Manga Review: One Punch Man Volume 1

One-Punch Man is a hilarious series about a non-serious super hero who became powerful simply because he was tired of being a loser. He goes from being a skinny loser who was picked on by everyone to an incredibly strong hero who is bored by all of his opponents. Yes, you read correctly. The main character is so powerful that he is bored. I’d be bored also if it turns out I could defeat anyone with just one punch. Did I also mention that he went completely bald by age 25 from training too hard to become strong? So there you have it. A bored and bald superhero. Sorry ladies, nothing to see here… unless you’re into that sort of thing.

In the first volume we learn a little bit of backstory and get to see a bunch of boring fights. That’s right – the first few chapters are pretty boring. Even One-Punch Man is drawn bored, which I find very funny, by the way. Everything in each scene is so detailed and carefully drawn yet One-Punch Man himself lacks detail and doesn’t look particularly special. This comes into play further into the manga when things start to pick up and become entertaining. Eventually he encounters an interesting enemy and the action really begins – particularly because we are introduced to a cyborg who becomes obsessed with One-Punch Man and insists on following around and calling the hero of the series “master.”

A Sailor Moonish plot ensues when a batch of villains are angry that One-Punch Man defeated one of their strongest goons with… you guessed it… one punch. They send three of their baddest baddies after our hero and all but one ends up defeated. The last remaining surrenders and says he’ll talk about who sent him and then the manga abruptly cuts off to make room for a bonus chapter that doesn’t relate to the current plot.

Final Word:

This volume starts out really slow and almost feels monotonous with how repetitive it gets, but once you reach the mosquito chapter the pace changes and more characters get introduced. I like this manga so far because it feels like it is not taking itself seriously. The market is very saturated with serious characters and plots and One-Punch Man just laughs at all of them with a baldy superhero who gets more pumped up to chase a mosquito than he does fighting a monster. He is plan and his bland life makes him all the more fascinating to the people who encounter him. He is basically like the main character of My Hero Academia without all of the drama surrounding why he needs to be powerful. He just is. I like this story because it is mocking the entire genre and flipping it upside down. Imagine if Batman walked around in a bathrobe all day, scratched his balls, and then defeated enemies with one kapow. This is a superhero story so stripped of drama and nonsense that the cities don’t even have names. 

Does this sound like something you want to read? Yes. Yes it does.

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**This item was provided for review.