One-Punch Man

WARNING: May contain some grammar issues.
Don't judge me, not everyone's native speaker you kno. Thanks. ____ Before OPM anime started airing I've already known about comic version drawn by majestic Murata Yusuke (mostly known for Eyeshield 21). Seeing that manga had pretty decent amount of fans (at least in my country) I decided to give it a try and... I stopped reading after few chapters. Why? I just found the story very confusing - I mean, the guy who finishes everything with one punch? Cities in which it's only natural they're being attacked by some freaky monsters? This seemed very boring to me, I saw no plot at all, pace was too fast, etc. ... That's why I wasn't hyped at all when I discovered ONE's story is getting TV series. Neverthless, when the 1st episode came out I gave this series a second chance. Superheroes were never my thing, but I remember being pleasently suprised after watching Tiger & Bunny (the series I've also written off at the beginning and which turned out to be actually good).

And yeah, I was suprised one more time.
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OPM tells the story of an average guy who decides to become a hero after a certain event. He starts his traning, goes completely bald and gains extreme power. Seems cool (cross out the bald thing), any disadvantages? Well, yeah. He's so powerful he finishes every fight with a single blow. It makes his hobby pretty boring and with each successive fight he is more and more resigned. He feels no excitement he used to feel + everyone think he's a freak because of his looks. Aaaaand~ That's the story for you.

Sounds like another weird Japanese shiet? Well, maybe. But who said it's bad?
You just wait.
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The weakest and only weak point of the series is the beginning. Not because there's something wrong with it. It's very well animated, it's hilarious, it's dynamic. The thing is - it may be TOO dynamic for some people who aren't used to such anime (the problem that appears in Gintama, but lasts much longer). In the 1st ep. we have 4 different stories, 4 completely unrelated fights. OPM literally welcomes you with a whack of action. You're getting to know Saitama, but in a really twisted way. It gives the series pretty chaotic look. Well, I guess there was no other choice if producers wanted the anime to comply to the original story. Tho in a comic version it worked better. The additional motion and music created something, that may be illegible or ridiculous at times.

Fortunately, by the 2nd ep. this confusing feel disappears. We have less fights, but they're longer and more complex with actual plot that continues in the next ep. It's also the time Genos appears - he kinda lowers the pace + his fights are imho waaaay more interesting, diverse and they give the producers opportinuty to show off some mad animation skills. He also generates additional gags.
BUT - if you don't mind fast pace and craziness - good for you. Then you may actually really enjoy the 1st episode.

As for other flaws (if you can call it a flaw) - I can't think of any. I'm sure there were some scratches, but guess they were so tiny I've already forgotten about them.
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I didn't notice it at first, but OPM is one of the greatest shounen M&A parodies. It gives the whole new look to the popular superheroes culture. You can also see some references to various series (like HxH or DBZ).

Saitama's personality makes half of the series. I dare to say he's one of the best shounen protagonists. Ironically, cause he's like the antonym of The Ideal Anime Hero

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

(this title goes to Genos, who's also like his own parody).

He has no looks, no flashy powers or weapons, no one notices him, he acts more like a shadow and it's frequent that someone tooks all the glory for what he's done. I've read someone's opinion that Saitama himself may represent the hero's power, not the actual protagonist. I like the idea. He's like the power-up every beaten protagonist gains at the end of the battle.

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

See Genos (most of times) or guys like Mumen Rider.

Then he saves the day.
Saitama's so simple and cute (even his name and design are), craves no attention, he does what he does just for fun. He may look carefree, but inside he's very mature and... emotionally stable? Compared to other anime heroes. In some ways he resembles Gintoki, he's also the similar age.
Saitama carries a wonderful messages, such: "if you love doing something, just do it, even if everyone's against you). And I know such message often appears in shounen series. But what I love in OPM is that this message comes out in a very natural way. Without any bombastic speeches or scenes. It's just like your friend is saying: "hey, dude, don't mind them, just do it

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

). It's really heart-warming.

The other half are stunning fights with great artwork (both in the anime and manga). OPM is the series produced by MADHOUSE, the studio I madly love for creating anime such Mouryou no Hako, Paprika or Redline (high quality artwork, anyone?) Nearly every ep keeps you in suspense, they have one of the most dynamic fighting scenes I've seen. Which is impressive, knowing that OPM had an average anime budget to use. Of course not every frame is beautifully animated, some less important scenes are less detailed. But if those scenes sacrificed themselves so the animators could make better fighting scenes - that's completely fine with me. They still made a good job.
The backgrounds are also well-drawn and detailed.

The series is even more epic due to amazing OST composed by Miyazaki Makoto, eg. Genos' fighting theme or sad theme (don't know their names, the official OST wasn't released the time I wrote this review). Speaking of the music, I guess it won't be exeggaration if I say the opening has the catchiest song in the entire 2015 [THE HERO!! by JAM Project]. Its animation is also way above average. It looks extremely good and perfectly shows the series atmosphere. Is mainly focuses on Saitama being too cool for this show, other characters appear at the very end. This OP was something that gave me the power to continue the series after not being sure what to think of the 1st episode.
As for the ED... meh? Personally, nothing special, I've been skipping it since the beginning. It has very relaxing tune and pretty colour scheme. Not even a single character appears in it. It's more like a slide show to calm down a viewer after seeing so much action. Its defect is that not everyone WANTS to be calmed down after a show, especially if you're watching a few eps in a row.

The other strong point of the series is humor. It gave me Gintama, Tiger & Bunny and Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou vibes. It's pretty unpredictable and it really often laughs out cliché things which happen in popular series. ~!Like "naming" your attacks (Normal Punches in Saitama's case) or killing the bad guy before he pompously introduces himself instead of attacking. There's also Saitama facing Boros who unleashes the power that can destroy the whole planet and he's like "ok."

There's also pretty big amount of gags that strongly focus on character's relationships, the most visible are Saitama-Genos, but later in the manga some other characters will appear

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

(eg. King)

. When translated properly, some of their quotes are really gold.
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The characters are very likable (even some of the enemies). Saitama and Genos make very unique duo. Their teacher-student relationships are one of the kind and their characters complement each other. Like I said, Saitama acts in a hidden way, everything he does is unpretentious. He shows overwhelming power, but also some kind of "meh vibe". Tho behind the scenes of his hero career his life is pretty akward and average. Genos is more flashy in fighting, but very reserved in personal life. He's the Cool Guy of the series (he even has fangirls). He also seems naive towards Saitama and other people he looks up to.
Looking at them from kinda different point of view it's like they're just one stereotypical anime hero divided in half. Which is pretty interesting thing to do. If I was to simplify them, I'd say Genos represents hardships in fighting in the universe of the OPM, while Saitama represents hardships in social life all of us can face. At least that's how I see them. I also love the fact that their personalities slightly change after their first meeting.
Beside Saitama and Genos, there are also a few more important characters that will appear later in the series. Such as Sonic, Metal Bat (oh god, this man <3), Mumen Rider, Tornado or Silverfang. It's a bunch of pretty interesting characters with variety of fighting skills and techniques. Unfortunately we don't know much about them, hopefully their stories will show more of their personalities in the future (cause I highly hope for the 2nd season and guess it's just a matter of time). But what I noticed is that they also represent some kind of parodies of different type of characters. Some of them are also references to different people/characters from japanese pop culture. But I don't want to spoil anything.

As for the staff, we can hear some really famous stars, like Kaji Yuki [Eren Jaeger, Alibaba, Finnian], Miyano Mamoru [Yagami Light, Death the Kid, Tamaki Suou], Nakamura Yuuichi [Gray Fullbuster, Okazaki Tomoya, Kadota Kyohei] or Morikawa Toshiyuki [Kurosaki Isshin, Tyki Mikk, Namikaze Minato].
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To sum it up:

I think One Punch Man is very outstanding anime and one of the best series of 2015. It's very well made adaptation of the manga with original story and high quality animation. It has everything that good shounen should contain: dynamic and interesting battles, hilarious gags, great characters and stunning audiovisuals.