Lots of little things happening all at once. Mostly action, though. I guess I’ll try to cover the stuff that stands out to me one-by-one.
— Toichiro decides to relocate to Seasoning City of all places. Why? ‘Cause of the omurice. But on a more serious note, he kinda has an attachment to his hometown, but at the same time, he kinda doesn’t. After all, he tells his team that they can completely wreck the place if they wish. What’s up with that? Is he trying to get rid himself of any lingering sentimentality before finally taking over the world? Is this essentially his first step that he needs to clear before he can fulfill his destiny?
— What’s clear is that the country — and possibly the entire world — is woefully ill-prepared to deal with espers should a group of them ever decide to work together like Claw. What can ordinary human weapons do against reality-altering psychic powers? Maybe after this arc, there will be major societal changes to make sure that an incident like this never happens again. We’ll see, though.
— Reigen initially tells his team to lay low for the time being, since Mob is out of commission. He’s pretty much their Goku. But after learning that his insurance won’t cover his office being torched if they can’t determine the cause, the guy’s attitude quickly changes. He’ll lead the ex-Claw members into battle if only to get his payout. Dude is humorously self-centered even in the face of world domination. Just a little comic relief before the action, I suppose.
— I just don’t know why the ex-Claw guys are so hellbent on fighting. Yeah, you don’t want to be on the run forever, but you’d rather die? Or do they actually think they stand a chance against the Ultimate 5? Maybe they actually believe this. Seems kinda foolish to me.
— Anyways, Reigen comes up with a pretty basic plan of attack. One group will act as a decoy. This way, another group can infiltrate via the sewers. The only problem is that, again, these guys are jobbers. Just a single member of the Ultimate 5 is probably enough to stop the sewer group, which is probably what’s going to happen next. Ryo is just sitting in the sewers, waiting for them.
— Sho and Ritsu are also leading their own resistance group, which quickly runs into Minegashi. Who’s Minegashi? Some dude with the ability to manipulate plants. Sho’s underlings tell him to run ahead and confront his father. Meanwhile, they’re going to try and slow Minegashi down. Needless to say, they get beaten pretty fast. I doubt Sho will be able to do much against his father either. At this point, the only person who can save the day is Mob. Too bad the kid’s asleep. See? Classic shounen move.
— Speaking of the kid, we finally turn our attention to our sleeping hero. Reigen initially wants to just wait for Mob to wake up, but it’s never quite so simple. As a result, Shibata (the big, buff meathead) shows up with a group to eliminate the kid. We basically get to watch Mob’s friends take their turn at slowing the meathead down.
— At this point, we get a small lull in the action. Toichiro reveals a bit more about himself, but it’s nothing too thought-provoking. He’s kind of the anti-Mob, I guess. He has supreme confidence in himself and his abilities, so he never hesitates. He’ll always shoot for his dreams. At the same time, however, he doesn’t care about other people at all. Still, this sort of barebones characterization is pretty much expected of any megalomaniac who wants to take over the world. Sad to say, our villain is not very compelling. I guess you could wonder how a guy like him managed to score a wife and kid, but who knows? Power is sexy to some women.
— On the plus side, Serizawa doesn’t seem like he’s 100% onboard with everything that’s happening. He’s just… kinda too stupid and dense to really decide how he truly feels. Someone will probably need to talk some sense into him. I bet it’s Mob. Mob will probably try and talk his way out of every fight. I expect it to fail against most of the bad guys, but maybe it’ll work on Serizawa.
— Anyways, let’s get back to our main trio. Reigen’s just a normal dude, so all he has is two uses of a drowsiness spray that he picked up back in the first season. Good call back, I guess. The spray manages to stun Shibata twice, but after that, our charlatan is shit out of luck.
— Eventually, Dimple takes over Mob’s body in order to keep the kid safe, but his kicks can’t slow Shibata down. At best, he can only run and hide. This is a viable tactic up until he tries to hide out in a crowd near Tsubomi. Not wanting to incur Mob’s wrath, Dimple reveals himself. He subsequently gets himself punched out of the kid.
— Still, you gotta wonder why the city isn’t on lockdown. Terrorists have literally attacked the country and kidnapped the prime minister, and yet people are still out and about in the streets. They’re acting way too casually.
— Which leads us right to the Body Improvement Club. Nothing’s going to stop them from training! Not even a terrorist attack! But I guess this works out in the end, because without them, who else would defend the sleeping Mob?
— Obviously, a bunch of regular dudes — no matter how buff they are — is no match for a roided-out esper like Shibata. Nevertheless, when Musashi refuses to yield — man, what a bro — this gives Dimple the opportunity to possess him. And somehow, our friendly spirit can unlock the full potential of the guy’s muscles. Surprisingly enough, he then proceeds to overpower Shibata…
— …but only temporarily. Still, color me shocked!
— Luckily, Mob is finally awake, and it’s time for him to kick some ass and take some names. More importantly, he’s going to take back exactly what he gave up in the first season. Back then, he wanted to run away in the face of danger, so he gave up his powers to his master. Reigen proceeded to steal the show. This time around, I doubt Mob will back down and run away again, so I guess a big shouneny conclusion has always been a long time coming. Shrug.
— Boring write-up, but I personally don’t think I got much to work with. It’s just action. Pretty decent action, but eh… like I said last week, this isn’t why I tune into this series. Still, I’ll eat my vegetables if it means I’ll get a future adaptation that goes back to the good stuff.