It's pretty much as expected, but in a good way. This series won't change the world, but it's fun while standing up to cheer for science. Most of the time, it's exciting and entertaining, while every so often (e.g. the season finale), it manages deeper emotions too.

As the title suggests, our heroes have a fight on their hands. Tsukasa's Empire of Might has learned that Senku is still alive and will be coming to crush his Kingdom of Science. Unfortunately, as those names suggest, Tsukasa has lots of fighters who were handpicked for their strength and potential for violence, while the Kingdom of Science is a bunch of villagers led by a gloating nerd with the physical prowess of a water flea.

Naturally, Tsukasa is in trouble.

I love Senku's idea of an ultimate weapon. Phones, freeze-dried food and a 3700-year-old recording of an American singer. The science is still painstaking and surprising. Senku builds a vehicle, using the airless tyre design developed by NASA for planetary exploration. Cool.

I love the show's moral core. That kind of thing often feels tokenistic or cliched, e.g. "killing would make us no better than them!" Here, though, Senku's a smug bastard who'd gleefully pull any dirty trick and has an endless supply of ugly villain faces. Furthermore, we're in a post-apocalyptic Stone Age where our heroes have had to build, do and invent everything for themselves. The stakes are high. If an enemy escapes because our heroes made a compassionate choice, it could mean the death of everyone. It means something for someone like Senku to have principles he won't compromise on, then it's a bit magnificent when he finds a way of achieving all his goals anyway.

Also, they're saving lives. Carefully, painstakingly, one by one. I love that too.

This is still boys' adventure from a Weekly Shounen Jump series, of course. Lots of passion and over-the-top faces, not much depth in the characterisation. It's super-energetic and a laugh, but that's its limit a lot of the time. That's not a problem, though. That's simply what it is. The show is, though, also capable of being emotional, e.g. Lillian's song in ep.27 and everything with Tsukasa in ep.35. I love the return of Taiju and Yuzuriha. Sometimes, it's funny. I'll happily watch Season 3.