10 Second Anime - One-Punch Man - Episode 1

A comedic take on the comic book superhero, the titular main character has become so strong that he can defeat villains with only one punch. Saitama recalls his origin story and wishes he could find a strong villain to challenge him. Series Premiere.

Episode 1 - "The Strongest Man"

First Thoughts.

I had heard many good things about the manga. The premise is that Saitama, an unemployed man, decided to become a hero for fun and within three years of training so harsh that his hair fell out, he has become so strong that he can defeat villains with just one punch. The story picks up after he has become bored and disillusioned. This is comedy first and foremost, action second, and the first episode covered both very well.

There's a gooey center to this show, which is what drives Saitama to become a hero. He may now claim to seek a challenge, but we saw in his origin story that he always wanted to save people, children especially. He also seeks some kind of connection. He lives alone, ostensibly on unemployment benefits, and only does the hero thing "for fun." That's what he says to the villains he's about to destroy anyway. But there were some small quiet scenes where it showed he wanted something more than just a strong villain to fight.

 

This superhero world is crazy! Towns don't exist long enough to be given names because they keep getting destroyed by super powered villains. Saitama himself lives in Z City. With super villains popping up so often, it makes sense that super heroes would pop up too. The only clue we have to Saitama's source of power is a small ember that glows in his eyes. In the present time, he hadn't felt that spark in quite a while.

 

The action sequences and the aftermath are top notch and cartoonishly gory. We're talking internal organs splayed out everywhere kind of gory. I was impressed with the confidence of the art style and direction. Also, people die in this show. Up close and by the thousands. I wonder how Saitama can be concerned about Japan's low birthrate when these huge cities are producing huge numbers of casualties. Well, that adds to the unserious take on violence and the superhero subject matter.

Heh.

This Saitama guy had hair and guts before he became One Punch Man!

That crab man? Gutless.

 

This Saitama guy seemed to be tougher than your average unemployed job seeker. He took the blows from this crab guy, who became a super villain by eating too much crab, without getting hurt too seriously and then defeated him with his necktie.

I think Saitama liked that kind of thing. But three years later...

Ha! He remembered when he decided to become a hero because he was shopping for crabmeat.

 

Superheroes have their own set of mundane problems. Like washing his gloves and replacing his alarm clock.

The villains are hilariously overwrought too. The overdoped muscle builder accidentally killed his mad scientist brother (thanks for making the formula strawberry flavored, big brother) and he had to shed a tear for wondering what the worth of becoming the strongest man in the world was without his family.

Unfortunately for that guy, Saitama is the strongest man in the world, and he didn't have an answer for him, except for one punch.

There's that gooey center I was talking about. Saitama says in a loud voice he wants a challenge, but the audience knows that he really wants a place where he belongs. There was a quick reference to a Heroes Association (which doesn't do a very good job of protecting all those metropolises), so I'm sure it's going to be an important element going forward.

 

Oh, that cat? It eventually warms up to Saitama, from what I saw in the closing credits.

 

I never heard what Saitama calls himself. The villains have ridiculously bad names, but so did some of the heroes we saw. Smile Man? Lightning Max? Maybe Saitama hadn't been asked to join that Heroes Association yet because he doesn't have a name? I can see that happening in this kind of show.

 

The first episode was a nice introduction to our likeable schlub Saitama. I'm looking forward to when the real story starts next week.