Anime 31704 One Punch Man Road To Hero Reviews

One Punch Man: Road to Hero Review


Story (6/10) Fine
More Specifically (6.5/10)

The story for Road to Hero is simple and fine it's basically showing the struggles Saitama had to go through back when we assuming he's doing his Training through out the years he said he did to became the beast we all know him as and with the fact that he still has his hair this entire episode you can come to this conclusion fairly quickly. It also shows how he got his outfit and a couple of other interesting things.


Art and Animation (8/10) Very Good
...
The Art and Animation for this stand alone is very good it looks just as good as the other episodes. The isn't anything high budget related taking place in this episode and barely any fights are even seen so barely anything high maintenance on the animation side of things where shown in the episode but like I said it looks identical to the other 12 episodes when nothing super crazy is happening so that fine by me.


Sound (8/10) Very Good

Same thing with this section everything sound very good, Opening and Ending are present no really differences between this and the 12 episodes everything is very good here too.


Characters (8/10) Very Good

This episode revolves around Saitama mostly and secondly his friend who creates the icon One Punch Man outfit for him. His character is very good as we see his struggles of keeping his store afloat good character development for the old geezer as he *SPOILER* ends up giving in to his age and the times for retirement.


Enjoyment (7/10) Good

Obviously the highest enjoyments when it comes to the series One Punch Man are the over the top and hype moments the series brings to the table, after that enjoyment lays on to the comedy aspect and then the actual story. So since this is based on Saitama before he went bald all the hype hype moments are really present for the episode. As for comedy there are a few funny moments in the episode but nothing that made me laugh my ass off like the other episodes. And so we are down to story and learning about what Saitama had to go through to get to where he his as far as his outfit and where he's living is interesting and enjoying enough to an extent for one episode.


Overall (7/10) Good
More Specifically (7.50/10)

This was a good episode you can definitely consider this a flashback episodes which now these days aren't really liked around here but it was good for what it was. Nothing too crazy and amazing but more on the funny/informational side of things when it came to One Punch man this is a good watch if you want to just know more about Saitama.

"Road to Hero" depicts Saitama in, what I assume, is his very early tenure of being a part-time hero. The story takes place in Z-City, where a group of thugs calling themselves Niya Niya Loans are forcing local businesses to close their doors when they can no longer afford "insurance" that Niya is offering them. Saitama becomes involved whenever his tailor, located in the now nearly abandoned shopping district in Z-City, informs him of the situation.

This is a standalone arc that offers some brief insight into Saitama and his humble beginnings. There isn't nearly as much action in this OVA compared to the actual series, ... but the comedic moments are still present and the overall atmosphere of the One-Punch Man universe is well intact. I know that at the time of this writing the series hasn't concluded, so this should be a nice treat to hold you (me) over until the next episode airs.

We get to see Saitama with hair. The second best thing about this OVA. There's also a great punchline that reminds you of the series' highlights. Other than that, this OVA is closer to the worst episodes of One Punch Man

We don't have people running around, screaming and flexing their muscles. Praising a show for a lack of things doesn't get you anywhere though. That's like praising a show for not having plot holes, or for not being racist.

The story is pointless. We learn how Saitama gets his suit, and there's no satirical bite to how ridiculous heroes customes are. Saitama being appalled at a ... samurai custome is just one joke. The story is actually about going to beat up a bad guy who's an asshole because he's an asshole.

If that sounds like every other One Punch Man episode, that's because it is. The difference between this OVA and the series is that Saitama has no characters to interact with. The series' strength was that it gave the characters other traits than being powerful. Saitama is entertaining also because of his casual view of things, how he doesn't pretend to be anything else than a hobbyist.

Without Genos to play off from, he doesn't do much but beat up people. Our antagonist is as boring as they get. You think a series that wants to be wild and crazy would have interesting visual ideas. The antagonist is a dude with a fish-head and a BDSM outfit. This is less exciting than you think.

The world of fiction is full of quirky villains who end up more popular than the heroes. One Punch Man always failed in that department, and this OVA relies on the eventual conflict. Aside from seeing Saitama with hair and one punchline, this OVA has no reason to exist.

*This review was removed since I forgot to add the spoilers introduction, I will now re post it, but view it at your own discretion since it contains key info for this OVA*

One Punch Man is an anime that took it's popularity rising like a storm, and many fans claim it's literally saving anime. Here we have an OVA which has all the essence of the main series.

This OVA contains Saitama telling a story to Genos about the origins of his superhero suit and how important it is to him.

At the start we can see Saitama, who still has hair in a jogging outfit defeating ... an evildoer on the streets, but slightly ripping his pants during the act, thus requiring the help of a sewer to fix them! This is where all the OVA unfolds, the sewer is in a pinch due to requesting money from Niya Niya Loans, and they will take his shop, but Saitama decides to intervene or who else would fix his ripped clothes?

Saitama is given the directions of Niya Niya Loans hideout, which is actually his own condominium, he then knocks on different doors and floors to seek out the boss of Niya Niya Loans, but only to find more and more evildoers, that's why the rent of the place was so cheap. He then finally locates him, and the boss transforms into a type of sado-maso fish who gets promptly defeated after ripping slightly Saitama's clothes.

Saitama get's kicked out of the condominium for ruining the landlord income, but he gets the superhero suit we see him use in the main series.

All in all, this OVA was decent, it has literally everything the main series has, except for the one punch KO, I got to point out that I somewhat disliked the fact that the OP and ED from the main series was added into the OVA, for the simple reason that I believe it doesn't fit there, if you enjoyed the current on-going main series, you will enjoy this as well.

While nothing special nor relevant to the overall series plot, "Road to Hero" is a fun one-off story.

Featuring the same OP and ED as the first season of the show, the OVA follows Saitama in his early days, before he became the One Punch Man and went bald. Framed around his money troubles and ending with him receiving the iconic yellow jumpsuit, Saitama confronts several silly villains throughout. However, there is a scarcity of action, and the OVA relies primarily on its humor. This is a contrast to the regular series, which provides a more balanced mix of fights and comedy. Here, if one ... doesn't laugh, he won't like the OVA, as there is precious else.

Personally, I did laugh and there was enough enjoyment to call this a solid, worthwhile work. Just don't expect anything matching the high points of the regular series.

This is an OVA, or side story, that has nothing to do with the current plot line so I understood what it would be like before it watched it. It was kinda interesting in the start to see that he had hair and that from the beginning it had to do with his past. His past on the road to becoming a hero; hence the title of the OVA.

I kinda had certain expectations while I was watching so I went ahead and got myself a bit disappointed in the end. It was still good, don't get me wrong, it's just that I expected a little ... more interesting stuff about his road to becoming a Hero. Basically all I got to find out was how he ended up getting his super hero costume.


It was ok, but it didn't feel all that special. I guess I'm already used to him being all awesome, and powerful, and the way his personality is as a hero in the canon series.

*Yawn is it over yet? One Punch Man: Road to Hero is a poorly executed OVA that functions as the origin story to Saitama's superhero suit.

And why are we supposed to care? Seriously it's his FREAKING SUIT. They could have done so many things with this Ova but no a suit. Seriously the characters were boring the story was bad and it was just plain boring.

The sound and art give it a little redemption but not enough to save it.

Overall the only reason you should be watching this is if you are a completionist. Seriously it isn't ... good and is pathetic compared to the TV series.

I don't understand those people who are so critical about rating/ reviewing an OVA. It's an omake, of course there's not gonna be a whole lot of action and excitement in it.

I think Road to Hero is an awesome OVA. We get to a little bit of Saitama before he became the strongest man in the universe (presumably). There's not much back story on Saitama in the original series so seeing him interact with another person before he became this overpowered hero is a nice little bonus. We get to see how his iconic yellow jump suit came to be.

The humor was ... still there, it's one of the main reason why I loved the show. It's a fuck it show on overpowered beings but it's so filled with great humor you'll forget that there isn't real that much plot in the series.

The old man was so sweet. I can't help but wonder what happened to him or where he is now that Saitama is a licensed hero.

Finally, it made me want to see more of the show. I want more One Punch! I want more of the bald guy who is a hero as a hobby (and profit). This shit better get a season 2.

A bit of Saitama's, the One Punch Man's, history on the road to heroedom. Just as bizarre and funny as any other episode, it shows the origins of his suit, the beginnings of his crime fighting, and more of his penchant for oops moments. It even explains the origins of monsters a bit, dispelling some of the other theories I had about how they came about. It has less action than the other episodes but I believe it's an important part of OPM to watch because it emphasizes what this show is about: a simple man, simply drawn, who's a hero for fun, who becomes ... the most overpowered man in anime.

A prequel OVA bundled with the tenth published volume of the manga, this covers one small story set during Saitama's path to becoming a hero (hence the title). While not particularly outstanding, it was still pretty okay thanks to consistent art/sound quality.

[Story - 6]

The story's pretty basic - It follows the time when Saitama helps a shopowner keep his store open by going out to bust a counterfeit-debt group. While this story is rather mundane, and is actually pretty easy to skip over, it was still engaging thanks to Saitama's antics, along with the typical comedy expected from OPM.

[Art - 8]

The art here is still ... up to the high standards set by the original anime, but without the explosive combat scenes, it's just well-rendered backgrounds and solid character design. Nothing particularly dazzling, but still high-quality.

[Sound - 8]

The same can be said for the sound: Nothing new (in fact, all of the music is from the show), but still high-quality thanks to the strength of the parent story.

[Character - 7]

While the only character really worth discussing here is Saitama (who is his average but entertaining self), the other characters do fine for serving as the bare minimum of being dramatic/comedic actors. The primary antagonist is hilarious, but only for the 1-2 minutes he's on screen. Not much else to say here.

[Enjoyment/Overall - 7]

This OVA is blatantly just an extra to treat dedicated fans with more animated material. While I did enjoy it, I can see why people skip this over so frequently and am not opposed to that. I'd only recommend this to hardcore fans of OPM who want to consume any and all material of the franchise; Otherwise, feel free to skip since you’re not missing much.

Hard to review specials or OVAs if you ask me.
Story: 6
Road to Hero is basically a one episode OVA about a single event that happened before Saitama became the One Punch Man that he is in the original series. It contains a couple references and details that will fit in with the main story, but otherwise it's just another filler chapter that doesn't really have a particular impact or reason to exist. Just the story behind Saitama and how he got his suit.

Art: 9
Sound: 9
Same as the main show. No changes to art style, sound, or music. Even has the same opening and ending! Rated ... the same on my review of One Punch Man.

Character: 6
Saitama doesn't stand out. He's recognizable and such, but he has no apparent personality traits other than his obliviousness and his trigger button for money. The other characters aren't outstanding: generic villains, side characters, and the old man who works at a tailor- and it isn't even explained why this old man and Saitama know each other and are such close acquaintances.

Enjoyment: 6
It was alright. I'm not one to hate on filler episodes, but I didn't really feel any sort of reaction to this. I noticed some things that make sense in terms of the main story here and there, smiled maybe a few times (probably at seeing the Fish of Darkness' costume), but this episode really isn't anything special.

Overall: 6
It's just a filler episode, nothing amazing about it. Sure, it has all of the basic humor and indecipherable fight scenes as the main show, but that's about it. This OVA might have been a nonsense thing created out of leftover budget and/or time, or it might have been meant to actually explain the history behind the suit. It did its job, but not in any sort of exciting way.

I love OPM and gave it a 10. But the fact that this meh OVA got rated so highly leads me to believe the cries of OPM being overhyped are sort of true.

Seeing the backstory on Saitama was kind of cool, but the story lacked basically everything that made the series amazing. There was no cool new discoveries about this world OPM is in, no real threat to much. It was just really meh.

Even the the usually on point humor of One Punch just didn't strike as much of a cord as usual.

The OVA was fine and still OPM, but I can't ... really see why it is rated so high outside of OPM hype

Overall I give it a 6/10

Road To Hero covers one important aspect of the main character Saitama's backstory that I'm sure many fans were interested in learning about. The story is pretty similar to the usual conflicts found in the main series, but on a much less grand scale.

The episode was relatively interesting and enjoyable, but lacked the impact and tension found throughout the rest of the series. It wasn't a bad episode by any stretch of the word, but it didn't quite live up to the expectations that the series built for it.

If I were to rate this episode without ever seeing the rest ... of the series I'd give it a 7/10, but obviously it's unlikely that most people would watch this without the full series to back it up.

If you're a fan of One Punch Man, and you just want to see more from your favorite characters, give this a watch. Don't go in expecting the same level of thrill as the actual show though.

The One Punch Man OVA Road to Hero gives viewers even more insight on a story that concerns and shapes the main character within the show. It takes a personal look at how Saitama obtained and earned his signature costume suit. But does the show hold up to the original, or does it still deserve to be considered an OVA? Let's take a look.
(Shorter review for shorter series)

Story: 6/fair
Landing in the realm of a snippet that could have been used in the specials, this segment of Saitama's backstory does give us the relish we craved that the original series skimped on, and for that ... I thank it. But for it to be included as a whole separate package makes no sense. Of course the story is more important when it pertains to the overall course of events in the show, but through observing the length and quality of the spectacle, it still harkened the poignant decision of if this vignette would have existed better within the specials own confined space. Why was this one snippet of backstory so important? And why didn't they make it longer and include more exposition? These major inquires were not fully answered and it left me wanting more from Saitama's past.

Art: 8/very good
Road to hero does include more manga influence than The Specials, but it doesn't exactly win you over. With a fraction of time spent to that degree of artistry, the viewer becomes conflicted and yearns for more, but is cut down based on time constraints. The animation also lacks on bigger action sequences, but this is justified based on the setting. It still includes that great smooth feel that the show is known for, without skimping out on the sfx department.

Sound: 8/very good
I rated the sound portion of Road to Hero the same as the original, mostly because they are mixed with the same music and have the same original opener and closer. For more on my opinion, check out my review of One Punch Man.

Character: 7/good
Road to Hero lands somewhere in the middle of the of afore mentioned series predating it based solely on character. In Road to Hero we begin to see a more light-hearted yet mature side to Saitama before he gains his comeuppance when he grows stronger. We do see a funnier side of him here as well, without muddling around to much with other matters. Even the shop keeper's part is played very well and seriously. The only reason this category does not rank higher is only because of how short the presentation is. If this OVA's running time was increased to a slightly longer degree- maybe a little over 45 minutes- then this section of the show would have ranked much higher.

Enjoyment: 7/good
Road to Hero lands majorly in the medium space between the 2 previous entries. However that does not hinder to highly on it's quality. I loved this take on Saitama's past, and who he was and what he acted like before transforming into One Punch Man. This helps us gain more and more knowledge on the exposition of One Punch Man, which interested me, and hopefully more fans, considerably. I hope that many more fans that find One Punch Man yearn to learn even more about the characters and their stories by witnessing these compelling back and side story's of the One Punch Man universe.

One punch man (road to hero)

Overall not too bad as a spin off or side series of one punch man.

Actually expected a movie of his life directly after taking uo his hobby as a hero. It could have been more interesting as a movie with a deeper and more elegant plot line.

This anime is not too bad in its own sense but much more boring compared to the other episodes of one punch man. The story is kind of unique in the sense that it includes totally new characters. However it follows the flow of the whole anime with Saitama completely thrashing them even ... as his weaker self (before losing his hair).

The episode could have been made into a series with the showing off more fight scenes or at least a hint of the future "One punch " technique. More comedic parts could also have been added in to the episode with the inclusion of more reactions to funny moments.

This OVA was thoroughly enjoyable, being able to provide useful backstory for a show that I loved, and answer any unknown questions that I may have had about some characters, whilst keeping it in the enjoyable OPM package.

Story: The story was quite enjoyable, although I did find it to be a bit dragging, and less gripping than the actual show was, as is the case with most OVAs. This OVA did definitely provide some useful backstory though. 8/10.

Art: The art stayed of a similar quality, although it did not have as many epic moments to shine as it did within the actual show. 7/10.

Sound: The ... sound was of a similar vein as the art, not having as much time and as much opportunity to showcase itself as the original show. 7/20.

Character: Whilst some of the characters that I enjoyed were missing, I did still enjoy the characters that were present in this OVA, and I enjoyed the character development. 8/10.

Enjoyment: I did enjoy this OVA, but once again, I do not think that it compares quite to the same level as OPM, although it would be quite difficult to with just one episode. I am giving this an 8/10 for enjoyment.

Overall: This was quite an enjoyable anime to watch, and it provided valued insight into the origins of Saitama and his suit, along with his training. This rating is 8/10.

A pretty good One Punch Man ova. It simply goes over on how Saitama got his suit and how his life was like before he lost his hair and became the strongest man on the planet. With similar tones and writing to that of S1.

The animation was pretty good, they didn't have do much work on that since there were barely any fights and the entirety of the episode took only in one place.

The music was good and was similar to that of the S1.

For the characters he entire focus was on Saitama and the creator of his suit so there wasn't really much ... to go on around about that part.

I liked it for the most part and it was the length of a full episode compared to that of the One Punch Man Specials which were only 12 min long.

English version:
Finally !!Saitma with hair for a full 20 minutes. I loved it, just because it's Saitama telling Genos a story from his past while they eat on a roof, it's a friends moment, when Saitama feels free to tell Genos about his personal life, it's so cute .
For the rest, I felt the change in animation, especially in the final fight, it is visible that the production was not the best due to the poor quality of the drawing and without details.
However, I enjoyed following Saitama's past, knowing that he had insecurities, and that he was fighting the villains, almost losing to them, he ... was even embarrassed to show his underwear (while in the season he walked around the city naked). Lively and with a little bit of drama.

Portuguese version:
Finalmente tivemos Saitma com cabelo durante 20 minutos inteiros. Eu amei só pelo fato de ser o Saitama contando uma história do seu passado pro Genos enquanto eles comem em um telhado, é um momento de amigos, em que o Saitama se sente à vontade pra contar sobre a vida pessoal dele pro Genos, fofo demais.
De resto, eu senti a mudança na animação, principalmente na luta final, é visível que a produção não foi das melhores pela qualidade do desenho pobre e sem detalhes.
Entretanto, gostei de acompanhar o passado do Saitama, saber que ele tinha inseguranças, e que lutava com os vilões, quase perder pra eles, ele tinha até vergonha de mostrar a cueca (enquanto na temporada ele andava pelado pela cidade). Animado e com um pouco de drama.