Book Review: One Punch Man Vol. 5 

By ONE and illustrated by Yusuke Murata 

4 stars 

One Punch Man Vol. 5 is a continuation of the beautifully illustrated and comedic series, with the writing being by ONE and the simply masterful art by Yusuke Murata. This book continues the villainous rampage of the Deep Sea King from volume four, and Deep Sea King continues his rampage by taking on numerous heroes and villains alike from the series. Throughout this book, the characters in the story confront the Deep Sea King in numerous ways. With stunning art by Yusuke Murata, the panels are brought to life. Each drawing makes the panels feel like they are truly in motion, and the hits feel like they have serious weight behind them, doing severe damage to the characters involved.  

Onto the story points of the series, One Punch Man is known for its more comedic tone to Shonen Jump stories. Though this story takes a more serious turn on the One Punch Man storyline by focusing on some of the side characters rather than Saitama (The One Punch Man himself), this highlights how ONE’s ability to make characters in depth despite the comedic tone of the series. There are a few particularly inspiring moments in this book where the side characters, despite not being as strong as Saitama and not as confident as him either these moments changed my perception of some characters, making me like them quite a bit more than the protagonist of the series. This brought further depth to the series as a whole, showing that One Punch Man is much more than just a story about an extremely strong protagonist and thus more so tackles the theme of being a true hero, with many characters embodying a true hero and a more corrupted hero. In conclusion, One Punch Man Vol. 5 brings more weight to the series, making it one of the best volumes that the genius ONE has ever created, and will continue to be one of the best as the series progresses over time, and I will continue to follow the series and read with great anticipation for the next volume and chapters. 4.8/5 

Reviewed by Amare 

View in Library Catalogue: Print