The very first few episodes of MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD can be quite jarring. With a Spanish opening, closing, and overall theme, MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD quickly establishes the idea of wandering and finding oneself from exploration. Joe’s new name—Nomad—isn’t just a clever title drop but rather a means to say the once-proud MEGALOBOX champion has gone on the road tied down by nothing and seeking a new place to call shelter. This ideal also gives a dark spin to Joe’s world when you begin to learn what led him down this route.

Several episodes in, MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD reveals that Joe loses his original coach and—in turn—loses himself and those he considered his team. Joe spirals into extreme depression and, oddly, goes back to his original underground fighting roots to escape from the hell his mind throws him in. This new battle becomes the central focus of the earlier episodes of MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD and does something mystifying for the series.

Rather than being a continuation of MEGALOBOX and boxing, MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD now is a movie-esque drama that hits in a different way than previously. We love how Joe now experiences different sides of the MEGALOBOX world and sees how the sport both saves some souls and equally causes a slew of problems for those involved. MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD feels a lot more realistic and has a more relatable story overall with this giant tone shift.

Many readers might now be worried that MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD isn’t the boxing anime we saw from season 1 and is more akin to a soap opera. We here at Honey’s Anime want to say 'don’t be worried folks'. The sci-fi boxing anime is still here and is better than ever before.

Nomad—aka Joe, as we know—still steps into the boxing ring and he’s not alone. New and old characters return to MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD and some of them enter his fighting journey in a surprising way. Several years have passed since season 1 and kids like Sachio aren’t kids anymore…and also aren’t too happy with our previous champ. Likewise, Joe’s previous opponents have moved on but not from the glitz and glamour of the ring. You won’t have to wait long for Joe and his companions/allies to fight but that occasional time away from the ring—which season 1 didn’t have as much—makes every fight just that more impactful.

Joe from MEGALOBOX season 1 was a boxer through and through. Joe’s world was how to better his fists to earn the fight he wanted and to become a legend in the world of MEGALOBOX. As much as we loved the boxing tough guy, Joe felt like a one-sided character with little to no depth but season 2 NOMAD changes that in a big way.

MEGALOBOX 2: NOMAD allowed Joe to mature due to his time on the road and his battle with himself; Joe became someone else in the five years he was away from the world he knew and the series is better for it. Now Joe has what seems like a heart built from loss but we see it is being shaped by failure and the realization that his fights have consequences not only for himself. Joe isn’t losing himself but instead beginning to grow as a man in more ways than one. That is the new mature Joe that many of us longed to see.