Hello everyone and welcome to The Anime Pulse: First Reaction. It’s an anime that has received the most amount of hype in this season and after watching the first episode, I could see exactly why it got so much hype. Let’s take an initial look at One Punch Man!
General Overview
Saitama is an average-looking fellow. In the looks department, there’s nothing special about him at all. He had a dream to one day become a superhero and that day came where he discovered that he could defeat any foe with a single punch, thus the hero One Punch Man was born! This is his journey to find the one evil opponent that can match him strength for strength to cure his boredom of beating every single evil monster he comes across.
First Episode Impressions
The first thing I thought of when I saw episode one was “it’s another Samurai Flamenco” and it truly is. We get whacky and crazy monsters for Saitama to fight and both Saitama and Hazama had the same goal… that they each wanted to be a superhero, except Hazama was kind of like a poor man’s Batman where Saitama was given an actual power right in the beginning.
The monsters are pretty over the top… ranging from a giant crab wearing a diaper to a massive giant who was injected with a super steroid by his brother, to a subterranean race who like to think of themselves as the true inhabitants of the planet. Just like in Samurai Flamenco, the battles came one after the other with very little set up. It was basically like “I’m a monster and I’m here, Rawr!” and then Saitama would show up, a battle would happen for a minute or two, and it would be over.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Many people would attribute that to bad pacing, but this isn’t a serious action series. It has a high comedic tone to it that you just have to turn your brain off to enjoy. I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode and it got me hooked to see more. Sadly, there’s only 12 episodes of this show so I’m kind of disappointed in the length. I just hope Madhouse can deliver in that short time frame… but they’re Madhouse.. I’m sure they can.
OP & ED Impressions
Opening
“THE HERO !! ~Okoreru Kobushi ni Hi wo Tsukero~” by JAM Project
Oh my God… JAM Project!! They are one of the best Japanese power metal bands out there and as soon as I heard the instruments.. not the vocals.. but the instruments.. I knew who did the opening. I’m a huge fan of theirs and the very first song I memorized in Japanese was “The Soultaker” by JAM Project. Crappy anime… awesome song! JAM Project doesn’t disappoint with THE HERO, either. It sounds exactly like you would expect a JAM Project song to sound like and it fits the anime’s style perfectly. I can’t really think of a better choice for the opening theme.
Ending
“Hoshi yori Saki ni Mitsukete Ageru” by Hiroko Moriguchi
I didn’t really care for the ending theme all that much. It had a vibe that it belonged in a love story-type anime rather than something like One Punch Man. I guess that’s just my personal tastes, though. I was hoping for something that sounded more fitting. Oh well.
Worth Watching?
YES – Wild action, good humor, and the first episode set up the story really well. This is going to be a big hit this season.. I can feel it!
