One of the things I love about anime as a media is how studios are not afraid to deconstruct the genres that have built up their popularity for so long. A show is called a deconstruction when it takes common tropes that exist within the anime genre and changes the perspective of it into a whole new kind of show. In the case of One Punch Man, the show tackles different pieces that build the superhero/shounen genre in a comedic way making us look at the whole genre from a different perspective.
If we look at Marvel’s cinematic universe, every character has a backstory, a
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drive and a development of character to make them the hero they are today. For the example of Iron Man, Tony Stark starts as the egotistic weapons juggernaut that only cares about the company’s bottom line. After character development caused by his own weapons being used against him, he becomes the iron man that cares about protecting the world.
One Punch Man’s Saitama is a character that wedges himself in this super-powered world. His existence attempts to take all the seriousness from the world for comedic effect. If a character tells a backstory or gives a monologue focusing on their intentions, simply Saitama’s generic and bald looking caricature nullifies all potential emotion or feeling the audience is supposed to feel. I mean, that’s the whole point of the show right? To make us laugh?
However it comes at a cost that One Punch Man failed to realize. Shifting to another funny and slightly deconstructive show, Konosuba humors the Isekai genre of anime with how pathetically hilarious the main cast is. It always seems like the show NEVER takes itself seriously at any point. It does not give us any hope for a serious plot to ever exist within the show and it still manages to entertain the audience. One Punch Man builds on everything surrounding Saitama. The characters, the world and the epicness of the animation continue to grow outside of the funny looking idea and into something the audience kind of wants to take seriously.
At first Genos looked so one dimensional with his comical backstory and how inferior he was to Saitama. But as the show goes on, you start to root for him. In fact, you start to be interested in everyone. By giving all the characters a leg to stand on, Saitama starts to become annoying. A character that ruins any potential hope that One Punch Man could bring to a serious plot. At first I was able to turn my brain off and enjoy how silly the world was in the way they wanted, but as the stakes got higher and the characters and animation elevated to these levels of epicness I couldn’t. That’s why this show suffers from balance, I feel the intention of comedy but with the delivery of epicness that I can’t ignore. The fight with the Deep Sea King is a huge example. The character development surrounding the supporting casts’ courage and togetherness actually felt real and had a serious tone I was rooting for. But to end with Saitama’s single punch to end it all with no animation and a freeze frame with nothing to build up for, didn’t feel funny but instead felt like a slap to my face.
The Deep Sea King fight transitions into a positive point I have for OPM’s deconstruction. Saitama being the strongest human being on the whole planet, never receives the recognition he deserves for any of his actions. This plays on the dystopian idea of a constructed hero world. Status and ranking is all everyone cares about while true justice and heroism takes the backburner. This can relate to BNH’s Stain and villainous motivations as he believes that he has a sense of duty to cleanse society of false heroes. Saitama really doesn’t care though, his motivations are rather simple. “I’m doing this for fun”. It shows in how he sacrifices the potential benefits of his heroism to commend the other heroes that were involved in the fight. I mean, it’s a cool gesture and it kind of knots the whole plot together at the end of each tiny arc but I had a hard time caring for these gestures. They felt so generic and insincere.
In fact the most sincerity I felt was from my favourite character Mumen Rider. He parallels Deku from BNH and his definition of making a difference as a hero. Both originally having no powers, they still carry this strong sense of justice to save others in need. It’s these legs that the plot stands on that completely counteract the comedic effect of the show.
Animation is also a big carry for the show. Without the detailed and hard work Madhouse took to build on the intensity before the punch, this show would just be average or even below average. The way Genos’ abilities were showcased in every fight scene he was the only one that appealed to me in the entire show. Animation carries art style too. The art style of OPM was too bland to even remember what most of the villains and side characters looked like (however that may have been the point to begin with). But watching them freely move with entire cities as their playground was too entertaining to not pay attention to.
One Punch Man has always been this controversial score to me, because I always feel like the hype carried its score way too high than it was supposed to be. I like OPM, but not to the extent that many have put on its pedestal. After rewatching the show and reconfirming my original beliefs, I see some of the original appeals and have laughed at some of the jokes but am still drawn to its setting and plot behind Saitama’s massive comedic shadow that blocks the potential of the show.
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Apr 2, 2021
One Punch Man
(Anime)
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One of the things I love about anime as a media is how studios are not afraid to deconstruct the genres that have built up their popularity for so long. A show is called a deconstruction when it takes common tropes that exist within the anime genre and changes the perspective of it into a whole new kind of show. In the case of One Punch Man, the show tackles different pieces that build the superhero/shounen genre in a comedic way making us look at the whole genre from a different perspective.
If we look at Marvel’s cinematic universe, every character has a backstory, a ... |
