The anime industry is filled with various arts of various genres and one of which is the action-comedy genre. The most loved and watched anime of all time fall under this umbrella of a genre, such as One Piece, Naruto, etc. A new addition to this list is the webcomic-adapted anime One Punch Man.
The One Punch Man storyline is based on a fictional world of heroes and villains. The protagonist ‘Saitama’ alias One Punch Man, is just a hero for fun, and all he wants is a worthy opponent to have a fun one-on-one fight. But he is too much of an overpowered character that he mostly one-kills his opponents.
The One Punch Man webcomic was started in the summer of 2009 by the artist and creator Tomohiro or better known as ONE, in the manga industry. It was later in 2012 that a digitalized remake was done by Yusuke Murata in the Weekly Young Jump magazine. The anime is created under Madhouse creations which also digitalized Death Note and Hunter x Hunter.
The One Punch Man manga soon gained popularity among Shonen manga readers and was awarded several honors as well. The first and second volumes, when they debuted in the United States, maintained first and second place in the list of New York Times Manga Best Sellers for several weeks.
The manga has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, and its popularity is still on the rise. In 2015, the series was also nominated for the Eisner Award under the category, Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia.
Storyline
The protagonist of the series, Saitama, is a hero just for his hobby. Saitama was a regular person but unemployed and was tired of living unemployed. But despite his several attempts, he couldn’t get a job. On a regular day, while walking back from a job interview, being rejected and depressed, and his paths cross with a villain, Crabrante.
Crabrante was looking for a big-chinned boy for his revenge. Saitama saves the boy from Crabrante and succeeds in killing him. However, in the process, Saitama is heavily injured and intends to gain strength. Saitama’s quest for strength starts at a park and follows a rigorous training regime. Eventually, Saitama gains his intended strength and turns out to be the strongest.
Strong enough to one-kill any opponent. However, everything comes with a sacrifice, and in his act of becoming the strongest, he loses all his hair and becomes bald. He manages to grow strong to a level that his life becomes boring and dull, and he looks for a worthy opponent to have an exciting battle and feel that rush of a fight once more.
The series progresses with Saitama gaining disciples as Genos and Sonic, defeating villains and being the strongest in the world.
Also read: Top 10 S-Rank Hero From One Punch Man
1. Saitama’s name
The author, Tomohiro, spent his childhood in the Saitama province and decided to go for the same name when naming the protagonist of his series. Other names that were used as his aliases are Caped Baldy, named by the Hero Association, and One Punch Man, as he kills his opponents with one punch.
2. Character inspiration
The inspiration for One Punch Man comes from a Japanese school hero Anpanman. Anpanman is a Japanese children’s superhero designed in the 1970s and also was a popular character. It can be perceived that ONE was inspired by his childhood hero and based on his protagonist’s design of him.
The resemblance of Saitama to Anpanman can be observed from their same clothing design to both being bald. The color of their suits might have switched between yellow and red, but the basic structure remains the same, from gloves to belts to a cape.
3. Even a hero was once unemployed
Before joining the hero association and registering as a hunter, Saitama was unemployed. To the extent that he survived only on vegetables and hardly would get a meal. He also worked part-time jobs in his financial struggle era to meet his daily requirements. Even after joining the Hero Association, he still struggles to pay off his rent, which is later revealed that Genos pays it off.
4. Saitama responsible for Hero Association
The set-up of the Hero Association was something that helped Japan, in the series, cope with constant villain sitings. However, behind the foundation of this Hero Association, Saitama has a larger role.
The big-chinned boy that Saitama saves at the start of the series is later revealed to be the grandson of the present Hero Association president. After this incident with his grandson, he came to a realization to set up an organization that could help the citizens in trouble from the villains.
An incident that might seem trivial at the time plays an important role in Saitama’s life. However, neither Saitama nor Hero Association has any idea about this.
Also Read: One Punch Man Season 3 Announced: Spoilers Ahead
5. Saitama’s rank
Despite several occurrences of him fighting and defeating villains being covered by fans, the One Punch Man world has different plans. Every time he defeats a villain, certain scenarios occur that cover his heroic tale, and he is seen as a low-rank hero.
During hero registration, in spite of being the predominant individual in physical tests, he performed substandard in the written test, which lowered his actual rank. Saitama is an A-rank hero.
6. Simpler initial design
ONE started One Punch Man as a webcomic and didn’t pay much attention to its design. The reason behind the simpler design can be rooted back to the idea of his main intentions for a more humorous and comic story. When the series was digitalized, ONE hired another artist to redraw the designs, making them look more scenic and eye-catchy.
One Punch Man initial designs (Credits: Looper)Later in the series, several references to the author’s original design can be observed. This was done as a tribute and also to display the originality of the series.
7. A satire of western comics
One Punch Man was created as a hobby and also was aimed to be a satire of western superhero comics. Being the protagonist’s personality to their costume, it can be clearly perceived as the story progresses. A simple design and a face that screams ‘average’ at first look. Saitama nowhere can be compared to your stereotypical superheroes.
A superhero is said to have a charismatic personality, cool costumes, and never-ending fame. One Punch Man breaks all of these characteristics from an average-looking face to a simple DIY yellow and red costume. Even his lifestyle is so normal as he fetches his own groceries, lives unemployed, and leaches on Genos’s money for rent.
8. Saitama’s initial day jobs
A hero is said to fight villains and save the world from evil atrocities, but they still have a livelihood to maintain. Saitama being unemployed and depressed from job rejections, had worked many day jobs. One of which was a convenience store clerk. This was later confirmed by ONE itself in an interview.
Saitama’s love for shopping can be glimpsed in the series as well. He looks out for sales and prioritizes them over everything, even over fighting villains. These scenes make up for some of the most comic ones in the series.
9. Saitama’s exercise regime
Saitama became the strongest from a nobody by following a strict exercise regime. He followed a strict routine of 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats, and 10km of running every single day. Even when it was later revealed in the series, it left everyone shocked. The routine that felt impossible at the time is quite doable.
The regime might be a little different for an average person and not be loved by everyone. But an average athlete who is active in the field can keep up with it. It might not give someone superpowers, but it can definitely give some bumps.
10. The love for manga
Tomohiro hides several of the instances in the series that proves Saitama’s love for manga. During glimpses of Saitama’s apartment, various manga comics can be seen and also a separate bookshelf sometimes.
11. Mob Psycho and One Punch Man
Tomohiro is also the author of the famous graphic Mob Psycho, and it looks like Saitama is also a fan of the author’s work. Tomohiro hides several easter eggs in the series that, upon a deep look, can prove this too. The Mob Psycho mangas are seen on the hero’s bookshelf, and it can also be observed him reading them too.
The one thing that is a shred of significant evidence is a scene that shows Saitama wearing a Mob Psycho t-shirt.
Also read: How To Watch Mob Psycho 100 Season 3?
12. Villain Threat levels
One Punch Man’s world is a fictional filled with heroes and villains. Although it takes Saitama to defeat his opponents in a single punch, that doesn’t seem to be the case for other heroes. The villains are rated on a threat level that is a five-point scale.
According to the Hero Association, Level one is Wolf, which requires a B-class hero or three C-class heroes to subjugate the threat. Level two is Tiger, requiring an A-class hero or five B-class heroes to defeat. Level three is Demon. It puts a whole city at risk and requires an S-class hero or ten A-class heroes to subdue the threat.
The next level is Dragon, which puts multiple cities at risk and requires multiple S-class heroes or multiple strikes from One Punch Man. The last level is God. At this level, there is no standard for these threats and risks to all of humanity.
Up to the third level, One Punch Man can more or so defeat them with a single punch. But the God level can be a little difficult for him too. Boros, the main villain of Season 1, can be scaled to this level as he was quite a competitive opponent for One Punch Man too.
13. Saitama’s reflexes
The one One Punch Man fact that is often overlooked and not much talked about is his reflex and reaction time. But Saitama’s reflexes are top tier, the instances of which can be proved in the series.
When Speed-o’-Sound Sonic attacks him out of nowhere from the back, he catches his sword with his mouth. None other but his teeth. This scene is more than enough to prove that One Punch Man is too OP.
14. One Punch Man is as fast as the speed of sound
During One Punch Man’s fight with Boros in season 1, Boros kicks him so hard as he flies from earth to the moon. But this seems to not hurt him much as just in the next scene, he jumps back to Earth. The fact to note is that he jumped back in mere 1.5 seconds. The time to achieve is almost impossible without the top speed being equal to the speed of sound.
This scene makes it easy to assume that One Punch Man’s top speed is as fast as the speed of sound. Also, while breathing his last breaths, Boros tells Saitama that he is not fighting at his full potential, which gives us an idea of him being more powerful than we know.
15. King’s popularity
King has been one of the most popular characters in the One Punch Man universe since his appearance in the series. Young Jump Magazine, which publishes the comic, also issues character popularity polls from time to time. According to this, King has not been too far from the top. As the story progresses and more of his personality is shown, it is assumed that he can be one of the top 10 popular characters too.
16. King’s popularity in the One Punch Man universe
ONE in an interview clarifies that not only in the real world, but King is quite popular in the One Punch Man universe too. As citizens believed King was among the strongest heroes, he gained immense popularity with it.
17. King’s rumored feats
King may not have any superpowers and is the weakest of all the S-class heroes, but he has the power of luck on his side. Several coincidences came to place to make King the strongest hero. The Hero Association believes King to be the savior of mankind and kills several of the Demon and Dragon-level villains.
However, King is not more than a normal civilian and is just present at the perfect place at the perfect time. King is believed to have the superpower of time travel and sword skills that can rival the samurai hero Atomic Samurai. He is also the only hero to have killed a villain only with his intimidated stare.
18.Tatsumaki and King
Tatsumaki’s personality is brash and rude, and she might not be liked by anyone at first look. But actually, the older of the Psychic Sisters’ Tatsumaki respects King. The respect comes from the fact that King is an S-class solely based on strength and is the strongest superhero.
19. Metal Knight and his limits
One of the mysterious characters in the One Punch Man universe is the Metal Knight, and some of the times he has been seen in the series, it is through the lens of one of his many robots. He is the curious type that does anything to expand his knowledge and likes to work from the shadows. He is also not the justice-hungry superhero, and the reason he is one of the S-class heroes is because of his robot army.
One of the many One Punch Man facts is that he helped in cleaning after the Boros and Saiatama’s fight because he collected a large part of Boros’s ship to study for his experiments.
20. Child Emperor is your regular school-going kind
Despite being an S-class hero at the mere age of 10, Child Emperor still has to attend school because of social norms in One Punch Man’s Japan. He is known for his intelligence, adaptability, and high intellect. Child Emperor after school, also teaches his own class as a teacher. Yes, he is a student as well as a teacher.
21. Hero Rankings
The Heroes in the One Punch Man universe are rated as S, A, B, and C class by the Heo Association. The top S-class heroes are Blast, Tatsumaki, Bang, Atomic Samurai, and Child Emperor. Genos is also an S-class, whereas his teacher, the One Punch Man, is still an A-class.
Also read: One Punch Man Characters Birthday and their Zodiac Signs
22. Bang has a higher hero rating
The Hero Association assigns ratings to heroes based on factors such as stamina, strength, and sense of justice on a scale of 1 to 10. The hero ratings are completely different from their rankings. This can be seen in the case where Bang, no. 3 on hero ranking, has a better rating than Tatsumaki, the no. 2. This was because Bang was slightly better in terms of stamina and endurance.
23. The Psychic Sisters
Younger sister, Fubuki alias Blizzard Hell, and older sister, Tatsumaki alias Terrible Tornado make for the two Psychic Sisters. The popularity of the two sisters is off the charts, and soon after their appearance, they made up their places in everyone’s hearts. Specially Fubuki became the second most popular character soon after her appearance. Fubuki is a B-class hero, whereas Tatsumaki is an S-class hero.
24.Fubuki is a perfectionist
The younger Psychic sister likes to always be on top. Fubuki, despite being a B-class hero, intends to be the best of the lot despite there being higher classes. She also desires to be the head of the Blizzard Group, of which she is a member.
Among other hobbies, they are shopping and shoe collecting. She despises cheap items and has certain brands to her liking. Among the things that she hates are heroes that are weaker than her, rejecting joining the Blizzard Group, and traffic jams.
25. Genos and Sonic’s appearance
In an interview, ONE spoke about the cool appearance of Genos and Sonic, whereas Saiatma has a lame design. It was made so to bring a gap between Genos/Sonic and Saitama.
It shows that a cool appearance and character design have nothing to do with one being strong, and a lame character can be strongest too. Initially, ONE made it look like a little gap, but when Murata designed the character, the design gap multiplied manyfold.
26. Metal Bat is a beast
Bad alias Metal Bat is an S-class hero, ranked at number 15. In the series, Metal Bat is seen with next to no superpowers, but he still manages to maintain his S-class spot. However, the superpower that Metal Bat is gifted with is fighting spirit.
This means as the fight starts, he enters ‘the zone’ and is almost undefeatable. His reflexes become better, he is much faster, and there is an increase in strength too. In an interview, ONE said that Metal Bat could defeat Garou in a fight too.
27. Metal Bat has an unbreakable bat
As understandable from the name, Metal Bat’s bat is just as unique as it should be. It was a gift from the Hero association when he reached S class and was made to be unbreakable.
28. One Punch Man one of the most popular
In a poll done by MyAnimeList for the most popular anime character, Saitama came to be in 20th place. It managed to gather 46,068 votes. The list was topped by Lelouch Lamperogue, the protagonist of the series Code Geass. It gathered 161,485 votes.
29. One Punch Man is gaining a negative fanbase
When the series was released in 2015, One Punch Man season 1 was compared with classics such as Attack on Titan and Fairy Tale. After a break of 4 years in 2019, season 2 was released with a change of production house from Madhouse to J.C. staff. The popularity of season 2 was the downfall, and the change in production house was assumed to be one of the reasons.
In a recent post by UberFacts on Twitter, One Punch Man fandom came out to be the most negative words used on the platform. It was 174 negative words out of 1000 on the platform. It was the highest, leaving behind animes such as One Piece and Naruto.
30. Monster King Orochi was once a human
The villains of the One Punch Man universe are directly or indirectly an extension of humanity’s negative impact. Similarly, the Monster King Orochi was turned into a monster due to a point in his life that made him lose his human emotions and make him bitter. After his fight with Saitama, Orochi figures out he has nothing to lose and merges with his master, Psykos, to become the Monster King.
31. Villains of the One Punch Man universe
Author ONE created the villains of the One Punch Man universe to show the evil side of mankind. Several of the villains are born from the awful impact of humans on individuals. This triggered the evil within them, and they turned into a villain.
32. Saitama had his dream fight
‘With great powers come great responsibilities’ came true for Saitama. He had to bear the responsibility of being the strongest and the curse of it too. Due to his being the strongest superhero, no threat was more than a single punch for him. This made his fights boring and life dull.
But once he had his dream fight where he was able to unleash his full potential on everlasting villains. But in the end, it was nothing more than a dream. The fight ended with him blowing his alarm clock with a single punch.
33. Watchdog Man is a man of justice
Watchdog Man has a characteristic of a dog and is an S-class hero, ranked at number 12. He has a mysterious persona and always remains in his costume. He sits on a pedestal in the Q-city and can be found at that spot when he is not fighting. Watchdog Man has Q-city as his territory and only operates here as Q-city is also the most dangerous area because of consistent threat sitings.
34. Watchdog man never kills a human
Having a personality of a dog and being a man of justice, Watchdog man never kills a human and pulls off his punches when fighting one. Due to his fast reflexes, it is also almost impossible to injure him, and he comes out of battle without a single scratch.
35. One Punch Man and Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball has been an inspiration for several mangas such as One Piece and Naruto, and this seemed to be the case with One Punch Man too. Several references, such as Vaccine Man’s resemblance with Piccolo and Boros charging up, seem similar to a Super Saiyan transformation.
Also read: How To Watch Dragon Ball In Order? A Guide To Watch It The Right Way
