One Punch Man 2nd Season Specials

As you would expect from the specials, these are all for comedy purposes. They more or less all follow the same concept as each other, as well as the same concept of the Season 1 specials. They are nothing in particular and hold no importance, but if you are just looking for something short to have a laugh at, then I would recommend this. Do not come into this with very high expectations, just come in aware that they are all essentially following the same premise, and they are only done for comedy reasons, meaning the art style feels a little bit lacking, the characters ... feel a bit boring at times and the art style just does not feel smooth in the slightest.

Allow me to digress… Did this special really take me almost 4 years to finish? I remember I watched the first two episodes in 2019 and then stopped. Sheesh. Well, let’s review it and see if I was justified to slack off for so long or if I’m just lazy. I will do a quick review of individual episodes, I will tell you what these episodes are about and then list them in rankings. Let’s go. Every episode is 10 minutes long, that’s about ideal for specials.


1st episode is centred around Saitama and three “Ebay” robbers planning a heist. Robbers bump into Saitama and try ... to eliminate him, only to realize their powers are quite weak to be mild. Out of fear, the robber trio undergoes an afternoon training session with Saitama, trying to “pretend” they want to become heroes.

What to say about this episode? It’s for the giggles mainly. Some references are thrown here and there. For example: the mosquito swarm is a reference to OPM Season 1. The episode is mainly messing around with no real motion. The writer has thrown in a “strong” monster for Saitama to defeat as well as Genos cameo. I say this episode is somewhere between “mediocre” 5 and “average” 6. A slow start to the OPM S2 specials. I won’t probably watch this episode ever again, there’s nothing really interesting for me.


2nd episode is a fishing episode. Bang and Atomic Samurai fish while Mumen Rider and “Something” Chain are fighting a monster, thinking these two fishermen are average humans.

I’m starting to notice a pattern. Basically, writers seem to add this monster who either wishes to destroy the world or conquer it into the OPM Specials episodes. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of this approach. I view it as a “jumpscare”, sure they might scare you or excite you at first, however… the more jumpscares you experience, the more hardened you usually become. Eventually, jumpscares might stop exciting you and it becomes an annoying pest. I feel like this “pummelling” of Mumen Rider and his buddy by a giant frog just doesn’t work here and the director should have either used longer flashback sequences or a brand-new animation of some unknown or less-known heroes. Sure, One Punch Man is about fighting monsters and etc. It doesn’t mean you always have to force a battle for no other reason than a “thrilling” moment. Talking episodes can be fun too, for some. Overall, it’s an alright episode and it is better than the previous one for sure. I won’t rewatch it most likely tho.


3rd episode is an amnesia episode. Genos loses his memory and goes on a journey to regain it.

That description sounded more exciting than it actually was. The best thing about this episode was and yes, you heard right, the best thing were those flying Lays chips in slow motion. Lays should copy it into one of their commercials with Lionel Messi no kappa. Otherwise, some cheap laughs about Genos acting out of character with Saitama and Fubuki. Yet another monster aiming to destroy the world appears, or destroy urbanism to be precise. Unfortunately fails and City Z occupants still use “DoorDash” to this day, a tragic ending. This episode didn’t hit the right spots for me and it is maybe the worst yet. I didn’t enjoy the way OPM handled the amnesia, it’s probably because my humour senses just did not tick. You probably guessed it, I won’t be rewatching this one anytime soon.


4th episode is a gaming episode! Saitama goes to a gaming event to participate in a tournament.

This was the best episode by a margin. Creative episode, with a clear idea of what it wants to do, paired with great execution. An interesting choice of cast. About the tournament, we all knew which god gamer is taking the victory. This episode is a strong 9, a definitive highlight of specials. I would watch this episode again.


5th episode is a jailbreak. Some prisoners escaped, and PP Prisoner is hunting these poor souls down.

I feel like a good portion of your experience will depend on whether you like Puri Puri Prisoner or not. If you enjoy seeing large, muscular, naked dude fighting, then this episode will offer you something of value. The episode itself is quite average, nothing exceptional. Basic prisonbreak, and a fight with some monster in a jar. Prisoners didn’t even bother to split, except like 2 and stayed together to make it easy for PP Prisoner. Probably 5 or 6, I won’t be rewatching this episode.


6th episode is a “killer” mystery. Well, it’s a sequel to the "who killed Zombieman". Some S-class heroes and Saitama get stuck in a cottage during a blizzard, they capture Sonic o Sound and eventually, somebody kills Zombieman, so the cast must find out the culprit to protect "blondie" in distress.

The 2nd best episode. Not nearly as good as the gaming episode, still way better than the rest. When I saw the episode title I was hoping this might be an attempt to make a bit of a horror episode. Unfortunately not, the most “horror” thing was Sonic creeping on Superalloy Blackluster workout. Still, good idea, with solid execution. It’s a weaker 8.



Okay, time to rank these episodes.

Meh:
Episode 3: The amnesia episode did not work at all.
Episode 5: “Vanilla” prison break.
Episode 1: The idea was there, execution missed the mark by a lot.
Alright:
Episode 2: Mumen Rider getting pummelled didn’t bring anything of value. The fishing part was good tho.
Good:
Episode 6: I think the prequel was better, was a while since I watched it. It’s worth your 10 minutes of life.
Excellent:
Episode 4: I’m glad I didn’t waste 1 hour of my life, this episode is great and I’m glad I finally kicked myself enough to watch it.


The final rating is 6/10. You should at least watch them once, even if you hated the 2nd season animation. It’s a downgrade from season 1 Specials, still, there are episodes worth your time. It took me almost 4 years to finish six 10-minute episodes, I bet you’ll be done in 2 years. In the end, I was a lazy bastard, kinda.

Solid specials for the most part. Nothing major and all of them were pretty much comical. There were some nice dialogue here and there but yea nothing too crazy. Even with the disappointing season 2 of One Punch Man. The specials were not that good or bad. So if you were fine with S2 of One Punch Man I think it's worth checking out or if you wanna complete it for the sake of completing it. And they are pretty short also so worth a watch if you feel like wasting time.

The animation is the same and with the music also. Nothing to talk ... about that.