One-Punch Man

One-Punch Man (Japanese: ワンパンマン Hepburn: Wanpanman) is a Japanese superhero web manga created by ONE which began publication in early 2009. The series quickly went viral, surpassing 7.9 million hits in June 2012. The Japanese shortened name Wanpanman is a play on the long-running children's character Anpanman, wanpan being a contraction of wanpanchi ("one punch"). One-Punch Man tells the story of Saitama, a superhero who has grown bored by the absence of challenge in his fight against evil and seeks to find a worthy opponent.

A digital manga remake of the series, illustrated by Yusuke Murata, began publication on Shueisha's Tonari no Young Jump website in 2012. The chapters are periodically collected and printed into tankōbon volumes, with nineteen volumes released as of April 4, 2019. Viz Media has licensed the remake for English serialization in its Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine.

An anime television adaptation by Madhouse aired in Japan between October and December 2015. It was dubbed in English during the summer of 2016, and later that year a planned second season was announced. On September 25, 2017, it was announced that they would be changing both its production company and director. The second season premiered in April 2019.

## Plot

On an unnamed Earth-like super-continent planet, powerful monsters and villains have been mysteriously appearing and causing disasters. To combat them, the world's government created a Hero Association that employs superheroes to stop violent creatures and villains. Each of the Hero Association's superheroes are ranked from Class-C to Class-S. Saitama was an unranked hero, hailing from the metropolis of City-Z, who performed heroic deeds for his own entertainment. He has trained himself to the point where he broke his "limiter" and can effortlessly defeat any opponent with a single punch. However, since Saitama became a hero for the fun of the experience, he has lately become bored with his superhuman power, and frustrated at the complete lack of strong opponents that can challenge him.

Over the course of the series, Saitama encounters various superheroes, friends, villains, and monsters. He quickly gains a pupil, the cyborg Genos, who is on a revenge quest to find another cyborg that slaughtered his entire family and hometown. Eventually the two join the Hero Association in order to gain official recognition. Genos proves to be a prodigy and is instantly placed in Class-S, while Saitama barely passes because of the written test and is therefore placed in Class-C, making him the lowest ranked hero. Saitama performs many feats that go mostly unnoticed and unappreciated by the public, such as defeating the ninja Speed o’ Sound Sonic and destroying an incoming meteor that was going to obliterate City-Z. Saitama is promoted to Class-B after he defeats the powerful Deep Sea King, who rains destruction on City-J. Monsters begin to appear in City-Z, searching for a mysterious Monster Association. Soon after, the great seer Shibabawa has a vision that the world is in danger. Panicking, the Hero Association calls all S-Class heroes to a meeting, begging them to protect the world. Immediately after the meeting, the leader of the Dark Matter Thieves, Boros, invades the planet and destroys City-A. Saitama duels with Boros and defeats him by using some normal punches and a serious punch. During the invasion of aliens, the S-Class hero, Drive Knight, warns Genos that the S-Class hero, Metal Knight, is his enemy. The Hero Association salvages City-A with the help of Metal Knight, and they build a new base of operations that will allow the Hero Association to deploy heroes more easily.

Saitama begins to gradually know other superheroes. He quickly becomes friends with the old martial arts master, Bang, and the "Strongest man on Earth" named King, who is actually a cowardly nonviolent otaku who got his S-Class position by accidentally receiving credit for many of Saitama's previous victories. When the Hero Association executive Sitch tries to recruit villains to become superheroes, Bang's former apprentice, Garou, emerges and starts beating down many of the other heroes, prompting the association to make a small effort to stop him.

In order to earn money, Saitama enters a martial arts tournament in disguise as a disciple of Bang. During the martial arts tournament, the Monster Association leads an attack on multiple cities, causing massive panic and damage. The Hero Association struggles to keep up with the attacks. Genos fights monsters and protects the tournament so that Saitama can safely compete. Despite being the most powerful hero in the world, Saitama loses the tournament by default in his last fight with Suiryu due to being caught wearing a wig and impersonating another martial artist named Charanko. Saitama flees the tournament in fear of being arrested by the police. During the award ceremony, the powerful monster Gouketsu lays siege on the tournament after defeating Genos in combat. Gouketsu presents monster cells that can turn humans into monsters after being ingested to the people of the stadium, telling them that he'll kill them if they don't ingest the cells. Some people partake of the cells becoming monsters, including the martial artist Bakuzan. Saitama returns to the stadium after hearing explosions and the winner of the tournament Suiryu's desperate cries for help. Saitama defeats Gouketsu and Bakuzan with a single punch. Saitama humbles Suiryu and inspires the martial artist to become a hero.

The B-Class hero Fubuki tries to have Saitama join her faction of heroes. Garou, determined to become the most powerful monster, continues to grow stronger and stronger and hunts more heroes down including S-Class heroes Tank-Top Master and Metal Bat. The Hero Association ranks him at a threat of "Dragon" level, the second highest that is possible. They fail to capture him after sending a team of A-Class heroes to stop him. Bang confronts Garou and almost kills him, but the Monster Association rescues him at the last second to try and recruit him. The Monsters continue to attack people and continue to gather in City-Z being led by the powerful psychic Gyoro Gyoro and the monster King Orochi. Garou refuses to join the Monster Association and continues to defeat the heroes. Meanwhile, the Hero Association leads a war against the Monster Association with hundreds of heroes after the monsters kidnap the child of a high ranking contributor to the Hero Association. A new group known as The Organization, consisting of powerful robots, allies itself with the Monster Association by sending robots such as G5 to help in the war.