Forum - View topicREVIEW: One-Punch Man
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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One Punch is a fun show, with great animation, and it's sometimes intelligent. There's not much to say about it beyond that, though. It's basically the new Gurren Lagann, and I never quite understood the immense popularity of that show, either.
The only unusual thing about it is "guy who is bored and depressed because nothing challenges him" and the show never really does much with the concept; it's just sort of there. (As a sidenote, Charlotte's ending, spoiler[despite being pretty absurd and badly-written, did more with the overpowered hero concept than One Punch ever did.]) That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but I'm not sure I'd even call this show a parody; it's more of a deliberately campy but otherwise normal superpowered fighting anime, with a hero designed to be relateable to anime nerds (weird/awkward and melodramatic, but has good intentions) who delivers a consistent punchline that limits the levels of fun-diluting tension. I don't hate these sorts of shows, but I can never really get into them. Partly I'm just never very impressed by battle visuals, no matter how good they are; once you've seen one, you've seen them all, if you ask me. Apparently this is kind of abnormal among anime fans... |
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SageModeKakarot
 Posts: 302 |
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same here, pretty much got how i feel about the series exactly it's not a bad series, just doesn't really expand upon it's initial premise but i looks FANTASTIC, really well animated, well paced but lacking in other areas |
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CheezcakeMe
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Another professional animator here, and I completely disagree, you absolutely do NOT have to be a professional to know when animation is good or bad, though I am much better equipped to explain why the animation works, explaining about arcs, overshoots and settled, smears, stretch and squash ect. (aka the ten principals of animation, something much anime sadly ignores) and camera angles, most people just want to know whether the show will be pleasing to the eye or not, and you don't need to be an expert to tell good animation from bad. I personally loved one Punch Man, the great animation literally brought tears to my eyes but I liked the story and characters too. I think it had a lot more going on than people give it credit for, and never got the feeling that it was "plotless." Anime has tons of plotless shows (like K-On and such) and it never felt like it was in the same category as those. Also like others have mentioned it was great to have the main cast older than 16. |
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Stretch2424
 Posts: 166 |
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I went into One Punch Man with no idea what it was about, whether it was supposed to be funny or serious, or what the proportions of the two would be, and I found episode one to be highly confusing. How in the world can a guy do so much damage with just his fist? Is this a joke, or a metaphor, or is he dreaming? After watching episode two it occurred to me that maybe it should have been shown first, and episode one shown second, to make the whole story more understandable to newcomers.
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2458 Location: Germany |
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So i am not the only one who thinks that the series ain´t all that. It´s not that i don´t like tall Krillin´s manga or impeccably made anime and this year´s My Hero Academia should have similar success but it is ultimately he same old SJ formula. Just polished to near perfection.
And that is ultimately the reason why it or the similarly overstuffed KlK (i like the first half though) succeeded even beyond anime fans. They are as quintessentially anime as one single show can get and especially non-anime viewers will get an entire year worth of content in one single bite. I though have been doing this for 20 years now and i am huge fan of US comics too so a C+ can´t cut it for me. Especially if i consider with how many US shows i have to keep up. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Just my opinion, but it SEEMS like most people that are unimpressed with OPM are hung up on "main character" Saitama. Going through the Sea King arc, Saitama IS more or less the main character, but since then, OPM has pretty much morphed into an ensemble piece (often going into stories where Saitama is pretty much absent throughout). I think through Sea King its basically laying the ground work of who Saitama is and what he's about, and (as some have said) after that he's almost the guy that comes in and "ends" things when its gone long enough. The other characters get to have the "drama" and Saitama just cleans up and we move on to the next story.
Also, regarding why Saitama is "disrespected" spoiler[In the manga its noted later that "King" (strongest man in the world) USUALLY ("accidentally") gets credit for what Saitama does. It just continues on with the "looks the part". Kind of like "My Love Story" where people often thank Sunakawa for things Takeo does because he "looks cool". King LOOKS powerful and Saitama LOOKS "boring", so once the dust settles, if they both just happen to be at ground zero (which coincidentally happened a lot) then people ASSUME that King did it and even "saved" Saitama. Incidentally, that also makes it even MORE awesome when THAT actually DOES happen. (sort of)] |
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skafreak51
 Posts: 212 |
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I feel as though the point was missed.
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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I did, quite thoroughly, on page 1. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16941 |
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And so you did. I must have thought it was a different user and gotten the handles switched on who made the post. Well on that point you're fine and my apologies. As for the larger issue of flamebait posts the point remains they are not needed. That applies to others as well and not just you. While it is inevitable some will come in and rage against whatever the reviewer said, be it a positive or negative review (especially on popular titles), comments such as "here come the fanboys, insert nerd rage, i hope people don't rage, etc." only serve to bait those users and stokes the fires. So if we can avoid them and giving such posters more fuel that would be great. Thanks. |
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Jayhosh
 Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
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I'm of the crowd who doesn't entirely agree with this review, but it's a respectable one and I can honestly understand people who view the show in that way. But a lot of the comments on this thread are very informative and insightful as well! It's great that for once an ANN thread (especially for the review of a really popular show) isn't full of cancerous ad-hominem attacks and such.
A lot of the defenses for the show on here I very much agree with. Especially the points that it's very easy for individual people to interpret Saitama's character differently, and that the story only gets more complex as it goes along. You can almost literally see ONE improving in his storytelling (and artistic  ) abilities as he goes along. And Saitama, to me, is a wonderfully layered character. And even though I can understand people not being satisfied with him defeating (most) enemies with only one punch, I think there's much more weight to it than that. He may not struggle much at this point in his life in terms of physicality, but on the emotional side of his character he is very interesting. And if a second season is made (which it absolutely should be!) I think many who were disappointed with his lack of physical struggle (aside from the mosquito) will find themselves very pleased with the events that go down later on in the story.
But aside from Saitama himself, I think a lot of the enjoyment I and many others get out of this series is the fantastic side characters. Genos would probably be the main character in any other action anime, complete with a tragic backstory and everything. And then you have characters like Fubuki who are great but hardly show up in the anime at all. This really is a great ensemble piece in my opinion. I also think it offers a lot more than just surface level humor. While I can understand the complaint that it's "just the same joke" being repeated, it's the masterful execution of everything that just works really well for me honestly. But aside from that aspect, I think the show/manga really does discuss some important ideas. And I don't know why some people think that a parody can't also be taken seriously (Rick and Morty, anyone?), but I think a lot of my enjoyment of One Punch Man comes from its ability to tease aspects of Superhero culture and long-winded anime franchises while at the same time embracing the over-the-top nature of it all without completely disregarding some of the more serious aspects of the situations. I really love the whole concept of the Hero Association, and how it ironically places a ridiculously strong hero such as Saitama as a Class-C. Things like that I believe actually do touch on some issues people have with concepts like meritocracy in the real world. Higher class heroes just dismiss Saitama when they discover his placement in the rankings, and you really do want to see all of them proved wrong eventually. Basically, any of the reasonable comments defending this show I'd agree with. It's a great ensemble piece, it's great that the main cast are all adults, the plot has a lot more going for it than a lot of people would have others believe, the action is ridiculous enough that it just works... etc. But hey, if you didn't like it that much, I can understand that too. I do think that this is the first anime in a while that's broken out into mainstream conscious that I think actually deserves its popularity. So if this ends up being the next "Hot Topic" kind of show, I'm fine with that. Not that I actually shop there or anything... ha... hahaha *awkwardly moves onto next point* But for any of you who found themselves wanting a bit more out of OPM: Definitely check out Mob Psycho 100! Even though I love OPM, MP100 is unarguably the more well-rounded of the two. Just insanely good stuff. My biased ranking would be a perfect 5/7. I can't wait for a second season to come from this eventually. But until then, we have the Mob Psycho 100 anime adaption to look forward to. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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My personal impression of OPM is that in most shounen action shows the best battles are about the side characters. Vegeta's fights in DBZ were always some of the best because there was a chance he could beat the villain, but often was just a spoiler to show Goku win in the end. These shows thrive on those secondary characters. In this show the fact OPM exists allows us to still have that main character that inevitably wins, but let's us focus on the diverse cast of neat people. I think the anime could've done that more.
I think of it in terms of Madoka Magica. While she's the titular character, there's a massive fan following for all the lesser characters. She kinda flops around for most of the show while everyone else does cool stuff. OPM as well is the lead character, but is so overblown and simplified to the point we can/should be able to enjoy everyone else. That's how I took it. |
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SonDavid
 Posts: 23 Location: United States |
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I completely respect this opinion and that of the author of the review. In my opinion, this is a horrible review and utterly disappointing considering the importance of this site. In my experience, feels more like a hater reviewed it. The story of One Punch Man is not about the fights, it is about the 'real strength' of Saitama; meaning it is not about the fights and how quickly he disposes of enemies, but the fact that he takes no credit at all and respects those who do what they can. The authors of the series want to emphasize that his physical strength is meaningless; what matters is his way of dealing with the results of his superiority. Really sad review and take on this show. Feels like the author of the review just wanted to make himself look like he knows more than popular opinion, since most people loved the show. Sometimes, great series are as good as their popular opinion. Hopefully someone else will review it on this site. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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A nitpick here: Saitama never goes by the name "One-Punch Man." The title of this anime is not his hero name; it's a description of him. Saitama is consistently referred to as "Saitama" by everyone.
I'd bet that the title, which is transliterated as "Wanpanman," is a take off of Anpanman's name and is meant to clue readers and viewers in that this is a parody.
Hmm, I never even thought of this before: One-Punch Man is not a "man vs. man" story, but a "man vs. self" story. That makes a lot of sense, actually, and I might use that to respond to people asking how fun a show can be if the main character defeats everyone with only one punch. The appeal is not if Saitama can win (do you have any doubt that the protagonist will permanently perish in any anime?), but that Saitama is emotionally disturbed and somewhat conflicted, and that's a problem that cannot be solved by punching. Rather, he needs the help of people like Genos and Licenseless Rider to figure himself out. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar Posts: 16941 |
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Have you not read anything that any other staff member or reviewer has said in the past 2 months? There have been numerous reviews by staff members in various threads/articles. The title was featured several times in the recent best of thread that had several staff members rate OP as one of their top 5 shows for the year. This review was the first review that was primarily negative, or at least more neutral, about the show pretty much the entire time the show aired and concluded. |
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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I wonder if there is rage there, I've decided not to look. Still, agree with the review. Especially about the supporting cast. If they had focused some more on them, and have Saitama be more of a force of nature that comes in and out as he pleases, I may have enjoyed the show more. Genos aside, I felt like many of the supporting cast came off more like caricatures, rather than characters. Some of them did get more of the spotlight towards the end of the series. And, that might be why I enjoyed the final few episodes more than the other 9 that came before. I did like Genos, but he and Saitama weren't really enough to carry this show for me. Personally, I could care less about the whole "one punch = win" thing. I'm fine with Saitama being powerful enough to do that. What I didn't really like was that...there was no other struggle. At least, it did seem like Saitama realised that there was something missing, but I never felt like he ever delved deep enough to start looking as to what that is and why he has reached the point he has in his life. I may have totally missed it, or maybe just wanted more from it, but I don't really buy that he only gained his strength in order to be a hero. Never felt that there was a motivation given beyond that though... |
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