One-Punch Man Season 2's controversial changes divide fans following premiere
Early fan verdicts are in after popular anime One-Punch Man’s sophomore season debuted across the world, and some onlookers had a bag of mixed feelings about the next chapter in the series.
Madhouse’s mark on the show
Anime enthusiasts were apprehensive to say the least when news spread that Japanese production studio Madhouse would not be returning for the second season.
The first season of the show routinely featured incredibly detailed as well as imaginative sequences that came together with an intricate blend of colors, shadows and lighting effects.
Changing studios
After it was confirmed that J.C.Staff would pick up the reigns for the show’s second series, fans were taken aback because of the stark difference in style from the studios.
Though J.C.Staff is no slouch when it comes to producing quality anime, having previously worked on Food Wars! and Toradora!, it still left a lot of questions in the air for the show’s famous action sequences.
Now that the second season has started, people have been combing over every minute of the first episode and giving their thoughts on the show’s new look.
Seeing One Punch Man Season 2 have 14 minutes of static panning shots out of a 22 minute episode pic.twitter.com/m7k0e1BEL5
— Jobs (@Imbetweenjobs) April 9, 2019
Mixed reactions for Season 2
The reactions range from overly impressed to incredibly disappointed, with many fans pointing to similar themes that approve of the show’s art but not so much with the animation.
Some fans even went so far to call the show’s animation a “disgrace,” pointing to noticeable differences between some of the main character’s design from Season 1 as opposed to Season 2.
One Punch Man 2's first episode was… decent. Good art but mediocre animation. I'll avoid completely judging it until we're more episodes in.
ALSO THEY LITERALLY JUST TOOK PICTURES IRL AND PUT THEM IN HAHAHAHA. pic.twitter.com/ZHEPcwxu0H— Lαureano (@Lawxsk) April 9, 2019
The animation is a disgrace pic.twitter.com/9jdTExqDUj
— GUAPDAD 4000 (@guapdad4000) April 9, 2019
I’m thinking it was gon look like Dragon Ball super when that first dropped the way y’all made it sound :skull::skull::skull: nah it wasnt that
— Casey Lawrence (@LeanandCuisine) April 10, 2019
Well… They tried… #OnePunchMan pic.twitter.com/1v5jcJqBKY
— Hugo Taveras (@taveriugo) April 9, 2019
One punch man season 2 episode 1-
In my opinion, JC staff did a nice work (Yeah, Madhouse was great:grin:). The animation is different, but I enjoyed the episode. They successfully maintained the charm and humor of OPM. Hoping more form JC staff. Keep it Up.
:punch::grin:#onepunchman pic.twitter.com/57E4fmUsOJ— Saitama :punch::angry: (@FanSaitama) April 10, 2019
Not to weeb out too hard here, but One Punch Man season 1 is among the best animation out there. Season 2 just started and dropped a fat shit on series. Hopefully it gets better as the season goes
— Published Author (@MoistCr1TiKaL) April 9, 2019
Others had a hopeful eye toward the future and applauded J.C.Staff’s take on the show while pointing to the fact that the studio still has a whole season to work with. Changes and improvements from whatever the first episode may contain can definitely still be made.
Fans of One-Punch Man have been actively voicing their opinions on the second season for the show, and it will be interesting to see what J.C.Staff will look to improve on going forward.
One-Punch Man will air new episodes on Tuesday in the US exclusively on Hulu for its second season, while fans can catch the show internationally on Crunchyroll.