One Punch Man - Anime

I love it when a show plays on clichés, it’s especially fun when those clichés have something to do with superheroes. They take what you know and further exaggerate things as they play out the story in a new and refreshing way, just like this recent anime has done with its protagonist. It really is fun and exciting to watch.

One Punch Man takes place in a world where there seems to be a constant threat of some kind to the people in the various cordoned off cities and because of this there exists an organization that employs various individuals who step up to fight against threats, aka our heroes. These heroes sign on to be recognized for their efforts and are allowed to be part of the Hero Association after signing up and being ranked by the organization.

But now aside from all that paper work and rules, we have our protagonist who stands apart from the other heroes as he comes along and does his own thing right off the bat, unaware of the organization rules and regulations. All he wants to do is be a hero for the heck of it. The anime starts off by showing us him saving the day multiple times with an amazing feat of strength, yet seemingly with no recognition as he remains a nobody in the eyes of the public.

Saitaima, our protagonist, remains clueless to all this as he roams around saving the day here and there in places where other highly ranked heroes fail to do so and soon it becomes clear he is in a league of his own, despite the fact that when he eventually joins the Hero association he ranks fairly low.

Enter Genos, a cyborg who witnesses Saitama’s great strength and begs the carefree hero to be his master and teach him his ways in order to grow stronger. Here we have someone that excels so well in all things ‘hero’ that the association practically drools at the idea of having him on board and ranks him in the highest rank straight of the bat.

The story is pretty interesting to watch unfold as you see how the strongest man around doesn’t get your average praise and glory and he doesn’t seem to mind because ultimately he is just doing the whole ‘hero’ thing because he wants to do it and not to get any sort of praise and glory. It’s pretty deep stuff, you know.

The story even gets more interesting as you follow Genos as his character develops and he learns more about his seemingly airheaded master, who might be even more amazing than he actually is. It gives room to admire, through the eyes of learning disciple, the good points of a straight forward personality.

In the end I’d say it’s a pretty good and inspiring anime to watch as it twists and exaggerates a few clichés here and there, while also bringing home a new bald headed hero you can’t help but picturing on your eggs every so now and then.

Gotham - TV Show

I love my superheroes. I especially get excited for origin stories that bring about a new fresh look into the very characters behind the masked vigilantes. But Hollywood does tend to make things interesting with their twists and turns in the re-telling of the old stories that tend to be just another re-telling of the same thing over and over again. This can be seen in the TV show that’s gotten me hooked with its dark and gloomy tone that is so often associated with the hero that will eventually (hopefully) be born from it.

Gotham is quite an interesting approach to the world that births Batman and as it weaves it’s intricate story with all its cherry picked characters that ring bells for the future it creates a very captivating story to watch. Set in a relatively old time when Bruce Wayne is still a young boy, the story begins when the fateful tragedy that will one day be the defining moment for our dark knight befalls him and sets into motion a string of events that has various stories unfolding in the underbelly of Gotham.

Coming to the scene of the crime we have our lead investigator and lead on the show, Jim Gordon, a name we know well as a man who will one day play a large hand in helping the masked vigilante clean up the town, but for now he is a new detective bent on living the right way in the wrong town. Partnered up with a man by the name Harvey Bullock, who has become more jaded by the realities of the corrupt town, we see them take on various cases that have them crossing paths with all kinds of people as they try to find out who killed Bruce’s parents, along with other cases that draw them into gang fights and some bizarre situations.

It is these bizarre situations that have us introduced to some interesting characters, some of whom are the very villains who will grow to be Batman’s enemies. Watching the origin stories of the bad guys is quite a treat as you learn more about their lives and what makes them tick and how they break, or evolve if you prefer. 

One particular character to note is the girl who will grow to one day be Catwoman. Her relationship with Bruce is fun to watch and it’s interesting to see how she grows and changes with her environment, slowing becoming the master thief and ambiguous baddy we expect her to become one day.

The character development is pretty amazing to observe and the stories do keep you entertained most of the time, though I’ll admit to it being a bit of a drag there in the first season near the end. But the story picks up again as the finale comes about and the second season so far has kept me hooked enough to care to look forward to the next episode.

I won’t say I’m not looking forward to more scenes showing Bruce actually becoming the dark knight, because I am but I will say that for now Jim Gordon has definitely proven to be an intriguing character to keep my interest occupied and my attention on him and other villains being created is quite okay for a little while.

So do I recommend it, maybe... but only if you like detective shows and have a penchant for dark styled TV shows and you have patience. Because I think we’ll be waiting for a while before we get to see any Batcave action. But I like it and I’ll continue watching until I don’t care for it or it gets cancelled, whichever comes first.

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Movie

Excitement for a thing can sometimes be overrated. It’s an unfortunate reality that happens sometimes and in the case of going to watch the latest Avengers movie, I think this was one of those times, as much as it pains me to say it. Going with a rather large group you would think there would have been enough excitement to overshadow any possible plot short comings that the movie would throw at you but surprisingly that doesn’t seem to be the case. Or maybe there were too many trailers for this movie that gave away key plot points that made the overall experience seem rehashed? I don’t know….

In any case I can’t argue that the movie didn’t deliver in terms of action and pretty awesome cinematography, because it did. Plus there were some really enjoyable comedic scenes that were shared between the characters that had me smiling as you watched cute banter that highlighted their different personalities. 

The fights were also okay, I guess. They tickled my action-loving bone and squeezed my hero-obsessed heart, but I can’t deny feeling like something was still missing throughout the movie. But maybe I’m just full of too much expectation when it comes to the sequels of stuff.

The plot wasn’t too bad, though I feel not much focus was given to it as the movie strayed to the focus of some personal details of our avenger’s personal lives. I’m sure there was some reason to this, but I didn’t see it clear enough to care for it much.

What was interesting was where the movie seemed to be heading as it concluded. It was like an opening for a whole new line of hero movies to be excited for as it introduced the new players in the game. I’m very curious to see how that turns out, simply because the world can never have too many hero movies, well at least in my opinion.

Marvel Agents of Shield - TV Show [ABC]

When it first started out there was a lot of excitement, after all it was being written by the Marvel peoples and it came around the same time as the first Avengers movie so the hype was still fresh. Needless to say Marvel Agents of Shield was put on a pretty high pedestal.

But then the first few episodes happened and you start to wonder if maybe they aren’t really taking the ‘super’ route or maybe they want to focus more on the non-supers because, you know, we all can’t be super heroes and such.

Season one found us delving into the secret organisation that dealt with the supernatural stuff while the heroes like Captain America, Iron man and Thor waltzed off and did their own thing. Introducing the ever so ready team that came in afterwards to clean up their messes and so on, we follow a branch of this organisation that is led by the lovable favourite from the movie franchise, Phil Coulson, who was supposed to have died.

I like that they used the original character. I’m a sucker for such consistency; it brings familiarity to the show that sort of convinces you to watch on, even though some episodes are a strain to get through as you watch Coulson’s team tackle the after effects of the Avengers and Captain America’s battle and the mystery of Coulson’s resurrection.

Personally I think the beginning had too many tangled strings for an average viewer to put together. If you weren’t a hard-core superhero fan you would have moved on to another show and if you were you would have ranted and raved, as I did, about the pace and structure of the show. Season one dragged too much in the beginning, though it improved as it went on and linked with the movies, which was a really cool aspect, again the consistency a thing to love and respect.

But then it ended with a bang and season two happened. I have to wonder if the writers didn’t listen just a tiny bit to the voices of the fans as they began adding some super and intrigue as they started pumping up the pace and revelations of awesome stuffs left, right and centre.

Of course they have the anticipation of the next movie to work with them, but the show has definitely shown some development in terms of character growth and plot structure as we follow Coulson’s team rebuilding Shield from scratch and one of his agents dealing with being put on the index while a new threat surfaces to replace Hydra and trouble in the background slowly brews.

Instead of a few loose strings you have a good network of interconnected plot points that slowly and quite brilliantly unravel into a beautiful superhero show and personally that’s what I was waiting for since the first episode!

It’s a long wait to get there, but I reckon it will be worth it in the end.