One Punch Man is a beautifully animated super hero series that seems to concern itself singularly with one somewhat weak gag: the main dude Saitama is too strong. He's so strong that he defeats any enemy with one punch. Life has lost its meaning and thrill to him because no super villain comes close to causing him to break a sweat. This leads to a few mildly entertaining moments, but ultimately it's neither gripping nor riotous.
Saitama's ennui is straight up insulting, to be honest. His super strength bums him out so badly that he claims to have lost most human emotion. He has no worthy opponents, nothing worth fighting for. He's bored. What? I guess he just doesn't care about the billions living in poverty around the world, or about climate change. He's the strongest guy in the world but he can't lift a finger to make the world a better place. The superhero genre is known for its bad politics, but this just feels lazy and out of touch. If One Punch Man were actually laugh-out-loud funny, that would be one thing. But it's really not, and so much attention is given to Saitama's woes. Honestly a hard pass unless you just want to watch a string of short and—by the show's own admission—boring fight scenes.
Recommend: No.
It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on Astro Fighter Sunred after reading this.
Added to the list! Coming right up 🙂
Turns out this is a superb show though.
People keep saying that! I literally know one person who doesn’t like One Punch Man. Shall I watch on?
Might as well, if for no reason other than to have proof of how right or wrong everyone is (depending on your tastes).