Can it really be three-and-a-half years (as the gag in the cold open noted) since the first season of One Punch Man ended? Well, it’s true (actually it was December of 2015), though we did have quite a few OVAs to tide us over in the interim. This is another one of those series where the road to the sequel has taken a lot longer than it seemingly should have (Yasumoto Hiroki seems to specialize in those). There are many theories on why that is, but the salient question is seemingly what effect that long delay will have on the show’s popularity, if any.
In practice that factor might be hard to isolate, because that’s not all that could affect sales. There’s also the change in studio from Madhouse to J.C. Staff, and director from Natsume Shingo to Sakurai Chikara. Both have the knickers of many OPM fans fully in a twist, and it’s understandable since the Madhouse version delivered one of the most sakuga-rich anime experiences of the decade. If we’re honest only a fool would expect J.C. Staff to deliver an action series that looked as good as vintage Madhouse (and 2015 still qualifies), but even so, the level of negativity pre-airing for this sequel has been pretty ridiculous.
I liked the first season of One Punch Man quite a bit, as it happens – it just cracked my top 10 list in a solidly average year – so my expectations here are fairly high. I never found One Punch to have the thematic depth and really complex character dynamics of ONE’s more personal series Mob Psycho 100, but it’s not just a pretty face either. ONE is too savvy a writer for it to be otherwise, and if MP100 is at heart a puberty metaphor like FLCL, this series is a mirror held up to the malaise of Japan’s disaffected, dissatisfied and disinterested young adult generation. It forms a sort of bookend with Boku no Hero Academia as manga takes on the American superhero genre, but OPM always struck me as the more innately Japanese in approach.
Given all that, One Punch Man doesn’t have to be historically great in terms of animation for it to satisfy me. Mind you, as action-driven as this series is (far more than Mob Psycho on the whole) that factor is by no means unimportant, either. The early returns are, I would say, modestly positive. I thought the visuals in the premiere were fine, and Sakurai’s direction was solidly competent without showing off a great deal of flair. There were no huge set pieces in the episode so any judgment would be incomplete, but with proper budgets J.C. Staff is perfectly capable of delivering good-looking action anime. It’s just not going to shock and awe like the first season did, and sure, that is sort of a shame.
Story-wise, Sakurai chooses to jump right back into things without any preamble or recap, which I’m fine with even with the long layoff. The focus of the first episode is Yasumoto-san’s King, who as I remember was a minor presence in the first season but never much in-focus. He, of course, is the purported hero so strong his name alone is enough to cause most villains to collapse in terror. And that’s a good thing as King is a complete fraud (I admit, I don’t remember whether that was disclosed in S1 or not) – his reputation seems to have come to him strictly through almost impossibly good fortune, and he’s never actually fought a villain outside of a game.
As Saitama and Genos happen to be present when King is challenged by a super-sophisticated robot, disaster is averted when King excuses himself for a bathroom break and flees the scene. Genos – no less obsessed with growing strong enough to do his master proud than ever – takes on the task of fighting the robot while Saitama follows King back to his otaku haven of an apartment. This is the sort of interaction One Punch Man is really built around – Saitama being totally deadpan in absurd situations, as his scene partner gets increasingly histrionic. It’s a good formula, so I guess it makes sense not to mess with it much.
Starting with King is an interesting choice – perhaps he’ll take up Saitama’s challenge to actually become strong, and that will be an ongoing storyline this season – but the most important events of the episode are seemingly the ones which follow up on the ones which ended the first season. Despite Saitama’s heroism there, the predicted world disaster is still on the way, and Sitch is recruiting the underworld to help out in the cataclysmic battles to come. And despite his still lowly B-class ranking, Saitama continues to attract attention he’d probably be happier not attracting.
While story-wise this premiere isn’t anything exceptional, it’s worth remember that the first season of One Punch Man started off in very measured fashion and after the first few episodes was largely being panned, which is conveniently forgotten in the glow of rose-colored nostalgia. I think we’re going to be fine here – One Punch Man is a good enough story to succeed even without historically great visuals, as sad as it is that we won’t be getting those this time. The problem of course is that Season 2 is competing against a memory, and as anyone who’s been burned in romance would tell you, that can be a very difficult thing to do.
OP: “Seijaku no Apostle” (Quiet Apostle; Uncrowned Greatest Hero) by JAM Project
Kingwombojr
April 11, 2019 at 2:15 amIt’s a shame season 2 had to release directly after Mob’s season 2 and not before. ONE’s other work having some of the best darn animation and sakuga of the decade definitely had a factor in increasing the negatively towards this premiere.
It’s exactly as you said, however, the animation is was fine, really good actually in a few scenes. As a manga/webcomic reader I’ll confirm that JC staff adapted this section of the story incredibly faithfully, right down to the amount of flips Genos does when jumping off G4.
~
Funny enough, ONE just released a new webcomics chapter yesterday after a two-year hiatus (the guy’s trying to compete with Togashi) and it similarly started with a gag where the Hero Association are investigating the murder of a “world renowned, low-quality manga artist” who died two years ago.
~
It’s also interesting how ONE’s two series have many similar surface elements between character, but often differ greatly when you get down to the nitty gritty (I.e. Saitama and Mob are both hax overpowered, plain looking protagonists but deep down they’re very different characters).
King on the surface mirrors Reigen in many ways. They’re both frauds who claim other’s achievements as their own (both so happening to be the series’ protagonist), are worshipped/feared by others as someone powerful (the former Claw members view Reigen as some psychic grandmaster), are kinda losers in their personal lives, and, meta-wise, are fan favorites in their respective series.
Yet deep down the two are night and day. Where Reigen is hard working and actively seeks to better himself and the world by being a productive part of society, King just wants to stay at home and play video games. He’s the type of guy Reigen would actively lecture about growing up and living in the real world, but since Reigen doesn’t exist in this universe, Saitama takes up this role instead…in his own, non-chalant kind of way.
~
Season 2 is definitely where the story becomes more character focused, so if the writers stay faithful to it (though I have heard they may be omitting material to fit it all into one season), season 2 should end up being a rewarding experience regardless of the animation.
Simone
April 11, 2019 at 3:50 amI think the problem is that this anime also has to compete against its own phenomenal manga counterpart. Murata-sensei’s art isn’t just spectacular, it’s some of the most dynamic ever seen, to the point that the tankobon version had to cut some pages that in the digital one simply detail a single movement frame by frame in astonishing detail. It’s like drawn sakuga, if such a concept even makes sense. The first season lived up to that quality; but watching this premiére I could only think that as far as visceral, aesthetic satisfaction goes, the manga is a far more pleasant experience.
Guardian Enzo
April 11, 2019 at 6:38 amIt still comes down to how well the story holds up, for me. As much as I love sakuga, writing is the most important element for me (unless the visuals are just abjectly terrible, which I don’t think these will be).
Simone
April 11, 2019 at 4:32 pmWell, but the writing is the same in the manga. So if you read the manga, and the animation doesn’t enhance the experience, why watch for the anime?
Guardian Enzo
April 11, 2019 at 5:53 pmI like moving pictures.
Simone
April 11, 2019 at 9:27 pm“Moving” being the operative word here.
Litho
April 11, 2019 at 11:20 amI actually started out liking OPM more than MP100, but as it wore on, the unabashed shounen-ness simply made me tired of it. We got like a zillion chapters with a zillion new characters and hardly a sight of Saitama. Reached the stage where I just went “what’s the effin point?!” and closed the browser tab. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good side dish as much as the next diner, but this just became a mushy lukewarm alphabet soup.
Orion Taylor
April 11, 2019 at 11:49 amOPM used to be one of my favorite manga, back in 2013-2015. I used recommend it to everyone. I was super hyped for the anime, and the first season really delivered. It was fun to read your reviews and watch you come to the desired conclusion that this was a good series (same for MP100). But then the manga drought happened. Basically no webcomic updates at all, and the plot pacing of Murata’s stuff slowed down to a snails crawl (in all these years, it still is barely catching up to where the original webcomic halted years ago). On top of that, MP100 has come along and delivered in most of the aspects that OPM was supposed to, both in the anime and the manga.
At this point, most of my energy and hype toward OPM is gone. I’m going to watch season 2 (as I write this, I still haven’t seen the first ep), but tbh I’m currently pretty apathetic either way (though I’ll probably end up being horrified if JC really butchers this).
On a completely different note, are you planning on blogging this new season of GoT?
Guardian Enzo
April 11, 2019 at 12:24 pmGoT is sort of in limbo, given my location. Even if I find a way to watch it I don’t see how I’d be able to cap it (not that I can’t blog it uncapped). I’m also expecting this season to be a trainwreck, but then the last two pretty were too and thy were still kind of fun to cover.
I didn’t realize Murata’a adaptation was that slow. I guess apathy is going to be a real concern for this season.
Yann
April 14, 2019 at 7:12 amWhat a bummer… the animation quality took a serious hit.Even the character design is more rigid and… uglier I guess. I can’t think of any other way to put it. Somehow, for me at least, it even affected the story somehow. The first season was easily in my top 5 that year. I’m not even sure I’ll watch this season :’(