Meet Saitama. He’s
a hero. He might actually be the
strongest hero around. That’s because he
has enough power in his fist to end fights with just one single punch. You’d think that would be cool…except for
Saitama, it’s made superherodom kind of dull.
And what happens when the worlds strongest man gets bored? What happens when the act of saving the day
stops being fun? What happens when a
lone cyborg shows up and pleads with Saitama to make him his disciple after
seeing him in action? That’s a lot of
questions. Let’s hope the most
ridiculously bored Superhero around can find some answers.
A city lies in ruins.
The heroes who rise to fight the terror tearing it apart fall left and
right. From the comfort of his own home,
the worlds last hope sits and says “Ok, ill go,”…like he was trying to decide
whether to go hang out with friends or not.
Welcome the Anime Corner 2018 and welcome to ONE PUNCH
MAN!!!
There’s a whole lot of emotion to feel after watching the
first three episodes of One Punch Man.
My blood was pumping from the theme song and the action. I was scratching my head wondering if Saitama
is a true hero or if he’s just lazy or both.
I was giggling like crazy over the most common and popular tropes of the
superhero genre literally being punched into oblivion. All of these were big positives and I have to
honestly hope I haven’t seen all of the good stuff in these first three
episodes…cause this could be one of the best shows ive seen in years.
If My Hero Academia is a good look at the inner spirit of
being a hero like with classic DC and Marvel Comics, One Punch Man is more like
“Watchmen”, looking at a more logical, semi realistic look at a superhero in
modern day society…except it adds a huge amount of humor to its cynicism. And none of these analysis would work without
the One Punch Man himself, Saitama. He
may be the new Superman of the Anime genre, but Saitama is the easiest easy
goer with a heaping amount of super power inside his body. He’s lived the dream of being a hero and has
grown increasingly bored with his “profession for fun” because there’s no one who
can match his power. Don’t worry, he
still fights his battles and saves the day (more or less). But it’s refreshing to see someone
hilariously concerned with beating a bad guy quick enough in order to make it
to the supermarket to get a key ingredient for dinner. The only thing better is seeing Saitama
finally get fired up when he does encounter a really powerful foe…only for them
to fall so easily that he curses himself.
I also like that, unlike most of the characters we see in the first
three episodes, Saitama’s backstory is pretty cryptic. Part of me wonders if we really will discover
why he’s so freaking strong…but I really want that to stay a mystery and never
learn the answer. Otherwise I feel like
that revelation could ruin the overall experience for me. To be honest, im perfectly fine with
Saitama’s epic (but horrifically simple) explanation of the training he went
through to get so strong. It’s grand,
it’s dramatic as heck and…it’s so stupid it totally fits the overall tone of
this series. I’ve also gotta say, seeing
Saitama fail to kill one mosquito with his strength and then later chasing it
down the street with a can of bug spray is probably the biggest laugh I have
given any Anime ever.
Saitama may own every scene he’s in but One Punch Man is
also filled with a very imaginative and memorable cast, no matter how short
screentime any of them have. Each
villain gets a 1-2 minute backstory that each sound borrowed amusingly from
every classic supervillain origin known to man.
Vaccine Man, the Brain and Brawn Brothers, even the cyborgs of the House
of Evolution all have memorable moments (including Vaccine Man basically just
being there to be the first amazing kill of the show). Also…why the hell did the animation team do
their best to make a female mosquito monster look sexy? Not complaining (especially since in the
English dub she’s voiced by my favorite anime voice actress, Cristina Vee) but
still…weird. Doctor Genus gets a lot
more backstory than most, if only because he gets most of an entire episode to
be the central foe. And much like
everything else One Punch Man does, in a span of 26 minutes, we learn of his
objectives and inspirations…then see them torn down in the most over the top
awesome fashion, leaving him speechless.
Should also mention Genos, who is a mix of…ok let’s see:
Mega Man X meets Iron Man meets a Cyber Ninja (so Genji from Overwatch). Anyway, Genos’ the exact opposite of Saitama
and a good foil for him. He has a tragic
backstory, a mind dedicated to both revenge and justice, and a cool, calculating
mind that manages to plan out strategies to a tee. To see someone already imbued with enough
power to take on an army become so impressed by the chilliest of dudes with
ultimate power, I can only imagine where his supposed training under Saitama
will take him. There’s some good banter
between the two heroes. Genos takes
everything Saitama says just about literally while Saitama screams for Genos to
sum up his lifes story in “20 words or less”.
The serious meets the far from serious.
In a way, watching the action unfold in these first three
episodes reminded me a lot of a common criticism of most superhero films today
(especially in the DC Extended Universe), the collateral damage. There is no clear way to determine how many
lives are lost in the first couple episodes alone. There even seems to be indicators that whole
cities are taken out. And yet, this all
seems like a response to what I mentioned just now about the DCEU’s penchant
for leveling cities in battles. While
that universe takes its battles so seriously it’s borderline depressing (I’ll
take Saitama’s not giving two craps about saving people to DCEU’s Superman
looking like he’s about to cry while doing his job), One Punch Man’s action
scenes border on the most ridiculous premises and run with it, having a ton of
fun along the way. Genos’ cyborg
movements are stunning and Saitama’s effortless takedown are great, especially
when he defeats the House of Evolutions’ greatest warrior while fearing he’s
missed a sale at the Super Market. It has
been a long time since ive seen action so great I can compare it to Dragon Ball
Z…but here we are.
The first three episodes of One Punch Man are as good an
opening pilot as you could pitch to a network.
The humor is fresh and gut wrenchingly funny. The action soars to heights not seen in a long
time. The animation is stellar,
naturally given it’s Studio Madhouse.
And you’ve got a main character you can find yourself loving no matter
how lazy he is or how detached he feels about being a superhero. One Punch Man is a damn good time in its first
three episodes…I just hope these first three aren’t the best this show has to
offer. But then again, so long as
Saitama has some entertaining commentary to share while killing fools with one
punch…I think I’ll be ok.
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