What's wrong with One-punch man 2? The series as a reflection of the whole spring season (Topic)

We have been waiting for this for a very long time, when the continuation of the cult creation from One will appear. Only a little later it turned out that the second season about the bald lover of street workouts would not be Madhouse, but JCStaff. And everyone just buried the project. Seriously, my friends, the Wi-Fi users, gave up and waited for the second season of Moba Psycho 100, and then wept, inspecting it. I, in turn, was still waiting for "One punch man 2", as choosing between the first seasons of "Mob" and "One-punch man", I chose the latter.

So is the second season of One-punch Man the biggest flop of modern anime, and a spit on the soul of loyal fans? Well ... Remember the scene where Saitama stands and says "Okey". Somehow you can describe the whole series. And, in principle, the entire spring season.

Slow Strike

I will say right away that the season is not as bad as they say about it. Storming the JCStaff office, smashing their windows with insane cries that the creators need to shove the illustration tools in one place is too much. This is not Bleach.

Let's get straight to the point. We loved One-punch man very much for the great fight scenes. Animation from Madhouse has always looked amazing and the adventures of the "great bald" are no exception. It's hard for me not to remember that divine battle animation that was in the first season.

What is the battle between Saitama and Genos. This moment is not important for the plot globally, but a lot of effort was spent on it and it can be seen. Every turn, every lunge and attack, every explosion and earth scattering to the sides - we saw all this. There is simply no such thing in the second season. It's a shame that such a high-end animation has been replaced with regular highlights.

The classic fight in the second season looks more abstract. We know that the character strikes, then there is a flare, as if he hit, but as such the animation of the strike is not. The fight in the second season of "One punch man" is no different from any other fight in the anime, which does not have a large budget. You can find fault only if you have something to compare with. And in this case, the primary source is powerful and juicy. Just imagine if the next Trigger anime came out without fan service or focused on it. Here, partly, also with combat.

The character designs have also changed slightly, but it's not disastrous.

Boring Story Lovers Club

Another important issue is the plot. At the moment, 8 episodes of the series have already been released, and during this time nothing really happened. They are smoothly trying to bring us to the climax, quickly throwing character arcs halfway. I know it's hard to do an anime where the protagonist is a fucking killing machine that can kill everyone with one blow, but don't forget that he's the protagonist. Spoilers ahead.

Throughout each episode, they try to introduce us to new characters and somehow reveal them. And then JCStaff scores on it. For example, we have a new character Garo - a renegade who wants to become a monster. The first 4 episodes, he wanders around the city and attacks the heroes to become the most powerful monster. And in the middle of the series, he simply disappears. And the arc about the association of monsters begins. As it turned out, the monsters had long hatched a plan to take over the world, attacked with the whole crowd and are now turning heroes into monsters.

Also, each episode is trying to reveal to us other characters: The Disabled Rider, the Master in T-shirt, Fubuki, Charanko and other characters who will appear for one episode to entertain you and then disappear.

Saitama himself will be chilling at the martial arts championship at this time and he has no more than 5 minutes of screen time in each episode. And it's just boring and unremarkable 5 minutes in a series.

It is logical that the series avoids its main character, as he is imbib, but he does it so much that I cannot say what kind of use Saitama was doing in all 8 episodes.

Yes, and his character has changed. He became more and more like a stupid couch potato, and the number of pretentious shots with him, you know, when he drives out a stereotypical, but such a cool heroic speech, his sharp features and muscles bulge out of his tights, has decreased. His philosophical inner dialogues with himself have also disappeared.

As a result, we have an anime with not very interesting battles, not a very interesting plot, which cannot understand what he is concentrating on, forgetting about his hero. You can watch it out of love for the first season, but you shouldn't expect revelations. And it seems to me that through "One-punch man 2" you can characterize all the anime of this season.

Another reason to say "normal"

I am thrilled to imagine how I will form the top best anime of the spring season this time, because to be honest, this spring there are only a few good titles. It so happened this season that I watch only two TV series without getting tired, and I consider five more just normal, and One punch man 2 is among them.

"Whaoooo, don't you look like crazy days on the fly all the seasonal anime? Are you sick? God, call this freak an ambulance! ”.

Well, the rest…. Dachshund, what do we have in the season? Anime about schoolgirls wearing wet pantyhose? What is this, a joke?! Hell, an anime in which girls just walk in wet tights ... where did we go wrong?

We also have a new seasonal isekai "Sage's Grandson", and also "Quartet from another world" where isekai heroes from different isekai go to school. "Saradzamai", about how two boys turned into a cap will climb into people's anuses to feed on their energy .... Anime about assholes, people, hurray!

In general, the rest of the series are not so crazy, but just normal, which will remain just seasonal. And it's a pity that One-punch man 2 has become one of them. I don’t mind if anime develops other characters, or emphasizes combat a little less - all this can be forgiven. But the lack of those emotions that I had when watching the first season make it clear that the potential is gone. The main desire when watching the second season is to revise the first.

I don’t know how JCStaff will finish the second season, but this is unlikely to impress us.

The Topic of Article: What's wrong with One-punch man 2? The series as a reflection of the whole spring season.
Author: Jake Pinkman