Over the past couple of days, the One-Punch Man fanbase has been cringing over the new ad for One-Punch Man: The Strongest. The ad was shared on various platforms, including Twitter and YouTube. In case you haven’t seen it yet, you can check out the ad here (but be prepared to cringe):
The ad is cringe-inducing in many ways, one of which is the look of the live-action Saitama. While Saitama has always looked a bit goofy (except in serious situations), the ad kicks it up a notch given its low-budget look, as noted by fans online. Then there’s the overall concept of Saitama rapping. Fans have noted that the rap is autotuned, making it worse. It doesn’t help that the rap isn’t connected with anything about the series and is instead just a straight-up promotion of the game. Finally, many noted how Saitama is called One-Punch Man in the ad, a name that he doesn’t go by at any point in the anime or manga. Instead, he is often referred to as Caped Baldy or called by his real name Saitama. According to discussions, there’s also a sense that the creators of the ad were not familiar with the series at all given the questionable concept. Both on Twitter and Reddit, the fan reaction is mostly negative. Though there are fans who noted how it’s “so bad that it’s good.”
This new ad was made for the recent Western release of One-Punch Man: The Strongest, a turn-based strategy mobile game with gacha elements. The game was originally released in Asia back in 2020. While the ad is cringeworthy, the One-Punch Man mobile game is considered by some fans to be a pretty fun game, especially for those who love the series. It helps that the game features the same voice cast as the anime. This means the game stars Makoto Furukawa as Saitama, Kaito Ishikawa as Genos, Saori Hayami as Fubuki, and Aoi Yuki as Tatsumaki, among others. One-Punch Man: The Strongest was launched in the US and EU on September 22, 2022.
