Finally caught the first episode of One-Punch Man, and… wow.  I was skeptical that it could live up to manga expectations, but it knocked that sucka out of the park.  It’s a thing of beauty.

Most of this episode is just to establish how powerful our hero, Saitama is.  As the title suggests, he has overwhelming power – the kind that can kill any monster he fights with just one punch.

And while we’re at it, why not sprinkle in some references?

We also get Saitama’s sorta origin story about when he was an unemployed loser looking for a job (as opposed to an unemployed hero), which is pretty freaking badass, though a little too ridiculous with all the guts Saitama pulled out from the crab man’s eye.

There’s really not much to say about these segments.  We get that Saitama is brokenly strong, and he seems to be in despair that his overwhelming power has made things too easy and boring for him.  He got into the hero business for fun, but now it isn’t fun for him.  I can’t help but think there’s a clever analogy to be made there, but that might be looking too deeply.

The episode culminates with an epic battle between Saitama and the Subterraneans, which those of us familiar with the manga know is just a dream sequence… but it’s such a fucking epic dream sequence that you just don’t care.  You just have to witness it.  The animation, the music, the voice acting… it all just comes together perfectly.

So that seems to be what the animation adaptation is all about.  You might know what’s coming up, and the story may be lacking, but you’re going to sit down and enjoy the fucking ride.  And I couldn’t be happier.

Also, Tatsumaki.