One-Punch Man (Anime Review)

So, out of all the animes I've watched, this is the most recent that I've started. The One-Punch Man manga is something that's been going since 2012 and one that I wasn't really interested in, especially after my brother said he didn't think it was all that great. But, recently, I got so interested in wanting to see it, especially given other people's thoughts on it and it was all the more helpful because the full first season is on Netflix right now, so almost two weeks ago, I watched the full first season on Netflix in just one day, and I'm really glad I did because it was great. I knew most of the series was comedy and I had already seen some clips of it on YouTube that made me laugh, and so, watching the whole thing from start to finish made the experience all the more enjoyable. And I already knew the basic premise of how it's about a bald guy named Saitama who has the strength to obliterate anything with a single punch, hence, the title of the series. And so, yeah, that right there is the basic plot. It's kinda like My Hero Academia, in the sense that this is a world where some people are heroes and they mostly stop monsters or aliens from other planets or who are being created by people there. But, the protagonist, Saitama, is presented as a bored guy due to not having much of a challenge with him being so strong that he can end a fight in a second. So he just kinda goes from day to day living his life and occasionally stops some monster threatening everyone but he treats it like nothing because he knows it's not a problem to him. And we get introduced to a lot of characters from that point onward, like his cyborg apprentice, Genos, and a bunch of the other heroes like Sonic, Mumen Rider, Silver Fang and so on. So what I really like about this series is, not only the great comedy, but also how it somehow doesn't have that much going on for the most part, but it still makes it really entertaining watching these characters going back and forth. I mean, there is definitely a lot of crazy stuff going on, but it's more watching the characters talking about a lot of comedy. And even discussing the different situations, which I found really fun. I gotta admit, I honestly thought most of the series, while I knew it was gonna have a lot of crazy action scenes and have Saitama do his signature punches, I almost kinda thought from seeing some of the stuff briefly in the manga, that it was gonna be mostly a lot of talks from the government and things like that. And I'm glad to say that I was really surprised. As I said, I wasn't that interested with the series for a while, but it gets a whole lot better as the series continues. We even get a whole journey early on. And what I mean is that we get a whole episode dedicated to Saitama and Genos going to some big villain's castle and trying to stop him in the first couple of episodes. Normally, we'd get to a story like that in an anime later on and it was really fun. I liked the crazy idea of the guy they're trying to stop being someone who cloned himself and was someone who creates huge monsters, but then it concludes with a really funny bit with Saitama remembering some deal at a supermarket and then he and Genos finish it quickly and run off to it. I know, it's nuts but it totally works and is really funny. Also, given how the story is presented and written, it's able to get away with being satisfying and cool when some characters meet and reappear again. For example, during the last few episodes, some characters from earlier on return and it was cool to see them again. I also like Saitama and Genos as characters and their interactions. Saitama just being a very simple and straight to the point and oblivious guy with sounding really bored all the time and Genos being super interested in him and wanting to prove himself while also wanting to do well in his life. The dub is also really impressive here, I think I especially need to give credit to Max Mittelmen for doing really well as Saitama, cause he's intentionally having to sound really bored a lot of the time while still having to be really entertaining and he does that so well. The rest of the dub is really good too. I was even expecting some characters to be like some other anime characters out there like taking credit because of someone else or being ungrateful to the point where it's frustrating. And while there is something like that here, for the most part, the characters are done well enough to still feel unique. And, towards the end, the series gets really crazy. I mean, I know anime can get really insane with what they're doing, but the first season's ending is just crazy overload. But not to the point where it feels out of place or mindless nonsense or anything like that. It also has some really amazing animation as well. Some really gorgeous animation in every episode and it's a really nice show to look at despite a lot of the gruesome stuff. That being said, I'm obviously just talking about Season 1 because that's the one I saw because it's the only one on Netflix. I'm pretty sure Season 2 has been dubbed but it's not there yet. I hoping it will be. Although, I do know a lot of people didn't like Season 2 because most people are disappointed in the animation quality. I haven't seen any of those moments yet, thought if I started watching it, I'm sure I would. But I still do want to see it and it would be cool to see what came after Boros. With that all out of the way now, the first season of the show is still really good and has some really laugh out moments, especially one scene involving Saitama and a mole creature. I won't spoil it, but it's really hilarious. And the whole rest of the season is fun to watch too. The different things we see them do in each episode and seeing how Saitama just goes from one thing to another on a daily basis is a lot of fun and the fact that they keep acting like something big is coming and is really threatening until Saitama comes in and punches them is something that some people might find boring, but it's just consistently entertaining. But the rest of the characters are also really funny and have some really great moments too. I also like how this is very different kinda Shonen series with it having a protagonist who's not a lively and optimistic guy, not having him care about getting stronger and not following the story in the same way a lot of others do arcs. The mangas are also really nice to look at too, the artwork in the manga and the cover art done by Yusuke Murata is amazing and they definitely have some of the best cover art I've ever seen for a manga. And, yeah, really guys, the series is just a lot of fun to watch from start ti finish if we're talking about the first season of the anime, and the entirety of the manga. I just ordered the first volume of it the other day and I can't wait for it to arrive. And, yeah, really, if you're into fun anime with lots of comedy and fun characters, I would highly recommend watching this. If you've got Netflix, I would definitely say you should check this out. And so, yeah, everyone, that's my review for One-Punch Man. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.