Spoiler alert - if you haven't seen One Punch Man and are offended by spoilers, better stay away.

Right from Episode 1, One Punch Man was never going to be the standard superhero fare. Every single Hollywood superhero movie has the same plot. A hero arises from humble beginnings to save the world from evil supervillain. Of late, the supervillain seems to be conflicted and delusional and thinks he/she is saving the world too, while the hero tends to have a dark past. Whatever, that's like shitting all over polished turd, it's all the same formulaic drivel either way.

To be fair, anime has done a better job of this genre than Hollywood, but the basics are still the same.

One Punch Man attempts to turn the whole superhero genre on its head and question the nature of a hero itself!

Like all fiction, superhero fiction is of course inspired by real world heroes. So, who are they? Usually, well known celebrities who have achieved a certain excellence in their field. Not necessarily the best, but the most popular, certainly. They fight against impossible odds to overcome their challenges. They inspire people to do better, and in general move the world forward.

Is there anything in that sentence that applies to Saitama? Well, he has certainly achieved an excellence.

Maybe too excellent. You see, Saitama is so utterly powerful, he's invincible. There's no dark backstory or revelatory secrets. In fact, it's pretty boring. One fine day, Saitama decided to be a hero for fun, trained hard for just 3 years, and became an invincible superhero.

So invincible that, as the title suggest, he can defeat pretty much every opponent with a single punch. There's no challenge, no drama, no character progression, nothing. Saitama begins as the best, ends as the best. He doesn't learn a single thing or develop in anyway. A complete mockery of what is considered to be a central tenet of all fiction - character development.

Indeed, if there's one word to describe both how Saitama feels and how he is himself, it is -

BORING.

Seriously, have you seen him? A featureless egg shaped baldy. His attire seems drawn in five minutes by a toddler. Even his name. His expression is always the same - deadpan with complete and utter boredom. Oh, and his greatest combo move is called "Successive normal punches". It's all so oppressively banal. Indeed, the man is just so aloof, this is not just some usual boredom, but some kind of deep existential boredom. He does care about the most banal of things, but he sure couldn't care less about being a hero or saving the world. He just does that.... for fun.

So aloof is the greatest superhero the world has ever seen, that he isn't even aware of the Hero association. The whole association is a stark counterpoint which just highlights how absurd the concept of heroism itself is. Despite being easily the greatest, Saitama ends up with a lowly score in the admission test because he couldn't be bothered to study. Nay, he probably has no idea there was something to study. His disciple ends up way up top, yet Saitama doesn't seem to mind. The man portrays zero arrogance or ego, yet he's obviously aware of his infinite power. He doesn't have any wisdom to offer, so he just says "OK" or faffs away...

The other heroes from the Hero association are extremely colourful, each with their bizarre idiosyncrasies, gimmicks and moves. Ironically, these are some of the most creative superhero designs I've seen, yet One Punch Man only uses them for mockery!

And then there's the monsters - absolutely outrageous and over-the-top. Till they meet the one single punch from Saitama, anyway...

This is a fantastic anime, groundbreaking even. This is one of the very few truly original fiction I've seen/read in the last decade or two. I'm eager to read the manga now, while I wait for the next season.

Saitama is the kind of hero our world needs.

_{Image sources:
Saitama vs Genos Fight
https://in.pinterest.com/explore/one-punch-man-season/
http://geekement-votre.fr/lincroyable-phenomene-one-punch-man/}