8/15/2023 0 Comments One punch man opening![]() ![]() Sometimes, it turns out, you can have your cake and smash it too.Hi, it's Com2uS! Summoners War v6.4.5 has been updated. The biggest, most elaborate fight in the show contains all of these elements-70% of the population on the Earth appears to have died, but the point is the cool fight, and Saitama's excitement at facing a worthy opponent. Like the best parodies, *One Punch Man *works perfectly well in its own right as a more-than-serviceable action series. But that doesn't mean it's not fun, or accessible. ![]() These are all reasons the more cerebral, winking fan might catch *One Punch Man *fever: the show already knows everything you might think about its genre, and allows its unconventional protagonist to absorb your concerns. He is an anime fan who became an anime protagonist. On top of that, he experiences depression and boredom because of the strength of his power. His concerns are human-he gets angrier about coupons than he does about giant monsters, and begrudgingly develops connections with others. Just because Saitama is relatively static, however, doesn't mean he isn't a fascinating character: his dweeby exterior might be facade (at the beginning of the series, he flashes a knowing grin before turning and presenting himself as goofball), but his social anxiety is real, and he's genuinely nervous about dealing with many of the heroes. (Spoiling this show almost feels besides the point of course Saitama is going to win.) It's fun to watch, but as Boros himself notes, the outcome was never in question. It's a long, drawn-out battle (though nowhere near the DBZ fights that, when condensed, are *still *several hours long), and it inevitably ends with the hero's victory. And in the final episode, Saitama takes on the ultimate enemy: Boros, a bored intergalactic warlord with several variously powered forms. The opening sequence of the series finds Saitama fighting the seemingly-threatening Vaccine Man, who looks like nothing so much as Dragonball Z's Piccolo. Where *Venture Bros *spiraled outward its origin as a lampoon of Jonny Quest, *One Punch Man *consistently bases its parody on one of the most popular anime of all time, and certainly one of the most popular in America: Dragonball Z. One Punch Man already knows everything you might think about its genre, and allows its unconventional protagonist to absorb your concerns. And for all his strength, he is often deeply ineffectual. He doesn't even take any of his fights seriously-a good chunk of his dialogue is being bored with monsters, though not even in that wry, Deadpool way. His decisions feel like Rube Goldberg logic contraptions in one episode, he saves a child not because the value of human life, but because of declining birth rates. (As a bald man in a yellow jumpsuit, he looks a little like a used condom.) Both visually and metaphorically, he's an overgrown childL the only reason he became a hero is that he wanted to be one as a kid, and then just kinda didn't do anything else. At first glance, Saitama is a remarkably unappealing protagonist. OPM is a relatively scant-just 12 episodes-show about Saitama, a man so strong he can defeat nearly any enemy with a single blow. But while those shows benefited from airing on Adult Swim, the next series primed to explode in popularity doesn't even have an English dub or appear on any American networks, unless you count Hulu. At this point, it's less likely that the form will see a widespread resurgence than to see single series bubble into the zeitgeist, the way Death Note or Samurai Champloo did. ![]() For a few years in the late '90s and early '00s, it seemed like Japanese animation was everywhere-with shows like Cowboy Bebop and Sailor Moon capturing attention-but its footprint in the larger cultural landscape has faded quite a bit, replaced by the resurgent comic-book universes of Marvel and DC. Anime's status in America has been difficult to pin down lately. ![]()
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