One of the best animes that you can find on the internet, One Punch Man, offers every sort of emotion and action that would stick you watching the whole series. From having the best visuals to the silliest dialogues, this was having it all. So, without any further due, let’s get started.
WHAT’S THE SEINEN GENRE ?
Now, you may be wondering what’s a Seinen Manga?
Seinen manga (青年漫画) are Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word seinen literally means “youth.” -Wikipedia. This means that the targeted audience is young adults and includes drama, love, relationship, comedy, etcetera genres mostly with dark and serious themes. Manga adaptations like My Hero Academia and One Piece are classified as shōnen because it’s generally subjected towards teen boys. In contrast, adaptations like One Punch Man and Berserk are classified as a seinen. So thinking more about One Punch Man, it’s a “generic-shounen parody” seinen anime.
The Production
One-Punch Man was originally produced by ONE in early 2009 as a webcomic on the Japanese manga website nitosha.net. As of May 2021, the webcomic has 146 chapters. Later in 2011, Yusuke Murata contacted ONE for the Manga Remake of One Punch Man. Later, after the collaboration, Yusuke Murata Illustrated the webcomic’s periodically available chapters into individual volumes. Now, there are 23 such volumes available to read. The first digitally published volume was made on Tonari no Young Jump website on December 12, 2012. An anime adaptation was announced in the 15th issue of Weekly Young Jump on March 10, 2015. The first season was directed by Shingo Natsume at Madhouse animation studios which were written by Tomohiro Suzuki. The second season was announced in September 2016. This was followed by a change of animation studios to J.C.staff and the director changing from Shingo Natsume to Chikara Sakurai on September 25, 2017. Both the seasons have 12 episodes in them.
STORY
The story revolves around Saitama, who is fairly a very simple guy and lives in City Z. He trained so hard that he went bald and can defeat monsters in just a single punch. After becoming this strong, he became the “Hero for fun.” However, he didn’t get any popularity until he joined the Hero corporation. His strong willpower made him resistant to almost any of the attacks from the monsters. He started his intense, rigorous training when badly beaten up by a monster while saving a kid from his attack. He decided that he will train to beat the monster in just a single punch. So the baddest of the bad monsters or aliens could not defeat him because of his overwhelming strength. So, actually, Saitama is a joke character with some serious power. Later in the story, Genos, a human with robotic parts with one of the highest firepower, joins in with Saitama when he will almost die. After being saved by Saitama, he offers Saitama to become his disciple. However, Saitama didn’t want to keep him as a disciple but somehow accepted his offer. Later on, you will get to see awesome fights with big badass genetically transformed monsters. As good as the story looks on pen and paper, it’s as well-executed. The story has some dark themes and philosophies that you can talk about for hours. Human feelings are, being the strongest is good or bad, what makes one evil, etc. The show is not always that serious. It pokes fun at all the other anime, and it sure is one of the show’s main themes. One Punch Man provides a great deal of entertainment, and you would love that.
CHARACTERS
New characters are introduced from the 5th episode with the introduction of Hero Association. The rankings of the Hero Association are like “S-Rank” or “B-Rank” so that every hero can be recognized in some skill group. Unfortunately, Saitama is assigned a lesser rank, and only a few recognize his true abilities, although he himself doesn’t seem to care that much either. He doesn’t care much about being popular among citizens, and a hero is something he thinks he can be recognized as. As for the side characters, there are many characters, and everyone has their own impact. Even the C-Class heroes like Mumen Rider make the character case strong and steady. As you watch the anime, you will get to see all kinds of characters, some good, some bad: many low-key characters that seem interesting and many small characters with too much potential. Most of the characters shown in the show are lovable, with each having their own personality and depths. It’s their eccentricity of personalities that work. They tell everything about the character with specialties they have in them. The execution and character building are very potent. Overall, I would say you would love the characters, and they won’t ever disappoint you.
Overall, 9/10
ANIMATION
The animation is worth noting. Every single detail is perfectly highlighted to give you the best experience while also vibing to the story. Even the most useless details are highlighted to make it more interesting. The professionalism in making the animation is perfectly seen as it had the crisp quality and feel of elements with perfect use, which many other animes couldn’t do. The smooth flow of all elements is what makes this special. However, the second season saw a drop in its quality of elements, although the animation was still good enough to keep up the high standards set by the first season.
Overall, 9/10
SOUND
The sound production isn’t that magnificent, but still, you will love it. The songs used are good enough to keep you vibing. For me, the sounds and the songs combined in the first season were lit. However, in the second season, sounds weren’t as good at some certain points as they used some odd sounds for punching. It had the sound of a handgun, which may be heard in various games, though the songs used were legit good for me. Other sounds, such as the character sounds, were also very good and sounded passionate about doing this. Some opening scenes for devil’s and monsters were just lit. Leaving some ups and downs, it was good as a cake with a cherry on top.
Overall, 8.5/10
SEASON 3?
Many peeps, including me, are awaiting the making of season 3 because of how abruptly they ended season 2. But since the release of Season 2, there have been no updates on Season 3. As of January 4, 2021, twenty-three volumes have been published, and the anime follows manga only till chapter 84. The official Twitter page of One Punch Man thanked the fans for watching Season 2 and asked them to support One Punch Man Season 3 so that the creators can renew it and start the production. Many rumors are circulating online that the third season of the anime might be released in 2022, but all of that is fake because One Punch Man is neither renewed for Season 3 nor canceled.
EPILOGUE
This anime has been one of my favorites. The simplicity of Saitama and his mindless answers make me laugh till I pass out. Therefore, my personal suggestion will be to watch this anime with a very light heart. I am very sure you will fall in love too. Anything you want to say? Write it in the comment section and let me know. Till then, see ya!