Superheroes and their journeys are an integral part of Western comic stories. It’s a genre that’s been around for decades and is currently experiencing a renaissance thanks to the works of Marvel Studios. These stories, as told by Western writers, portray superheroes as famous members of the public because of their powers and deeds. Then between One Punch Man, a webcomic and a satire of the whole superhero genre.
They say people don’t know what they want until you give it to them. Well, One Punch Man was certainly what comic book readers and devotees of the superhero genre didn’t realize until they wanted it. Created by “ONE”, One-Punch Man tells the story of Saitama, an overpowered superhero who has become too powerful to find excitement in the steady stream of challengers that come his way. Her story is about her journey to regaining excitement in superhero battles, and maybe some name recognition.
One-Punch Man started out as a self-published comic on Nitosha, a Japanese platform for independent manga (Japanese comic book) publishing. On the website, it is considered a hit if a comic gets 30 comments, but after One-Punch Man was published, the comic averaged a thousand comments by the 30th chapter.
In love with the comic series, manga artist Yusuke Murata decided to work with ONE and thus began One-Punch Man’s journey on screen. Yusuke redesigned the comic book series and published it by major Japanese comic book publisher, Weekly Young Jump Comics. Making the series a commercially sold project turned out to be Yusuke Murata’s masterstroke. In its first year of publication, the comic sold 2.2 million copies and an additional 3.2 million copies in the second year. By the time the series had been published for five years, it had sold over 15 million copies. In the United States, the manga debuted on New York’s Bestseller list and was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2015.
The success of the series in its publicity This publication inspired the development of an animated version of the comic strip. The first season aired in Japan on October 5, 2015. The first season was licensed to Hulu and first aired on September 6, 2015. The anime version of the comic is enjoying similar success with the manga version and a second season has already been announced to air in 2019.
One-Punch Man Synopsis
In the One-Punch Man universe exists an Earth-like supercontinent where extremely powerful monsters and villains spawn and wreak havoc. The government of the planet in an effort to combat the threat has created an organization that employs superheroes to fight monsters on behalf of the planet. All superheroes registered under the Hero Association (Organization Name) are classified in a class system from Class C to Class S. Superheroes are classified according to their power level in order to determine which monsters and monsters they are skilled against.
In this bizarro world exists Saitama, who while growing up on this planet dreamed of becoming a superhero and fighting all the monsters with the planet praising his name. He spent three years training to become a superhero and became so powerful that he could defeat any opponent with a single punch. His power level ultimately made battling monsters and villains an unexciting experience for him, going against the reason he wanted to become a superhero.
During his lonely journey to find a villain or monster capable of giving him a true challenge, he encountered Genos, a cyborg who had a personal mission to avenge another cyborg who destroyed his hometown, including his family. Saitama takes Genos under his wing and the two set out to achieve each other’s goal by joining the Hero Association.
Genos quickly adopted the association test structure and was placed in the highest class, S-class. Saitama, on the other hand, failed the hero association test and he was ranked in class C as a lower rank superhero.
After spending time among the superheroes of the Hero Association, Saitama is promoted to Class B after some feats he has done for the protection of the planet are recognized. As Saitama spends more time in the group, he begins to learn the skills he lacks and opens up to learning. He joined a tournament to learn more about martial arts, but joined the competition under the guise of being another hero. When he was caught, he fled to avoid arrest.
In his absence, the tournament and the city are invaded by a group of monsters from the Monsters Association. They defeat the superheroes present, including Genos. Saitama, after learning about the attack, returns to fight the monsters. He defeats monsters before they can do any more serious damage to people, and he earns some of the admiration he sought when he became a superhero.
During the development of the comic, ONE described its motivation as creating a hero whose real problems were with the mundane situations of life rather than the major villains prevalent in Western superhero stories.
The first season of the anime got great acclaim from fans and critics for its stories, animation quality, and visual effects. The first season consists of 12 episodes and a new season is expected to be released in 2019.
Cast and characters
The first season is made up of important characters like Saitama, the bored superhero who is voiced in Japanese by Makoto Furukawa. Max Mittelman voices the character in the English version of the series.
Genos is the cyborg who decides to become Saitama’s student. Her story is driven by her quest for revenge and she is voiced by Kaito Ishikawa in Japanese and by Zach Aguilar in the English dub.
Saitama and Genos are the two main characters in One-Punch Man’s story, but a cast of hero association characters includes Tornado, a highly ranked superhero who is considered the second most powerful hero in the universe. ‘association. She is voiced by Aoi Yüki in the original Japanese version and Marieve Herrington brings the character to life in the English version.
Other prominent cast members and fellow Hero Association members are No. 3-ranked Bang, voiced by Kazuhiro Yamaji in Japanese and Will Barret in English. The child emperor, ranked number 5 in the Association, is one of the greatest heroes on the planet, despite being only 10 years old. He is voiced by Minami Takayama and Sara Cravens voices her English version. Other heroes include Flashy Flash, Watchdog Man, Pig God, Tank-Top Master, Drive Knight and many more.
The show is written by Mike McFarland, ONE and Tomohiro Suzuki.
Season 2 release date; Here’s what we know so far
Having had a very successful first season, the show’s production company, Viz Media announced that the second season would be released in April 2019. The announcement reveals little in terms of the plot of the second season, but we get waits for a new enemy to rise for Saitama, who by the end of the show has finally accepted the responsibility of being a member of the Hero Association, thus giving Genos a new enemy to deal with.
Few changes have been revealed in terms of casting changes but one of the changes towards the second season is the director. The second season will no longer be directed by Shingo Natsume, who directed the first season. This is part of the changes brought about by the transfer of the production company in charge of the Madhouse project to JC Staff.
No other changes have been announced and everything else is expected to remain the same, including the cast members. The theme song artist behind one of the show’s popular tracks, The Hero, is also confirmed to return for the second season.
Where to watch One Punch Man
For those who might be interested in seeing why One-Punch Man is one of the most popular TV projects on the planet, the show is available to stream on Netflix.
To stream on Netflix, simply create a Netflix account and subscribe for a monthly fee. If you’re a new user, however, the first month is free.
If you don’t have a Netflix account and would rather not have one, there are other ways to watch One Punch Man.
You can download hosting sites on the Internet or download the applications, VidMate. It is a streaming platform similar to Netflix and does not have a subscription model. The app offers a variety of options for you to access the show. You can just stream or download it in your desired video quality.