Why you should watch One Punch Man

one punch man began life as a webcomic in 2009 written and illustrated by the artist simply known as one one punch man is the story of Saitama a seemingly normal guy who wants to try his hand becoming a rookie superhero I say seemingly normal here because Saitama is so cataclysmically powerful that he can blow pretty much any enemy out of existence with just a single punch the drawings were extremely crude especially by Japanese manga standards but something about the comic resonated with people and by 2012 one punch man had over 7.9 million hits later that year the comic was realist rated by the spectacularly talented Yusuke Murata of eyeshield 21 fame and in 2015 it was turned into a 12-episode anime but why how did this seemingly gag fueled webcomic attract such massive talents in Morada and how did it get picked up by such a high-profile studio as madhouse and more so is it really worth watching well friends that's once again what we're here to talk about so let's dive deep and explain why you should watch one punch man some mornings here guys this discussion will be mainly limited to the material covered by the anime as opposed to either of the manga as per usual I'll be doing my best to avoid major spoilers but I will be going into detail about the world and characters so minor spoilers may occur so for the people watching this video who have already seen one punch man have you ever tried recommending this show to someone who's never heard of it it's a surprisingly difficult thing to do as telling someone it's about a guy who can be anything in one punch isn't an especially interesting or compelling story pitch it doesn't get across how funny or even endearing the show can be in fact if anything it raises more negatives than positives how are we meant to empathize or relate to a hero who never really has to struggle to achieve his goals if a villain can never push our hero to his limits if there's never really a risk what's to stop us just getting bored and walking away and yet somehow this isn't the case somehow one punch man stay is not only interesting but exhilarate to watch so why well why don't we start off by taking a look in the most obvious place that being the show's protagonist Seidman early on in one punch man the show establishes three basic rules one this is a world of superheroes to where there are superheroes there will also be super villains and three no hero or villain can even come close to the power possessed by our hero Saitama now while this may sound like other shows I promise you it really isn't no show or piece of media that I've ever experienced has been so blatant in establishing its main character as a near invincible demigod as one punch man to size 'ma to give you some context here Saitama as a hero is the anime equivalent of starting Pokemon red with a level 100 fully Eevee train Mewtwo it's like if Goku could go super saiyan 3 right from the start of Dragonball he crushes all competition with little to no effort to the point that it's actually comical like take this scene from episode 1 this guy right here essentially looks like the final form of any anime bad guy in any other anime he looks mean as a [ __ ] and a first impression you don't think there's any way a character like Saitama could stand up to him but then 1 second later and bam he is down he is out of existence this is how a lot of saitama's fights play out aside from the fact that he's occasionally a bit of an idiot he has no discernible weakness and no one that could stand up to him in terms of being a rival all that said the concept of an overpowered hero isn't a new or even especially interesting one but it's the way the show grounds Saitama that separates him from other heroes like let's take a look at Kirito from sorta online for example within the world of sao Kirito is insanely overpowered most enemies can barely lay a hands on him and he's even able to shrug off dying but not only that Kirito seems to have a kind of celebrity like status with in sao he doesn't seem to be able to walk 10 feet without adding to his harem of beautiful women all of whom for whatever reason seem to want to bone the he's always the most important character in the room and always has the solution to everyone's problems but the thing here is unless you're really into the idea of being here at OU he's actually a pretty dull and unlikable character and his strengths and status within the world only served to alienate him further from the audience Saitama on the other hand is nearly the total opposite the world as a whole does not care about him or acknowledge his heroic deeds he lives in a shitty apartments he's unemployed he goes grocery shopping and he's mostly ignored by the superhero community even when he takes the superhero entrance application and completely shatters all records for the physical exam he messes up on the written test and despite all his abilities gets ranked number 33 in the superheros lowest tier Class C like a lot of things in this show this is actually pretty hilarious but also kind of heartbreaking it's essentially like watching Superman apply to become a member of the Justice League only to be made the janitor soon after public opinion turns against Saitama as he gets reputation from being a faker as there's no way a rank C superhero could accomplish the amazing feats that Saitama does so even though in theory we have a character who can overcome anything the fact that the world around him refuses to acknowledge it means it's hard not to feel a little bad for Saitama I mean we the viewer know he's great but the world at large doesn't what's more when other heroes begin to pick up on sytem his abilities they sometimes go out of their way to actively crush him and before long it becomes obvious that the superhero community sytem us so badly wanted to be a part of carries with it about as much bureaucracy and backstabbing as well any other large organization because of all this it's hard not to feel for Saitama but in that way it helps us relate to him it grounds him in a way that makes him far more likable and empathetic character and much more relatable than your average Opie protagonists these hardships do however bring up what I consider sytem a second major strength and that is his unwavering mental fortitude it's kind of subtle oh but no matter how dire situation gets Saitama is never phased never loses belief in himself or his own abilities if a problem comes up is going to punch the holy [ __ ] out of it and can't do that then it's probably not worth getting upset about in the first place sure he gets frustrated and annoyed like anyone would but even facing overwhelming odds he never falters and his character is written with such subtlety that it's always believable in a way he kind of reminds me of a car a from psychopaths in Psychopaths a person's mental state is monitored by the government's and if it drops below a certain level then that person is then deemed a danger to society and either eliminated or put into permanent rehabilitation aka is overwhelming advantage in the world of Psychopaths is no matter how grim a situation gets she can maintain a positive mental outlook which means that she's about as much of an anomaly in the world of Psychopaths as Saitama is in the world of one-punch man this may be a bit of a stretch considering how dramatically different the two worlds are but in another sense saitama's unwavering belief in himself is what allowed him to gain such overwhelming power in the first place well akane is what lets her survive in a world where people attack each other psychologically and losing yourself leads to the loss of freedom or even death while sytem is ability to hit like a [ __ ] atom bomb is indeed oppressive the way he reacts to situations and those around him is what makes him an endearing character he's not cool he's not suave he's just a normal dude but one that tries his best and never lets the tough things in life really gets him and by the time I'd finished one punch man this was the aspect of the character that really stuck with me even over his incredible attacks all that said however while Saitama is indeed great no show can survive on the strength of a single character and it's fortunate then that one punch man has an absolutely fantastic supporting cast all of whom play off Saitama in various interesting in different ways this is especially important for a story like one punch man's because the supporting cast are essentially there to give us a second perspective not only of the world but of Saitama himself and there's no better example of this than ghettos Saitama cyborgs apprentice and only and Guinness enters the show at Episode two and has a fairly average backstory involving revenge and a burning desire to become stronger after battling mosquito to a draw and accepting that the only way to defeat her is going to be through sacrificing himself he is saved by Saitama and upon witnessing his awesome power promptly moves in with Saitama and studies as his apprentice what I find really interesting about jenos is how the show uses him in relation to Satan I see ganas has the exact same view of Saitama as the viewer does remember how I said we know sytem is awesome but that makes it all the harder no one else does well that's Janos down to a tee he sees the bureaucracy faced by Saitama and is constantly trying to protect his master from it in a lot of ways he reminds me of a kid trying to look out for an older sibling it helps give a different perspective of Saitama as a person and in doing so makes him more believable as a character that isn't to say that Janos isn't a good character in his own right because he absolutely is in fact in a lot of ways he is more the typical shown and protagonist in Saitama he's powerful but not quite powerful enough he has a strong sense of morals and justice as well as having a backstory that propels him forward all qualities you'd expect from a modern-day anime hero and this in turn helps him and citement bring entirely different perspectives to a situation gannis also wins points for being extremely empathetic while he is exceptionally powerful and pulls off some real bada [ __ ] throughout the show he's never quite as powerful as he needs to be and regularly gets his ass handed to him by some of the show's more powerful bad guys and though he tries desperately to follow and slightest footsteps the oceanic difference in their power is always obvious and it's hard not to feel a little bad for you know sceles another character who takes this concept to a ludicrous extreme is that of Moomin writer a hilariously underpowered Banksy superhero whose only discernible building is that he can ride a bicycle at first he seems like a joke character played mostly for laughs he has a ridiculous outfit and he's not any more powerful than really an average human being which is why then that it is so harrowing when later on in the show he is forced to go up against the monstrous and terrifying seeking a villain whose strength and danger level are an order of magnitude worse than anything we've seen up to this point the scene takes place in the pouring rain in front of a crowd of terrified onlookers and if Moomin riders fails as many far stronger heroes have already done there's nothing left to stop the seeking massacring a crowd of innocent people at this point the show has pointed out multiple times both how powerful Sea King is and how weak Moomin writer is and watching him desperately try to fight seeking stands in stark contrast to all-size most one-sided victories up until this points it's a scene I found genuinely difficult to watch but also couldn't look away from and one that takes the show's initial premise of the superhero is unbeatable and completely flips it on its head in this situation there is no discernable way the hero can win if this show was really just about Saitama than moments like this would be utterly impossible but investing in its supporting cast in this way it means that despite saitama's abilities there's always danger and there's always stakes within this world and the show is all the stronger because of it this is all without mentioning the many other standout characters of the show such as the bratty omega-level psychic tatsumaki the hardened superhero veteran Grandmaster bang and the androgynous antihero Sonic's speed of sound yep that's actually his name these characters all react to Saitama in different but believable ways and it's interesting watching them all play off each other for a 12-episode series one punch man does an incredible amount not only in establishing its characters but also the world in which they live in what's more it also does a whole lot by ominously hinting at the potential of future characters and plot like the suggestion that something really [ __ ] up might be going on with the mysterious metal nice or and this one drives me insane the complete and mysterious absence of the world's number one ranked superhero blast I mean who is this guy I can't imagine how he's going to fit into the world but I cannot wait to find out this shows that one punch man isn't showing us all its cards and it doesn't need to the world it presents to us is already exciting enough but the fact that there's more to come is an exciting thought indeed one punch man's fights are a curious thing they're not tactical or subtle in the same way a lot of the best battle anime are and there's very little of the psychology or mind games going on between combatants that you might get in something like say JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or history strongest disciple but that's because one punch man isn't about long-drawn-out character battles rather what it is it's about explosive pockets of insanely intense action fights erupted with some of the best and hardest hitting animation in the industry and end with decisive and often brutal finality but it lacks in subtlety it makes up for in brevity no fight ever goes on longer than it needs to and when it does it's usually something spectacular to behold like the insanely and I hesitate to use this word epic fights between sattva and Lord Boris given the brevity of one punch man's fights the show also does a good job of varying up its characters skills and fighting styles watching tatsumaki in a fight is an entirely different experience to say watching someone like Janos and even minor characters like Golden Ball or spring moustache all have their own gimmicks and their own unique approaches to combat which always keeps things feeling fresh and unique what's more the way one punch man builds anticipation for its fights is exceptional one knows precisely how to build up an enemy so that we're never sure what to expect from the next large-scale encounter even given saitama's track record where things get really interesting though is when Saitama encounters the previously mentioned monster from the deep the seeking in all previous arcs we've seen Saitama take out mostly what could be considered street-level villains or at least villains that other s-class heroes could have most likely defeated themselves but the seeking appears and he's an order of magnitude more dangerous than anything we've seen up to this point seeking proceeds to systematically take apart every hero who tries to stop him including some of the heroes Association strongest s-class fighters it's here that the tone of the show switches for the first time the light and comical mood of previous episodes fades away to something with an actual air of tension and danger even the look of the show changes scenes that have taken place mostly in broad daylight with a bright and colorful palette now shift to the muted tones of a rain-drenched evening in fact it's at this point for the first time the things start to feel grim even hopeless seeking rampage has built up a real momentum and the idea that anyone could take him down starts to feel more and more unlikely even someone as powerful as Saitama and there's a real tension as Saitama steps up to face the seeking like we want to believe sytem I can take this guy out just like he's done for every foe up till now but canny now there's no way I'm gonna spoil what goes down here and in a way it nearly doesn't matter my point is that for the first time in the show it feels like there's real danger for the first time we hope rather than believe that seismic can win which lies in stark contrast to every other fight he's been in up till now this is essentially the first time the show starts to take itself seriously and it's a shocking change of pace from the comedy escapades of earlier episodes and in doing this it proves that tonally one punch man is capable of a lot more than we might have previously thought one of my favorite things about one punch man is how it allows studio madhouse to really let loose animation in particular with the action scenes that's not to say the action in madhouse is to previous shown and shows hunter x hunter and parasite weren't great because they absolutely were but they were on a much more small scale taking place in much smaller environments with characters that possess a much more limited ability set it's awesome to see them that in one punch man madhouses animators get to completely revel in the unbridled destructive chaos that the characters of the show bring sky is split buildings crumble cities explode and it's all gloriously animated in a way that only a studio on madhouses level could pull off I think this is also the most free reign I've ever seen madhouse takes stylistically with property fights explode and washes of neon color as in this scene of carnage capital the cool thing here is that Maddox uses the shift in color to highlight the increased tension and danger seen as the color shift correlates directly with carnage Kabuto second transformation and vastly increased power the camera is also expertly handled as it swoops and dives around comba what's awesome here is the suit aura actually use similar techniques in his realist raishin of the manga like in this scene where gano since item a spar you should look up the gifts for the other times to Tora does this in the manga it's absolutely stunning in fact I'm gonna leave links to these in the show notes below the show also refuses to deal in visual cliches no sweat drops no chibi [ __ ] but rather it develops its own shorthand based directly off one's original illustrations this is never more obvious than the way the show can depict Saitama himself one moment he's drawn as a super serious tough looking badass but the next he's nearly exactly how he was in the original manga it's hilarious but it's also a great window into how the characters feeling and what he thinks of the current situation it's worth noting as well that both the soundtrack and its placement within the show are phenomenal as you may be able to hear because that is the music I've decided to use for this video and also just to mention that the opening sequence is just about some of the coolest [ __ ] I have ever seen if someone is meant to watch this and not end up totally pumped is completely beyond me comedy is an inherently difficult thing to talk about from a review perspective so much of it relies on the subtleties context and timing of a situation it often gets lost when it's being recounted for a second time that said I'd like to go a little into why I think the comedic moments of one punch man work as well as they do one of the most prominent ways that comedy is delivered through an anime is through what I like to call the comedy pause if you watch enough anime you'll probably have seen this many times it's when in another wise serious situation two characters will get into a zani argument or disagreements of some sort and comically exchanged barbs back and forth the drawings go into token funny anime mode until eventually the camera pulls out to a third character who usually shrug their shoulders and says something like oh those boys I call these sections comedy pauses because essentially what you're doing here is halting the tone plot and story of an episode for the sake of a gag or two I imagine the comedy pause is so prevalent in anime because it's simply very easy to write you just need to pick a lull in the action have a character point out something ridiculous and boom you're a comedic genius or I'm guessing that's how the writers see it at least the problem with this kind of humor is that it's superfluous it's not based in the world or characters themselves it just makes things a me for a second it's lazy writing and more often than not it's really not very funny one punch man's humor is nearly the total opposite of this it's a core part of the story and built into the world in a way that makes it inseparable from the rest of the show like take any moment or sight of a curb stomps an enemy it's nearly always funny because of how seriously the show takes its monsters and the time it puts into building them up and when they're destroyed in an instant the tension is released and we take in the ridiculousness of it all and in these moments it's really hard not to crack a smile but despite the absurdity it never breaks the world or compromises its characters take this moments in the battle against carnage Kabuto when Saito reveals that the source of his amazing power is actually just the results of a mundane training routine that involves doing one setups 100 pushups 100 squats and running 10 miles every day the idea that someone could get this powerful from that kind of training is obviously ridiculous the fact that it does actually work only makes things more hilarious not only that but the joke actually reveals a subtle but important detail about Saitama and that is that he works hard even though there's no way it should give him that kind of power that is a tough goddamn exercise regime and the fact that he stuck to it every day to the point that he got to the level where he's a really says a lot about his work ethic and his commitment to being a superhero I guess what I'm trying to say here is that the comedy and one punch man is believable it's not shoehorned in there and it never feels forced it's a relevant part of the show as anything else's and in doing so doesn't take away from the story and characters put ads to them the only real issue I have with one punch man is the same that I have with 99% of Shonen anime and that is that I would have liked to see more girls in the cast it could have been a good chance to show off a wider range of characters especially within the superhero Association but as is there's maybe five named female characters in a cast of 50 plus it's disappointing especially given the fact that the female characters that are there are pretty cool I really liked tatsumaki and mosquito I guess if I'm really digging deep here I could say that the show's ending credits don't really do a whole lot for me either The Melancholy song over the static backgrounds wouldn't have been my choice for the show but I guess there is something to be said for the absurdity of it as these credits just seem so hilariously mismatched to the show ending credits and anime aren't that big a deal but I do find when a show gets it right it's really [ __ ] awesome for two great examples of this see the first end credits to Hunter x Hunter or the first ending credits decay on and really that's about it for false it does have what feels like the occasional filler episode but even then one punch man's filler is still a lot stronger than most other regular anime so before you finish up here there's one final aspects that I want to talk about that I feel is largely responsible for one punch man being the success it is and that is through all the jokes and all the ridiculous action one punch man has some real [ __ ] heart so what do I mean by this well let's look at this scene from episode seven where one of sytems fellow superhero realizes Santa's abilities and out of spice turns a crowd of onlookers against him the crowd turns ugly and starts her Ryung Saitama shouting how he should just quit now he's bad at what he does and needs to walk away I remember first reading this part in the manga and thinking okay I get it now the item is journey isn't gonna be the usual quest for power of your typical Sean and Hiro it's going to be learning to believe in himself even if no one else does but then I was completely shocked when one swerves turning the scene on its head as Saitama angrily shouts back at the crowd berating them and exclaiming defiantly that he is a hero for no reason other than himself and he doesn't need nor care about their acknowledgments there was always something about this scene that hit me especially hard and after thinking it over for a while I think I might know what it is essentially what you have here is a group of people telling someone that he's bad at what he does and that he shouldn't be doing it now let's take a step back for a moment and take a look at one the original author of one punch man this guy despite having little to no talent as an illustrator somehow forced his ideas not only into existence but to the point where they became a massive worldwide smash hit can you imagine the struggle this would have been the determination it would have taken to keep working on a comic that looks like this in an industry that values aesthetics and draftsmanship above all things how many times do you think one was told to give up and to stop trying how many times you think he came away from critiques and interviews disheveled I'm guessing from how tough the Japanese manga industry is it was a [ __ ] lot but somehow one kept going he kept writing his dumb webcomic and he never faltered he ever gave up which could only be because his belief in his own stories and characters was absolute keeping this in mind it's impossible not to look at the scene and see the author in it sytem a struggle for acceptance mirrors that of one's despite how difficult it can be neither one nor sight may ever gives up or stops believing in themselves and you know wow that's a [ __ ] awesome this my friends is writing this is a story coming from a very real place this shows that outside all the jokes all the bombastic action and colossal fight scenes one punch man has some real legitimate heart both Saitama and the show's existence represent to me not only what can be achieved with hard work and perseverance but also the message that no matter how bad things get hell overwhelming the odds we just need to move forward and keep going and this more so than any other reason is why you should watch one punch man and guys that's that gonna do it for this video I just want to say thank you for checking the video out and I guess I also just want to say thank you to everyone who liked or commented on the hunter x hunter video I was genuinely really surprised by the reaction it got and that was a huge part of my motivation to do this video if you guys have any further thoughts on one punch man or suggestions for future videos I'd love to hear them but for now guys thanks for watching and see you next time

Channel: Super Eyepatch Wolf

Views: 1,609,062

Keywords: One Punch Man, opm, Why you should watch one punch man, analysis, Anime, Review, super eyepatch wolf, Saitama, Genos, Tatsumaki, Mumen Rider, why you should watch

Id: GHbVngOR06E

Length: 26min 55sec (1615 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 10 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/pvstarr]

It feels like too much of the plot is revealed if you want to use this video to convince someone to watch the show. However it does a great job at describing the strengths of the show even if I don't agree with a few conclusions made.

(also the timing of the soundtrack near the end of the video was perfect)