Why's this popular? What's so fun about watching a mary sue character?

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Toonami discussion is allowed.

But each side character deals with the situation differently. Few worship Saitama, see him as inspiration, some are terrified, some refuse to believe it, and some see him as a rival or even a threat.

Besides that, there are many side characters who don't get curb-stomped. You get to see them cooperate and support one another when dealing with threats they can't handle on their own.

He am bald. He do's the silly "OK" meme face the artist likes to give everyone. Shonen protagonist stuff?

Maybe the related video can help you to understand what's about One Punch Man.

Saitama is the case of a Mary Sue character being done well. The series embraces how absurdly powerful he is and does a decent job of making him likeable while making fun of the character archetypes that Mary Sue characters normally take like with Genos and Speed of Sound Sonic.

The does unfortunately imply that the people discussion it here watched the dub which really doesn't do the series justice.

The draw of the show is comedy derived from a critique of the shonen genre of anime, heroes in general and the difficulties of power creep without building up to it really like Samurai Flamenco.
In a sense the show is a satire.
The action bits are fairly well animated.
It does what Superman should do which is focus on Clark Kent, a much more compelling character than superman.
The show doesn't have an overly serious tone.
The reoccurring villain is a bureaucratic echelon.
It has a powerful man in his fight against the qualms of society.
Not exactly objectivist rhetoric.
Saitama is much too laissez faire, the rest of the heroes though are much more prone to the A-typical attitude that would be attributed to being super human while fighting for the status quo.
The other heroes who have to strive for victory are whom you would put your hopes in because they have to try.
Where is the excitement in betting on a man who can win in one punch?
Saitama acts like a cartoon character often.
Again, it is satire.
Mob Psycho 100 was fairly similar what with it even being by the same creator.
I enjoyed it isn't as satirical, the main character isn't as omnipotent and he is basically autistic.

To be honest it only really exploded in popularity because of Murata, it's the really good art that is the main draw. The anime of course fails to deliver a lot on the quality.

You are right, it`s boring as fuck, that`s why the author doesn`t do that.

It get`s more prevalent on the manga, after the inital arc, Saitama quickly becomes an accessory to advance plot lines or comedy relief while the world and characters around him gets developed. He honestly gets little screen time for a MC.

The flashy battles are the only interesting thing about him really, and even that gets tiresome after a while.

dunno, go ask /a/

Is that Clark?

Goes on /a/.

Don't worry mods are useless.

Why does this question keep coming up every month or so?

m8 I think you're reading too much into this.

Seriously what's with all the autism trying to put this shit on a pedestal as some great big deconstruction. It's just some slight changes in the setting or characters while retaining the same punchline.

Because people are stupid and can't comprehend a show that doesn't stick exactly to decades-old cliches.

One-Punch Man takes the invincible always-wins shonen hero to its (il)logical conclusion; a man whose ridiculous skill and training has rendered him utterly invincible and unstoppable; and in true monkey's paw fashion, he's unhappy with it, because the result is a life with no real challenge or thrill when everyone knows the outcome. (a parody of how in a shonen everyone in the audience knows the hero will win)

But it's not even unprecedented; Watchmen did it with Dr Manhattan decades ago, the only actual superhuman in the setting who could render basically everything else irrelevant if he put in the effort, but he finds no satisfaction in doing so because he can barely relate to humanity any more. The drama with him is what he chooses to do with his power, and how others react to him.

You're not watching Michael Bay movies, you can turn your brain back on.

I'm pretty sure hes the same guy that got super butthurt about OPM in summer. Don't try to reason with him as he will never budge from his uninformed opinion.

Confirmed for not watching the show
Confirmed for not knowing what Mary Sue means
Confirmed for shit taste
Confirmed for being underage
Confirmed for being a faggot
Confirmed for being B-A-I-T

KILL YOURSELF

This. It's not like DBZ where they always try to play up "will goku be able to save the day"? Of course he fucking does, but they drag it out 12 episodes in a disingenuous attempt at tension. OPM straight up tells you Saitama is the strongest dude in the universe, and it's enjoyable to watch those around him struggle to deal with a world where they know some guy can kill them whenever he feels like it, but doesn't. It's almost a reverse mary sue, where the character who has everything is well away of it and wishes he didn't.

I think Saitama is used very similarly to Kenshiro, the bad guys do bad things and here they come. I have started thinking of FotNS as "Justice Porn" the tv show.

Because it's a mary sue character that is basically a "take that" to capeshit and One-Punch Man is a more human version of Superman. Also, most of the episodes either show a sincere, straightforward struggle between other heroes with the villain before One-Punch Man kills the monster, or it's One-Punch Man struggling with his boring life that's lost all difficulty and excitement.

sage because anime on Holla Forums

Speaking of superman I love how OPM has triggered his fans so damned hard. They basically can't deal with the fact that the "new kid on the block" is stronger than him. It's like the whole "my dad can beat up your dad" bullshit that kids would argue about on the playground.

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Kinda funny that recent arcs seem to be implying that with him now gaining no satisfaction from violence like he originally set out to do, Saitama is now actively avoiding recognition for his abilities and instead trying to inspire others.

He's basically becoming The Buddha in tights and a cape.

Oh, it's justice porn alright (though rather entertaining justice porn, to say the least). From a basic perspective. But what's in the Hokuto Shinken technique that makes the practictioner even more powerful? What's the inner power that makes Kenshiro endure the environment he wanders through? What keeps him going? Is it something certain people, if not most people, can relate to? His driving force (and it's not simply "love for Yuria", so you might want to keep watching HnK further if you assume that) might sound rather superficial to a pessimistic and cynical person, but it still touches down to a subtle interpersonal level, regardless on how a consensus of people judge it.

because liking anything is the epitome of autism

Yeah, that's young Clark, if I remember correctly.
He sneaks on to Bruce Wayne's party boat due to his fishing boat pushed away from the shore or something. There he pretends to be Bruce Wane and chills with Oliver Queen.

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Funny that The Tick's power is literally to be as strong as he needs to be to win.

this, he's great for all the reasons silverage supes is. The animation for the fights just makes it even more enjoyable.

Actually, it would be pretty sick to either have a silver age Superman or Jimmy cartoon with this animation crew. To that falls under the "things that will never happen" territory.

Rather ironic that joke fight scenes get so much more talent, effort and passion put into them than fight scenes we're meant to take deadly serious.

Ask /a/.

Tick got his ass kicked by kids and a man with a chair for a head

SPOON

anime is gay

i can't believe a japanese webcomic artist can get not one, but two animes based on his poorly draw works. Meanwhile western comic artist are still shitting themselvers trying to at least get to write for actual comicbooks.

i dunno man the recent arc with the monsters invasion and garou spouting some philosophical crap about "boo hoo the baddies never win i am an edgelord that wants the bad guys to win but i'm not really evil cause i saved this child" was pretty stupid if you ask me. the best moment was when saitama just fucked his shit up and told him that he didn't care about anything he said.

That's because getting to write "for actual comicbooks" is more about who you know than it is about talent. I know people want to write Spiderman or Superman because they love the characters and grew up with them, and it would be great if they could. But realistically thinking, if you have talent at all, it's better used toward making your own original characters.

As for Saitama, I agree with most here in that he's a well done Superman-type character. He's got a clear personality, but the characters around him, the ones that struggle more for victory, are the focus more often than not.

You mean capeshit?
You can make a webcomic just fine, in fact, OPM started as one.

I was pointing out that western webcomic artists never acomplish shit other that write for more comics and some cartoons. While ONE already has two animes to his name while putting little to no effort. The only webcomic artist that I know sorta escaped the JUST curse is the guy that made Dr Ninja, and that guy just ended up writing more webcomics and some comics anyway.

If they count, Axe Cop got a series not that long ago, and We Bare Bears was originally a webcomic

Our comics rarely get direct animated adaptations. The "big successes" are the ones that get turned into tv shows and movies. Hell, The Walking Dead made a shitton of money, and it was just a book about zombies. And even those shows and movies are loose adaptations.

Season 3 when?!

I thought those were just animated shorts? Did it get a full time series?

I'm talking more in terms of webcomics here. Webcomics are not very popular in Japan, but ONE managed to get OPM popular enough that it was offered a manga adaptation. I'm not talking about Manga or real Comics here because those always get adapted no matter how shit they are. But how many webcomics artists do you know that actually succesfully moved their webcomics into TV or even a real comic book format?

That said We Bare Bears is proof that webcomics might be the next medium that TV networks look into for source material. Or maybe not. I doubt we'll see Ava's Demon, Gunnerkrigg Court, Homestuck, Dr. Ninja or even Penny Arcade as real series anytime soon.

couldn't watch with the inconsistent volume. asswipe needs to chill with the screams

Doubtful
WBB barely made an impact to guarantee that Webcomic-based cartoons can be the next big thing

Good. Western webcomics are even more pozzed up that actual comics. And that's something hard to do considering what current year Marvel, DC, Archie and Darkhorse are like.

There is quite a few, although list also includes manga. It is missing Sorcery 101, but I am sure that there is even more. None of them are very good though. One and guys working on Atomic Robo seem to be the best that came out of webcomics to my knowledge.

Iunno man, DACU did a pretty good job with keeping Superman interesting with the Cadmus arc. Unbeatable flying brick of justice? Laame. Leader of a team of superheroes, who happens to be at odds with the government and some of his teammates, leading to him becoming significantly more irascible and paranoid? Animated gold, right there.

Don't believe me? Just go watch the JLU episode "Clash".

I know three, One Punch Man, ReLife (turned into anime recently) and Horimiya (turned into manga by a different artist, the webcomic version got an OVA). I think there's more though, but mostly based in Japan.
Webcomic is quite popular in Japan, just look at Comico

Then once again japs have show they are more succesfull that western independant artists. Here in the west you have to cling to very top to be famous and succesfull. Damn. Your indie shit might get adapted, but don't expect any royalties or fame for it.

Not really at least the way I've always heard it. ONE's comic career was going nowhere and he was all but ready to quit totally but OPM was getting something of a cult following. Then Akiman (Street Fighter/Turn A Gundam character designer) showed it to Murata who loved it and basically begged ONE to let him redraw it, Murata then pitched it to Shueisha who agreed to publish it and it took off from there.

How did he get MOB 100 made into an anime? That one is a manga by him and not a webcomic right?

Crap, I forgot my link in that post
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_webcomics_in_print

It started as a webcomic, got made into manga, and then anime (last one probably due to success of OPM).

Poor Capt.

Superman in general makes a lot more sense in the context of being among other superheroes having to be a leader and role model rather than on his own.

No he's not. Remember this is an anime which is an industry where the ideas are so horribly inbred things we'd consider a mild deviation are sometimes intended as deconstructions.

?

This is a myth.

Maybe to people with short attention spans.

Japanese theatre originates from a history of repetition, where character archetypes literally wore their characters on a sleeve (Or mask).

Its influence on Anime and Manga is undeniable.

Just like much of European theater and it's influence on other forms of storytelling. Main difference is that Japan seems to deviate from formula a bit less.

Fair enough, but that style of storytelling mostly died off with the Greeks and Romans and such. There was something similar for commoners, but it was a lowbrow style comedy about 500 years ago.

Occam's Razor says that there are repeating elements in anime and manga for the same reasons there are repeating elements in all entertainment.

Nobody ever pays any attention to there being billions of legal and police dramas on American TV, but it's suddenly a real problem when there's even a little bit of repetition in anime. Anime most likely has more variety in it than live action TV.

Because when anime repeats it repeats much harder. Anime has the ability to have more variety because its animated but within genres it's incredibly stale.

Like I was excited for MHA for about 6 episodes, before they dropped all different plot elements and just once again turned it into a flat "Naruto with Superheroes".

Anime sticks too its own genre conventions much harder then i have seen any other media do so. Anime fans are just mostly very shortsighted and care mostly for pretty colors.

This is, again, a myth.

Maybe you are suffering from the common problem of watching nothing but certain kinds of shounen anime and then assuming that that is all anime is.

This is ridiculous bullshit.

The anime that deviates from the standard formula is some of the best media I have ever seen, but 99.999% I see is some of the most dull or awful crap I have seen.

Anime like Mushushi don't get super popular, Stuff like Sword Art online does. Therefore anime fans as a general category are retards.

Problem is it takes creativity to write outside the box, and a shitload of anime fans will lick up formulaic dreck to the point where, as OP shows, they are confused and offended by something that doesn't copy the formula closely enough.

Meme.

There are something like 30 series from the 21st century that have outsold SOA. Mushishi's first season sold an average of 16K per volume which is a good number. SOA's second season averaged 20K.

Since you don't know nearly enough about anime itself you try to instead argue about your perception of its fans.

More meme nonsense and double standards.

Because I want to see how he can be beaten.

I think you need to psychologically break him. Send him to a planet like Earth 3 where his victories backfire horrible.

90% of everything is crap. Haven't you heard of Sturgeon's law?

Sturgeon's Law is not a law. It's a meme. It doesn't mean anything. It's nonsense.

Jesus.

It's pretty accurate, though. I mean, 90% of memes are crap. 90% of posts on this board are crap. 90% of laws are crap.

It is not accurate. People think it's accurate because it says "law" and because they've spent their childhoods watching AVGN and its copycats.

Can you give a counterexample?

What counter-example?

legit question, why is Toonami stuff allowed an My little Pony isn't?

Yes? Explain.

Western anime viewers live in a fantasy world that has minimal correspondence to the real world. For example, a few days ago I saw someone lament that nearly all anime is now light novel adaptations and there are few if any original shows, and nobody disagreed. The reality is that there are three light novel adaptations this season vs. fourteen or so originals. Originals outnumber light novel adaptations, as do manga adaptations, yet everywhere I go people are constantly complaining about there being so many light novel adaptations and no originals.

People believe and constantly repeat all kinds of shit that is not true. Like anime being "incredibly stale."

The most important thing though, that ine must always remember, is that Anime has waifus and cartoons do not, because waifus need to be mode and sexy, and waifus cannot be ugly, because who the hell wants an uhly wife?! Only dimwits!

Sturgeon's law might set an overly pessimistic ratio, but no one with sense ever claimed it was unerring. It's a heuristic law, intended only as a general baseline.
I believe Sturgeon's law to a gross oversimplification and overestimation, but it nevertheless stands to reason that within a given set or subset of media there is more content that is mediocre or worse in quality than good.

To the statement that 90% of everything is crap?

Having him get his ass kicked every episode wasn't a big improvement. I thought he got the short end until JLU, where they could actually write him as being powerful without overshadowing every other character and eliminating all conflict.

Then, in his big moment, Luthor had to save him from Darkseid anyway, so whatever. Thanks guys, you wouldn't pull that shit on Flash.

Superman would win, don't be stupid.

Side characters that ain't worth shit and repetitive jokes.

People keep forgetting that Supes isn't a dumb flying brick. Remember always how he deals with Mr. Mxyzptlk.

People mistake naive for dumb. He's supposed to be naive, but in some comics he ends up as dumb.

Mushishi is the same thing, just a little slower. And people love to namedrop it.

/a/ is for anime.

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Plus he's pretty self aware about his godhood and how any of his actions can upset the political landscape of the world and factors that in his actions.

Please don't fucking tell me that you actually think Sturgeon's Law is a real, scientifically proven law just because it's called a law.

It doesn't require that much effort to get into, Saitama's gimmick is amusing to people who don't read much capeshit, and its depiction of superheroes as being on the whole violent selfish bastards with the exception of the protagonists can come across to westerners like a clever commentary on the shitty state of modern comics while actually just being a shonenshit cliche.

because the premise is "what if Superman got bored from being OP as fuck."

It's a pretty common rule of perception; people massively overestimate the prevalence of something they see as unusual, especially if they dislike it.

If anything, Superman and Saitama would get along great and probably have a philosophical discussion.

If its original garbage its original garbage!

Just a random list of stuff I could apply to most seasons of anime:

Moe Slice of Life
Moe Slice of Life
Gritty WWII Story….BUT WITH A CUTE MAGICAL GIRL WITH LOTS OF FANSERVICE!
Moe Slice of Life
Animated Sports Show
Moe Show Yuri Bait
Very flat toy advertisement without the depth
Satire of all the above genres that does nothing but just mention the cliches but do them all anyway

This is why Anime gets shit on. Not saying that Western animation is in a good place…or even in a Below OK place now.

And I like some anime when I find them. But the trends anime follows it follows much more harshly and to the line then western shows when they bother to do anything of value.

'People' would include writers. What's one notably intelligent thing he did in JL or JLU? I can't think of anything.

Yeah remember the Ctrl-Alt-Del animated show

Anime gets shit on because nobody does any research or even bothers looking at season charts. You'll have instead many youtubers such as filthy frank or others showing how japan is so wacky with their butt sumo shows and they literally only make animes about tentacles raping kids

Because every anime isn't perfectly unique, which is a "problem" specific to anime and definitely not present anywhere else? Because there exists anime that you personally don't like?

Something is not bait because you don't like it. I might as well say boiled eggs are bait because I don't like them.

If "moe slice of life" is defined as K-On, then this season there are just two such shows: Long Riders and Magic of Stella (incidentally, Long Riders is set in university–not high school or middle school). In the Summer season there was one (New Game, which has adult characters). In Spring there were two (Bakuon, Sansha Sanyou). In Winter there were none. There are more "adult dramas" made than K-On clones, and adult main characters have clearly been trending up, but I have never seen anyone acknowledge that. All I hear about is "moe" and "little girls" and "light novels" and "harems" "isekai" (Re:Zero and KonoSuba were both popular, but when people talk about isekai shows they just complain about how shitty they all are).

"Moe slice of life" shows are also not a monolith. They don't all have the same scenarios, characters, art styles, writing, directorial style and production values. Sports shows are even more different from each other, unless of course you think Keijo, Stella C3, Baby Steps and Yuuri on Ice are all the same.

You mean kids' shows that only Japanese children watch? How would you know even know they are "flat toy advertisements"? I very much doubt you watch them.

There's so much different stuff this season. And nobody is going to watch it.

Of course not, but I think it's pretty accurate.

It isn't.

Then it shouldn't be hard to give a counter-example.

What counter-example?

To the statement that 90% of everything is crap.

Including yourself.

Yes? What "example" are you looking for?

An example of some artform or genre that isn't 90% crap.

Again: Sturgeon's Law is bullshit.

Then it shouldn't be hard to give a counter-example.

You are assuming that Sturgeon's Law is true and people have to disprove it. They don't. There is no "law." It's just some shitty quip someone once made. It's not science. Well, except to edgy tryhards who spent their childhoods watching AVGN.

Anime, it is much more consistent on it's quality as opposed to cartoons anf even live action series, hell, it is always much superior to it's live action adaptation, I guess you can say tha same about manga to a lesser extent.

Why do you crush my souls like this?

I'm fairly certain he isn't asking you to disprove it, user. He want's your two cents on the shit:good ratio of content in any given set or subset. What would your baseline be?

just wait till the end of the garou arc. shit gets deep af.

Hmn. At least, if a Dr Mcninja series happened, they'd properly set up and develop King Radical as the villain trough the series as a whole.

hey Holla Forums why is anime so generic and repetitive? it's not like anything else is that derivative XDDDDD

on a more serious note, quality of writing/animation/art/etc. is typically more important than "originality".
Everything is, by nature, derivative.
I dare you to try and come up with an idea that hasn't been done before at all ever, and I can guarantee you that it's either stupid or already been done.

Well, his method of fighting Captain Atom comes to mind.

But then, Clark didn't show his S that much during JLU, save as a leader.

Also, there's this ruse cruise. Warning, this may tread on your autism.

Maybe I'm dumb but all he did in that vid was just punch Captain Atom, there was nothing smart about the way he fought him.

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Superman could be so cool if they would make his fights way more over the top.

still the best evil Superman scene… because he wasn't really evil. Making him evil is the cheapest copout and the people who do it don't understand the character at all.

MY AUTISM

He doesn't have the personality of Mary Sue. He isn't forced in like a Mary Sue (he's actually late for almost every situation in the show). And he isn't designed like a Mary Sue (that being his design isn't overly complicated or edgy). But despite that, I don't enjoy the show myself. Genos is a fag and shouldn't be in it

Hey man, Modern Art has a certain appeal sometimes

such as when it's face is getting ripped off for being such an unbearable cunt

I should have expected that.

Amen. Remember that Christmas episode of JLU?

Ey, remember Superman IV: The Quest For Peace? Remember Superman's "Rebuild-The Great-Wall-Of-China-vision"?

What the fuck was that all about?

Remember in Superman 3 when he blew oil back into a tanker?

Heck, they make a joke out of how his design is typically half-assed compared to everyone around him to reflect how unexcited he is, and in backstory, personality and appearance, he's uninteresting compared to all the other heroes, hence why nobody pays any attention to him.

Typical Japan thinking they can get away with ripping off grorious bugerland cartoons folded over 1000 times.

Heck, if anything, to an extent Saitama is a parody of a Mary Sue type character; his entire deal is being undefeatable and not much else, which he is self-aware of, and the comic demonstrates that pretty much everything else about the world is more interesting. (How people live and deal with a world full of heroes and monsters, the ramifications of the massive collateral damage monsters cause, the motivations and personalities of individual heroes ranging from genuine idealists to smug egotists to the power-hungry and some are just nuts)

He even starts downplaying his own power because he wants people who put in genuine effort to get recognition for it.

...

I'm starting to think that I was thinking of Captain's fighting method against Superman.

Back then superman could basically make up powers on the fly. He was basically a super wizard for the most part.

the have a side character who admits that he rapes twinks and put himself in jail because he feels bad about it, he is a hero