One Punch Man – Season One

Intro:

The concept of a hero who can defeat any foe with one singular punch seems like someone was just trying to make an overpowered hero with zero chance of character progression. It may seem like you’d get bored with every foe being ended with one punch, but in all honesty…it’s a lot of fun to watch as the series goes on, because the hero himself gets tired of being so strong and unbeatable.

Plot:

Meet Saitama, a now bald-headed 25-year-old hero who has grown bored of being able to effortlessly defeat any and all demons, monsters and cyborgs that attack the city known only as City-Z.

Saitama claims to have become a hero “for the fun of it” but became easily bored due to his inhuman strength, primarily found within his punch. Aside from his strength, Saitama also has increased agility, stamina, speed and durability which have reached an immeasurable degree, which Saitama claims is attributed to his workout regime. After three years, his strength soon draws the attention of a 19-year-old Cyborg by the name of Genos, who commits his life to becoming Saitama’s disciple and pupil.

After not being recognized for his heroics, Saitama and Genos decide to register under the Superhero Association, who rank their heroes into classes, giving them assignments dependent on the heroes abilities, as well as the threat level of the disaster in question. Despite his power, Saitama is classed as a rank C hero and is constantly underestimated by both his opponents and other heroes.

Throughout the series, you will watch as Saitama deals with a variety of crazy looking monsters, all trying to take over the surface world, but with no luck of finding an enemy that isn’t defeated in a singular punch, Saitama slowly begins to grow bored, until towards the end of the season, when aliens invade, causing a real issue for the highest class of Heroes, Saitama finally meets an opponent worthy of his strength.

Story:

As mentioned before, the concept of a hero who can defeat any and all opponents in one singular punch seems like it would grow dull, but Saitama is a fantastic character who brings a particular humour to the story that makes it an excellent watch.

With plenty of monsters for him to face, all with their own back stories and commentary of why they’re destroying the cities, the series is a fun watch with plenty of laughs along the way.

Art:

The designs of the monsters are awesome and bizarre, but the designs of the heroes are just as bizarre. From Cyborgs like Genos, to buff dudes with insane strength, like Puri-Puri Prisoner and Tank Top Champion, to lower class heroes like Mumen Rider, there are certainly some interesting characters to keep an eye on throughout the series.

As with a lot of anime, the art style can change from a serious design with detail, to a more cartoonish style with less detail for added humour. One Punch Man has quite a bit of this change especially with Saitama’s design, where he can go from looking like a cartoonish bald egg head, to a heroic champion with a chiseled jawline any second.

Below are just some of the villains you’ll see throughout the series.

Overall:

This show is hilarious, with plenty of action, great character designs & overall plot. I would recommend this series for anyone who might be tired of your usual superhero series that give you overused tropes like a devastating backstory that forced them to become heroes, because as Saitama says, he became a hero for the fun of it, which makes the show much more entertaining.

One Punch Man season one is available to watch on Netflix (UK)