Erureido
Smash Hero
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2014
- Messages
- 5,408
- NNID
- Erureido
- 3DS FC
- 5301-1552-4121
- Switch FC
- SW-4754-8756-2004
Most overrated out of all the anime I watched would probably have to be One Punch Man. Saitama was an okay character, but he was too OP for me to really get attached to (I like characters who don't start OP, perhaps to the point of even being weak in the beginning, but gradually develop their strength over the course of their series). The fact Saitama was able to finish almost every fight with one punch made the fights feel rather stale for me with the only fight that I remember really enjoying was the one in the 12th episode where he fought that alien lord because I definitely felt the stakes were much higher with him fighting someone of similar strength to him.
I know what some are thinking: "Eru, you know that One Punch Man is a satire of the super hero genre, right? Saitama finishing foes with one punch is the entire joke! Why don't you get it?" Yeah, I'm well aware OPM is a satire, and I even tried to watch the show from that angle. Yet, even when I tried to watch it like that, I still had a hard time getting into it. Only a few scenes I remember made me laugh like the ending of the Saitama vs Sonic fight, but other than that, I've seen other satire/comedy shows that made me laugh a lot more (and now that I think about it, I think the whole deal of Saitama finishing foes felt unfunnily repetitive, so maybe that also has something to do with my feelings toward the show). I will say one positive about OPM though: I like Genos a lot as a character, and that biker hero dude was a cool character too!
Most underrated anime for me is Free. It's easy for most people to turn away from it because of how attractive the characters are drawn and people consequently tend to dismiss it as a boring fan service show, but the way I see it is that the featured characters are all highly skilled swimmers who care about the sport. If you've seen most competitive swimmers, their bodies are generally known for being well-toned, and thus Free is tasteful in being accurate to this fact. Not only that, but I'd say the fan service only looks questionable in the first season, and that's only during the scenes where they emphasize Gou's trait that she loves seeing men with muscles. It makes her the most irritating character to watch in Season 1 because of it, but the next two seasons immensely improve that particular fan service issue by removing that trait of hers for the second season and occasionally bringing it up in Season 3 but not to the point of it being irritating.
Over the course of its three anime run (with a fourth season set to come out next year), Free is actually quite a fun anime with an overall lovable cast. All of the swimmers with their interesting motivations and great character developments make them such compelling characters to watch! Haru, the main character of Free, is honestly one of my favorite fictional protagonists because I just love his character development regarding how he sees his friends and how he develops his views on the sport that he loves, and the bonds he develops with other characters is fun to watch.
Free is also filled with some surprisingly emotional moments too. I remember getting quite emotional in the season 2 finale because it heavily reminded me of the pain of leaving behind my closest friends in high school as I started college just like what Rei and Nagisa experienced with Haru and Makoto graduating to college.
I'll admit that being a swimmer in high school and still practicing the sport as exercise played a huge role in making me attached to the anime, so it's also something of a personal taste as well. As a swimmer, I think the anime is an accurate portrayal of what a swimmer playing his/her sport is like.
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