One Punch Man

I know I haven't updated in nearly a week now, but I do have finals, which I will be done with on Thursday. Hopefully then I'll be able to update more (here's hoping I can fix my wireless internet as well during this time, it keeps disconnecting over and over).

"I became the hero I had always dreamed of being. But how can it be that, even though I should be satisfied, I feel so empty...?"

Let's hear it for a very unappreciated manga, One Punch Man! (I will be throwing some spoilerish stuff here and there, nothing that you won't find out within the first chapters, so no worries) Starting as a webcomic by a mangaka that calls himself One, OPM is a story focused around Seitama who, you guessed it, beats everything in a single punch. Now I know what you're telling yourself: He's a walking Gary Stu (male Mary Sue, whatever), how can this be enjoyable in the slightest? Simple: Seitama might defeat everything in one hit, but there's a problem; No one is paying attention to his exploits, and he can't find anyone that would make for a "fun" fight.

Seitama's description for himself. Unlike other Mary Sues, Seitama doesn't treat his power with anything special.
He's honestly a very down to earth person. This only makes his godlike power that much funnier.

 We find that our hero has gotten his powers when one day, he walked home and encountered a large crab man who wants to murder a kid for a childish prank. Seitama ends up saving him, and decides to throw away his normal life in order to become a Superhero. He trains for 3 years, and becomes powerful enough to fight beasts that even the strongest heroes of the world are incapable of facing. How did he get this way you ask?

Yep. A very basic workout routine (well, aside from maybe all those push ups and miles he has to run). Seitama did this workout for a few years, which resulted in him losing his hair. This gives us another bit of information: Seitama doesn't actually know the real reason on how or why he got his powers (and neither have the readers at this current moment)

The entire manga could be summed up in this image: Seitama one shotting some beast, being extremely apathetic and bored, while saving lives.

Along the way, Seitama meets a cyborg by the name of Genos. Genos is shocked to see how strong Seitama really is, asking if he can train under him as an apprentice, and even tells his backstory and how he wants revenge on his family's killer(which we don't see any scenes of, just the talking, making fun of every anime that does this, and how it would really look if someone was just sitting there blabbing their mouth off). While Genos has some issues with Seitama at first, he comes to accept him not only as a master who shows himself to have true hero qualities, but also a friend. He himself is one of the few people that realize that Saitama is the strongest hero out of any he meets, including the top people of a Hero group.

Genos himself is much more, well, attractive than Seitama. Kind of the usual hotblooded protagonist at first, but develops more as an apprentice, and, like Seitama, is one of the few heroes that is there to help others.

Speaking of which, the two of them join a Hero Organization so that Seitama and Genos can start proving to the world as heroes. They both do very well with the physical test (Seitama breaking records with his), but while Genos aces his test and gets S Rank, Seitama fails and insteads gets C Rank, having to prove himself as he goes up the ladder(which obviously isn't too hard, aside from the people that think he's kill stealing from other heroes).

"Been there, done that."

I shouldn't have to say this, but I will anyways; this manga is funny as hell. Just the way it makes fun of general shonen manga and how we're represented with a powerful but lazy hero. Quoted from an anon, "There's conflict when Saitama is not around. When he finally arrives to save the day all the tension and drama evaporate in an intentionally hilarious way." It's not a matter of IF Seitama can beat his opponents. It's whether or not he gets lost on the way.

Each of these parts is a different drawn scene. Someone simply put them together. This should give you a good idea on the art.

One Punch Man is a severely underrated manga. While the webcomic itself is crudely drawn (One himself isn't the best artist, but there are many scenes that are actually pretty good despite his art style), Yusuke Murata of Eyeshield 21 fame is redrawing the entire series, with plenty of spectacular art, some scenes being just breathtaking. Combined with the action and the humor, along with ridiculous and fun villains, One Punch Man is a manga that distances itself from any other by not only making fun of them and itself, but playing around the whole way through. My one complaint? I wish it updated faster.

Badassery never looked so apathetic.