Impressions: OnePunch-Man

I’m a few years late to the party, but I’ve just finished OnePunch-Man and really liked it. I genuinely didn't know what to expect when I started watching, and now I sort of want to talk about it. 

The show starts have a strongly resonating impact when the physical strength of the characters is taken as a stand-in for something a little more abstract: Power. It’s no secret that the theme of power emanates throughout the show; a lot of the story revolves around characters wanting to be stronger, or characters comparing their strength. 

Physical strength is an analogue for power in the world of OnePunch-Man, because of the existence of “heroes.” The hero institution, formalised in the Hero Association, legitimises the standards of power. That heroes are further stratified into ranks and classes solidifies the idea that anything can be commercialised, packaged, and sold to the public. Rather than take on a militaristic image, as most superhero organisations tend to in media, heroes are treated as celebrities, with PR-management and the nightly news reporting on the latest hero gossip. 

That’s one of the first indications that the story isn’t necessarily about getting stronger for the sake of it. In fact, a running point that the story makes, is asking why we want power, and what to do when power does come knocking at the door. 

There are so many thing about the show that I want to dissect: the concept of justice, what role violence plays, what it means to be a hero, and just a lot about the characters. But I’ll start with this one because it was more subtle.

Source: OnePunch-Man Wiki

It was a brilliant decision that Saitama started off as a Class C hero, because it allowed us to see interactions with other characters who are in the thick of the rat race. The heroes in Class C are, to put it plainly, above-average human beings, and the politics involved in trying to climb up the ranks are intense. A good question would be why it was so important to so many like the Tanktop Tiger to be recognised, and to have a higher ranking. Understanding this makes it easier to understand why they were so eager to tear down anyone who started to climb above them, and why they resented Saitama so much. Because there are actual gains to being a registered and “recognised” hero, monetary gains are one of them, acceptance and support are others. 

Class C heroes are pretty much people who are kind of faster and kind of stronger than most. They’re in the position Saitama was in, prior to the events of the anime. So when Tanktop Tiger responds to his first “defeat” by Saitama, it’s interesting that it was to tell his brother and then gang up on him. 

By and large, the monsters and heroes we see in the show are organic, with muscles that can be strengthened and minds that can be sharpened. Aside from Saitama, Sonic, and Bang, though, the only other character to discuss training in the show, is Genos.

And that’s rather ironic because he’s a cyborg. In The Ultimate Master, Saitama tells Genos that his specifications should be enough to satisfy the test requirements for hero certification. Later on, the former again concedes that there’s really no way to train Genos, because his computational power is as fast as his parts and programming allow, and his physical strength is limited by his materials and energy source. 

Yet, comparing the numerous other heroes we see, Genos insists on training to get better. By the end of the anime, he comes out better for it, enough to look at Amai and notice how far he’s come in comparison.

In a world in which the most powerful man has professed multiple times that the worked hard and trained to get where he was, it’s striking that so many who “outrank” him don’t say the same.

This appears even in the very first episode. It’s a running gag that Saitama doesn’t really have an origin story. Every other hero, scientist, or even monster talks about how they ate too much crab and became a super strong crab monster, or was born naturally gifted and just ran with that, or they wanted power and modified their bodies. 

While we do see that Saitama started out with fast reflexes and above-average strength, he wouldn’t settle for where he was. Rather than just snap at the ankles of everyone above him, though, he worked hard on himself and became much stronger. His baldness is a constant glaring sign of how hard he worked.

In the face of his power, the people around him have one of two reactions. Either they perpetuate the rat race, and try to tear him down, or they tell themselves they too need to work harder and be better. The scientist Genus spent decades of his very long life trying to make everyone else reach his level, only to realise that maybe, he should have been the one "evolving” instead. 

I suppose it’s the absence of desire for personal growth (and a personal obliviousness) that’s striking, and because of it, many of the characters feel tragic, but flat at the same time. It seems very much like something done on purpose, that even characters who have a lot of mystery behind them and their motivations can feel less compelling than Mumen Rider.

It starts with self-knowledge of one’s strengths and limitations, and snowballs from there. It could be said that the show is only a smattering of gratuitous violence and visual puns, but at the core of the ridiculousness is a story that I feel can be appreciated in depth. 

Honestly, I want to talk about OnePunch-Man some more, with more structure and in real depth. I have no idea if it’ll be a thing on this blog yet, but so much of the story resonates with me. Let me know if it’s something you’d like to hear about. And as always, send/ask me anything!

Initial Thoughts: Doug Out

I’m rather glad that what I’d predicted for Doug Out came to be. You can tell very early on in the episode that Mr. Maheswaran isn’t used to “exciting” things happening in his job.

At least twice he was caught off guard as strange things happened around him. And it’s a perfectly understandable reaction. Even Steven had to adjust to the things going on around him.

But what he says at the end, about wanting to be taken seriously and wanting to be more than just the goof in Connie’s life really puts his actions into context.

The foreshadowing with the clown nose was especially telling.

But little things before that, such as when he asked Steven and Connie if they wanted to join the stakeout. In hindsight, all of it appeared very planned.

Even his driving up to the two now seems like a deliberate attempt instead of a chance encounter. I mean, he probably wasn’t expecting a job in Beach City, but once he knew he’d be assigned there, he probably started formulating a way to spend time with his daughter.

But I really enjoyed the way his talking about his feelings wasn’t contrived. It felt very organic that he was vocally disappointed that something “cooler” didn’t come up (at the very least a teen using some strong language). And this prompted Connie to ask him what was really wrong.

And I liked how Doug didn’t make a big show out of feeling like he wasn’t cool enough for his daughter. He wasn’t blaming her for whatever feelings he thought she might have for Dr. Maheswaran. He wasn’t asking her to choose him.

I feel the episodes with Connie’s parents always stand in stark contrast to the episodes that focus on the relationships between Steven and the Gems or Steven and Greg, or Greg and the Gems, where often, Steven must act as mediator (Mr. Greg and Keystone Motel come to mind).

It’s a far cry from Fusion Cuisine, when it appeared as though Steven’s family was more together and open than the Maheswarans.

Of course, Greg and the gems are doing a lot of things right. I think it does serve to highlight though how differently these two groups handle the youth.

He was just expressing his feelings. By the way he pushed the marbles around with his feet and looked down, it’s likely something that made him feel uncomfortable.

I liked how he framed the situation as his not having an exciting career, and how he wanted to give Connie the experience of having a cool dad. He didn’t frame it in a way that pushed responsibility on Connie, and he gave her the space to respond in a huge number of ways.

And I really liked how from the beginning, Connie’s response wasn’t contrived either. Even before he finishes speaking, Connie already has an answer. She didn’t have to think up a way of explaining away what her father felt was his inadequacy. She wasn’t going to deny that he wasn’t the same as her mother.

Connie embraces her father for whom he is. And I think in light of his becoming more supportive of the life she’s leading, it’s a lovely way to develop their characters. 

Initial Thoughts: Lion 4

This moment is so artfully rendered. The build-up to this scene was the boiling over of Steven’s feeling Rose’s presence and pressure in his life. 

And then as Greg reassures him of Rose’s desire (that all the best parents deep down want for their children) for Steven to find himself, embrace it, and be happy, Rose is there, watching from behind them.

It’s very much like the scenes we usually get in the temple, when Rose’s portrait hangs over everyone. But over there her eyes are closed and she’s frozen in a picture-perfect moment. 

This scene dispels the lasting tension brought about by that version of Rose, the individual who was perfect and could do no wrong, the gem who must have had a motive for having Steven.

The Rose behind Steven and Greg had fully accepted her role as mother. She giggled, rambled, and admitted to her imperfections and inadequacies. She hints at the regret of not being able to really meet her son.

Her eyes are wide open in the paused video. It’s as if she herself became more aware and at the same time more open about herself. The resolution is blurry, because we can never really get the entire image of someone else, not even in video. It’s not the clean pastel colours that we see in her portrait.

Leading up to his, Steven did feel alone. He felt he was carrying the weight of his destiny by himself. This scene beautifully shows that both his parents are there to support him. Rose may have left behind a repository of “junk,” both the literal and metaphorical, but Steven wasn’t entirely wrong.

Rose was indeed leaving things behind for him. But they weren’t necessarily leading to a big revelation of his destiny. Each time we encountered something Rose meant for Steven to find, it was only a tool and not a determinant towards what Steven would do next. 

And in this episode, we recall those places all over again, reinforcing this theme. The armoury, the fountain, the room. Even Lion.

All these things Rose left behind were left without instruction. That’s why Steven became confused and certain it was a cryptic message left for him. In reality, it was because she never wanted anything of her son. She wanted to share so much of her life and her history but she knew she wouldn’t be there to do it.

It was precisely because Rose didn’t want him to feel the pressure to take up her mantle that she left things largely unexplained.

There were definitely flaws to her approach, but her intentions, seen very clearly in her two videos, stayed true throughout her journey to becoming Steven’s mother.

From day one, that neither knew who Steven would be is a reflection of what every parent feels when having a child. 

What I feel this episode really cements is Steven’s decision-making as an individual. The significance of his life’s choices rests on him. And I hope these are themes we get to explore more in the rest of the Steven Bomb and in the show.

Initial Thoughts: Tiger Philanthropist

This episode marked a change in the way the story in SU would be progressing from now on. Many times it’s been pointed out how the Gems are ill-equipped to be Steven’s caretakers, and how usually, they themselves are the ones for whom Steven needs to put his own needs aside. 

The Gems have deep personal issues that they refused to acknowledge for a very long time, centuries in fact. Their suddenly being guardians of a teenage boy was not going to make those things go away. So early Steven spent a lot of time being ignored and left behind. It’s a fact he brings up in Rocknaldo. While we’ve been analysing it and pointing it out, it’s more than clear that Steven has been aware of it himself.

As the Gems engaged with him more, he found himself in the middle of meltdowns, arguments, and panic attacks. And we’ve seen how having to put aside how he feels has worn him down and given him issues of his own, about never being a good enough Crystal Gem, and never matching up to Rose.

These feelings culminated in the latest Steven Bomb (Bomb 5), when Steven decides to put his feelings first and refuse to listen to the Gems, instead seeking out Blue Diamond. What he realises is that doing to Greg and the Gems exactly what the Gems did to him was not going to make things better.

But I think it was a wake-up call for the senior Crystal Gems as well. Their becoming more accommodating of Steven has been a long, slow process. In this episode, Steven actually feels comfortable enough to tell Amethyst how he felt about wrestling, that he disagreed with her decision to quit, or at least the way she quit. 

And that’s something relatively new, because Steven doesn’t often talk about how he feels when he’s with the Gems. Instead of making light of it, Amethyst engages him on the same level. She tells him about wrestling’s personal relevance to her at a particular stage in her life. 

When Steven goes back to the ring, we expect he can take down human beings easily. When Amethyst appears, we know it’s not to save the day. That is how much our expectations of the characters changed. It’s a far cry from season one in which we believed Steven couldn’t defend himself.

Contrast to episodes like Joking Victim, Amethyst didn’t just stand by and let things happen. She washed her hands of wrestling but went back because part of her knew Steven had unfinished business. And she put aside her own desire to quit so that Steven could have closure.

I would say they end the match on their terms, together. Wrestling was never about feeling like he was good enough. His reason for doing it was to spend time with Amethyst. He was hurt because she decided on quitting without telling him, as if those memories didn’t matter.

In a turn of events, it is Amethyst, not Steven, who makes the speech that says exactly those things. In what I hope becomes a more common occurrence, someone who cares about Steven pre-empts how he feels instead of his having to do it the other way around all the time. 

What Amethyst gave him was assurance that the memories he treasured of their being together meant something to her too. And it implied that finding something else to do was always going to be an option. Wrestling had gone stale for them, but their relationship did not.

I’m glad this kind of shift occurred in a daily life type of episode. It is small acts that people decide to do every day that make them who they are. Becoming a totally different person in a dangerous or extreme moment loses the meaning of the act if only because the change is not as organic and nothing sustains it after the adrenaline fades.

I hope that this shift continues on. It was one thing to begin to care about Steven, but I find it significant that the Gems are also learning how to care about Steven, because it does make a difference.

Initial Thoughts: Rocknaldo

I liked the new episode a lot. At the heart of it was good social commentary. Often when talking about a cause or a movement, there are always attempts to undermine those who are actually in it. Fighting for X? Are you even X enough? 

People asking for the same rights granted to everyone else are often discredited, because people think it’s far easier to err on the side of giving no one the same respect because of a few possible “fakes.” 

And that’s not great. Because that does make it all about the majority and what they’re comfortable with, rather than the people whose lives could change drastically with every decision made.

I liked how the episode started with Ronaldo telling the gems he was wrong about them, and saying he wanted to champion their cause. A lot of the time, people earnestly believe they’re doing the right thing. 

Hurting others isn’t the end goal for the reasonable person; it’s just, they don't see their actions in perspective, like when Ronaldo kept criticising Steven.

These days, a lot of bias is deep down. It’s harder to root out because no one believes they could be “guilty” of such an abhorrent thing, like discrimination, like prejudice. 

But in refusing to acknowledge that some of our actions might be tinged by our contexts, we benefit none. 

I applaud the subtlety in the episode. It’s a good springboard to talk to anyone about these issues. But it shouldn’t end there. I mean, the episode is a start, but it isn’t the answer to systematic marginalisation. That requires a lot more effort, just like how picking a gem name, without the love and acceptance, harms and hampers the cause more.

And it was helpful to present Steven as not dismissing Ronaldo. Each time Ronaldo misrepresented the Crystal Gems, such as with the first Ronaphlet and again as Bloodstone, Steven talked to him. And it wasn’t always without opposition, but Steven didn’t just fence of Ronaldo and refuse to educate him. 

I feel that’s what made the difference. It’s not an easy thing, to face someone who’s causing hurt and refuses to believe it. It’s not a responsibility forced on everyone, but in choosing to engage and educate, a change happened for the better. I hope we keep getting this sort of slice-of-life episodes.