Spring 2021 – A Couple of Sequels

Though I’ve attempted to branch out over the years in terms of what I write about here, I think I’m still somewhat known for my first episode/premiere reviews of anime. In the past I’ve struggled with this, and tended to go back into hibernation after finishing those first impressions because I just had no idea what to do with myself after my quest was complete. Now I’m making more of an effort to put into words the anime-related thoughts that come to my mind on a regular basis.

That said, this isn’t a post with any sort of deep reflection on what I’ve been watching. But I did want to make some space to talk about a couple of the sequels I’ve been looking forward to this season, and some of the aspects of those episodes that I look for when coming back to a series after a long hiatus.

Note: I’m also planning to watch the second part of Moriarty the Patriot, but since that was more of a split-cour situation, I felt it didn’t really warrant any additional attention at the moment.

I’ve cheated a little bit and already written about SSSS.Dynazenon, but that series, alongside Megalobox: NOMAD and Zombie Land Saga: Revenge, have already been very welcome returns to series that I’ve enjoyed, and all for I think fairly diverse reasons.

Zombie Land Saga is unsurprisingly the more straightforward of the two. After their triumphant performance that capped off the previous season, Franchouchou seems poised to expand their reach far beyond Saga prefecture. Unfortunately, after their huge stadium concert only sells-out a tiny percentage of the seats, the group is thrust deeply into debt and Koutarou – whose oddball personality seems as much a part of the group’s success as the actual idols – is MIA. In the meantime, all the group members take up odd jobs to chip away at their debt while also working on some new material for their eventual comeback performance.

I loved the first season of Zombie Land Saga, and I think the primary reason is that I enjoy stories about underdog successes. The characters begin their journey having nothing in common (aside from their undead-ness) and through various circumstances manage to work through their personal roadblocks and create fun, harmonious music together. Koutarou is kind of the wild card in the situation – he brings the characters together and sets them off on their journey, but his ultimate goals are veiled in mystery and I have some questions about the mechanism by which he’s managed to raise the dead… anyway.

Whenever an anime sequel is announced my first thought is to interrogate the direction the narrative is likely to go. In some cases, with stories that already feel complete to me, I question what sort of new tale might be told that could even attempt to meet or surpass the original. Sometimes making more of something popular simply feels like a cash grab. Zombie Land Saga season 1 definitely achieved a sort of climax, but with so many unanswered questions (especially the implication that Koutarou may have known Sakura in the past… my memory on where this particular imagery appears in the show is fuzzy, though) I didn’t have these same misgivings when news of a sequel appeared. The first episode of season 2 provides a starting point that comes along with it some challenges for the characters and also gives a tantalizing-but-brief window into Koutarou’s vague goals with this little undead idol group “experiment.” I also just find all the characters very loveable and as we pick back up with their lives I’m reminded again of how charming they are.

On the other end of the tonal spectrum is Nomad: Megalobox 2, which continues the story introduced in 2018 as part of the Ashita no Joe anniversary project. Several years after winning the Megalonia tournament, “Gearless Joe” has left the public eye and is nowhere to be found. After various circumstances that are only hinted at during the first episode, he finds himself alone, suffering from an addiction to painkillers. Now having taken on the moniker “Nomad,” Joe rides his motorcycle from small town to small town, once again earning a meager amount of money participating in underground fights.

This episode is striking and startling. I was a fan of the previous season of Megalobox, possibly more so than many; I remember hearing some vague criticisms of it within general anime fandom in the background static of my anime life, but I enjoyed it for its commentary on class and society’s treatment of undocumented individuals. The first episode of season 2, however, immediately goes hard into some very dark territory. My husband is a fan of many sports, and something we frequently discuss are the ways in which the young people who’re recruited to play football or basketball (for example) are often suddenly thrust into a situation where they have fame and more money than most people will have in their lifetimes. Somehow we expect them to be able to handle the pressure of those burdens despite the fact that the US education system often fails at teaching people any sort of financial literacy. Never mind the fact that some players might also come from situations of having little financial means in the first place, so it shouldn’t be surprising that suddenly having more money than God sets them up for failure.

Having only just started Nomad, I can only speculate on the circumstances that brought Joe down. But sudden fame and fortune, especially when you’re not equipped to handle it, can often do more harm than good. And regular boxing is a brutal sport that, more than some, has the potential to leave its participants with lasting physical physical problems.

This episode really left an impression on me, and that’s something I think is important for any new series to try to accomplish, but it’s perhaps even more important with sequels. I think it’s easy for viewers to get bogged down in their own expectations of what a continuation should be trying to do; as much as I try to avoid those tendencies, I’m definitely not immune to them. But familiarity makes the situation even more difficult to navigate and I don’t envy the uphill climb that sequels must deal with to keep from feeling like “just more of the same.” Neither of these episodes feels completely like a direct continuation, and I like that. It’s not a requirement of any sequel to go in an entirely different direction than the previous one, and that’s not the only way that something can leave an impression. However, I’m always thankful when they come out of the gate feeling as though they have something different to say. It can be easy for me to let sequel series fall to the wayside in favor of newer, shinier series, but when sequels start off as strongly as these do, it’s much easier to take notice.

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There have been a ton of interesting sequels in the world of anime over the past year or so. What have been some of your favorites? Let me know below!