Anime Review: One Punch Man 2nd Season Episode 3

One Punch Man 2nd Season Episode 3

Studio: J.C.Staff

Genre: Action, Comedy

Stream: Hulu

Garou is taking out heroes left and right, Bang joins forces with his brother Bomb, and Saitama becomes interested in martial arts. What’s more, Genos is barely present this week. Episode 3 has a lot going for it.

One Chop—I mean One Punch Man 2nd Season Episode 3 continues with Garou hunting down strong heroes to test his strength and solidify his monster status. He battles the likes of Class C Hero Mumen Rider as well as Class S Hero Tank-Top Master and his followers. Meanwhile, Class S Hero Bang, who swore to take out his former disciple personally, has cut ties with his dojo as well as enlisted the help of his older brother and fellow martial arts master Bomb. While all this hero hunting is taking place, Saitama becomes interested in martial arts and decides to enter a tournament.

As always, the colorful cast of OPM is the centerpiece. Each week we get to see more and more strange and funny characters take the stage and this episode is no exception. Having read the manga, there are of course specific characters and moments that I’m especially looking forward to, but it’s a lot of fun to watch these episodes and see how characters are introduced or reintroduced all over again. My biggest gripe with the entire show is Genos, though; I wouldn’t say he’s one of my favorite characters, but he is a major player in every arc and Saitama’s right-hand man so of course, he’s almost always present. But with the way he’s animated this season, I can’t help but cringe every time he’s on the screen. And God help us all when he goes into battle. This is probably going to be this season’s sorest spot for me and many others and it doesn’t look like something that will change or go away, so we might as well get used to it and be glad that Genos isn’t the only character in the series.

The action and animation in this episode ranged from “good” to “meh”. The fight between Garou and Tank-Top Master, for the most part, was dynamic and explosive and I found myself really gripped by the action. Some of the quicker movements were too blurred and some of the static images didn’t look great, but that fight I can say was my favorite of the second season so far. There’s another action scene later between Garou and two Class A heroes that’s more on the “meh” side, with a lot of blurrier movement shots, shots that cut away to right after the impact, and less intense or compelling action. Scenes like these are a real shame because they just don’t hold the same weight as scenes like Garou and Tank-Top Master simultaneously slamming each other in the face.

I did notice that the score of this episode was a lot more noticeable in a good way. During Garou and TTM’s fight, the music really fit and added to the whole experience. However, this was really the only time I noticed the score, for better or worse, and I still haven’t warmed up to the OP or ED.

It might be because of how staggered the manga chapter releases were, but this arc feels like it’s flying by compared to the manga. It doesn’t feel like they’re leaving out content, so this isn’t necessarily a complaint, but I’m wondering just how much this season plans to cover with the pace it’s going. I don’t think it’ll get up to where the manga currently is, that would be entirely too much, but I’d like to see just how far they go.

Each week I warm up to this show more and more. The animation is still the weakest point of the show, but it’s no longer insufferable. Of course, that could change if they decide to do another Genos-centered episode, but for now, let’s just enjoy these human fights while we can.