a true conflict of one punch man is
saitama's hopeless obsession for just
another fun fight and his refusal to
move on with his life from that saitama
keeps saying that he's a hero for fun
and yet if there is one thing we know
about the strongest anime character ever
it's that he doesn't have a lot of fun
being one
the guy who right from the start has
everything that all other shonen heroes
dream of and desperately struggle for is
suffering from a dreadful existential
crisis because of this power but i feel
like people are surprisingly confused
about the point one punch man is trying
to make as a story it's not merely a
parody of conventional shonen and
superhero stories or merely a story
about what it means to be a good hero
it's also one that you will find has a
surprisingly deep and profound view on
life happiness and purpose
and so what i've learned is that one
punch man is such a masterpiece because
it resonates with you not on one but
exactly four levels of meaning level one
the parody saitama is [ __ ] hilarious
if you've ever watched any of my videos
you'll know that i absolutely love
shonen anime the epic fights the tragic
backstories the inspiring training arcs
the menta guy with the white hair who is
kind of cooler than the main character i
love it all the problem you might have
realized is that this description
basically fits every single anime out
there and now we have two things that we
absolutely do not want predictability
and repetitiveness what made one punch
men an instant success even with the
very first episode is that it brutally
makes fun of the typical hero hell the
name of the anime itself is a parody one
punch man a story about a guy who
defeats any enemy in an instant starts
with the hero where all other stories
end at the pinnacle of the world the
strongest of them all and it's usually
the story of how we got there that is so
damn exciting all the blood and tears
that were shed along the way all the
obstacles and enemies that had to be
defeated and all the relationships
formed along the way all of it to become
the strongest in order to change the
world now saitama is a guy who used to
work at a convenience store who then
decided to become a hero for fun
he never had any major motivation for it
and the most struggle he actually went
through was doing a basic daily workout
routine well that and losing his hair
which is actually pretty brutal but at
the start of the story he's pretty much
an average guy who just sort of got
motivated to do something great but
actually succeeded right away and so for
anyone like me who has suffered through
endless training arcs and that loved one
dies so i guess the main character gets
a power up scenes this is just a
hilarious thing to see now the true
magic however lies in the fact that
every single character and one punch man
is written as 100
serious except saitama everyone is
designed to fit perfectly into some of
your typical shonen anime trope
genoskato and moomin writer are textbook
examples of shonen protagonists small
with their own struggles and the will to
become stronger
with bang you have the powerful wise
mentor and pretty much every single
villain whether minor or major would fit
perfectly as a serious opponent in any
other story pretty much all of the
characters have unique and cool designs
tragic pasts and complex motivations and
most importantly everyone is drawn
seriously and act seriously except
saitama
he's a pretty boring average dude that
is purposefully lazily and comically
drawn and yet since he is the strongest
of them all he stumps on all the
accomplishments of the serious
characters around him take for example
moomin rider with his courage in the
face of an enemy that outmatches him
completely
we see him suffer and still get up over
and over again proving all the qualities
we want in our typical hero i got so
excited for him defeating the enemy
against all the odds but just when you
feel that the hard work and true grit
will pay off moomin rider is defeated in
a single punch and it is no other than
saitama who arrives late to the scene
and then effortlessly saves the day
thinking to himself
so basically the character that i now
spend all this time relating to and
identify with gets defeated in an
instant while all my hopes are undercut
by one effortless punch and it is so
incredibly funny because i know exactly
that the anime is making fun of my
expectations on purpose and i realized
that the same happens with the villains
as well dr janice exiled from the
scientific community has spent 50 years
of his life trying to unlock the key to
humanity's evolution
finally creating the powerful and
mentally unstable creature carnage
kabuto a creature fully taken in by his
own power and perfection and yet all the
buildup we get and the characterization
for both of these great antagonists is
once again undercut right away when
kabuto actually gets saitama to reveal
the secret of his incredible power
usually a fantastic opportunity to
depict a character's mental and physical
developments it turns out to be a simple
workout routine
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the ease with which he reached the top
and defeats all enemies robs all of the
supporting characters like genos of any
meaning they've derived from their
struggles the rate at which one punch
men keeps subverting common anime and
superhero tropes is just pure greatness
i think saitama just has this ungodly
amount of power and the worst or i guess
best part about it is that he didn't do
anything special to deserve it he isn't
the chosen one or an underdog who has
sacrificed everything to get to the top
he really is just this 25 year old guy
who's unsatisfied with work and so i
can't help but laugh my ass off every
single episode as a result of this let's
go to level 2 but first i pray real
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domain level 2 the social critique
shonen is predictable obsession corrupts
and life without a challenge is
pointless once i started to dig a little
bit deeper into the comedic surface of
one punch men i quickly discovered that
many aspects of the anime are quite
critical of the current status of shonen
anime the concept of superheroes in
general as well as the societies that
these stories take place in the first
and most obvious message i found is once
again directly connected to the premise
of the story saitama is a man who has
obtained absolute power
because he's the strongest he's able to
defeat one and boss level monster after
the next something every other hero
dedicated his entire being towards and
yet at the end he's as dissatisfied as
he was working a regular job life is
dull without a challenge
when there are no stakes and no
consequences to fear for anything we do
life becomes less enjoyable beginning
the story as a delusion young man with a
full head of hair searching for a job in
business saitama discovers a passion for
hero work that for the first time in his
life lights a fire in his eyes but three
years later the thrill is gone along
with his trademark anime hair and he has
gained the power to end any fight in
just one punch even though saitama is a
really nice guy he has fallen prey to
his own desires and expectations after
all his great wish to become a hero in
the first place was because he thought
it was fun finally something he could do
that he's actually good at
and so even though he usually does the
morally right thing he doesn't fight to
save others he fights for his own
personal pleasure and since he already
is the strongest this obsession with
having a good fight leaves him eternally
dissatisfied this is the true conflict
in one punch man
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it is the central theme of the story
this obsession with the goal of becoming
stronger which typically sets our heroes
apart from the rest and allows them to
grow here is explored through a more
human and realistic lens take a moment
to really appreciate that the most
common way normal people turn into
monsters in this world is by succumbing
to their obsessions crablante for
example was so obsessed with eating
crabs that he turned into one phoenix
man was obsessed with grief and with his
role in his cancelled tv show so much so
that he merged with his bird costume
genus turns less and less human with
every single upgrade he gets
becomes more and more monster the harder
he pushes all the way to a my mask who
is consumed by his desire to be
beautiful and so i started to get the
strong feeling that the lines between
humans and monsters get more and more
blurred as the story unfolds so once
again subverting typical anime tropes
the main theme is not about not giving
up in fact the story has made it clear
at several points that there are times
when a person really should give up it
is actually a story about staying human
that insight really hit home for me when
i rewatched the last episode of season
1.
backstory is pretty much exactly the
same as saitama's he's an invincible
being that got so obsessed with a good
fight that he started eradicating
planets in order to find stronger
opponents he is meant to be an exact
mirror for saitama's faults a warning
for what our bold hero might become
should he find no way to leave his
obsession behind on a larger scale i
also found that one punch man criticizes
the concept of superhero societies in
general how can creators keep upping the
stakes and make it interesting for fans
who've already seen it all is there a
point where it all kind of starts to
feel recycled in the world of one punch
men this is expressed in the form of the
hero association whose creation was
actually sparked by saitama himself when
he saved a little kid from the crap
as it turns out daddy had a lot of money
however since saitama lives mostly
outside the system in general we get to
experience it for the first time side by
side with him i personally found that
the hero association's ranking system
and the egos and internal strife within
it are a super interesting take on the
idea of superheroes as famous
celebrities the message here being power
doesn't corrupt it only reveals who you
were all along level 3 the life lesson
saitama teaches you what actually
matters in life you may or may not
believe me but the true message behind
one punch man actually goes even deeper
than we've already gone
far from being a pure comedy show or
simply criticizing the status quo and
anime one has intentionally planned his
story to be the real deal right from the
start the world of one punch men with
its enormous cities that are harassed by
cataclysmic monsters every other day is
built specifically so that saitama can
work as a protagonist a guy who punches
big and strong things on a daily basis
that makes it even more impressive to me
than how rich and real this world starts
to feel a few episodes into the story we
talked about all characters but saitama
being written completely seriously but
that does not only result in a comedic
effect but it also makes these people
feel real and relatable and we have a
lot of fantastic character arcs for
people like janos gotto and sonic
their contrast to saitama is not only to
be funny they contrast him to shine
light on the true point of one punch man
as a story drawing him as simply as he
is has the really fascinating effect
that we have to judge him not by his
appearance but by his actions and
personality
no epic hair and no badass costume
saitama is so special as a main
character because people love him for
just being himself wanting to be the
strongest is something that only very
few people can actually relate to
worrying about money what to have for
dinner and procrastinating important
stuff we have to do on the other hand
pretty relatable watching tv and playing
video games on a tuesday morning also
extremely relatable saitama is easy to
love as a character because power
reveals who someone is at heart and
saitama is just this nice but sort of
clueless dude in his 20s and it's no big
surprise to me i think that this is
extremely attractive to people
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most importantly however saitama's big
flaw as a character might be the most
relatable thing of them all he is
obsessed with the thought that being a
strong hero will make him happy will
fulfill him
and yet once he gets what he wants it
doesn't the real journey of saitama is
not finding someone that he can have a
real fight with once that happens it
would just be straight back to the
satisfaction two days later it's saitama
realizing that he needs to move on from
his fantasy and actually become a great
hero character-wise finding happiness in
the moment by spending time with people
like generals and finding purpose in his
ability to protect humanity and inspire
others funnily enough it is actually
king who summarizes the goal of one
punch man as a series perfectly
[Music]
here's another video for you to watch