One-Punch Man Manga Review

One-Punch Man is a Seinen manga adapted from the original web series ONE and has been re-drawn professionally by Yusuke Murata. The series One-Punch Man is one of the most unique series’ I’ve ever read. The series is released on a fortnightly/monthly schedule and is currently being printed in English by Viz Media.

Story

Everything about the show seems to be Seinen from the dark, hard lined and serious looking characters to the mass death and psychological warfare. The one thing that does not fit in with this story however, is the main character. Saitama is a slim built man wearing a superhero outfit more cliché than Superman’s and is generally disinterested with the world. What makes him special is that he finishes every single fight with one punch, no matter if its a thug on the street or a sea demon the size of a skyscraper. The story expands incredibly fast once he meets Genos the cyborg and together they decide to enlist as ‘official’ heroes of the world.

Although a significant part of the series is dark and serious the series is also quite comedic. The main character is misunderstood by almost everyone with nearly everyone underestimating him due to his appearance. The comedy is integrated well into the story, often pulling the focus away from the story when things start to get dark for a quick laugh.

 

Characters

There are many stand out characters in One-Punch Man that allow for effective comedy and an effective plot developments in the story. Saitama is a very simple character, he is most likely the most powerful being on earth, and everyone including himself does not know why. He isn’t very intelligent but has a strong sense of justice and just really wants to find someone he can fight on equal terms with. Saitama’s character is very original and an overall well constructed character, but in a different way to traditional main characters. Genos is a strong side character that has clear intensions, a strong sense of justice, a badass character design and the upmost respect for Saitama. Genos is frequently used as a plot device to bring perspective back into the story and is a generally relatable character.

The side characters in One-Punch Man are generally well constructed however the author has a habit of introducing many characters but not really including any of them for enough time and therefore many of the characters can seem very similar and shallow at times.

Art

The artwork of One-Punch Man is very good and not just in terms of nice looking pages. The artist effectively uses the art to transition between highly detailed battle scenes into comedic side jokes that you may not necessarily pick up on in the original. The attention to detail in both character design and most backgrounds is very impressive which is most likely the reason for the slow releases.

Conclusion

One-Punch Man is a relatively short manga that is based on a highly successful web comic with terrific art and is overall a great manga to read. The series never takes itself too seriously and you never feel like you are being overwhelmed with to much content despite the heavy narrative content on occasion. I give the series a 9/10, a good short series I would recommend to anyone that is in their mid-teens or older and enjoys a seriously, but not too serious story

-PandaSlayer