One Punch Man: Road to Hero

A pretty good One Punch Man ova. It simply goes over on how Saitama got his suit and how his life was like before he lost his hair and became the strongest man on the planet. With similar tones and writing to that of S1.

The animation was pretty good, they didn't have do much work on that since there were barely any fights and the entirety of the episode took only in one place.

The music was good and was similar to that of the S1.

For the characters he entire focus was on Saitama and the creator of his suit so there wasn't really much ... to go on around about that part.

I liked it for the most part and it was the length of a full episode compared to that of the One Punch Man Specials which were only 12 min long.

I love OPM and gave it a 10. But the fact that this meh OVA got rated so highly leads me to believe the cries of OPM being overhyped are sort of true.

Seeing the backstory on Saitama was kind of cool, but the story lacked basically everything that made the series amazing. There was no cool new discoveries about this world OPM is in, no real threat to much. It was just really meh.

Even the the usually on point humor of One Punch just didn't strike as much of a cord as usual.

The OVA was fine and still OPM, but I can't ... really see why it is rated so high outside of OPM hype

We get to see Saitama with hair. The second best thing about this OVA. There's also a great punchline that reminds you of the series' highlights. Other than that, this OVA is closer to the worst episodes of One Punch Man

We don't have people running around, screaming and flexing their muscles. Praising a show for a lack of things doesn't get you anywhere though. That's like praising a show for not having plot holes, or for not being racist.

The story is pointless. We learn how Saitama gets his suit, and there's no satirical bite to how ridiculous heroes customes are. Saitama being appalled at a ... samurai custome is just one joke. The story is actually about going to beat up a bad guy who's an asshole because he's an asshole.

If that sounds like every other One Punch Man episode, that's because it is. The difference between this OVA and the series is that Saitama has no characters to interact with. The series' strength was that it gave the characters other traits than being powerful. Saitama is entertaining also because of his casual view of things, how he doesn't pretend to be anything else than a hobbyist.

Without Genos to play off from, he doesn't do much but beat up people. Our antagonist is as boring as they get. You think a series that wants to be wild and crazy would have interesting visual ideas. The antagonist is a dude with a fish-head and a BDSM outfit. This is less exciting than you think.

The world of fiction is full of quirky villains who end up more popular than the heroes. One Punch Man always failed in that department, and this OVA relies on the eventual conflict. Aside from seeing Saitama with hair and one punchline, this OVA has no reason to exist.