The long awaited return of One Punch Man has finally arrived. The question is does it live up to the standards that season 1 set up. My initial answer is NO. Maybe that too harsh. The story wasn’t bad at all. Seeing Saitama and Genos resuming their domestic life was entertaining. The subtle comedy this series offers remains intact. The biggest issue that was a disappointment was the animation.
While some fans though the animation would be worst that it was, I still didn’t really like it. To me the animation is too stiff. The original season not only had more fluid animation the camera angles were dynamic as well. The drop in quality is disappointing but not disqualifying. Basically, the animation is good enough. However, it is common for an anime series to see an increase in animation quality during more important fights. Nothing in this episode would be worthy of better animation.
This season seems to have begun a more singular narrative. The first season was mostly just a monster of the week format. The Organization was introduced in the last season but they really didn’t seem involved in the larger story. We are introduced to the prophecy of Shibabawa’s, that predicts disaster. Genos is plotting revenge on a mysterious cyborg that has killed many and hopes to get into the to of the S Class. The King storyline had funny moments, but I don’t see the point in introducing him yet.
Overall, while the animation took a hit and this episode wasn’t that compelling, I think One Punch Man will still be good. This is largely due to the fact that this episode was largely a reintroduction of the series and well hope. I’m of course excited to see how high the scale of enemy will go. One Punch Man was basically an anime masterpiece, I probably shouldn’t have thought this season would be just as great.
I’m so glad the season 2 is airing! Great post!
Thanks.