One Punch-Man review

porchpuppy11
Apr 15, 2021
Ah, that feeling of boredom eating away at you when you have godlike stats in your game. Or just passing any test in school with no sweat. That's what Saitama, our protagonist in this action shounen manga, similarly felt when all of his enemies, big or small, fast or slow, all fall down, or worse dissipate into thin air, with one punch. Yes, 1 punch is all it takes, and thus the title of this manga. Worse of all, he is being underestimated because of his mundane looks and attire, like some crappy '80s superhero in tights. It doesn't even help that he joins an organization of heroes who look down on him too. And thus we follow his story of looking for his best contender in the whole universe!

At first one may be put off with Saitama's character design because of his looks, to some it may be enough to detract themselves from reading this manga, and his looks greatly contrasts with his newfound sidekick Genos, a white-haired bishie cyborg with equipment that can rival Iron Man's who wants to be trained under Saitama's tutelage, as well as other heroes and villains who have way too cool designs and gadgets with them. But this is okay, because it is compensated by the great variety of designs, and even the details of their hands are different. 

As for the characters themselves, you can't help but feel for Saitama, who even though strong, is left with a boring superhero life. Genos' development is such that he realizes his cyborg body may not be enough to defeat all those who stand in his way, and thus he strives to improve himself as Saitama's sidekick, much to the master's chagrin. Villains though are cliched, and are rather made to prove that Saitama overpowers them in a match. Even so, their interactions with each other are hilarious, especially when Saitama knocks them out.

All in all, the enjoyment factor is very high for a shounen manga, and albeit the battle scenes are quite short when Saitama enters the fray, the panels are very detailed to the point that one panel of their movement encompasses one page. Which brings us to what I think is a minor problem here. I don't know if this is one of the mangaka's quirks but detailing one page with only one movement frame of the character could slow down the pace of the manga indeed, in fact in one scene it took 2 chapters to finish one villain, and with one punch too. Nevertheless, if this is intended by the mangaka, I think it is really original for such a medium. 

Anyway, if you're into action shounen, then Saitama's antics will make your day complete! Not to mention sympathizing with him when he feels down as his day comes to an end knowing he didn't met yet his rightful rival.
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One Punch-Man
One Punch-Man
Autor Murata, Yusuke
Artista