The Summer 2024 Anime Preview Guide

Shy Season 2

The Tokyo Recapture Arc begins.

Shy has grown a little after fighting the "Amarariruku" led by the mysterious boy Stigma. When she returns to Japan, she meets Ai Tennōji, a girl who has run away from her ninja village. She tells Shy that she left the village chasing a member of the "Amarariruku." Amidst all of this, Tokyo is suddenly enveloped in a black ball and disappears. The heroes are dispatched to rescue Tokyo.

SHY Season 2 is based on a manga of the same name by Bukimi Miki. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Mondays.

Shy is back with a new season. While the first season was a show I wanted to like a little more than I ultimately did, I still had a pretty good time with it, so I'm certainly down for getting more of it. Unfortunately, this new season is off to a bit of a slow start as it is mainly reintroducing each of the heroes to the audience—and when I say mainly, I mean half the episode. The refresher is certainly appreciated as it's been long enough since I went through the first season that I forgot who some of these characters were. However, since Shy and Spirit were the only heroes who've gotten any major focus to this point, the rest don't feel like they have too much going for them yet beyond their archetypes, so I don't feel like it was really worth spending so much of the episode spotlighting them.

Thankfully, the back half is a bit more interesting as Shy's earlier heroics leads to a reporter taking interest in her for an interview. Of course, since Shy is, well…still pretty shy even after last season's character development, that goes about as well as you'd expect—but her earnestness does end up reigniting the reporter's passion for their job after getting a little burned out. It's cute, but not quite compelling enough to make up for how boring the first half of the episode was. Luckily, the episode at least teased some potentially exciting stuff coming down the line this season as our villain group of evil children is still busy plotting their next move in the background—and a mysterious new girl also seems to be after Shy for some unknown reason but all of that only really comes in during the last few minutes. As it stands, if you're already invested in Shy by this point, there's nothing in this premiere that should ruin that for you but this definitely wasn't the most exciting note to start on. Hopefully, the rest of the season picks up sooner rather than later.

While I wasn't expecting this second season to start off with a bang – SHY had its dramatic highs but was always more subdued than other superhero fare – I can't say I expected something this low-key. You could pretty fairly call this episode a glorified recap, with the first half of the premiere doing little more than reintroducing us to the major heroes and introducing exactly one new character – the American hero, Century. The narration tries to justify it by saying it's been a "long time" since season one, but if you have a memory that goes back more than six months and can remember the handful of heroes our protagonist teamed up with last season, most of this is superfluous padding.

The second half is a little more engaging, even if it mostly exists to remind us who Teru/Shy is and just how bashful she gets around anyone who isn't Iko. However, the setup of Teru being interviewed by a journalist also feels like something out of a recap episode. It does, at least, remind us that it's not Teru's superpowers or high-stakes escapades that made her such a charming lead in season one but her relatable yet inspirational mix of anxiety and determination to help others. It's not anything new or astounding, but if we're going to spend a whole episode getting reacquainted with the cast, I'd rather it be through this rather than an extended montage of everyone doing Superhero Things. SHY has an earnest and lovable heart at its center, and there's definitely some value to seeing that play out in small, personal ways alongside the superhero dramatics.

Still, if you got hooked on SHY last season and were hoping to pick up where it left off, it's probably best to wait until next week. The only hint at what's coming next for these characters is at the very end. Everything else is just fluff that is cute enough but doesn't do anything to intrigue you about this new season. At least the anime staff's dedication to shipping Teru and Iku is as blatant as ever, so make sure those yuri goggles are clean and secure.

Outside of My Hero Academia and Tiger & Bunny, superhero anime shows that fit the Western mold for the genre aren't all that common. Shy's first cour from Fall 2023 was a competent, fun take on the standard superhero origin story, with a sweet, empathetic main middle school-aged character determined to do her best in her secret superhero identity, despite her crippling social anxiety.

In this second cour, Shy (real name Teru Momijiyama) seems more firmly established as Japan's named hero. I don't think it's been explained to viewers yet why countries have only one superhero, nor quite what the selection criteria are. We're reacquainted with civvies-wearing Teru as she leaves the house for a morning jog, but she can't help but run into trouble – this time transforming in time to prevent a little girl from taking a one-way Truck-kun-induced trip to isekai-land.

While Shy's super heroics are of the down-to-earth friendly neighborhood variety, the first half of this episode reintroduces the eclectic international cast – from Switzerland's hero Piltz Dunant (Lady Black) on a humanitarian aid mission in a flooded city, to perpetually- inebriated Russian hero Pepesha Andreanova (Spirit), British rock star hero and philanthropist Davie John (Stardust), and androgynous Chinese martial artist Ming Ming Li (Mian Long). We even meet the USA's own horn-wearing hero, who I don't recall seeing in the first cour. With so many short scenes jumping around from place to place, this section is somewhat dizzying and disjointed, but it's a good idea to showcase everyone's personality and powers before the next story arc kicks into gear.

The second half of the episode mostly focuses on Shy's semi-disastrous interview with a newbie journalist who struggles to get the timid hero to give more than one-word answers. It's only when Shy turns the tables and starts asking her interviewer questions that the ice is broken. Shy's such a nice, genuine girl that her very mundanity inspires others; she's so relatable.

Shy works because Teru herself is a delight. Despite her shyness, she wears her heart on her sleeve. She seeks genuine connection with people and truly desires to help them. This first episode does a great job of re-establishing her and her place in the world while also giving the briefest of teases at a new female character who looks to be a new antagonist… or another hero? It's hard to tell. The first cour explored some surprisingly mature and emotional subject matter, so I'll be sticking around to see what Shy does next.