Forum - View topicREVIEW: One-Punch Man
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Nakurawari
 Posts: 265 Location: Ireland |
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Pretty much summed up my opinions on the series; great review! I just hope people don't rage in the comments that it didn't get a perfect score.
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Via_01
 Posts: 551 |
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That's going to be somewhat difficult. This review is going to atract quite the unpleasant crowd... still, congratulations to Nick, as this is a good review. I probably enjoyed the show much more than him (it's on my top 5 of 2015), but his complaints are valid, and more than once I found myself thinking that the story really lacked compared to the animation. I'll be waiting for a second season. |
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Elric_Edward
Posts: 18 |
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uh oh, here come the fanboys
Great review though, Nick! |
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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Can't say i completely agree with you here, but i understand where you're coming from. I think to some extent it depends on what you're looking to get out of a particular show; personally, I'm a huge fan of spectacle, absurd scale, and adrenaline-inducing action, so I love many shows that are larger than life but low-drama (One Punch Man, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, etc.)
Maybe the problem is that, in the anime, Saitama's character arc is largely left up to viewer interpretation. Judging strictly by what he says and does, he's pretty much exactly the same character at the end as he was in episode 1. In the manga, it seemed more apparent to me that he was definitely growing as a person, from his ennui-ridden but inherently selfish beginnings to a sort of "hero for the other heroes" he becomes later on. The 1-shot chapter where he defends a police station (not animated for the show, but one of my favorite manga chapters of all time) demonstrates this pretty admirably. This show scratched my spectacle+great action+humor itch, but hopefully the next season (if it comes) will have some more readily apparent character growth and tension. |
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Ulinox
 Posts: 687 |
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Nah, the story should get at least a B, and the music is A++. Best anime soundtrack I've heard in years.
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bleachj0j
 Posts: 926 |
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I disagree strongly with Nick here, but his points are valid. I feel that the show has more going for it than he gives credit for. I think opinion on One-Punch Man mostly depends on your interpretation on what happens.
While I understand the one punch joke wearing thin, I don't think it was played up after about half way in. Like when Saitama one hits Sea King, its not really played as a joke. Instead its actually used to further Saitama's character as a hero who backs up the other heroes. I also looked at the show as more a satire than a gag comedy. |
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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I was supportive of One Punch Man until about the halfway mark. That's when it started to become clear that there would not be a twist that made the story and battles more interesting.
As well animated as the series was, the battles became too boring because nobody tried to use a strategy that amounted to more than 'be faster' or 'be stronger'. It also didn't help that the supporting cast wasn't able to accomplish much on their own. |
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Videogamep
 Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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I actually had a similar concern about the whole "Saitama one shots everyone" style of fights getting stale after a couple of episodes, but that never bothered me. I'm perfectly fine with action for the sake of spectacle, and OPM had that in spades. A lot of the tension that it did have came from the secondary characters like Genos, who provided a lot of grounding for the show. As for the humor, I actually enjoyed the jokes about how ridiculously strong Saitama is, but the best ones were the parts where everyone was taking things completely seriously and he couldn't care less, like when he was motivated to fight by the possibility of missing a sale at the supermarket.
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SilverTalon01
Posts: 2417 |
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Funny, I made a really similar comment to a friend about this around episode 4. He laughed, pointed to some really long running but essentially repetitive shows that I watch/ed, and said if I didn't get tired of those, I wouldn't get tired of this. Turns out he was right. There is just something about the absurdity of the battles that draws me in every single time despite knowing Saitama will end up one sidedly crushing them. |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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Spot on review, Nick! I really enjoyed One Punch Man, but I was constantly begging for more tension and given the premise of the show, that was not going to come. I found myself even a little dissatisfied with the final fight, to be honest. I love great animation, but even as visually impressive as that fight was, the only sense of tension I managed to get out of it, was how long until Saitama decides to punch the guy.
Probably the most satisfying part of OPM for me, was episode 8(I think), where we are treated to some actually emotional fights with Genos, Mumen Rider, and a few others, against Sea King. It felt like there were some serious stakes with that one. And THAT made the final pay off just feel much more epic. |
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Blankslate
Posts: 425 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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Most fight scenes in anime are just there for spectacle, since it's pretty clear who's going to win most of the time. However, a lot of these fights tend to lose that spectacle after awhile because they're so drawn out (see: DBZ, JoJo, etc.). OPM finally alleviated this having every fight be both spectacular and expedient, and for that I commend it. Add to that the underlying social commentary, and OPM truly deserves its praise.
That being said, I can see where you're coming from. |
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Somewhere
Posts: 361 |
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Hmm, a couple of the flaws pointed out are certainly valid for the material reviewed, although addressed later as ONE's writing continued to develop. Nick should be pleased with the second season whenever that's made.
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2515 |
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This seems like a great observation to me. I haven't read the manga or web comic, but I can imagine having access to Saitama thought bubbles throughout could make his character growth and personal change a lot more obvious and accessible. Hopefully any future season(s) of anime adaptation for OPM will find a way to incorporate that feeling successfully as well; season 1 was truly incredible on the rare occasions where it did pull that off (most notably the episode with Mumen Rider v Sea King). |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5935 Location: Virginia, United States |
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This is not a story about some rural teenager growing into his powers and becoming some responsible super powered entity.
This is story is about an all powerful adult man dealing with the ennui of his situation. They could have easily gone the dark route, after all, it is pretty exciting to be the bad guy, at least in the beginning. But, unless you are a completely flawed individual, and there are plenty of those, most adult people are not going to have significant growth stories. I think they did a very good job balancing everything. We can take solace that Hope liked this show better than Nick. One of the best things about this show, is that it has an adult cast for the most part. Another good thing, is that there wasn't a school in sight, unless it was part of the rubble. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5506 Location: Iscandar |
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Nick is the first ANN critic who I have read being harsher on One-Punch Man's lack of story.
This eloquently sums up my feelings toward OPM. I enjoyed some episodes, but never fell in love with it. Still, I am happy that there is another hit anime out there, and I hope more anime is made for the sake of its fans and the health of the N.A. anime industry/market. |
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