800https://static.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/293088/tvbanner/onepunchman568cb4ec75c62.jpg I watched Season 1 of OnePunch Man before reading the manga from the beginning. Season 1 is a fantastic adaptation I decided not to watch Season 2 but it seems like it is a kind of a messy adaptation that doesnt do this masterpiece justice at all from what Ive seen so Id say youre better off reading the manga rather than watching Season 2. Spoilers OnePunch Man is a manga with incredible storytelling astonishing art amazing fights funny humor and much more. The fights are really incredible with some insane choreography. You can see whats going on in every panel in every fight and the art is gorgeous. Murata is really talented and even characters design that is designed as something as simple as a neuron looks amazing and he does an insanely good job. It just makes the fight that much better when the art is godtier. ONE is the author and is superb at writing stories so when they combine forces everything is just amazing. ONE has also written Mob Psycho 100 and they have similar themes and topics. OnePunch Man explores its themes really well alongside its humor which never gets old. It has an ensemble cast but every character adds value with their unique traits and has character development. Saitama the main character lives in a world where heroes are common. He has trained so much without ever giving up thatd he never lose in a fight. He defeats every monster with a single punch. Fights bore him since every fight ends within a single punch. He feels lonely being the only person with overwhelming superstrength through Saitama loneliness and depression are described. He feels nothing whenever he fights and always looks forward to a new fight when someone seems strong but he always ends them within one punch. He is a hero and does it as a hobby since he just wants to find someone thats strong enough to last over one punch but never finds them. Genos the cyborg whos seeking revenge against the cyborg that killed his family observes Saitamas incredible power and begs him to become his disciple. Saitama accepts his request and thus Genos becomes his disciple. Its a fun encounter between them and Saitama doesnt really realize what he said yes to but their bond is really entertaining with Genos who writes everything he says down. Genos wants to get stronger after having watched Saitama defeat a strong opponent with one punch but theres not much that can be taught. Saitama reveals his secret during his fight against the House of evolution. All he did was keep training for three years never giving up even if his body said no. It seems too simple for Dr. Genus and Genos. They work with biology and mechanics in order to get stronger but theres no cheat code. Saitama broke his limiter by never giving up. Dr. Genus realizes the truth that an ordinary human like Saitama could become strong by sheer willpower thus he disbands the organization. The manga keeps referring to earlier chapters and you still see them in later chapters how theyve changed and realized their mistake. Even though Genos thinks Saitama is full of crap he continues to follow him and observe his daily day writing everything down. 600https://i.post.cc/25Btf3yj/71.jpg Genos and Saitama join the hero association together but even before their exams Genos gets called to an interview and they already agree that he should become an Sranked hero without actually seeing him in combat. While Saitama takes the exam and scores perfectly in the physical exam while butchering the written exam. He becomes a Cranked hero. Neither did they ever see him in combat nor test him. It makes for many funny moments when Saitama becomes The underdog since hes Cranked and others underestimate him but it shows that a hierarchy is created within the hero association. It doesnt matter if youre actually strong enough to beat monsters. To climb the rankings you need to become number one within your rank but certain individuals camp those spots making it hard to climb the rankings. This is actually discussed a lot through the manga. What makes a hero and is there a need for a hero association? When Saitama and Genos do become heroes a lot of other characters are introduced and an ensemble cast is created. Later on Saitama gets less and less screen time making him a side character. While this can be a problem it is done well in the manga since the other characters are wellwritten as well. Though this becomes a problem if you tend to like the main character the most and find side characters boring. But if the focus always was on Saitama then it could get a lot more boring since every monster would be defeated within one punch which is the punch line that he comes in and does the cleanup job after all the other heroes have struggled trying to take the monster down. Though his moments often show his indifference and that he doesnt take his job seriously which creates fun moments like this: 200https://i.post.cc/9QhX0xrZ/woooooooo.png 200https://i.post.cc/sxvz7sKM/wig.png There are also times where Saitama is looking after Garou because of him being described as insanely strong so Saitama thinks Garou might be able to put up a fight against him. But Saitama looks after him blindly not knowing how he looks and ends up butting heads with him a few times without realizing that it is Garou. 400https://i.post.cc/yYTzFM5K/garoupunchingsaitama.jpg This should make it quite predictable but it keeps breaking the audiences expectations by making the fights and fights less dramatic. It exaggerates typical shounen or superhero tropes making it quite unpredictable. Youre never entirely sure whatll happen and this is also a reason Saitama became a side character because you know he will never lose in a fight. For example when Garou goes on a rampage after the hero association tries to convince the inmates to help them in their upcoming fight he says Ill train for another 6 months quite a common trope and it does this a lot of times. Whenever Saitama beats Garou he doesnt realize it himself and that breaks the audiences expactions. During the hero association vs the monster association. The heroes constantly get beaten up and learn to fight together after never really have tried to work as a team. They have their differences but through constantly getting beaten they work together and Atomic Samurai who usually works with no one is the one who suggests it. They set their differences aside later in that fight. They never worked together because there was no reason since monsters work alone and its easy enough for a hero to take on one monster. That arc isnt done yet but theyre working more together after having split up. Saitama mostly doesnt care about these fights since hes always looking for a strong opponent that can release him from his depression loneliness but he finds no and is therefore left out of most fights making the sidecharacters take the spotlight. The story is very well written with lots of foreshadowing and everything that happens has a reason. For example when Saitama fights against Boros and lands on the moon during their fights and creates a vast crater. That crater keeps reappearing and is always shown when the moon is drawn. Another thing like the subterranean people who lived underneath the earth and are introduced early on to fight Saitama. Actually lives under the earth in his area and their hideout is used during this arc. The monster association is using its hideout as a base for operation. Every minor incident is used in the broader picture developing the plot creating character development etc. During the Deep Sea King incident many heroes were utterly defeated and couldnt put up a fight but they kept trying giving people hope and light. Mumen Rider knew well enough that he could do nothing against the Sea King but yet he kept standing up trying his utmost giving people hope. At last Saitama shows up and defeats it with a single punch leaving everyone shocked that he could beat it since hes Cranked and people doubt the monster was actually strong and call the other heroes weak. Even though Saitama is the strongest human people speculate and come up with their own theories. Saitama doesnt want people to look down on the other heroes since theyve done everything they could and even on the verge of death they still stand up. He takes on the entire burden making people praise the other heroes for their work. The heroes who were utterly defeated during these fights use this as a steppingstone to grow. They start wanting to acquire more power because there was nothing they could do and their job as heroes is defeating monsters saving people but they were unable to do exactly that. Theres also the meteor incident where Saitama decreases the damage of the meteor but yet other heroes dont want their standings within the hierarchy to be taken. Many heroes care little about their duties but more so about their standings. Saitama is super strong and could be of major help in the future against stronger threats but yet those heroes that drop in rankings because of his appearance still seek to scheme and to break his spirit. The story keeps showcasing these things but to be honest this current arc is a little drawn out but it seems like it will get more interesting given the last couple of chapters. Chapters also rarely come out which can be a problem with an ensemble cast since youll nearly never see the main character Saitama. It has some really excellent character development like with the Deep Sea King where those heroes that were beaten start to seek power and constantly have flashbacks of it when theyre fighting others. OnePunch Man is also a clash between ideology and ideals. The hero association has created a hierarchy where its hard to climb. Some view heroes as useless that only crave fame and cannot do anything against evil. Suiryu dislikes heroes. He views them as cocky and famecraving. He believes no hero can destroy evil therefore theres no reason for them to exist but during the tournament when the monsters appear to recruit new members. Goketsu destroys him. He asks for help realizing what a hero is and why theyre so important. Theyre the ones that bring light they keep standing up fighting against much stronger opponents. He ends up wanting to become a hero himself. Another example is Garou who wants to become a monster and is labeled the hero hunter. Slowly as the story progresses we realize that his goal differs completely from just defeating every heroes. He wants to be viewed as a monster that inserts fear into everyone so everybody will come together. He doesnt just defeat heroes but monsters as well. He rejects both the hero association and the monster association. It has insanely good character progression. The monsterfication progress is another good example that people dont want to work for power like what Saitama did where he kept training never giving up. People will accept becoming monsters just to obtain more power they dont want to put the work in to get stronger. People will always want to take the easier route rather than the harder one. Other characters like King Fubuki Bang Tatsumaki Metal Bat Pig God. All add value to the show by having their own unique quirks that make the story hilarious. King is viewed as one of the strongest heroes by the association but its all because of luck. He doesnt possess any kind of strength but he has a great poker face making his opponent overthink every detail. Every time he speaks his opponent misinterprets it. It makes for really fun tense moments when hes shaking of fear while his opponents are hearing the kings engine and overthinking every detail. In conclusion One Punch Man was an enjoyable read with phenomenal writing characters art humor etc. It gets a bit stretched out with the ensemble cast and its current arc but its getting better slowly and it seems like Saitama will get more screen time now though there is a long waiting time between each chapter so you need to have a bit of patience if you wish to read it while its releasing. Nevertheless a really good manga and Id recommend it. Ill give it a score of 92/100 since it does get a little boring when Saitama is so much offscreen.