One Punch Man: Why Growth Is Important
One Punch Man was developed by studio Madhouse in 2015 for its first season. The show was adapted from its webcomic and manga created by ONE. The story follows our protagonist Saitama and his unique ability to destroy any villain he faces with only one punch. In a particularly gruesome fashion mind, you. We follow his story as he trains a young cyborg man by the name of Genos and their journey to becoming proper heroes. The show’s main themes consist of satire of hero tropes and the search for meaning.
I don’t like this show very much. I need to be completely honest on that front. I’ve always heard so many good things about One Punch Man and yet I honestly can’t find them while watching the show. I’ve only watched a small bit of season one and I know y’all are going to rake me over the coals for that but it’s true! I have watched six episodes, and I was completely bored throughout all of it.
I love action anime with a passion and One Punch Man has some amazing fight scenes, I won’t deny that. But the story and blatant and ever-present satire Saitama portrays is so boring. I had this conversation with my cousin today actually. I can’t seem to understand the easy method of achieving one’s goals. We spoke about how AI can trade Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for you. And to me, that just doesn’t feel fulfilling. I feel things should be worked for in life, especially fiction.
One of the reasons we adore Asta from Black Clover is that he started with less than nothing. And yet once given the opportunity he started his journey with simple tools that steadily grew as he did. Same for Ichigo from Bleach. He started with a small head start but still had to learn to release his Bankai and understand what it means to be a Soul Reaper. And him awakening his sword’s full form and his Bankai almost killed him twice!
And Saitama really learns nothing from what I’ve seen. He’s not even trying. The main theme I have seen from this show is Trope Satire and the Search for Purpose. And he’s not even searching. He sits around and expects the meaning of his life to fall into his lap. And maybe that is the flaw the writers had in mind, but I just can’t get behind it.
One of my biggest peeves in anime is overpowered characters who don’t grow. With Sung Jin Woo from Solo Levelling, we watch as he is favored by a system that wants him to grow. And that’s the Keyword here. Growth. He started off weak and was put through situations that forced him to grow. He didn’t suddenly take on new ambitions in his character and personality. He’s not random and sporadic. He wants to provide for his family. That has been his goal from the start and does not change. His means and secondary objectives do change, and they lead to his main goal.
That is character growth. That is how you tell a story. You can have overpowered characters; you can have amazing fight scenes. But please build up to them, first. There’s no point in watching a show where all the characters’ problems are solved before the show even begins. I would have loved to see Saitama struggle to reach his potential and then overcome it only to realize the burden he has given himself. That is phenomenal writing. Pursuing power without the wisdom to understand if the power is worth the risk.
D&D does this spectacularly. I often find myself fighting villains who were normal people in pursuit of power not stopping to question if that is what they need. Goals conflict causing bad choices. And then the world suffers for it. One Punch Man just feels like the writers asked, “What cool things can we throw at the screen? Story? Eh, we’ll worry about that after we watched Genos fry a mosquito swarm.” It feels cheap.
I won’t say it’s a horrible show. I understand some of its qualities, but I can’t seem to enjoy it. But This is just a personal opinion. You’re free to watch what you want; I just hope when going into this show that you understand my words and can think critically about it. After all, we all love anime and some of us want to create it. So don’t forget about growth. It’s important for a character. And a story.
One Punch Figure Zone!
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