One Punch Man Specials

The OPM specials are worth watching, don't let my low score fool you. I don't know if it's just a product of the sometimes awkwardly translated subs these are coming out with, but I found the humour overall in these to be a bit drab. OPM specials feel like an episodic slice-of-life comedy. Let me clarify by saying that's about as far from my genre of choice as it gets, but I also feel it's far from the appeal of what OPM's mainline series was too. While the art stays true to the original series, there's rarely a chance for Madhouse to really shiny whenthere's little to no action in the specials at all, and when there is it's nothing nearly as bombastic as the mainline series. It's above average at best, unmemorable at worst. It does give you some interesting insight into the lives of all the main characters, and that's the main reason I find it worth watching. If you're a fan of OPM because of its unique blend of comedy, action, interesting characters, and occasional tug at your heart strings, then the specials simply don't have every ingredient. It's cake without the icing, but at 12 minutes an episode it at least doesn't overstay its welcome.

The One Punch Man Specials are exactly what one expects, but doesn't always get from a series' extras. Each is an amusing side story not interesting or relevant enough for the main series. That might sound like an indictment, but the dozen One Punch Man episodes were of very high quality and heavily storyline-driven. The specials aren't up to that level, but are they still exciting and funny? Damn straight they are! Each episode focuses on a different character with the exception of the final one, which follows a gathering of the Hero Association and Kid Emperor's attempts to solvea murder mystery. There aren't any big fights between two powerful combatants in these specials, but there is still plenty of fast-paced action. Impressively, the humor is as good as anything in the main series. As an additional bonus, the ending theme is usually sung by the character the episode is focused on. Thus, the first episode's ending is a song by Saitama, the second by Genos, and the third by Sonic. Sadly, the lone exception is episode four, which focuses on Bang, but is a repeat of the first episode's theme. I guess the elderly voice actor didn't feel like singing against the aspiring pop stars and idols that make up One Punch Man's younger voice cast! Some of the other elements of the main series are present here. The last episode's murder mystery is an excellent parody of Detective Conan. And there is even a poignancy to the story of Fubuki in episode 5, constantly overshadowed by her far more powerful older sister Tatsumaki. Fans of One Punch Man will absolutely enjoy this bonus, which is ultimately the point.

I had no idea these existed for months after I had watched the first season, I think I found some out of context clips on youtube and wondered what they were from. These are surprisingly good, and actually offer quite a bit in terms of world building and character development for some of the hero cast beyond Saitama and Genos. I'd say they're a must watch for fans of the show and do a lot to enhance the experience. You won't get a lot of big set pieces or huge choreographed fight scenes here, but that's not to say there's zero action. For what there isthe animation is still pretty good considering these are just shorts tacked on as a DVD bonus. They could have totally phoned it in with these but I swear it looks better in some places than a lot of season 2. (We'll get to that in my review of that season, oh boy.) Each episode focuses on one of the characters or the group of characters introduced in whatever episode it was supposed to air between. I think roughly once every other episode of the main show. They're all cool little mini stories about those characters and do a lot to make you like some side characters you might not have cared about otherwise. Also the original creator wrote these so they're totally canon. 9/10

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