A funny superhero parody by webcomic artist ONE (later adapted as a manga with much better art by Yusuke Murata of Eyeshield 11 fame and then into an anime series) about the titular hero Saitama, a bald and generally apathetic looking young man (his laziness even extends to his art, which is barely filled in half the time compared to the immense detail everywhere else!) who's trained to the point of being able to defeat any enemy whether they be monster, god or demon with one punch. Of course, because of this battles have lost all satisfaction to him and he mostly just wanders through life, more concerned with his latest bean sprout sale at the supermarket then fighting world-ending baddies.
As the summary implies, this clearly isn't a show guilty of taking itself too seriously. A lot of tropes common to the superhero and shonen genres are parodied, like the ever-escalating power-levels or citizens going about their ordinary activities unconcerned while the world/city is put on the brink of destruction virtually on a week-to-week basis (for example, according to the official Marvel timeline; Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk and Thor all happen in the exact same week!).
The characters are all pretty amusing, from Saitama's endearingly lackadaisical approach to heroism, heroic cyborg Genos's uber-seriousness, Tatsumaki's cuteness (speaking of which, another thing it has in common with superhero comics is a serious lacking of female characters, unfortunately) and more. And the fight scenes are certainly spectacular enough to make up for the fact that Saitama can beat any enemy with a single punch (what a punch it is, though! No fight in this series is complete without a truly ridiculous amount of collateral damage).
Definitely check this show out if you're into comedy, epic action sequences, and an entertainingly silly and absurd take on the superhero genre. Western fans in particular might find it easier to get into then other anime/manga, considering how much it takes from the American superhero genre. The only downsides I can see are the aforementioned lack of female characters, one really cringeworthy gay stereotype who I've heard of but haven't gotten to yet (I'm sure I'll know him when I see him, though) and possibly it's highly episodic nature, depending on if you like that sort of thing.
Evil flower of Pure Illusion... we're going to pluck you out!
As the summary implies, this clearly isn't a show guilty of taking itself too seriously. A lot of tropes common to the superhero and shonen genres are parodied, like the ever-escalating power-levels or citizens going about their ordinary activities unconcerned while the world/city is put on the brink of destruction virtually on a week-to-week basis (for example, according to the official Marvel timeline; Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk and Thor all happen in the exact same week!).
The characters are all pretty amusing, from Saitama's endearingly lackadaisical approach to heroism, heroic cyborg Genos's uber-seriousness, Tatsumaki's cuteness (speaking of which, another thing it has in common with superhero comics is a serious lacking of female characters, unfortunately) and more. And the fight scenes are certainly spectacular enough to make up for the fact that Saitama can beat any enemy with a single punch (what a punch it is, though! No fight in this series is complete without a truly ridiculous amount of collateral damage).
Definitely check this show out if you're into comedy, epic action sequences, and an entertainingly silly and absurd take on the superhero genre. Western fans in particular might find it easier to get into then other anime/manga, considering how much it takes from the American superhero genre. The only downsides I can see are the aforementioned lack of female characters, one really cringeworthy gay stereotype who I've heard of but haven't gotten to yet (I'm sure I'll know him when I see him, though) and possibly it's highly episodic nature, depending on if you like that sort of thing.
Evil flower of Pure Illusion... we're going to pluck you out!