- Blizzard recently announced a collaboration with the popular manga and anime series
- It will see several Overwatch 2 heroes receive OPM-inspired skins
- Fans are already divided on the choice of Genji’s skin
Overwatch 2’s newest collaboration with One Punch Man will see Doomfist, Kiriko, Soldier 76, and Genji cosplay as some of the anime’s most notable characters.
OPM Skins Are Coming to Overwatch
Blizzard has announced a collaboration with the popular manga and anime series One Punch Man, which will see multiple Overwatch 2 heroes receive skins inspired by the media. This would fittingly see characters like Doomfist donning Saitama’s yellow jumpsuit. “Doomfist was a perfect fit for donning the iconic yellow suit and white cape, capturing the signature trademark of Saitama’s ability to defeat any enemy in a single punch,” reads Blizzard’s official announcement.
Meanwhile, who else would be better to cosplay the most powerful psychic in the OPM universe, Fubuki, than Overwatch’s own twirling hero Kiriko? “And, when it came to bringing the powerful psychic, Terrible Tornado to life, we knew no other Overwatch 2 hero could match her personality better than Kiriko,” Blizzard wrote.
And we should not forget Saitama’s sidekick, the cyborg Genos, and who else would be a more perfect match to get a skin inspired by him than Genji? “The similarities between Genos’s and Genji’s backstories were certainly an inspiration,” Overwatch 2 associate director Aimee Dennett said in Sony’s PlayStation blog. “They are both humans who were pushed to the brink of death, only to be rescued and transformed into cyborgs by doctors from their respective universes.”
Dennett also talked a bit about the thought process of the team when deciding on which heroes would get the OPM-inspired skins. She said, considering both Genos and Genji have strong relationships with their mentors, there was the idea that Zenyatta would make for an excellent Saitama.
Fans Are Divided on Genji’s Skin
Despite the skins looking good and the character seemingly fitting well with their respective heroes, a sizable number of players think Blizzard should have handled the decisions differently. Many fans of OPM and Overwatch took to forums to discuss the upcoming cosmetics, finding particular issues with Genji.
In a Reddit thread, many fans stated that the hero is not a good fit to receive a Genos-inspired skin. Their reasoning can be summarized in the different skills both characters have. On the surface the two seem like a good match, being heavily augmented cyborgs in their respective universes. However, many fans pointed out that Genos’ abilities are immense strength, speed, and endurance. Meanwhile, Genji is seen as someone relying much more on stealth and cunningness, and less on brute strength.
“The silhouette and the abilities should decide the crossover skin, not the character within lore. SOS Sonic would be a way better fit for Genji and Genos would better fit Sojourn,” one comment reads. The reasoning here is that both Genji and Sonic from OPM are edgy ninjas with similar fighting styles.
Still, others said Genji is a natural choice to receive a Genos-inspired skin, agreeing with the reasoning that the Blizzard team had when deciding on the skins. “Hey man I love Sonic too, but Genji Genos is such a natural pick I can't really see what to complain about here,” another commenter wrote. “It fits too well. You can also “maybe” argue that Genos is much easier to identify for non-OPM fans, which probably plays a part as well.”
Overwatch 2’s One-Punch Man crossover event starts on March 7 and will last until April 6.
