Anime Sunday: One Punch Man

One Punch Man has only been on air since October 2015 but it’s already received some positive reviews. I find myself always confronted with that adorable egghead when I open my Tumblr and it’s also come to my attention that many anime loving gym dudes use it for training purposes (I’ll explain later). Not being able to escape the gifs, the “Goku vs Saitama’ youtube videos and…the fan art… I decided to sit down an watch it, just to see what is all the hubbub is about. I already own the manga and thought they were great but will the anime do it justice, but before that a little background check!

Background
One-Punch Man is an ongoing Japanese webcomic which began in 2009 and was created by the author ‘ONE’. The series quickly went viral and became a huge hit, receiving 7.9-10 million views in June 2012. In 2012, a digital remake of the series was created and was illustrated by Yusuke Murata and it began it’s publication on Shueisha’s Young Jump Web Comic. An english serialisation was licensed by Viz Media in it’s Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine and of course, as stated above, Madhouse made a television anime adaptation which aired in Japan between October-December 2015.

The Plot
The story begins in a Japanese metropolis of City Z (all cities have a letter). It’s pretty normal to walk amongst strange and weird creatures/monsters within these fictional Japanese Metropolis(es). Of course none of the monsters are friendly and appear to cause destruction wherever they appear. Our main protagonist, and the most beautiful egghead Saitama, is one hell of a strong man who can easily any villain with one single punch (hence the title). Unfortunately, due to three years of hard training he has become too strong and has become bored of his power and is constantly trying to find stronger opponents who can be seen as worthy challenges.

After we have his backstory, he begins his proper adventures where he meets new friends, enemies and meets his disciple, a 19 year old cyborg named Genos, and attempts to join the Heroes Association gain some well deserved recognition. Even though he’s defeated many strong monsters the Heroes Association give him no respect due to his plain physical appearance (dicks), however, it’s not all doom and gloom, as a small number of individuals recognise his greatness.

Opinion
I’m in love with it. I mean, what’s not to love about it?! It’s isn’t glossy and shiny as other current anime’s which I really like and some of the scenes are taken straight out of the manga, I mean their exactly the same. His backstory begins in the first episode so you don’t technically have to wait around and watch countless episodes to find out his history.

The humour is very similar to Gintama, another anime I thoroughly enjoy. So if you’re after something fun and enjoyable then this is definitely the anime for you.

The most incredible part of the whole anime is definitely the art, it’s absolutely amazing and incredibly detailed (especially the backgrounds) and the fight scenes are just ridiculous!! The cinematics and amazing camera angles  is stellar throughout. Saitama’s character is very entertaining. Even though he is simply drawn he’s still one hell of a badass!!! Saitama and Genos have a great and fun chemistry, their personalities rub off on eachother quite nicely (you can see where artists gain inspiration for their fan art).

This anime is clearly a parody of the superhero culture so it doesn’t take itself too seriously which of course makes it enjoyable.

Score
10/10 – refreshing, fun and it has an adorable buddy friendship, I thoroughly recommend One punch Man to you all.

Before I go the theme music for the opening title is amazing! Here is the full video by Jam Project