One Punch Man

The seemingly unimpressive Saitama has a rather unique hobby: being a hero. In order to pursue his childhood dream, Saitama relentlessly trained for three years, losing all of his hair in the process. Now, Saitama is so powerful, he can defeat any enemy with just one punch. However, having no one capable of matching his strength has led Saitama to an unexpected problem—he is no longer able to enjoy the thrill of battling and has become quite bored.

One day, Saitama catches the attention of 19-year-old cyborg Genos, who witnesses his power and wishes to become Saitama's disciple. Genos proposes that the two join the Hero Association in order to become certified heroes that will be recognized for their positive contributions to society. Saitama, who is shocked that no one knows who he is, quickly agrees. Meeting new allies and taking on new foes, Saitama embarks on a new journey as a member of the Hero Association to experience the excitement of battle he once felt.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Saitama Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Genos Main

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Garou Supporting

Tatsumaki Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Mumen Rider Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Fubuki Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Speed-o'-Sound Sonic Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

King Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Metal Bat Supporting

Hatano, Wataru Japanese

Puri-Puri Prisoner Supporting

Onosaka, Masaya Japanese

Fukushi, Yuuichirou Producer

Hosoya, Nobuyuki Producer

Taguchi, Ayuri Producer

Kodama, Keita Producer

Reviews

Dec 20, 2015

MonsterLiebert

Recommended

This is a complete review after watching all 12 episodes of One Punch Man.

**CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS**

I remember when I was 8 years old, I used to be excited for a new Pokemon episode everyday. I used to run from school to my house so that I wouldn’t miss any single moment. Then as you grow up, such excitement starts to fade away. No matter how good a show is, only a few shows can generate such an excitement for a viewer. I never would’ve imagined that an anime would make me feel that excitement again at 20 yrs. And lucky for me, it aired on ... Sundays!

Story: 7/10

One Punch Man’s story is simple- The story of an average guy who’s a hero for fun. Now what makes this unique is that this show is a parody. For people new to that genre, it’s an imitation of other work. Basically what this anime does is it makes a parody out of shounen genre, where you have a male protagonist who gets beaten down, and then trains or in some other way defeats the bad guy. Here, the MC is just over-powered to the extent that he gets depressed there’s no one strong enough to challenge him. You might think that such a strong person would be revered as a God by the people. Sadly, you’re mistaken. The people don’t even know he exists!! . This really plays a major point in the later episodes, when Saitama has to show his strength infront of the public, and becomes one of the highlight of this series. This show was created to poke fun at all tropes in anime. This is a story made to enjoy, not to be taken seriously. Anyone who is open-minded will enjoy this anime to its full extent.

Art: 9/10

Now the only reason I gave this a 9 is because of the meticulously high standard set by Ufotable in the Fate series and Kara no Kyoukai movies. But by no means is it far behind. In most anime, usually the MC has some kind of weapon, you can just add some flashy effects to go with it. But here, we have a hero who’s weapon are just his fists . The fights had to be carefully drawn and animated. And when you have a studio like Madhouse doing it, you know they rarely disappoint. Fluid motion, spectacular effects, no weird faces, nothing overdramatic. Simple, yet awesome. The best part of this anime has to be the “Saitama Expressions”. If you didn’t smile atleast a little when you saw the “OK” face, then I guess your sense of humour is locked up somewhere. Madhouse know how to make the viewer enjoy the anime to the full extent. The way they used Tatsumaki’s “chibi mode” expressions from the webcomic, and boldly animated it in the anime deserves separate praise. Also the landscape for OPM universe is also brilliant. Even the ordinary people are drawn with careful details. Another important aspect here is the design for the villains, especially Sea King and Boros, each having something unique, and they give out the “strong, badass” vibe when you just look at them. Also, the art in the final episode is 11/10.

Sound: 10/10

God-level. Simply eargasmic. When you have an opening theme that makes you want to shout “ONE PUUUUUUUNCH!” every time you hear it, you know the soundtrack’s gonna be amazing. For me, the first thing I’d hear in my mind every morning when I wake up is someone shouting “ONE PUUUUUUNCH!” That’s how much I love that opening theme. From character bgm’s to fight themes, the music suits every situation perfectly, making them more epic. I would rewatch every episode again just to hear the music, that’s how good it is. The voice acting is also brilliant, especially Aoi Yuuki, who brilliantly brought out Tatsumaki’s bratty voice, and Yuki Kaji, whose voice fits Sonic’s character perfectly.

Character: 10/10

Once in a lifetime you watch shows where every character in it makes an impact. One Punch Man is mine. I can probably name every single character that appeared in these 12 episodes. That’s how much of an impact they make. Saitama with his care-free attitude, the loyal cyborg Genos, Jack’o Lantern Panic, Brattymaki, Justice Rider, the S-class heroes like Silver Fang, Metal Bat, Pri-Pri Prisoner, King, and all the others have a uniqueness that makes you remember them. Even characters whom play a cameo like Carnage Kabuto, Mosquito Girl, Snek, Stinger, Amai Mask manage to leave an impression, which is something most anime fail to do. And when you have such a strong character cast, the anime rarely falters.

Enjoyment: 10/10

This anime was made to enjoy, and One Punch Man nails the formula. I enjoyed every second of it. 24x12 minutes of pure awesomeness. It makes you laugh, the “wow” feeling when you watch those spectacularly animated fight scenes, even the simple dialogues between the characters make you laugh hard. There is no walking in on naked girl scenes, boob-grabbing, fan service and other shit like that. This anime makes me remember that Charlie Chaplin didn’t have to talk to make people laugh and enjoy his movies. Just his reactions and expressions were enough. And Saitama’s expressions and reactions reminded me of that again. And no matter how many times you rewatch it, you’ll never get bored. That’s the kind of masterpiece this is.

Overall rating: 10/10

One Punch Man is a masterpiece. I’ve been watching anime for about 8 years, watched around 400 anime series, and I’d only have around 5 anime which I’d give a 10/10. But this show is just simply that good. If I could I’d have given this a 999/10 for enjoyment. Studio Madhouse is just leagues ahead of any anime studio. I wish I could go to Japan and personally congratulate them for making such a great anime. While I’m at that, I could also beg them to make a Season 2 of the anime when the manga has enough material for it. Natsume Shingo, the director of this anime, deserves all the credit for bringing together an amazing team, and voice cast to create this anime. Overall, One Punch Man does what it sets out to deliver, Entertain. And boy oh boy it does so in style!!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 22, 2015

Taz_

Mixed Feelings

Going back to One Punch Man, I really thought of something. Something that can make or break this show to several of its viewers. And that's the joke. The one prominent singular joke.

I'm not saying this is going to be a completely balanced review. And most of you might get upset over that fact, and even start to hate me for it too. And I can understand why. I would hate it if someone didn't provide both sides to the argument for my favorite show, but keep in mind that I am not authoritative force, and I cannot dictate how or what you should ... think. For all you know, you might just stumble a 4 paragraph post by me describing how shoving hotdogs up your ass is actually a good thing. But I'm hoping that maybe next time you go to the grill, you can ponder on what you're going to do with that hotdog. Or maybe you still won't do that, but you'll at least know why some people might like sticking hotdogs up their ass. But anyways, let's get on with this review.

One Punch Man has got to be one of the most commonly talked about show I've seen this year, even impacting the smash community when one of the smash player's shaved their beard and started using Ryu. In all honesty, how many shows can you say do that? But does this fulfill the hype, and is this the savior of anime?

If you are like me, and expected One Punch Man to be a satire, then you will be disappointed. Rather than making fun of its tropes directly, One Punch Man parodies it instead by over-exaggerating them to the point where it becomes funny. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but there are problems with that. With the already ridiculous start of the series, it makes it hard to enjoy the jokes when they are virtually indistinguishable. You can't top off something so exaggerated, similar to how you can't top off beating an enemy with a single punch. Because of this, as the series went on, the joke lost its charm as it wasn't special anymore. After seeing a couple of episodes, you know what to expect from it, which really damaged the comedy effect. And yes, the final episodes did stray away from that, but even that was just a elongated scene of what was soon going to happen. If you really look at it, it was just Saitama getting beaten up with a variety of attacks.

The problem of One Punch Man getting repetitive may seem like a small thing, but in fact, it really isn't. When a comedy starts to get unappealing, there isn't much that can save that. The parody is all that One Punch Man seemed to offer, and if you don't like that, than you definitely won't like the show.

Near the end, it was hinted that the focus will eventually shift from the parody aspect to the side characters, something that would benefit the series as the more "Slice of Life" aspects where the strong suit of One Punch Man, but for now, the first season is all we got.

You could say that being repetitive and anticlimactic is the point of One Punch Man, and it in itself is actually also parodying the repetitive nature of most action shows, but I disagree. There should be something that would want to make the watcher come back for more. Your daily life as a human being isn't characterized by the same exact thing each time. Maybe the steps building up to 'the punchline' are different, or maybe you don't exactly engage with 'the punchline' each time. The moment in this case is the same exact thing, with the only differences being how the villains look or where the fight is taking place. What kind of show is engaging, but doesn't have an engaging story? Even if that was the point, how is it fun to watch the same thing 12 times?

If you enjoyed the parody aspect of it, then the repetitiveness of the joke shouldn't be a problem for you, but if you wanted a bit more than just that, then you won't be getting that from One Punch Man.

If anyone tells you that the animation of One Punch Man is bad, then they're just trying to shit on the show for the sake of shitting on the show. Though inconsistent at times, the show looked amazing when it called for a fight scene, and average at least when it called for a more Slice of Life moment.

The music did a good job in making you hyped and excited for each fight and episodes. It's not something I could see anyone listening outside from this anime, but it's good nevertheless in enhancing the show.

There isn't much to say in such a simple show like this. I'll ask once again if it wasn't clear the first 100 times. Did you like the joke, or did you not? After you found that out, you'll know what to do.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 21, 2015

nowa_

Not Recommended

One Punch Man is a comedy/parody shounen anime. Unfortunately it fails as a parody and it fails as a shounen.

The Comedy:
Saitama, the main protagonist, is really really strong, but he's also bored. He is so strong that he doesn't even get excited while fighting really strong opponents. That's the main joke of the anime, and if you don't like it, well, too bad, because it will be shoved down your throat every single episode. There's nothing much else to talk about him, it's basically all his personality.

Outside of Saitama the humor is pretty much hit or miss. It's funny, because this is supposed to ... be a parody anime, but even then it takes itself wayyyy too seriously. Expect the typical epic/dramatic ost playing often, innocent people suffering and in danger, melodramatic speechs about justice, etc etc. After thorwing all that at you the main character, bored as always, will easily defeat the dangerous villain. OPM lives in a weird limbo between typical shounen and parody, it would probably be better if it decided what it wants to be.



The Plot:
The anime is pretty much plotless. A random generic villain will appear, cause some ruckus, and be defetead by the bored bald protagonist every time. At some point a hero association appears, what about it? It serves to introduce new characters, and that's it. The association does nothing the whole anime, as far as the anime goes there's no conspiracy behind it or anything. The main character wants to go up in the association, but of course that doesn't matter one bit, it only serves to provide some more "hilarious" jokes about how the main character is so strong and yet he is misunderstood by everybody.

There's nothing to keep you hooked and wanting more, wondering what will happen next. If, god forbid, a second season is made I pretty expect to be exactly the same thing as season 1: main protagonist is bored jokes and generic villains appearing, with pretty much nothing else.



Sound:
Nothing much to talk about really. One or two tracks are good I guess, the rest is average.



Art/Animation:
The art is bland and forgetble. The animation is good and fluid, but to be honest the fights itselves are not that good. Everything is so fast, it's difficult to see things clearly sometimes. Although this anime really is above average in this category, it seems like a child throwing a tauntrum to get your attention: there is very little variety in the fights (every character pretty much fights like a DBZ character), it is all completely predictable, but hey, it looks cool, and the camera spins really fast, and there is epic music, so it is good, right???



Veridict:
OPM is all flash and no substance. It should mantain your attention for at least these 12 episodes, but that's it. It's just one more of those anime who pander the lowest common denominator. If you are expecting something truly interesting, fun or exciting you can forget it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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