Viewer Log: One-Punch Man ep 1

This may come as no surprise to anyone, but I love anime. Been a fan since Dragonball and Pokémon first came over from Japan. I’ve seen a wide assortment: Dragonball Z, Pokémon, Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden, Rurouni Kenshin, Bleach, Fairy Tail, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rave Master, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Digimon seasons 1-5, Clannad, Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Princess Mononoke, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Itazura na Kiss, to name a few. I think only the folks who are well versed in their Japanese animation will realize which two of these titles are not like the others. To those that do, did I list off a bunch of action oriented anime to make me feel more secure in my masculinity? Oh you bet I did. Heck, I’ve seen enough Anime that I could probably do a blog about those, too. But, given my limited amount of free time, I’m going to keep focus on the superhero stuff. But, what is this? An anime that is also about superheroes? Surely you jest. Just kidding, there’s at least a half dozen series that focus on the X-Men alone. But I’m not here to talk about those, I’m here to talk about a newer addition to the Superhero Genre, One-Punch Man.

Doesn't look like the most powerful being on the planet,
does he? He's the Cue Ball in the middle, FYI

The series opens to an oversized purple monster, that looks suspiciously like Piccolo from Dragonball Z, destroying a generic Japanese town. What? The place is called City B for goodness sake, they couldn’t get more generic if they tried. There’s lots of death and destruction, people screaming, children crying and so on. New reports talk about a pair of heroes that were taken down by the monster, and that a Hero Association is planning a counter attack. We then see a mysterious bald man stand up, saying that he’ll handle this. Cut to a little girl that is nearly crushed by purple monster, only to be saved at the last minute by our bald headed friend. The monster, calling itself Vaccine Man, asks who he’s dealing with. Our hero, we learn later on his name is Saitama but I’m going to use it now, is just a guy that’s a superhero for ‘fun.’ Vaccine Man is rather upset at this comment, and goes on monologuing like Syndrome from The Incredibles. He’s made from pollution, going to kill all humans, blah blah blah. Saitama, unimpressed by Vaccine Man, punches him in the face. Liquefying him. Saitama is most distraught that, once again, a fight ended with a single punch.

We flashback three years, Saitama is just your run of the mill twenty something, staring down a giant crab man in tightie-whities. This is less insane then it sounds, trust me. Crab Monster is on a killing spree, looking for a big chinned kid that pulled a prank on him. He threatens Saitama, but leaves him alone, saying the young man has “Dead eyes” like him. Saitama quickly meets the big chinned kid, which is an understatement, the kid has a jaw that would put Dolph Lundgren to shame. His prank? He drew nipples on the Crab Man while he was sleeping in the park. Kid gets a 10 for being gutsy. Crab Man appears, threatens kid, and slaps Saitama away when he tries to interfere. Saitama refuses to give up, claiming he’ll defeat Crab Man in one punch. He gets slapped around some more, but finally defeats crappy…by tying his tie around the monster’s eye stalk, and pulling him inside out. Did I mention this show is gory?

Flash forward to the present, and Saitama is lamenting the fact that he’s attained his goal of being the strongest, but that it’s made life incredibly boring. And the fact that the training he underwent to become superstrong somehow led to him losing all of his hair. Feel your pain, bro. In the next ten minutes, he defeats a giant monster, the bizarre offspring of a monster truck and its mechanic, and a race of invading mole people. All with one punch each. Saitama is particularly bummed after that last one, because the mole people looked much tougher than they were, and he’d had a rousing dream about having a pitched battled with them.

So, first impressions? This show is really, really funny. Saitama is basically Superman, super strong and nigh invulnerable, but unlike Superman, he doesn’t run into villains that can at least take one of his punches. It also pokes fun at the usual superhero clichés, the monologuing heroes and villains, the overly complicated backstories, and just how much destruction that a town would undergo during an actual superhero smack down. Heck, Saitama causes as much damage to the town while killing some of the monsters he’s run into. Saitama is particularly funny, with his bald head, bright yellow costume, and borderline depression about his extreme strength. While other characters are drawn with a lot of detailed, heavy lines, he’s left pretty simple. Just a round head, two beady eyes, and a scowling mouth, most of the time. When things get intense, he gets drawn more intense, too. We don’t get much about him in terms of character development in this first episode, other than he’s incredibly strong and really bored because of it. Which is one of the saddest fates for a character to suffer through. Reminds me of Atticus Finch, from To Kill a Mockingbird. So good at shooting that he had to stop, simply because it wasn’t fun anymore… or fair to the animals. And, given the fates of Vaccine Man, Giant Monster dude and his brother, the King of the Mole People, and the Car-Man, I would definitely say that, yes, fighting Saitama isn't fair to them. Would I suggest this show? Yes. Should you show it to little kids? Oh hell no. One Punch Man is Deadpool territory. Gore factor is high, as is some of the costume designs. Like Crab man in his tightie whities. Shudder. But, for the older superhero fan that needs to see something that beautifully satires something you love, then give it a watch. Next time, One-Punch Man Episode Two, it hits the fan. 

http://myanimelist.net/anime/30276/One_Punch_Man/pics