Review - One Punch Man: "Strongest Man"

One Punch Man is adapted from a Japanese webcomic of the same name, created by an author who calls himself One. It has turned into a hugely popular series and thankfully there is now a great anime adaption of it.

Wow. What an amazing first episode! "Strongest Man" was a fantastic start to the series and a brilliant introduction into One Punch Man.

The story focuses on Saitama, a superhero who is so strong he defeats all of his enemies in one punch! 

The episodes introduces us to Saitama in the best way possible, by him going up against an insanely strong looking alien (That resembles Piccolo from Dragon Ball) called Vaccine Man who is destroying the city, Vaccine Man is about to kill a little girl until Saitama flys in and saves her and then punches Vaccine Man into oblivion. One Punch Man is a very funny series, The art of the animation plays with the usual "epic" illustrations, making the characters look cool, Saimtama most of the time looks like an average joe, who couldn't do anything, thats what makes him so awesome. 

Saitama's plain face

In "Strongest Man" Saitama runs into several different enemies, they feel like a string of different stories that aren't really related to each-other, the only thing that connects the threads together is Saitama's narration, explaining that he is looking for an opponent that he can really have a fight with, because defeating foes in one punch is just boring now, its such a funny comparison when you look at it against something like Naruto or Dragon Ball, where the characters are training all the time to get stronger to defeat their enemies, Saitama is the flip-side of that and regrets all the training because he easily defeats everyone. One of the best parts about the episode were the enemies that Saitama was fighting, they were all awesome looking and quirky, each enemy had a certain thing about them that made them standout even though really their just fodder, for example, Crabrante, a creature which was formed when a man ate too many crabs and randomly transformed! 

Crabrante! 

While Saitama defeats everyone in one punch it doesn't mean that all of the action sequences are only 10 seconds long, there is a big chunk of the episode which is Saitama fig hting an army of Underground People, these creatures dwelling under the Earth, this scene is incredible, with Saitama defeating dozens of enemies.

The animation for One Punch Man is amazing, it was perfection, thankfully Madhouse, one of the best animation studios in Japan made the series, every scene looks incredible, especially the action scenes which are jaw-dropping.

"Strongest Man" is one of the best opening episodes i've seen in anime, its funny, action packed and gloriously animated. I recommend it throughly.

9.5/10
What did you think of "Strongest Man"?
Comment and let me know!
Follow me on twitter: @HairyPopcorn