Review of One Punch Man (2015)
Seen in 2016.
This reviews refers to the first season.
Action comedy. Parody of the superhero genre, particularly shows like Superman (1941) and Goku Midnight Eye (1989) where the protagonist is boringly unbeatable. Based on a free heta-uma amateur webcomic. Kawajiri Yoshiaki did storyboards on a few episodes.
Unlike the similarly superpowered Witch Craft Works (2014), the action of One Punch Man is engagingly directed and animated, but the parody is increasingly diluted by a sprawling plot and a lot of threads are left dangling. This is par for the course, given the freewheeling source of the narrative as a take-off on Anpanman in a world dominated by a supercontinent shaped like the Saitama prefecture. The high point is when Mumen Raidaa throws his bicycle—Justice—at a supervillain, to no effect whatsoever.
References here: Mob Psycho 100 (2016), Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto (2016).