Back to DrEnforcicle's Profile DrEnforcicle's Profile

Lately this show is has been labelled as the "SAO of 2015" or "One joke man" and I can understand where they're coming from. The popularity has made One Punch Man 10th pl-... oh that's wrong it's now 11th place in the rankings at around 9.05. Oh wait no it's now 9.04, proving that people are just downvoting it because it's popular. And that is the real problem, the show is so popular that people are now voting in droves to drive it's score down, which is probably less sinister than I make it to be in truth. However I don't see how a popular ... show to a large amount of people can suddenly make people hate it, I mean with SAO as an example. It's a good show up to episode 14, but then it's just generic, but the fact it was popular made some people just hate it with a vengeance. And it's sort of obvious, to see people give this show a 1, but than give the latest cut and paste rom com a 9 with a straight face. And this does come off insulting or mean I know, but I fail to see how popularity makes a show bad in any way, sure this show has it's faults and I'll get to that in the actual review and I don't think it's perfect but it's far from bad.


Story: Now at first you wouldn't be mistaken if you thought this show is just fill of gags and jokes all through it, which true probably until later on. At that point the comedy does still have a presence, and the later eps might show that as at the time of writing only 9 eps are out. But later on at this mid point, the show takes the idea of the portrayal of people in the media, and challenges that idea through the main character Saitama who just wants to be a hero "for the fun of it". Now he may say that, but you certainly get the idea that he's actually doing it because he wants to be a decent hero, even if the public don't give him a good reputation. And that's the thing, he's willing to throw his reputation away for the sake of letting heroes that risked their lives get the credit that they deserved. The supporting character Genos, who hadn't actually done anything, it was because he was the top class (class S) that the media portrays him as a glorified hero, who at that point had not done anything at all. This doesn't completely sum it up, but the story really does a sort of 180 and goes from gags and jokes to a more serious, real life meaning, which I know sounds more serious than I'm making it to be, but it is.

Art: The art is pretty amazing, and the animators definitely had the budget in the fight scenes. You could compare this to Trigger's Kill La Kill series, however that particular show did suffer from at brief points, terrible SGI but it in no way stops that overall quality. You can really get the cartoony feel, and the fight scenes when they come down to it look amazing, even though the fights with Saitama last around 10 seconds. But you can tell that the characters really had alot of effort put into animating them which is commendable. When you have a show like Aldnoah Zero as an example, that literally pulls SGI mechs everywhere (with the exception of one scene, with a mech that was only on screen for about 15-20 seconds) it shows that the animation team did not cut corners at all.

Sound: The sound track is pretty entertaining, Genos' theme is good to listen to, least not forget the rest of the soundtrack. But overall the soundtrack is solid, with the OP being pretty fun to listen to. It may take some warming up to, but then you begin to enjoy the whole "hell yeah Saitama's gonna save the day" sort've feel.

Characters: The characters vary pretty well, it thank fully doesn't have any crybaby weak characters that you'd expect just to fill the hole, which is good for a show that centers itself on strong heroes. Saitama is probably pretty deceiving at first, and may give off the impression that he's a blank slate that is only there to launch the jokes at you. However later on he states that he only cares about saving people, and frankly doesn't care that they think illy of him, even at some point intentionally looking like a total fraud so other heroes may get some recognition. And because of this early deception, some reviews that I've read have stated that Saitama is literally only there for the gags and jokes, which early on is true but it shows later on that this is not the case. Genos' the cyborg hero as he's known, is S Class (top rank) which means that although he may not have done much, he's still glorified as a saviour because of his rank. Once again this is the media portrayal, the idea that because you rank highly in society gives you a better look in society and in the public's eyes. Mumen Rider is probably what Saitama was, and sort've still is, with the obvious power difference notable thing to distinguish between them. They both have the goal of protecting people no matter the cost, only problem is Mumen Rider is substantially weaker than Saitama, which allows him to be beaten by tougher foes. But it shows that even though there is an obvious power difference, he's still no matter what risking his life for defending people.

Enjoyment: If you're a fan of comedy, and you get an understanding of what this show is about (from the up to date reviews) then you'll probably have a good time here, the show doesn't have any of those stupid characters or idiotic plot that you'd expect from a show that's as hyped as Sword Art Online. And the whole idea of portrayal from the media is a pretty good theme that the show sneaks in halfway through.

Overall: Well if you've read this far, and the other reviews that touch on the themes and other iconic things this show has. Then you'll probably enjoy the show, it's by no means a super serious show, but it certainly does make you think through all those one punch gimmicks. It shows the difference between Heroes who only care about making themselves stronger, or people who actually care about saving lives. And the heroes that use these two ideas vary in strength, which means you may have a super strong hero that the media idolize but doesn't care about saving people. And a weak person who genuinely cares about saving people even though they may not be as strong as everybody else.

9/10 Let's hope it doesn't suck later on, and thnx Obama

This little gem really is underrated, with brilliant animation from Tetsuya Takeuchi and a pretty good OP and END theme.

Story: It's basically about an alien trying to conquer the earth by yurifying it. Not much else happens this this is an ova, but if you really wanted to get the whole thing I'd definitely recommend the manga.

Art: The animation is amazing, with maximum efficiency and minimal frames, from the brilliantly talented Tetsuya Takeuchi. You probably don't know, but his animation style usually fits into that category. The art is light and colourful, maintaining quality all throughout both ova's running time.

Sound: The show has ... a very retro feel to it, one that you would find on some of the old arcade machines and early 90's home consoles. Overall it's pretty enjoyable.

Character: Because this show is so short, there isn't room for much character development at all, but you get the idea that Naoko is trying yurify everything, with Misuzu disapproving of everything like a regular person would. But of course there isn't much room for character development, so once again I heavily recommend the manga.

Enjoyment: There were some pretty good moments all throughout the entire show, you'd think the entire thing would just be filled with lewd joke after lewd joke, which it is. However they are pretty funny throughout both ovas.

Overall: You can definitely tell Tetsuya Takeuchi cared about this, you can tell that he actually read the entire manga to get a feel of the characters and how they would react. And I definitely hope he gets more opportunities to show off his talent because I'd certainly watch whatever he makes.

8/10 They really need to make more of this

In my opinion Space Dandy would be the love child/bastard of CowBoy Bebop and Nichijou, and frankly the out come isn't too bad. I mean it's probably a little stupid, and therefore hard to take seriously, but I think that's a good thing.

I think Space Dandy doesn't care what you think, even if you insult it's parents out right, the only thing it would do is comb it's hair back and then fly off into the sunset.

Story: Well the story follows a very simple track, it's about a rag tag group of hunters who hunt down rare creatures for money, and that's pretty ... much it, oh and add a little bit of shenanigans as well. The fan service is a bit excessive, bit I see Dandy like I see Bayonetta, it's all part of his character, but if you're not into that sort of thing I wouldn't recommend watching. Another thing this steals from it's father is the fact that it's episodic, meaning that each episode is completely different. But the only difference is that each episode really has nothing to do with the previous, like they can die in one episode, or something else will happen, and next episode, they'll have no recollection at all of the previous episode. I actually like this personally, as it's a clean slate every time, and if you're watching this you wouldn't actually expect a rich story, so it doesn't matter.

Art: The art looks alright all the way through, it may get pretty rough at some of the intense moments, but I wouldn't get overly annoyed about it. Oh oh but one thing I would applaud, is.... the... way.... they... animate..... all.... those....boobies. Let's just say that the way... they animate bouncy stuff is top notch ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

Sound: This show has a very light space ring to it, the OP and END themes have some pretty good songs and I enjoyed listening to them over and over again, one thing that turns me off of some animes is the opening theme, if it's really bad it just kills the mood altogether. I'm looking at you Tokyo Ghoul Season 2, with your terrible opening.

Character: The characters are pretty likable, Dandy is pretty much a male equivalent of Bayonetta, only he's not as dominating. One con you could add would be that there is no character development at all, because like I stated previously is that the episodes have nothing to string together and link them. So as a result you may get some character development in some episodes, like when they visit Meow's family, but in the next it never references them ever again. They still retain their base personalities still, which keeps familiar, with no unexpected turns when you watch the next episode.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed this pretty well, since it's pretty obvious it has a lot of influences from Cowboy Bebop, and other shows from Shinichiro Watanabe, and I admit at sometimes the humour may fall flat completely, and the fan service may be a complete turnoff, but that doesn't stop this from being a fun light show.

Overall: I believe that this would be if the creators working on Cowboy Bebop all got drunk, and high and decided "Hey instead of making a serious show, lets do a complete 180 and make something completely different." And I believe that this is a good thing, these days there are too many comedies that try to work a story or character development in there, whereas Space Dandy almost ignores it completely and focuses only on the light art style, fun atmosphere, and overall enjoyment.

8.5/10 Not too shabby

When I first saw this it reminded me of a joker quote in the Dark Knight "I think we are destined to do this forever"

And that got me thinking, what if we were actually destined to repeat history, but instead of an exact occurrence of events, they're instead slightly changed and each time we journey through this alternate history we may see things from another perspective. Now when you start off watching this anime for the first time you could be forgiven for not knowing what is going on, and for myself it took up to halfway through episode 2 to realise what the ... whole story is about. But to not accidentally give off any spoilers I won't reveal too much of the show, because watching this for yourself and coming to your own conclusion is what I believe is the best way to watch a show.

Story: The story is very well written, and for those who don't know the story, well it's about a guy in College who spends two years of his college life hating it, and then reliving those same two years. The only difference is that he picks a different club or circle around the college to join with and so introduces all the characters in a different way altogether. It has a way of introducing every character in the show but in a completely new way. I wouldn't say that it introduces them in a very dramatic fashion, but the way they do introduce them is always varied slightly. This adds a whole new element, as I'm sure you've thought you yourself "What if I met that guy differently" or "What if I was actually best friends with her". And because of these small differences in each episode the characters are seen differently from the main characters' perspective, the nameless protagonist that is dubbed Watashi.
Overall the story is brilliant since it's original, sort of taking a Ground Hog day approach, only instead of repeating a single day, the main character is instead repeating a cycle of two whole years.

Art: The art style is probably what will scare people away from this show, since it's simplistic design doesn't have all that cutting edge features that you'd expect from an anime that was released in 2010. But the animation is by no means sloppy, not at all. The show even takes in real world elements that really did draw me in further since it's a hybrid of animation and real life. However, this also may be a turn off from people that might want to watch this show, so if you have the guts to sit through and tolerate the art style, who knows ? You might actually begin to like it further down the show since the quality stays through the entire time.

Sound: The sound track is just gorgeous, with a kickass OP and ED, I really enjoyed listening to both all the way through. It also show cases some interesting music appropriate to the scene throughout the entire show, simple yet enjoyable.

I don't really like rating a show based on individual things, since what's the point of having a good art style when the characters suck. However this show does not suffer from that at all, no way. It somehow brings that idea that we all have of "What if I lived my life differently", that and accompanied when one of the character says "It doesn't matter which path you took, you'd keep ending up where you are now" to me that's the sort of motivation to the viewer, to change and control your life to how you see fit. But I guess I'm getting off track.

Overall: 10/10

Accompanied with some brilliant writing, a nice simple artstyle, and a kick ass sound track this show is probably the embodiment of near perfection