Omega-Beta (Season 2)

The second season of the British-Japanese anime series *Omega-Beta* aired from June 7 to September 20, 2022 for a total of 16 episodes in a variety of regions, including TV Tokyo in Japan, BBC Two in the United Kingdom and Adult Swim in the US. The season was written and directed by Jay Stevenson, the series' creator, and produced by J-Animations. The season is a slice-of-life, and features a soundtrack composed by Makoto Miyazaki. The season's opening ("Fiction") and ending ("10-ji no Hogaku") themes were performed by Sumika.

The series takes place in a near-future society where androids are common place. One major use for them is the ability to have files containing data of a human uploaded into them, which will give the android the appearance, personality and memories of said human. These files, as shown first this season, can also be fabricated, and this allows the protagonist McCulloch, previously known as KG-TY03, to create an identity for himself in order to hide from the authorities after the events of the previous season. McCulloch assumes the identity of McCulloch Hatsen, an office worker who lives in the city of Sandleson and is employed by a marketing company called Berkson Hammer. The series follows McCulloch as he navigates the working world as an adult, and also explores the lives of his colleagues and group of friends, including love interests Simon and Kate, Human Resources manager Gerwix and anti-android engineer Tony. By the end of the series, Gerwix discovers McCulloch is an android and is pressured by Tony to raise it to the board of directors which fire McCulloch as a result.

Sebastian Fitzner is replaced by Griffin Burns as the voice actor of McCulloch, due to the characters change in age. The supporting cast includes Alex Organ as Simon, Natalie Van Sistine as Kate, Anne Yatco as Gerwix and Jason Douglas as Tony.

The second season of *Omega Beta* received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. Many praised the ingenuity of the show in regards to the shift in genre, setting and protagonist. The season's cast received acclaim, many enjoyed the dynamics between the characters, and enjoyed learning about each character's life and experiences. Critics complimented the story as feeling "authentic" and enjoyed following McCulloch as he "took the big leap from adolescence to adulthood". The setting was seen as "the perfect antithesis" to the seaside town of South Martin, seen to represent the contrast between McCulloch's carefree nature in the first season and his more paranoid and alert behaviour in season 2. The season's representation of prejudice in regards to Tony and Berkson Hammer's views towards androids was praised as being multi-faceted and not "only serving to remind us that yes, discrimination is bad" but to also reflect the experience of a minority working in a hostile environment. The portrayal of "micro-aggressions" and "subtle prejudice" were highlighted as being grounded and "eye-opening". The series' art direction was complimented, as was the soundtrack which was said to have "perfectly captured the mundanity of Berkson Hammer and the whimsy of our protagonists".

The season was a commercial success both in Japan and overseas, averaging 40 million viewers per episode worldwide. The season's acclaim saw the anime win a variety of awards at the 2022 International Anime Awards, and was nominated for Anime of the Year, although it lost out to fellow J-Animations series *Genshin Impact*. Retrospectively, the season is regarded as one of the best in the show's run, and the characters remain some of the most popular in the series. The series was collected into two blu-ray volumes, and began streaming on BBC iPlayer, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video the following year. It was succeeded by a third season in 2023.