When One Punch Man first hit our screens in October 2015, the Internet didn’t know what to do with itself. For someone like myself who up to that point only had a passive interest in the anime genre, it was exactly what I wanted – a reasonably short season, a gorgeous style, comedy in droves and a sales pitch that was so absurd it had no excuse to not succeed. I didn’t have the time to become invested in a show that had episodes that ventured into triple digits and any “serious” anime was not something I craved whatsoever – One Punch Man checked every box.
I won’t lie, I’ve been worried over the Summer about the articles circulating about the change in studio meaning a change in art style and quality – this was somewhat evident in the trailer that was released a couple of months ago but as there was barely any content to judge, I didn’t have an opinion. A colleague work made a point that even if the quality did drop, if the writers were consistent with the comedy and still pushed forward with the premise then it wouldn’t make a difference what it looked like. This resonated with me somewhat, but I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment, so I didn’t get myself hyped up at all and was just happy that a second season was being made and would wait until it was announced.
In typical fashion, I completely missed the memo about the release date…
Until it appeared in my news feed that it was released today.
I spent an hour or so checking around to find out what time it was due to drop, which provider was going to be streaming it and if I could get a free trial but I wasn’t really getting any information the was pertinent to the U.K. so I left it alone. That was until about an hour ago when I was browsing YouTube for any new videos and someone had uploaded the English Dub.
Hand on heart, I can honestly say that any fears I had about this show were quickly put to rest after a few minutes of watching. Many people have stated that the first season was too good, and it wouldn’t live up to the hype at the new studio – they were wrong. The first episode of any anime is usually a recap of the previous season, but they jumped straight into a continuation story – albeit nothing mind blowing – it was nice to be given new content immediately, instead of the arbitrary catch up episode.
Continuing on from the previous season, the general gist of the first episode is that the Doom Earth Prophecy is still being adhered to and the Hero Association is reviewing its options as they don’t have the numbers to deal with the 6x increase in villain activity, bringing in a number of villains to aid with the promise of expunged criminal records – much to the annoyance of Speed-o-Sound Sonic. Meanwhile, Saitama and Genos are out shopping when they realise that King is in the vicinity and must deal with multiple opponents, with some shocking revelations after some character backstories are uncovered. Whilst not overflowing with current story progression, the arc explored was satisfying and the revelations were reasonably shocking considering how they tied back.
As for the animation, I don’t think there is much to say besides I feel the bad press about the studio feels a bit unfair. You can tell there is a different studio at the reigns with the animation, but it isn’t a bad thing – there is a fight scene where you can still see the aesthetic of the show is still intact and the effects seem as high quality as ever. I genuinely don’t have any gripes with it, but that might be something I pick up on with a second viewing – as my colleague correctly predicted, once I sat down and had the show in front of me I was simply engrossed and happy at the fact that I was getting more One Punch Man content – any preconceived issues I may have had before I started were simply left at the door.
Apparently, we are getting 12-13 more episodes in weekly instalments which suits me perfectly. I get Game of Thrones on Mondays and One Punch Man on Tuesdays which will carry me for the next few months with Stranger Things Season 2 and My Hero Academia Season 4 returning later in the year. I doubt I’ll be writing blog entries about every episode but did feel that considering a lot of people were worried about the upcoming release, I can admit that my worries were misplaced and look forward to the second season of this breakout anime.
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