From mindless obliteration to exaggerated destruction, you name it, we’ve seen it all, and quite frankly we’re tired. Let’s face the facts, over powered characters in anime just don’t do the trick anymore.Many readers and anime enthusiasts alike can relate to the fact that the novelty of such characters quickly wore off as we encountered more titles, every new title showing us the same thing.
The main issue here is not that we don’t like over powered characters, but without mincing words, their skill-sets and feats can be outright ridiculous. In the magnum opus, Dragon Ball Super: Broly the main protagonists Goku and Vegeta manage to merge into a single being Gogeta, and then take on Broly.
Here’s where things get even more ridiculously interesting. The battle between the saiyans is so intense (as is the standard of DBZ), it leads to them “cracking” the edge of reality and transports them into another time and space.
Right, this is cool and all, but die hard DBZ fans can attest to the fact that this is not news. If you’re a noob, enjoy the thrill while it lasts. Anime veterans like myself, have observed countless feats of power and honestly, it would really take something completely out of the box to amaze me.
There are instances where, there is the lack of a sufficient backstory of a very strong character and the author tends to focus primarily on the skills of the said character. A classic example being Saitama, the main protagonist in One Punch Man. There has been a lot of controversy since it’s debut, but my personal opinion is that the anime is trash, and here’s why.
Saitama has proved his incredible strength time and time again in the series, and with the appearance of a new enemy the outcome can be predicted.
The foe is always defeated with a single punch. It’s literally in the name!With actually very little to go on about Saitama’s brief past before he gained his incredible power, the viewers are left bombarded with action scene after action scene.
I will admit, it is an amusing concept but indeed a flawed one. I would implore you, the reader to think about how far this concept can go. How would they be able to spin off a predictable outcome for an anime season after season?
Would you watch a show where you knew the end from the beginning but still wasted time just to see it?
Exactly. After a while it becomes boring, and here’s a farcical twist or a paradox if you will; If Saitama doesn’t defeat an enemy with one punch, is he really the “One Punch Man”?This means that if it takes two punches to defeat a foe, the mangaka would have to change the title of the series to “Two Punch Man”?
I won’t lie, what really gets all fans of One Punch Man really hooked is the ease in which Saitama does his feats, without putting serious effort into them.
The stakes get higher with evolution, and the world of anime is not exempt from this. Anime is quickly becoming generic and the key element that keeps the fans engrossed is the story-line or plot.
Flashy battles, destruction and feats may work for the noobs but the power scaling effect just doesn’t cut it anymore. Let’s say your favorite anime character has infinte strength-the maximum power level accorded in terms of scaling. The question here is: What next?
ROOKIEPENCIL 