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[majikero]

One Punch Man already has that guy that has nothing to show for his training from hell. I think its either Licenseless Rider or Silver Fang's not so bright apprentice who's name I forgot.

[Neonivek]

One Punch Man already has that guy that has nothing to show for his training from hell. I think its either Licenseless Rider or Silver Fang's not so bright apprentice who's name I forgot.

He is probably currently one of my favorite characters if not my outright favorite. He is probably the only genuinely heroic character in the show whose motivations are actually positive instead of selfish.

Memon Rider or something.

It helps that One Punch Man actually has more character depth then... most protagonists... and he is supposed to be intentionally 2-dimensional.

[NullForceOmega]

Neo, just for a 'homework' lesson, I'd suggest that you remove yourself from 'shonen' anime for a while, and spend a decent chunk of time perusing 'shoujo' manga, then tell me how Japan treats homosexuals.

[Neonivek]

Neo, just for a 'homework' lesson, I'd suggest that you remove yourself from 'shonen' anime for a while, and spend a decent chunk of time perusing 'shoujo' manga, then tell me how Japan treats homosexuals.

Badly... really badly...

Shoujo is actually far worse then Shonen.

It is ignorable for the most part and I don't use it as an example because of the differences in audience expectation as well as the general tone they use towards homosexuality. So it doesn't really bug me, people buy it knowing fully well the connotations involved.

But... really... if I ignore all that... it is worse

While Shonen, on the other hand, has 'no' excuse... and very little leeway. Hence why it gets my ire more often.

[NullForceOmega]

Neo, I seriously don't even comprehend how you are managing to draw your conclusion if you have any exposure to Japanese culture at all.  Homosexual behavior has historically been acceptable in Japan (tho' not talked about, much like everything sexual.)

I don't specifically know why this is a hot-button issue to you, and am willing to leave the subject if you are uncomfortable with it, but I honestly think you are have a knee-jerk response here, without fully comprehending the subject and context.

[Neonivek]

Yes lets just... move on.

It hurt me more because... One Punch Man was good... until that...

It was like watching an extended cut of Sound of Music with a Minstrel in it... no wait it would still be an old movie... It would be like watching Hunger Games Mocking Jay... and it had a Minstrel in it.

[Reelya]

Shoujo tends to have those overbearing male love interests who belittle the female main character. In some cases they're outright rapists (Honey Honey Drops and Dekiai Paradox manga's for example. Dekiai Paradox is a lot shorter, though much more rage-inducing and less comedy). But they're rich, good-looking, popular, academic and athletic rapists, so their rapiness is excused because of their suffering hearts, since it's a hard life to be so rich and talented, and have people expect something of you because of that. I wish I was making this up, but it's a straight description of this popular shoujo trope. But I ascribe that to shoujo being the Japanese equivalent of Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey rather than any specifically Japanese trait. So, sure you get some shitty tropes but we still need to compare them to the comparable genres in other countries to decide whether they're a toxic thing from manga/anime/Japanese society or whether they're aimed at the same lowest common denominator for the type of audience.

So, a hot rich guy can be a serial rapist and that's excused because of a "troubled heart" and he always gets the girl, but your regular shmuck in anime can't even look at a girl normally without deserving a roundhouse kick to the groin. How dare those poor, ugly, average boys want to be treated like a human? Where do they even get off?

[Neonivek]

It is wish fulfillment

By having them be rapists it takes responsibility out of the protagonists hands

[NullForceOmega]

No, it isn't even wish fulfillment, it's a cultural holdover from the (very recently departed) days of feudal Japan.  There are a great many people in japan who continue to exist in the mindset of peasantry vs. nobility.  The rich are nobles, and can get away with murder (very literally on occasion) and the poor are peasants that should just be happy that they get to see the next sunrise.  It's another of those serious cultural divides that we have trouble comprehending, since we're so far from the last time it mattered in our culture.

[Reelya]

Idk, it's a very common thing in romance novels in general, not just Japanese ones. 50 Shades of Grey, and all that. She sold 125 million copies of the first book. From Google, I gather you've got the hot, athletic billionaire, who is sexually abusive. Clearly if he wasn't rich and hot no woman would tolerate to read that rapist shit. Sex with some ugly fucker with missing teeth who lives in a shack would be a horror series, not a romance, even if every act was described identically. 50 Shades started out as a Twilight fanfic, and I hear Twilight also has the abusive boyfriend thing going on. A quick prediction is that Edward is also rich, and that seems to be validated by a google search. Same message as the manga's: being wealthy and good looking excuses abusive behavior. Googling this stuff is as close as I want to get to either series, btw.

Clearly there's a demand for this stuff. If there's less stuff like this in the West, and someone writes one shitty book and sells 125 million copies, then perhaps it's not a cultural divide at all, perhaps the romance writers in the West just didn't stumble on that little money-maker before this.

[EnigmaticHat]

One Punch Man is confusing me.  The anime I mean, I've heard the manga is much better.

Anyway, the premise of One Punch Man doesn't work as a serious show for a similar reason that, for me, super man doesn't: he's invincible.  Like, we all know that the episode/plotline is going to end with Saitaman punching the bad guy.  Its in the name.

I'm pretty sure the boring invincibility was part of the joke.  The first few episodes were comedy gold, but now it... seems to be trying to be a serious action show?  Like... why?  Maybe when I'm finished the season the direction they're going will make more sense...

[Cthulufaic]

One Punch Man is confusing me.  The anime I mean, I've heard the manga is much better.

Anyway, the premise of One Punch Man doesn't work as a serious show for a similar reason that, for me, super man doesn't: he's invincible.  Like, we all know that the episode/plotline is going to end with Saitaman punching the bad guy.  Its in the name.

I'm pretty sure the boring invincibility was part of the joke.  The first few episodes were comedy gold, but now it... seems to be trying to be a serious action show?  Like... why?  Maybe when I'm finished the season the direction they're going will make more sense...

What's happened is that they are following the manga pretty much exactly.  So don't worry, shenanigans will resume.

[IronyOwl]

No, it isn't even wish fulfillment, it's a cultural holdover from the (very recently departed) days of feudal Japan.  There are a great many people in japan who continue to exist in the mindset of peasantry vs. nobility.  The rich are nobles, and can get away with murder (very literally on occasion) and the poor are peasants that should just be happy that they get to see the next sunrise.  It's another of those serious cultural divides that we have trouble comprehending, since we're so far from the last time it mattered in our culture.

I dunno man, "the good guys" getting away with stuff "the bad guys" can't seems pretty universal. It's not usually a literal nobility vs peasantry thing, but ex-cops vs terrorists, lovable blue-collar scoundrels vs lawyers, spunky kids vs bullies, and so on and so forth tends to follow the same basic pattern where a few altered qualities changes everything.

[Reelya]

One last thing on One Punch Man, but those gay-bashing tropes are also rife in Hollywood films. An extremely camp character is often a signifier that they are the head villain.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Camp = Pure Evil (e.g. Xerxes from 300)
http://www.newnownext.com/sissy-villainy-gay-movie-villains/09/2013/

"Cracked (hollywood stereotypes): #3. Non-Heterosexual Characters Either Die or Are Murderers"
http://www.cracked.com/article_20082_6-insane-stereotypes-that-movies-cant-seem-to-get-over_p2.html

21 Best (and Worst) Queer Movie Villains
http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/06/30/21-best-and-worst-queer-movie-villains
making a list of 21 gay hero-side characters in hollywood films would be almost impossible

Obviously, this is not as common as it once was, but you still get it in big budget releases of the last decade.

Of course, I'm not dismissing the example given, but don't OMG Japan specifically, about stuff you can easily find the same level of offensiveness casually thrown around in western media.

[Criptfeind]

I'm pretty sure the boring invincibility was part of the joke.  The first few episodes were comedy gold, but now it... seems to be trying to be a serious action show?  Like... why?  Maybe when I'm finished the season the direction they're going will make more sense...

Nah, it's not trying to be serious, at least as far as I can tell, that's the joke. That Saitama is in a serious action show, but he's not serious (Or very actiony) at all. And, that's more or less all there is to the story.