What if you took a HUGE animation budget and gave it to an anime almost solely devoted to bashing Superman? You would get One Punch Man! If you are a true weaboo and have no familiarity with American comics like Superman...just imagine if Inferno Cop had a lovechild with Dr. Slump and that child had an ungodly high production budget. That's basically what this is.
Plot:
The eponymous One Punch Man is an incredibly lame and OP costumed hero who effortlessly defeats random opponents on a daily basis. These fights almost always result in absurdly high casualties and destruction, but this is just hand-waved and forgotten, much like the movie Man of Steel. One Punch Man is quickly joined by a spoof of Iron Man and fights a spoof of The Rhino from Spiderman, who randomly transforms into Eva Unit 1 for...reasons. This is all in just the first few episodes! OPM even jumps the shark by episode 3 or 4 and references the MUDA MUDA MUDA meme from JoJo. I just pray they have the restraint to NOT make a John Cena joke! OPM basically has no plot, but when you are a spoof series that doesn't take itself seriously, you really don't need a plot. Did Apocalypse Zero have a plot? No. It just made fun of Hokuto no Ken, Super Sentai, and Kamen Rider. That's it!
Humor:
I mentioned previously that OPM has a lot of superhero spoofing and geek referential humor, but that doesn't really capture the full picture. OPM has that style of REALLY stupid and immature humor that is entirely self-aware and revels in its own stupidity. I mentioned earlier the likes of Inferno Cop and Dr. Slump, which you should definitely check out if you enjoyed OPM. However, OPM has its own distinct tastes. It isn't quite as stoner centered in its comedy as Inferno Cop, which basically just wanted to be the anime version of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. While OPM shares its 4th wall breaking, playful stupidity, and even its strong hatred of Superman with Dr. Slump, it isn't as pun filled and there isn't as much sex humor. This is a somewhat unique brand of stupidity that you simply have to assess for yourself.
Art:
What is the main thing that makes One Punch Man different from all the other shows I've compared it to? One Punch Man is animated by Studio Madhouse and they are actually using their full efforts to make this silly spoof as aesthetically pleasing as possible! The animation is fluid, the character models look funny, the blood is heavily stylized, yet done in a way that instantly invokes laughter. Visually, OPM is actually pretty damn good!
Overall:
OPM is the most hyped anime of this year by FAR. Is it actually as good as everyone is saying? No it isn't, but at least it IS pretty funny and enjoyable. Considering the hype train was fueled by the same anime threads that backed the likes of Nichijou and Food Wars, this was actually above expectations. I can say I honestly laughed quite a few times and enjoyed myself. By some miracle, this isn't one of the plethora of absurdly overhyped anime out there with a fandom of hipster douchebags who like it "ironically". I'm looking at you Stardust Crusaders! If you haven't seen One Punch Man, I would definitely recommend checking it out!
