What makes OPM so good

tsudecimo said:

The problem here unlike other comedy anime, OPM doesn't have variety in it's comedy. It's always the same style and the same punch line (pun fully intended). So if you get tired by the humor by the 3rd or so episode that means the rest of the episodes will also have forced and terrible humor for you.

Actually the last sentence is the one part where it's not my personal opinion. It's a fact that OPM has a lot of memes, and that's entirely due to the style of humor of the show. It resembles internet meme humor in many ways.

See, here is where I get puzzled. Your praise seems to be mainly for treating parody elements serious. You actually like that Saitama defeats all his enemies, you actually like that Saitama is insanely OP, and not just because it's parody. It looks really contradicting to me. Like someone liking Medaka being overpowered to asinine levels, which is not supposed to be the case or intention but I guess Medaka Box is more complex for a comparison to OPM. In my case I dislike both the parody and when it takes itself seriously. So whether I'm critical about it or just mindlessly watching it, I can't enjoy it either way.

Repetitive doesn't mean that there literally no new stuff. It entails there is a specific key element that is constantly being repeated and used as a major plot point, which is the case for OPM, where it's premise is literally him one punching enemies. It's always about his one punch. I mean the most creative the show could get with it is ''Gasp! instead of one punch, he defeated someone with more than one punch!!'' ''Holy shit how creative, it's totally not the same thing anymore''

For me OPM has poor foundation and a gimmick concept that loses it's novelty fairly quickly. It's almost like what's the point, what can the show even offer if even both it's serious and non-serious aspects are mediocre in execution and limited.

tsudecimo said:

The problem here unlike other comedy anime, OPM doesn't have variety in it's comedy. It's always the same style and the same punch line (pun fully intended). So if you get tired by the humor by the 3rd or so episode that means the rest of the episodes will also have forced and terrible humor for you.

Actually the last sentence is the one part where it's not my personal opinion. It's a fact that OPM has a lot of memes, and that's entirely due to the style of humor of the show. It resembles internet meme humor in many ways.

See, here is where I get puzzled. Your praise seems to be mainly for treating parody elements serious. You actually like that Saitama defeats all his enemies, you actually like that Saitama is insanely OP, and not just because it's parody. It looks really contradicting to me. Like someone liking Medaka being overpowered to asinine levels, which is not supposed to be the case or intention but I guess Medaka Box is more complex for a comparison to OPM. In my case I dislike both the parody and when it takes itself seriously. So whether I'm critical about it or just mindlessly watching it, I can't enjoy it either way.

Repetitive doesn't mean that there literally no new stuff. It entails there is a specific key element that is constantly being repeated and used as a major plot point, which is the case for OPM, where it's premise is literally him one punching enemies. It's always about his one punch. I mean the most creative the show could get with it is ''Gasp! instead of one punch, he defeated someone with more than one punch!!'' ''Holy shit how creative, it's totally not the same thing anymore''

For me OPM has poor foundation and a gimmick concept that loses it's novelty fairly quickly. It's almost like what's the point, what can the show even offer if even both it's serious and non-serious aspects are mediocre in execution and limited.

MahadoKusanagi said:


Nah, rather Saitama > Chuck Norris

TheChose0n3 said:
Are you an anime only watcher? I can understand where your coming from if you are, but none of it makes sense if you aren't. After the sea king arc it starts to expand on the plot and story. Garou arc is where is starts feeling more like a shounen battle then a parody itself.

ONE, author of OPM, created the series for his own enjoyment and not for ours. OPM was simply a way for ONE to practice using a manga creation software. It was only a hobby for him and still is. That's why the art is so bad and it is also why saitama is so plain looking. He didn't expand on the plot until later in his work. He never gave much thought on saitama's design or even his name. He didn't take it seriously until it got popular.That's when he started to create a full plot for OPM. You will see that during the garou Arc.

The only reason OPM is here today is because murata likes his story and didn't wanted OPM to end. So, he made a deal with him, The redraw as was made and the story was continued because of Murate. The redraw boosted OPM popularity due to it's amazing art.

I love OPM due it's art and the contrast between saitama and the surroundings. If you judge OPM based on it's comedy your going to have a hard time enjoying it. It's not all about comedy. I read it because it has excellent art, character development, comedy, and more it has to offer. Recently I didn't give a shit about metal bat, but due to recent chapter he has become my favorite S class heroes. Same with king. king has become one of my favorite characters due to his secret. he wasn't recently, but he moved up there.
OPM has many characters that have the potential to become favorites or MC material. Basically most characters in OPM have MC material except for saitama which makes funny. (genos for example) Each character even have potential to have spotlight(mumen rider is a perfect example). you wouldn't think that mument rider, a c class hero, would go on people's favorite character list, but because ONE's story he was able to do that. That's another reason why I like OPM as a manga.

OPM has it's sad moments because saitama know he will never find an opponent that he can enjoy.

I'm surprised ONE was able to make OP character interesting. Superman is a good example of OP characters not being interesting. He was able to keep saitama's opness interesting due to facial expression, and bored look when he fights strong opponents.His reactions make the battle much more funny then it actually is.
Like i can't explain to you how good OPM art is. i can show you pictures of it to you if you don't believe me.

OPM isn't just saitama one punching everything. If you thought that, then you are over simplifying it. Garou arc is a perfect example. the story doesn't revolve around saitama. it shows other characters struggles and story after the boros arc. It becomes more shonen and less focused on saitama. That keeps OPM story more entertaining. Later in the story he never actually One punches main villains anymore like you are seeing in the anime. it focuses more on the villains abilities and heroes character devoplment and story.it gives you a taste of how strong saitama really is. you won't be seeing the typicle cliche One punch anmore if that's what your worrying about.

OPM animation does justice to the beautiful art OPM

TheChose0n3 said:
Are you an anime only watcher? I can understand where your coming from if you are, but none of it makes sense if you aren't. After the sea king arc it starts to expand on the plot and story. Garou arc is where is starts feeling more like a shounen battle then a parody itself.

ONE, author of OPM, created the series for his own enjoyment and not for ours. OPM was simply a way for ONE to practice using a manga creation software. It was only a hobby for him and still is. That's why the art is so bad and it is also why saitama is so plain looking. He didn't expand on the plot until later in his work. He never gave much thought on saitama's design or even his name. He didn't take it seriously until it got popular.That's when he started to create a full plot for OPM. You will see that during the garou Arc.

The only reason OPM is here today is because murata likes his story and didn't wanted OPM to end. So, he made a deal with him, The redraw as was made and the story was continued because of Murate. The redraw boosted OPM popularity due to it's amazing art.

I love OPM due it's art and the contrast between saitama and the surroundings. If you judge OPM based on it's comedy your going to have a hard time enjoying it. It's not all about comedy. I read it because it has excellent art, character development, comedy, and more it has to offer. Recently I didn't give a shit about metal bat, but due to recent chapter he has become my favorite S class heroes. Same with king. king has become one of my favorite characters due to his secret. he wasn't recently, but he moved up there.
OPM has many characters that have the potential to become favorites or MC material. Basically most characters in OPM have MC material except for saitama which makes funny. (genos for example) Each character even have potential to have spotlight(mumen rider is a perfect example). you wouldn't think that mument rider, a c class hero, would go on people's favorite character list, but because ONE's story he was able to do that. That's another reason why I like OPM as a manga.

OPM has it's sad moments because saitama know he will never find an opponent that he can enjoy.

I'm surprised ONE was able to make OP character interesting. Superman is a good example of OP characters not being interesting. He was able to keep saitama's opness interesting due to facial expression, and bored look when he fights strong opponents.His reactions make the battle much more funny then it actually is.
Like i can't explain to you how good OPM art is. i can show you pictures of it to you if you don't believe me.

OPM isn't just saitama one punching everything. If you thought that, then you are over simplifying it. Garou arc is a perfect example. the story doesn't revolve around saitama. it shows other characters struggles and story after the boros arc. It becomes more shonen and less focused on saitama. That keeps OPM story more entertaining. Later in the story he never actually One punches main villains anymore like you are seeing in the anime. it focuses more on the villains abilities and heroes character devoplment and story.it gives you a taste of how strong saitama really is. you won't be seeing the typicle cliche One punch anmore if that's what your worrying about.

OPM animation does justice to the beautiful art OPM

tsudecimo said:

Actually I read the manga first before the anime was announced and stopped reading for the reasons I mentioned. But I enjoyed the manga and the problems with it didn't hinder my enjoyment with it too much. Because for starters Murata's art is very amazing, I rated the manga 7/10, only for his art if nothing else. Even the anime has the same fundamental problems as the manga, it bothered me a lot more in the anime because it just worked better in the manga. In the manga aside from being able to get through stuff faster, it had a better comedic timing, which made the comedy better delivered. In the anime I couldn't help but cringe from the first episodes, I was against this being an anime in the first place and was sure of that when I watched the first episode. It's rare for me to dislike something from it's very first episode.

What you are saying is the problem. I can only already tell that at one point it will become a standard superhero manga. The problem here is that the serious parts are very sub par. Even when their was parody present, the build up for the villains and monsters was done seriously. Which was not good. That's what I meant with both of it's aspects being mediocre in execution, together or apart, I don't find them good. It's the same with Gintama to some extent. In it's serious arcs, they just feel like recycled plot ideas from Shounen Jump, very average and boring and unremarkable.

I get how this started, and I get the intention of the original author. But nonetheless that doesn't really have bearing on the actual audience of the manga adaptation or the anime adaptation. What you said about him not taking it seriously, only supports my statement that it's half assed.

They can be likable characters. I already like Genos, but so what? nothing really impressive by superhero characters becoming someone's favorite. Don't really see it's development of any of these characters to be something impressive, it's just simplistic and just there. Doesn't satisfy someone who is going to take this as face value and ignore the parody and such.

If I'm going to commit to a serious story what does OPM have to offer in comparison to other similar manga? Boku no Hero is a superhero manga in Shounen Jump. It's a serious take in superheroes. What makes it standout (actual comments from fans and the panel that gave it awards) is the underdog theme. How the main protagonist unlike other characters doesn't have an actual superpower. That alone create a lot of interesting conflicts and potential for growth. And since it take itself seriously the reader can get emotionally invested in it easily and care for it's drama and such. But it's hard for me to care about something that wanted me to turn my brain off for the first arc or so of it, and then expect me to be okay with it's attempt with it's serious storytelling.

Going back to Boku no Hero comparison. There is nothing sad or tragic about Saitama not finding an opponent. I actually thought people were just joking about this, I mean are you kidding me. This is the literally equivalent of first word kid being bored and feeling sad even though he doesn't have any problems in life or professional athlete being 'bored' that he is the best the game and feels sad that he doesn't have a challenge. That's just trivial and even then I've seen it better executed in other manga (Kuroko no Basket). While in Boku no Hero, it's legitimately sad for Daku, because of how his world is built. Being a hero is a much bigger deal, and something with a lot more social effects. Not to mention the difference in desire and resolve between Daku and Saitama.

Idk. I find Superman fairly interesting, because he has internal conflict that goes beyond ''poor me I can't find somebody stronger :(''. Being OP or not is not limitation to how much a character can be interesting. People find it fresh with Saitama because of what you said, his expression and his reactions. Which is just a cheap way to make him different. What if I get tired by him and his supermarket sales bit? What's more to him? Did his depth reach it's highest by the internal conflict of not being able to find somebody stronger and that makes him sad, and disinterested in what used to be his aspiration and favorite thing?

Well I was talking about the anime. But I think I addressed why that wouldn't make the series great.

I appreciate Murata's art more than the animation but okay. I can see where you are coming from, and I can see why you like this series. I just tried to explain why I didn't, it doesn't click with me especially this anime adaption. From what I can tell, the majority of fans of the anime at least, just like it because it's hype, entertaining. The portions that are supposed to be parody are enjoyed as something serious in any other anime and found great. I just didn't feel the same way. In many ways I found it dishonest. Maybe a personal preference of me.

Thanks for your post anyway even if I don't necessarily agree with most of it.

tsudecimo said:

Actually I read the manga first before the anime was announced and stopped reading for the reasons I mentioned. But I enjoyed the manga and the problems with it didn't hinder my enjoyment with it too much. Because for starters Murata's art is very amazing, I rated the manga 7/10, only for his art if nothing else. Even the anime has the same fundamental problems as the manga, it bothered me a lot more in the anime because it just worked better in the manga. In the manga aside from being able to get through stuff faster, it had a better comedic timing, which made the comedy better delivered. In the anime I couldn't help but cringe from the first episodes, I was against this being an anime in the first place and was sure of that when I watched the first episode. It's rare for me to dislike something from it's very first episode.

What you are saying is the problem. I can only already tell that at one point it will become a standard superhero manga. The problem here is that the serious parts are very sub par. Even when their was parody present, the build up for the villains and monsters was done seriously. Which was not good. That's what I meant with both of it's aspects being mediocre in execution, together or apart, I don't find them good. It's the same with Gintama to some extent. In it's serious arcs, they just feel like recycled plot ideas from Shounen Jump, very average and boring and unremarkable.

I get how this started, and I get the intention of the original author. But nonetheless that doesn't really have bearing on the actual audience of the manga adaptation or the anime adaptation. What you said about him not taking it seriously, only supports my statement that it's half assed.

They can be likable characters. I already like Genos, but so what? nothing really impressive by superhero characters becoming someone's favorite. Don't really see it's development of any of these characters to be something impressive, it's just simplistic and just there. Doesn't satisfy someone who is going to take this as face value and ignore the parody and such.

If I'm going to commit to a serious story what does OPM have to offer in comparison to other similar manga? Boku no Hero is a superhero manga in Shounen Jump. It's a serious take in superheroes. What makes it standout (actual comments from fans and the panel that gave it awards) is the underdog theme. How the main protagonist unlike other characters doesn't have an actual superpower. That alone create a lot of interesting conflicts and potential for growth. And since it take itself seriously the reader can get emotionally invested in it easily and care for it's drama and such. But it's hard for me to care about something that wanted me to turn my brain off for the first arc or so of it, and then expect me to be okay with it's attempt with it's serious storytelling.

Going back to Boku no Hero comparison. There is nothing sad or tragic about Saitama not finding an opponent. I actually thought people were just joking about this, I mean are you kidding me. This is the literally equivalent of first word kid being bored and feeling sad even though he doesn't have any problems in life or professional athlete being 'bored' that he is the best the game and feels sad that he doesn't have a challenge. That's just trivial and even then I've seen it better executed in other manga (Kuroko no Basket). While in Boku no Hero, it's legitimately sad for Daku, because of how his world is built. Being a hero is a much bigger deal, and something with a lot more social effects. Not to mention the difference in desire and resolve between Daku and Saitama.

Idk. I find Superman fairly interesting, because he has internal conflict that goes beyond ''poor me I can't find somebody stronger :(''. Being OP or not is not limitation to how much a character can be interesting. People find it fresh with Saitama because of what you said, his expression and his reactions. Which is just a cheap way to make him different. What if I get tired by him and his supermarket sales bit? What's more to him? Did his depth reach it's highest by the internal conflict of not being able to find somebody stronger and that makes him sad, and disinterested in what used to be his aspiration and favorite thing?

Well I was talking about the anime. But I think I addressed why that wouldn't make the series great.

I appreciate Murata's art more than the animation but okay. I can see where you are coming from, and I can see why you like this series. I just tried to explain why I didn't, it doesn't click with me especially this anime adaption. From what I can tell, the majority of fans of the anime at least, just like it because it's hype, entertaining. The portions that are supposed to be parody are enjoyed as something serious in any other anime and found great. I just didn't feel the same way. In many ways I found it dishonest. Maybe a personal preference of me.

Thanks for your post anyway even if I don't necessarily agree with most of it.

Cellsplitter said:

These are also the reasons I like the series.
Is it weird that I love One Punch man if I also like more serious and "deep" animes like say for instance Steins;Gate? ...

SeeItThere said:


I'm not picking on you Cellsplitter, but am using this quote as an example.

I really don't see the need for people to compare One Punch Man against stories that are perceived to have more depth. Steins;Gate is one of my favorite anime, and only one of three that I've rated a ten. The other two are One Punch Man and Gurren Lagann. I like different things about each show, but think it's dishonest to say any of them are shallow, including One Punch Man.

Now, to be completely fair, I also have the manga and webcomic in the back of my mind, and it does get increasingly deep as the story progresses. That said, even leading up to the Boros arc, One Punch Man is deceptively deep.

I've seen people say that it isn't deep and only for people lacking analytical skills or intelligence. They've said the comedy is stale and is always the same. The thing is, the shows generally perceived as being deep are thought of that way because they almost explicitly tell you that's the case. They shout "look at me, I'm deep and complex!" One Punch Man doesn't do any of that, but there's a wealth of symbolism, characterization, and strong themes that run through a masterfully told and animated story.

The anime, at least the first season that we've seen so far, does miss out on some great characterization, but it does a good job setting the stage for some of the more interesting character arc, including the psychic sisters, King, Garou, and others. That said, the anime does change some things from the manga that greatly improves upon the story telling and allows the animation to hit home on themes that weren't quite developed at this point in the manga.

Anyway, it covers a ton of themes, including these big ones:

1. Depression, especially from high levels of competence: Some might think that this theme is a bit contrived and not a reflection on reality, but I really don't agree with that. Granted, the level of escalation required to capture Saitama's attention is far beyond anything people would experience in real life, the emotional crisis surrounding boredom and the lack of challenge is common in every day life. It's most pronounced in children who are talented (this particular scenario is well-represented when Saitama is a c-class hero and has to meet quotas doing things that are utterly boring for him). They tend to suffer from depression, lack of ambition (sort of the same thing), and inability to connect with other people. That said, this is also a major criticism of modern living, i.e., that we've become too comfortable and our lives no longer have the sustenance from challenge that they need, which leads to depression due to broken reward systems in the brain. These people typically spend a lot of time on addictive activities, such as over consuming entertainment (TV, comics, video games, shows, books - Saitama does this), pornography, or drugs. We see Saitama start to change for the better as he acquires more friends who help support him, offering an outlet for him to try to help people become stronger themselves and understand how he has become so. This mostly applies to Genos, but the rest of the cast definitely help support Saitama, too, although that's more pronounced in the arcs succeeding the animation.

2. The media, importance of popularity, and prejudice: There are very real problems with people's competence in specific tasks are judged based on unrelated, superficial factors. More attractive people tend to have higher wages. One such is example is the wage difference between tall and short men. Saitama is constantly overlooked despite being the strongest being in his universe by an inconceivable margin because he is so plain looking. No one thinks he's capable of kind of feats that he does perform, instead attributing them to other people, including Genos and other S-Class heroes. It also shows how quickly people can turn on you for not living up to their [unrealistic] expectations that are based off of unfounded and ill-conceived opinions; a good example of this is the NEET guy after the Sea King is defeated. This is actually a bit ironic because I feel like it's sort of what's happening with people who feel that OPM is shallow and overrated. The rigidity of the hero ranking system also leads to a large amount of prejudice and inability for some people to move up because of their class.

Other themes that I don't have time to write on, but may later:

What it means (and doesn't mean) to be a hero.
The silliness of ranking systems.
The (often terrible) cost of obsession, specifically the obsessive pursuit of something.
How internal and external expectations frame our perception of reality and personal performance.


Anyway, the point is, I think One Punch Man is actually one of the deepest stories I've seen told. I'll admit that the anime doesn't cover enough material to be considered a cinematic/literary (sort of, if you consider comics literature) masterpiece, such as how I feel about the original, but it's still great. My biggest complaints were the cut corners on a few areas of animation, and I thought that pacing was a little fast compared to what I would've liked. It's still great, but I think they could've made some things a bit more impactful with better pacing. A good example of this is the Boros fight, where I think slowing down a few of the scenes, e.g., the serious punch, would've added a bit more to the telling. That said, the comedy was good, it is thematically deep, it has good characterization, and next-level animation.

Still a 10/10 despite the flaws. It's that good.

babymimi said:

Because they don't like the series? I've seen some anime fans disliking the fact DBZ is so popular among non-viewers because they don't like it. If you don't like a series you don't want it to be popular over series you find better. The same applies to any medium.

babymimi said:


Because they don't like the series? I've seen some anime fans disliking the fact DBZ is so popular among non-viewers because they don't like it. If you don't like a series you don't want it to be popular over series you find better. The same applies to any medium.

MightyM16 said:


This is shallow and makes no sense tbh, why someone should care if the series they don't like are popular?

If they don't like, shouldn't they you know, don't care about it?

babymimi said:


That's just bias.

SeeItThere said:


I'm not picking on you Cellsplitter, but am using this quote as an example.

I really don't see the need for people to compare One Punch Man against stories that are perceived to have more depth. Steins;Gate is one of my favorite anime, and only one of three that I've rated a ten. The other two are One Punch Man and Gurren Lagann. I like different things about each show, but think it's dishonest to say any of them are shallow, including One Punch Man.

Now, to be completely fair, I also have the manga and webcomic in the back of my mind, and it does get increasingly deep as the story progresses. That said, even leading up to the Boros arc, One Punch Man is deceptively deep.

I've seen people say that it isn't deep and only for people lacking analytical skills or intelligence. They've said the comedy is stale and is always the same. The thing is, the shows generally perceived as being deep are thought of that way because they almost explicitly tell you that's the case. They shout "look at me, I'm deep and complex!" One Punch Man doesn't do any of that, but there's a wealth of symbolism, characterization, and strong themes that run through a masterfully told and animated story.

The anime, at least the first season that we've seen so far, does miss out on some great characterization, but it does a good job setting the stage for some of the more interesting character arc, including the psychic sisters, King, Garou, and others. That said, the anime does change some things from the manga that greatly improves upon the story telling and allows the animation to hit home on themes that weren't quite developed at this point in the manga.

Anyway, it covers a ton of themes, including these big ones:

1. Depression, especially from high levels of competence: Some might think that this theme is a bit contrived and not a reflection on reality, but I really don't agree with that. Granted, the level of escalation required to capture Saitama's attention is far beyond anything people would experience in real life, the emotional crisis surrounding boredom and the lack of challenge is common in every day life. It's most pronounced in children who are talented (this particular scenario is well-represented when Saitama is a c-class hero and has to meet quotas doing things that are utterly boring for him). They tend to suffer from depression, lack of ambition (sort of the same thing), and inability to connect with other people. That said, this is also a major criticism of modern living, i.e., that we've become too comfortable and our lives no longer have the sustenance from challenge that they need, which leads to depression due to broken reward systems in the brain. These people typically spend a lot of time on addictive activities, such as over consuming entertainment (TV, comics, video games, shows, books - Saitama does this), pornography, or drugs. We see Saitama start to change for the better as he acquires more friends who help support him, offering an outlet for him to try to help people become stronger themselves and understand how he has become so. This mostly applies to Genos, but the rest of the cast definitely help support Saitama, too, although that's more pronounced in the arcs succeeding the animation.

2. The media, importance of popularity, and prejudice: There are very real problems with people's competence in specific tasks are judged based on unrelated, superficial factors. More attractive people tend to have higher wages. One such is example is the wage difference between tall and short men. Saitama is constantly overlooked despite being the strongest being in his universe by an inconceivable margin because he is so plain looking. No one thinks he's capable of kind of feats that he does perform, instead attributing them to other people, including Genos and other S-Class heroes. It also shows how quickly people can turn on you for not living up to their [unrealistic] expectations that are based off of unfounded and ill-conceived opinions; a good example of this is the NEET guy after the Sea King is defeated. This is actually a bit ironic because I feel like it's sort of what's happening with people who feel that OPM is shallow and overrated. The rigidity of the hero ranking system also leads to a large amount of prejudice and inability for some people to move up because of their class.

Other themes that I don't have time to write on, but may later:

What it means (and doesn't mean) to be a hero.
The silliness of ranking systems.
The (often terrible) cost of obsession, specifically the obsessive pursuit of something.
How internal and external expectations frame our perception of reality and personal performance.


Anyway, the point is, I think One Punch Man is actually one of the deepest stories I've seen told. I'll admit that the anime doesn't cover enough material to be considered a cinematic/literary (sort of, if you consider comics literature) masterpiece, such as how I feel about the original, but it's still great. My biggest complaints were the cut corners on a few areas of animation, and I thought that pacing was a little fast compared to what I would've liked. It's still great, but I think they could've made some things a bit more impactful with better pacing. A good example of this is the Boros fight, where I think slowing down a few of the scenes, e.g., the serious punch, would've added a bit more to the telling. That said, the comedy was good, it is thematically deep, it has good characterization, and next-level animation.

Still a 10/10 despite the flaws. It's that good.