LO2 - Analysis of one animation

LO1 Task 2 – Analysis of an existing product (Animation)

Analysis on the basis of:

A) Genre

B) Individual Animators

C) Productive Process

D) Narrative/Storyline

E) Target Audience

F) Character/Stars

One Punch Man

A) Genre

One Punch Man is a Japanese Animation (Anime) series that Madhouse (within their several contracted employees). The anime itself is a seinen anime, a genre aimed towards young adult males between the ages of 17-26. It has its fair shares of action sequences, comedy and drama.

B) Individual Animators

OPM is in fact made up of multiple well known animators. Shingo Natsume who worked on another popular anime, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Masaaki Yuasa was involved in the making of OPM along with several others: Shingo Natsume (Full Metal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos), Sejoon Kim (Gundam), Ryuu Nakayama, Shun Enokido, Gosei Oda (Space Dandy, Spirited Away), Norifumi Kugai (Space Dandy, Aquarion Evol), Yoshimichi Kameda (FMA: Brotherhood).

Each of the animators feature their own technique that is apparent through the different styles the animation sequences are made i.e. action sequences have different forms of motion and art styles in certain key frames. Some of the animation styles are subtle at points where story is being told but when the action scenes play out, the general movement, effects and fight choreography is far more fluid although, the animation is still quite fluid through the rest of the anime. There are differences in digital and traditional art styles in which the digital art style is far cleaner and clearer to see than that of the traditional method which features more rough work but clearly conveys the feeling of adrenaline and the rush. Traditional art style examples such as a moment in the dream fight sequence where the line art is made thicker to make it more impactful.

C) Productive Process

Just as any other form of production will go through the 3 stages of Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production. Pre-production will have consisted of planning out certain sequences, having the artists assigned for each of the scenes that are planned for each episode. During pre-production, the original creator of One Punch Man would have already given Madhouse the rights to work on the adaptation of his work so Madhouse will most likely think about financing, individual artist working and scenes being planned out and made.  Production and Post-Production will most likely consist of finishing scenes, editing them all together in to a cohesive episode and release the content through a broadcasting service.

D) Narrative/Storyline

OPM is a story of a man known as Saitama who, unfortunately for him, can win his fight only using one punch. Due to this overwhelming power, Saitama has become extremely bored which leads him to constantly trying to find the strongest foes to fight. His catch phrase prior to joining the Heroes Association was “I’m just a hero for fun.” He even has his own disciple, a cyborg known as Genos and with the 2 of them; they join the Heroes Association to be recognized as registered heroes.

Saitama never started off as a being the most powerful hero, in fact, he wasn’t actually strong. However after having a rather dangerous encounter with a man-crab monster, he gained a spark to “…be a hero who could defeat anything with one punch.” He trained so hard for 3 years straight that he had gone bald. Although, 100 squats, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups and 10km everyday for 3 years doesn’t seem extreme, Saitama gained the power he had wanted with the ironic twist of becoming bored of it.

E) Target Audience

The target audience is known as seinen in Japan. Seinen means that the anime is aimed towards young adults - middle aged. One Punch Man is a mix of mainly action and comedy which people between those ages are usually entertained by. Not only that but the main premise of One Punch Man is a parody of anime tropes that have characters powering up, "more powerful than they before", having the strength to defeat any enemies etc. and this type of parody is aimed towards people who enjoy watching shows of said tropes.

F) Character/Stars
Saitama is the main protagonist of the story of OPM. As he calls himself prior to joining the Hero Society, a "hero for fun". He meets several people along his journey to becoming a 'hero' which includes Genos, a cyborg that he meets during a certain incident that leads up to Genos wanting to become Saitama's disciple. There are recurring characters throughout the anime but these 2 are the main focus.

- Genos (Demon Cyborg)
Saitama's disciple and a cyborg trying to find a certain individual from an incident before he met Saitama.

- Saitama (Caped Baldy)
The main protagonist, Saitama. He is also known as One Punch Man but by the public. He trained so hard for 3 years straight, he lost his hair but acquired the power to defeat any of his foes in one punch.