One Punch Man
It’s really difficult to get excited about anime these days. It’s even more difficult to get excited about the superhero genre. So, you can imagine how thrilled I was to watch an anime about superheroes. But you know what? I really enjoyed this one. I enjoyed it because it’s a satire of superheroes, subverting the genre every possible way, and taking nothing seriously.
One Punch Man is about an ordinary guy named Saitama who decides to become a superhero. He trains really, really, REALLY hard until he is so powerful he can defeat any enemy with a single punch. This is great at first, but eventually he gets bored with it. No one poses a challenge to him anymore, and he soon loses interest.
The story picks up when strange monsters start attacking the city, and Saitama reluctantly takes on a disciple, a cyborg named Genos. The two of them make their way through a world filled with terrifying threats and new superheroes. But despite it all, Saitama still can’t find a worthy enemy. Everyone’s head still explodes with a single punch…
One Punch Man is entirely fresh, funny, exciting, and original. Coupled with strong writing and incredible animation, this turned out to be one of the best anime in recent memory.
Verdict: Awesome
The Seven Deadly Sins
Set in the fictional world of Britannia, in a time of magic and monsters, Princess Elizabeth sets out in search of the Seven Deadly Sins. The Sins are a group of powerful, disgraced knights with bounties on their heads. She believes they were framed, and they are the only ones who can prevent a coup against her father’s kingdom.
What follows is a mediocre shonen series. There’s the usual power-ups, fighting, groping jokes, and slapstick “humor.” By this point, the genre is as bloated as a dead mule, and The Seven Deadly Sins does nothing to alleviate that. It is a decent enough ride, I suppose, fun while watching it, but ultimately forgettable. It is colorful and well animated, but doesn’t contain anything that hasn’t been done a thousand times before.
Verdict: Average
If you haven’t checked it out,you should probably give Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure a shot. It’s campy in the best way possible.
I keep hearing great things about it. But if it isn’t available to stream easily (i.e. Netflix or Hulu, not Crunchyroll), then it’s pretty hard for me to watch new anime these days. But I’ll try to make a point to check it out.