I ask this because the other day my oldest brother who is a total normie (plus in his teen years he was busy with one lady after the next while in my teen years I was researching UFO cases, reading sci-fi and buying classic rock and RnB records) was telling me about The Boys and was shocked that I wasn't watching it. I told him that I have some of the comic book and they are fine but that at this point I am just so sick of deconstruction or subversion.
I have the the Watchmen comic by Alan Moore and his life views aside it is a great comic. The only problem is that it spawned to this day so many "what if super heroes were bad" or "dark and gritty side of super heroes" stories. My two worst cases of these modern trends are the Last Jedi because I think Rian Johnson is a typical hollywood douchebag who thinks you aren't smart if you don't appreciate his movies and I question his motivations because I don't think he would give a beloved female character the "Luke treatment". Another example would be Ayra killing the Night King in Game of Thrones because while I enjoy her character in the books I can't help but think that their motivation was girl power and to say "well everyone expected Jon to fight the Night King" is a terrible reason to not do it.
Some good examples off the top of my head are Yoda in Empire Strikes back because it was an interesting surprise to see a little green guy after hearing about a great warrior/Jedi master, but there was a lesson there. Also, in the first Ice and Fire book or Game of Thrones season 1 I didn't see Ned Stark being executed because I thought he would be the main character throughout. Granted there is a pretty sad lesson there about the consequences of doing the right thing and being honest.
What are your examples?
I like One Punch Man as a subversion/deconstruction of superhero stories. Even shounen to some degree. Usually the story is about encountering a tough enemy, training up, and then defeating them. Being able to one shot anybody like having infinite damage in a video game can get boring after a while.
I love how they reference things but never let it be out of the universe. Bicycle Rider and Pretty Pretty are obvious references to Kamen Rider and Sailor Moon, but if you didn't know that, its still funny.
If you like One Punch Man,I'd recommend you look up the manga Mr Zombie, it's just as ridiculous as One Punch Man (especially chapter 31) and is the same level of humour.....and WTF moments.
I wish season 2 was actually about OPM
Tbf the manga is mostly "everyone else fighting monsters, then Saitama shows up and one shots the big bad" with some sprinklings of Genos being turned into modern art.
Even though he's the titular character, Saitama can't work as a character being front and center the whole time because he really would trivialise every single fight.
Season 2 does suffer hard due to production and pacing as the animation isn't that good compared to season 1 and Saitama showing up to take out Giant Centipede is nowhere near as interesting as Saitama vs Boros was.
The most interesting fights in season 2 are those with Garou, and if the anime lasts long enough to show the actual Saitama vs Garou fight then it might redeem itself from how poorly season 2 turned out.
The problem is a lot happens between s2 and then and the retold fight, as the original from the web comic and many others during the same arc, were changed to take advantage of better artists. Even some of the manga fights were redone as the manga was being released! Every S class hero gets their own fight at one point meaning a lot of air time and episodes so Saitama vs Garou may not even happen until season 4 or 5.
I'm very much a baby so to speak when it comes to Manga (only have 5 so far) but Shounen are Mangas that generally appeal to guys right? They are broken into categories if I remember correctly.
That explains Josei and the Pussycats
Pronounced 'Ho-Say'
Thanks!
Yeah shounen is for younger guys and seinen is for older guys.