So this Frankenstein's monster of an anime is finally over. I say Frankenstein's monster cause the quality is just so inconsistent and the anime just feels so forcefully stiched up and composed, all thanks to J.C. Staff's horrible scheduling and state.
The content this season adapted is my favorite chunk of OPM. Had it been well-adapted, it would've been 10/10 material for me. And there are times when the anime is able to capture the impact and spirit of the manga. But it's just too far and in-between for me to truly appreciate it. Honestly, I find the animation to be quite okay. There's definitely some bad cuts and literally no cuts, but there's times when it's really damn good. And honestly, from an animation standpoint, I can't say I was too disappointed, It's no S1, but it's not bad either. It's pretty much average for most parts, and above average, or even very good for the moments that matters. Shoutout to Aoki for doing a fantastic cut in almost every episode. Despite denying it, he must've been overworked. Imagine if he had a better schedule to work with and less cuts to be depended on for. He's being wasted by being at J.C. Staff. Same for those webgen animators; they're work in episode 8 was good, but it clearly looks unfinished. J.C. Staff's work has been quite good considering their schedule.
But my real issue is the directing. Not that it's always bad, but when it is, it's really, really bad. The flow from scene-to-scene is lacking and overall makes it seem like as if this series is rushing when it really isn't. It's just not put well together. Some shot angles are pretty lacking, and it's not even to hide the lack of animation or anything. Sometimes it doesn't even do justice to the animation effort in. Speaking of not giving justice to its animation, that blur effect used to bypass the TV seizure regulation really kills their effort. They should've just dimmed the brightness like S1. Watching the blu-ray release of this season seems like a mandatory thing now. And some directorial choices with the coloring, like the tanned look of some characters and that metal gradient... really? It's not even a effort saving decision. The director actually thought that it would look good. Like, wow. Also, dem sound effects are meme-worthy at times. At times, it's hype like JoJo. At times, it's laughable like Berserk 2016. As expected from the sound director.
The content in this season is OPM at its best. Saitama can only serve as a punchline for so long until it gets boring, so this season dedicates itself to develop and expand on the Hero Association and the differences between heroes and monsters. And it's most critical choice as to literally chance it's main character from an OP hero (parody of a shounen MC) to a in-training villain (shounen MC characteristics given to a villain). In a way, OPM still manages to parody the tropes by giving them to the villain instead. OPM's whole goal is to be fun. In S1, it does it be using the OP gag and S2 creates fun out of the absurtity of the heroes' design and abilities and Garou's antics. And Garou's just super endearing. He's blood-thirsty against heroes, but kind to anyone else. And he's represents a grey part in-between this whole hero and monsters thing. And his seiyuu is perfection. He was my second choice for Garou, and he nailed the character.
Overall, I guess this season is still a 7/10 for me, which is good, but considering its content, it should've been much higher. Prior to this season starting, I was expecting much, much worse. If you've seen J.C. Staff's projects after Taboo Tattoo, you'd confuse their works for a powerpoint presentation. It would've been a 6, but these last two episodes really pushed it up. Wasn't expecting that at all since most anime productions get worse as it goes on. As haphazardly put together their schedule was, at least they times it right, knowing which episodes to prioritize and whatnot. I was totally expecting episode 3 being their all-out episode, then them losing steam for the rest of the run, but they did great with episode 11 and even this episode was quite good. And they even called in a lot of talented webgen animators for episode 8 and 11. Now, if only they had more time.. |