does advance Saitama’s character, simply not within the richest of how. And there are moments of tonal discord like this peppered all by means of the season.
In the case of the climax of the season, the last word scene of Season 2 doesn’t really feel last. Regardless of the truth that followers have been clamoring for the second batch of episodes, Season 1 nonetheless seems like a complete story, whereas Season 2’s finale appears to have been the conclusion to every other episode, as a substitute of providing any closure. And, though it doesn’t must basically matter, the last word three episodes are nearly fully one lengthy and arduously drawn-out combat, with barely any Saitama to be seen.
Once more, often harking back to Dragon Ball Z, notably that one infamous second when Frieza debilitates that Namek will detonate in a single minute which minute is at that time a way or one other drawn out over a number of twenty-minute episodes. It’s 2019! This type of poorly-paced storytelling shouldn’t be taking place. Not when Season 1 of One-Punch Man reliably conveyed on its jokes, its battles, its music beats, its plot, and its character development.
One Punch Man Season 2 is uneven in comparison with its forerunner, nevertheless it presents sufficient new characters, ideas, and topics to remain new. Because the present facilities so intensely on Class-S heroes, a number of fan favorites are pushed to the wayside. Mumen Rider, Amai Veil, and Pace O’ Sound Sonic make token appearances, however they don’t have any enduring influence on the plot. The bend of this season was lots of setups, with exceptionally small payoff. Whereas the character enchancment is curious, followers may be disillusioned by the necessity for monster punching. Ideally, the writers will make up for this in Season 3.
As common, the artwork is fabulous, despite the truth that it lacks Season 1’s smoothness of expression, instep choosing a extra conventional Shonen anime model. This provides the present extra consistency, however on the fetched of the wildly exploratory mish-mash of kinds that gave Season 1 a lot of its taste
In case you’re a fan of Season 1, you’ll seemingly recognize Season 2. There’s lots to love. In any case, it might be finest to maintain sensible expectations. One Punch Man got here at American gatherings of individuals like a punch to the face. Season 2 would possibly by no means hope to recuperate that feeling. Instep, the present admirably shifts middle away from Saitama however loses a number of of its attraction inside the course of. One Punch Man Season 2 could also be a compromise, however an amazing one. One Punch Man Season 2 is on the market on Toonami, October 12, 2019.
Originally posted 2023-10-14 10:20:37.