One Punch Man Review

I really liked OPM. Its writing is so well executed, despite it being traditional in structure: exposition to a climax. The struggle of the weak (relative to Saitama) characters keep us on our toes and wondering what will actually happen. They execute this struggle really well, which makes Saitama one-punching the enemy that much more anti-climatic and revealing of his power. For example, one of the scenes with Mumen rider nearly made me cry (for context I really rarely cry at movies; I don't even remember if I ever have). The OPM world is also very absurd. The world is simplified into power dynamics, with simple categories and labels like disaster levels and the hero ranks being effective. Even martial arts in this world are degenerate, ultimately just being cool-looking moves from powerful people. This is complemented by the calling out of martial arts moves, moves in general, and the calling out of your hero name when engaging in battle. Although, I guess this last point could be canonically explained by heroes wanting more publicity to rise in the ranks. The existence of finishing moves just highlights the absurdity as it just reduces their world to a video game. Animation was also such a perfect medium for this show. The contrast between the design of Saitama and everyone else emphasizes his unnatural-ness. The varying detail in Saitama literally shows just how much he is in control of any fight he's in: we can see how much effort he puts in. I really recommend this anime.

Rankings:
One Punch Man
Death Note
Komi Can't Communicate
AOT
Science Fell in Love
Dr. Stone