One-Punch Man

• 1. Introduction

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  One-Punch Man is a Japanese manga series about a hero who can end any fight with a single punch. Saitama has trained so thoroughly that no opponent can test him, and the reward is boredom rather than glory. His creator, who goes by the single name One, put the premise this way: "The only obstacles he faces are mundane things, like running short of money." An unbeatable hero sounds like a joke with a short life. So why did readers keep coming back? Why did an already successful artist later feel driven to redraw the whole story? And why did reviewers cheer the first television version, then turn sharply against the later ones?

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• 2. A Webcomic Takes Off

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  In 2009, One began posting One-Punch Man on the Japanese manga website Nitosha.net, publishing it himself. The Japanese short title, Wanpanman, is a pun on Anpanman, a long-running children's character. The wanpan part is a contraction of wanpanchi, which means "one punch". One wanted to write a superhero who was already the strongest in the world.

  Nitosha.net treated a series as popular if each update drew at least 30 comments. By the fifth chapter, One was receiving about 30 per update. By the 30th chapter, he was receiving nearly 1,000. The webcomic had passed 7.9 million hits by June 2012.

  In February 2010, One paused the series for a year because of family circumstances. After the 109th chapter appeared in January 2017, he stopped for two more years, and the next chapter arrived in April 2019. The webcomic stands at 155 chapters. When One returned to drawing in 2011, a well-known artist named Yusuke Murata got in touch with an unusual offer.

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• 3. Murata's Redraw

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  Yusuke Murata was in a hospital when he decided to write to One. He was already a successful manga artist, and he was an enormous fan of the webcomic. He later described that moment: "Around that time, I was actually really sick. I broke out in hives, my inner organs were infected, and I couldn't breathe well with my windpipes swelling. I was in the hospital when I thought, 'Ah, I guess people die just like that.' If I'm going to die, I want to do something I really love to do. I want to draw manga with Mr. One. That's what I thought."

  Through his industry connections, Murata secured a publishing deal with Weekly Young Jump magazine. The redrawn version became a digital series on a spin-off website run by the publisher Shueisha. That site, Tonari no Young Jump, has carried it since the 14th of June 2012. The first collected volume, called a tankōbon, appeared on the 4th of December 2012. A radio drama CD came bundled with the ninth volume in August 2015. By the 4th of March 2026, the count stood at 36 volumes.

  Outside Japan, Viz Media took the remake to English readers. It began running in Weekly Shonen Jump, then called Shonen Jump Alpha, on the 21st of January 2013. The first e-book followed in February 2014, and in June 2014 Viz placed the series on the ComiXology platform. Print editions have been sold in North America since September 2015.

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• 4. The Hero Association

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  City Z lies on a supercontinent version of Earth plagued by monstrous threats, and the Hero Association exists to fight them. Saitama operates there as an unaffiliated hero. His routine changes when he meets Genos, a cyborg seeking revenge on the machine that destroyed his hometown. Saitama easily defeats Mosquito Girl, a foe who had nearly killed Genos. Genos then becomes his devoted disciple.

  C-Class is where the Association places Saitama, because his written exam results are poor. Genos, by contrast, lands immediately in the elite S-Class. Soon Saitama single-handedly stops an asteroid impact and defeats the amphibious terror known as Deep Sea King. The public responds by turning against other heroes for seeming weak. Saitama quietly draws the criticism onto himself to protect their reputations.

  The alien warlord Boros finally arrives, fulfilling a dying prophecy by the seer Shibabawa. While the Association's forces fight Boros's army, Saitama faces the conqueror in a lopsided duel that ends with his signature finishing move. Even the "Dominator of the Universe" fails to challenge him, so the victory leaves him emptier than before. Around the same time, monster attacks escalate, and a man calling himself the Hero Hunter appears.

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• 5. Garo and the Reset

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  Childhood bullying scarred Garo, a disgraced martial artist, and it fed a pathological hatred of hero culture. His campaign collided with the Monster Association, a subterranean organization that transforms humans into monsters. When the group kidnapped the son of a Hero Association executive, Garo formed an unlikely bond with Tareo, a child who worshipped heroes. Both were then captured.

  The assault on the Monster Association's headquarters became the most destructive battle in the story's history and reduced much of City Z to ruins. In the chaos, Saitama met Blast, the mysterious top-ranked hero, who warned of an apocalyptic entity called "God". Garo mutated into a monstrous form and received cosmic power from that entity. He slaughtered numerous heroes, including Genos, whose core he destroyed to provoke Saitama.

  The two fought a cataclysmic battle that spanned the solar system, and Saitama prevailed. In his final moments, Garo taught Saitama how to travel through time. Saitama returned to the past and subdued Garo before the disaster could unfold. Only Genos kept any memory of the original timeline.

  After the reset, Saitama is promoted to A-Class while the Association's credibility crumbles. Dissatisfied heroes join the Neo Heroes, a rival group led by the enigmatic Blue, who claims to be Blast's son. The group promises to optimize hero work, drop the ranking system and end unfair treatment of lower-ranked heroes. Its members receive battle suits, armored vehicles and proper equipment, under Neo Leaders drawn from former S-Class heroes and other powerful figures.

  Behind Blue's promises lies a plan for mass cyberization. Drive Knight reveals to Genos that Metal Knight is responsible for the Mad Cyborg. Dr. Kuseno is then assassinated by Machine Gods sent by the Organization. The Organization launches an invasion of millions of robots into every city, a mechanized conflict that may be tied to Genos's past.

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• 6. The Madhouse Season

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  The anime adaptation was announced in the 15th issue of Weekly Young Jump on the 10th of March 2015. Madhouse animated it, Shingo Natsume directed, and Chikashi Kubota handled character designs and served as chief animation director. The first season ran for 12 episodes on TV Tokyo, from the 5th of October to the 21st of December 2015. A preview screening of the first two episodes took place on the 6th of September 2015 at the Saitama City Cultural Center.

  JAM Project performed the opening theme, and Hiroko Moriguchi performed the ending. The season streamed on Niconico and was simulcast on Hulu, Daisuki and Viz Media's Neon Alley service. An original animation DVD arrived with the tenth manga volume on the 4th of December 2015. Extra OVA episodes came with home media volumes, the first on the 24th of December 2015.

  Viz Media announced an English dub at Anime Boston 2016. At the Toonami panel at Anime Expo on the 1st of July 2016, it was revealed that the series would air from the 17th of July. The first season ended there on the 9th of October 2016. Viz holds rights in North America, Latin America and Oceania, while Viz Media Europe covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

  Critics praised the season for its uniqueness, animation, humor, characters and fight scenes. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 100% approval rating from 12 reviews, with an average of 8.4 out of 10. Its critics consensus ended by calling the series "simply a knockout." A second season was confirmed in September 2016.

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• 7. The Studio Change

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  On the 25th of September 2017, the production team announced that One-Punch Man would change both its production company and its director. J.C.Staff took over animation, and Chikara Sakurai replaced Shingo Natsume as director. Yoshikazu Iwanami replaced Shoji Hata as sound director. Tomohiro Suzuki, Chikashi Kubota and Makoto Miyazaki returned as series composer, character designer and composer.

  The second season aired from the 10th of April to the 3rd of July 2019, preceded by a recap special on the 3rd of April. Five OVAs were bundled with home media volumes between the 25th of October 2019 and the 27th of February 2020. Toonami aired the season from the 12th of October 2019 to the 12th of January 2020.

  Reviews were mixed. Humor, characters and story still earned praise, but reviewers unanimously criticized the drop in animation quality. Direction, pacing and fights drew complaints, as did a final episode that felt like an improper season finale. Screen Rant reported divided fan reaction and wrote that the series had "gone from the pinnacle of TV anime visuals to looking like just another weekly series." The same outlet credited the improved story mostly to the original manga. IGN gave the season 5 out of 10 and called it "mediocre".

  In August 2022, a third season was announced, with most of the main cast and staff returning. A new director replaced Chikara Sakurai. The season aired from the 12th of October to the 28th of December 2025, after a recap special on the 5th of October. JAM Project featuring Babymetal performed the opening theme, "Get No Satisfied!" Reviews were overwhelmingly negative. Game Rant called the "quality of the art, animation, and direction" all subpar. Anime News Network named it the worst anime of 2025, and a second cours is set to premiere in 2027.

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• 8. Sales and Spin-offs

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  By November 2013, the manga remake had 2.2 million copies in circulation. The figure reached 13 million by July 2017 and 20 million by July 2019. By April 2020, the series had sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and by August 2025 over 34 million were in circulation. It was the ninth best-selling manga of 2016, with over 3.9 million copies sold, and the eighth of 2017, with over 3.2 million.

  In the United States, the first and second volumes debuted on the New York Times Manga Best Sellers list in first and second place. Both stayed for two weeks. Volume one then dropped to second place for a third week, while volume two fell off the list. By July 2019, volume one had spent 71 weeks on it.

  The Japan Media Arts Festival named the manga a Jury Recommended Work in 2013 and 2014. It was nominated for the seventh annual Manga Taishō Award in 2014, an Eisner Award in 2015 and a Harvey Award in 2016. In 2017 it won the Sugoi Japan Award and the Manga Barcelona award for the seinen category. In 2020, the anime won "Most In-Demand Export from Asia" at the second Global TV Demand Awards. At the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Saitama and Garo were nominated for Best Protagonist and Best Antagonist.

  On the 25th of June 2019, the game One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows was announced for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. It reached Japan on the 27th of February 2020 and North America and Europe a day later. A mobile game, One Punch Man: Road to Hero, launched on iOS and Android on the 22nd of August 2019. Blizzard Entertainment announced an Overwatch crossover in February 2023, which ran from the 7th of March to the 6th of April. Skins included a Saitama-inspired one for Doomfist and a Genos-inspired one for Genji.

  On the 21st of April 2020, Sony's Columbia Pictures announced a live-action film in development. Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner were signed as writers, with Avi Arad producing. Justin Lin was revealed as director and co-producer on the 13th of June 2022. In April 2024, Dan Harmon and Heather Anne Campbell were reported to be rewriting the script.

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