One Punch Man Animated Series

On the 4th October 2015 "One Punch Man" aired it's first episode making it officially my favourite animated series. Fun filled action superhero series 'One Punch Man' and you can tell from the title that the main protagonist is good at ONE thing...

The series is full of interesting and funny looking character designs and especially the main character Saitama (aka the One Punch Man). We are told of his background and that he has become so strong he can defeat anyone, usually, with only one punch. This has lead to him being bored ("overwhelming power is boring" - Saitama) which is why he is sometimes portrayed with a dull, simplistic and expressionless  face compared to the in detail surroundings which emphasis this. This changes once he puts on a serious face, his features change to become more defined making him look intimidating or confident/excited.

What I enjoy most about Saitama's character is the fact he is very inspirational. With characters like Superman and Goku I am confused how aliens with abilities that make them far superior to humans are supposed to inspire us to become the best we can be. However, it's easy for them to claim this because the only reason they are able to achieve what they can are due to their alien abilities unique to them. Even many characters in Dragon Ball Z who are human end up being punching bags to show off how strong Goku is. But with Saitama he is Human and by being human he is already relatable to us.

Saitama is presented as an average man with simple facial features and overwhelming power. Not only does this tell us humans are capable of achieving incredible things but that even someone who is considered 'average' can be amazing ("Humans are strong because we have the ability to change ourselves" - Saitama). Every superhero doesn't have to always be incredibly handsome and chiselled, e.g. Superman, Batman, etc.

Saitama even teaches us about being careful what you wish for as the story of 'One Punch Man' revolves around him regretting that he wished to be able to defeat enemies in one punch. This leads to his desire to find someone strong enough to have a good fight. This in turn tells us that in most job professions once you become so good at something you might end up desiring another challenge, e.g. Athletes, Animators, etc.



Pages from the manga turned into gifs, show how much
detail the animated series would have to rival:
- Metal Knight's first appearance

- Genos vs Saitama (aka One Punch Man)

The animation is beyond what I expected, it lives up to the amount of detail the manga has. Without a doubt for me (and probably many others) will be the best Japanese animated series to come out. Great humour, great superhero story concept and great animation. It's an overwhelming feeling to know that such an amazing series I stumbled upon gets it's own animation, well deserved in my opinion. So far hope to have just as much fun with later chapters and have an equally great ending to officially call it my favourite animated series.



Sword of the Stranger

As the name implies this animated film entails the story of a boy being protected by a kind warrior. Throughout most of his fights up until the end scene, the warrior doesn't draw his own sword in combat due to bad things he has done in the past with the sword that he can't undo. this causes him to have traumatic nightmares. He is basically caring his "burden" and it's why he ties the sword together with its' sheath. This is one of the most well animated sword fighting anime film I have seen, which I expect no less from a studio such as Studio Bones who made the animated series for Fullmetal Alchemist  Brotherhood (one of my favourite animated series). This film is set in the Ming Dynasty.

We are told of the kind warrior's name to be "Nanashi" which means nameless in Japanese because his origins are unknown as it is obvious he isn't of Japanese descent as his hair turns out to be naturally red implying he must be of western decent (he was also known as "Red Demon" for his hair colour). As shown in the above image the main villain is also not of eastern descent as he is blond haired and blue eyed to make this obvious (even though he was raised in china). It also makes him appear abnormal to the eastern people as well as being a skilled deadly warrior causing him to be called a demon for these two reasons. I like how it's distinguishes different races with things such as hair and eye colour as usual animes show Japanese people to have a multitude of different hair colours (it's being realistic). Even the characters who are of Chinese descent/raised speak Chinese and those of Japanese descent/raised speak Japanese (in the original Japanese voice acting). Plus the character designs are great with correct proportions especially facial features as some anime usually have over sized eyes. However, this is because realistic design works more for this mature story so it wouldn't be as effective if there were characters within this film who had oversized and brightly exaggerated eyes. I also like to interpret the title for different meanings, since there are characters within this film who are not of eastern descent Sword of the Stranger could also imply that the main warrior character, Nanashi, is a stranger to the country of Japan.

One fight sequence at the start of the film:

 Last fight sequence of the film:



Western Influence on Anime

Both Western and Eastern forms of entertainment have had a significant influence on each other when creating stories and characters for Films and TV series. In this case I will list anime found to be similar to some western created Films and characters.

Revy

Revy is the main female protagonist of the anime series Black Lagoon (2002). She wears a tank top and shorts, wields two pistols (9mm sword cutlasses) and has long hair in a pony tail with a parted fringe. These are attributes very similar to the main character, Lara Croft, in the Tomb Raider games (first created in 1996). They are even presented as very attractive young females. However, Revy is more rough, violent and threatening in her personality as she has a tattoo on her right shoulder, smokes, swears a lot, can be very offensive and really enjoys killing people. Another difference is that Revy is a modern day Pirate whereas Lara Croft is an Archaeologist. However, Hollywood's idea of "archaeology" wouldn't go down well on Time Team!

Lara Croft

Parasyte

The Thing

The anime Parasyte (1988 manga released) is a science fiction horror anime series about alien parasitic creatures. They descend from the sky and take control over the bodies of higher animals, preferably humans, by eating the brain. If successful the parasites try to blend in with humanity through their quick learning ability. Once they have a human host they hunt down people on their own or lure them to a secluded area in order to kill and eat them. They can easily manipulate the head to create deadly weapons, usually tentacles with razor sharp blades.

The description of parasites in the anime Parasyte are very reminiscent of the alien parasitic creature(s) in the film The Thing (1982). Both are about alien creatures that use human hosts as a disguise. The Thing even has enough intelligence to pretend and blend in with the other humans. The Thing can also manipulate the body of its host in order to kill prey and defend itself, but in a more severe way than Parasyte.

If anything the parasites in Parasyte are a dulled down version of The Thing, which spreads like a plague.


SAO

The Matrix


SAO (Sword Art Online, 2009 light novel) is an anime series which is set in a future where virtual reality gaming exists. The technology used to do this directly connects to the user's brain and leaves his/her body motionless while he/she plays in the virtual world. However, the players find out they can't log out and are told by the creator that they can only get out if they complete the game. Also, if they die in the game they die in real life.

Dying when killed in virtual reality is a concept recognised in the film The Matrix (1999). Even the process of how the characters in SAO connect their minds to the virtual reality world is similar to The Matrix,
i.e. physically plugging themselves into the system while leaving their bodies motionless.








Finally, these are two similar characters I don't like:
Goku (1984) is too similar to Superman (1933) in terms of backstory, role and abilities. In terms of who is the strongest, it dawned on me how ridiculously influenced Goku's character is by Superman. Similarities include:

- They both escaped their home planets as babies when it was destroyed.

- Goku crash landed on Earth and was found and raised by a Farmer. Superman crash landed on Earth and was found and raised by a Farmer and his wife.

- Surviving members of each other's species come to Earth to destroy humanity.

- They can both fly.

- They can both shoot lasers.

- They are both immensely strong and immensely fast.

- They both became protectors of Earth.

- They both have unique abilities exclusive to their own species making them far superior.

Besides personalities, Goku is very similar to Superman. Some of their abilities may differ slightly, but they have abilities exclusive to each other's species which is uncannily similar.

I am thankful that Dragon Ball Z paved the way  for the shounen genre and characters. However those influenced have far more unique plots and backstories. We are invited to be inspired by these characters with phrases like "work hard and you can achieve anything". However, that's easy for them to say because the main reason they always succeed is due to their abilities as powerful aliens. As humans as we can never achieve what they can. Goku and Superman inadvertently tell us that we are inferior and should depend on them to save us from great danger all the time.

That's why I prefer a character like Saitama who is human. As you can see from his outfit he parodies Superman i.e. a colourful full body suit with a cape. By just being human Saitama is more relatable than Goku and Superman. Saitama is written to be immensely powerful telling us that we are capable of great things ("human beings are strong because we have the ability to change ourselves" - Saitama). Even the way Saitama is drawn tells us an average and simple looking man can be amazing. His look also goes towards mocking the majority of superheroes for looking all handsome and chiseled. With a bald head this mocks anime characters like Goku who have big spiky hair. It also illustrates Saitama's dull personality.