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.
