Anime Review: One Punch Man 2nd Season Episode 1

One Punch Man 2nd Season Episode 1

Studio: J.C.Staff

Genre: Action, Comedy

Stream: Hulu

If you don’t know this already, I’m a big fan of One Punch Man. In my Best of 2018 list, I talked about the OPM manga multiple times, and the first season of the anime by Madhouse was one of my favorites of the year it aired. With the announcement of the second season of the anime and the teaser trailer, I was both excited and extremely nervous. Different studios take over projects over subsequent seasons all the time with varying levels of success, but Madhouse is one of my favorites so seeing them go was a shame. On top of that, while J.C.Staff is a studio that’s done plenty of shows I’m a fan of (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. and Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma to name a few), the trailer they released for this second season was… bad. But ever the optimist (or masochist, haven’t decided yet) I’m willing to put aside all my worries and go into this episode with a clear mind.

Season two of One Punch Man starts off right after the events of the first season, where we follow S-Class hero King through a day in his life. Along the way, cyborg hero Genos gets into an epic scuffle with another robot warrior, and we also learn more about King’s backstory as the “Strongest Hero”.

As far as content goes, the show continues to deliver the funny dialogue and comedic moments alongside the intense action that the series is known for. King’s true introduction to the series is a good way to start season two, and his interactions with Saitama are always enjoyable. If there was any sort of major critique I had on the story or characters, it’d be that most of the other characters don’t really get much time besides Genos, Saitama, and King. There really aren’t too many character moments to appreciate here, and with a cast as colorful as OPM’s it’s a shame.

Now, as far as production goes… My fears were indeed realized. Granted, it’s not AS bad as I was expecting. Most of the scenes look fine, and the comedic animation still adds a punch to the jokes throughout. But the action scenes are rough to the point of spoiling some of the fight scenes entirely. Genos and the robot monster are both CGI abominations, looking strangely textured against the drawn backgrounds. I have my gripes with CGI in anime, but here it’s undeniably out-of-place and really ruins the experience. And because the main fight of the episode is between Genos and the robot, the spectacular and over-the-top fight scenes we’ve come to expect gets watered down to a blurry mess of fire and smoke that left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

While the quality in animation has dropped all around, making Genos CGI was a huge misstep in my opinion. Besides the animation, the sound wasn’t notable at all besides the possible OP at the end of the episode. But having to follow JAM Project’s OP from last season, this one didn’t stand out to me much at all.

All in all, I still enjoyed the episode. My characters and story still feel like they did in the manga, and even though the action doesn’t quite live up just yet I’m hopeful that we’ll get something good over the course of the season.  And if not, at least we still have the manga.