Hey friendly friends!
So I don’t like not liking things.
That’s why when I first read One-Punch Man in 2015 and I didn’t fully enjoy it, I did
say that I would try it again a few years later and see what I thought.
Well, here we are.
I REALLY like it now!
I mean after giving it the second chance, I fell in love with the entire series and
read every single volume that was released in English.
It’s super good!
So because of all this, I decided that I would go ahead and do all the history and origins
of the One-Punch Man himself!
Let’s take a look!
One Punch Man is a webcomic turned manga turned anime that has taken the world by storm, but
just who is this mysterious macho man?
Saitama has always had a smart mouth which has gotten him in trouble with teachers and
upperclassmen from a very young age.
The problem though is that he had absolutely no power to get him out of the problems that
he created for himself.
He was a weakling, but still had dreams of being a hero strong enough to defeat foes
with a single punch.
Years later, Saitama was but a lowly unemployed man who hated his life until he stumbled across
a crabman trying to kill a child on his way home from an unsuccessful job interview.
Saitama actually managed to save the day and decided then and there that he wanted to become
a superhero so he undergoes the most serious of serious training regimens.
Every day.
One hundred push-ups.
One hundred sit-ups.
One hundred squats.
Run ten kilometers.
Eat three meals a day.
Never use the air conditioner.
After three hundred days of this intense training, Saitama fought the personification of a light
cord and discovered that he had obtained ultimate power and was now able to defeat any opponent
with a single punch...
at the cost of losing his hair.
Saitama’s strength is so massive that alien steel doors are like tissue paper to him.
He can run down a skyscraper in a matter of seconds.
He can leap from the moon to the Earth in a single bound.
He can move so fast that he can create dozens of after-images.
Oh and he can also wiggle his ears.
With this newfound strength, Saitama became a hero for fun, casually saving the day and
eliminating large threats.
Because of his overwhelming strength though, Saitama started to grow bored.
Even the biggest monsters could be swatted away like mere insects.
Saitama felt no challenge and eventually lost nearly all of his emotions.
All of this changed though when Saitama met Genos, a cyborg fighting for justice, who
was struggling to defeat a villain named Mosquito Girl.
Saitama steps in and defeats her in you guessed it, one punch.
This dazzling display prompts Genos to recite his comically dense backstory and practically
DEMAND to become Saitama’s student.
At first, Genos is the only one to acknowledge Saitama’s immense strength.
You see, despite defeating countless foes, nobody seems to have even HEARD of Saitama.
Frankly, he’s disappointed by his lack of fans.
You know, like me.
Make sure to like and subscribe!
Anyway, Saitama isn’t known because he isn’t a professional hero listed in the Hero Association’s
registry.
In fact… he didn’t even know it existed...
Saitama took the Hero Association’s tests and had an amazing physical performance, surpassing
any previous records.
However, he scraped by on the written exam, barely scoring higher than the minimum requirements.
Genos on the other hand earned a perfect score on both exams and carried on as Saitama’s
student despite their difference in class.
As a Class S hero, Genos is called upon for huge threats, but usually, Saitama has to
step in and do the bulk of the work for him.
Because of this, Saitama was able to rise through the ranks rather quickly such as when
he destroyed a massive meteor and defeated a gargantuan sea monster.
Despite being the one that saves the day time and time again, Saitama refuses to take credit
for most of his actions and instead pretends to be leaching off the power of those stronger
than him.
This helps keep the populace trusting in other heroes and he’s even gone out of his way
to defeat a monster while dressed as a police officer to show that the force is still needed
in addition to the Hero Association.
Because of not taking credit and wearing the scumbag persona, people HATE him and Saitama
even deals with what are essentially YouTube comments.
He intentionally makes himself look like he isn’t doing any work, but is actually doing
great, sort of like my favorite hero, Booster Gold.
From there, things progress as you might expect.
Saitama collects rivals such as the ninja, Speed-o’-Sound Sonic and the Hero Hunter
Garou the Human Monster, but it also acts like a pseudo-monster of the week style manga
with a bit of slice of life thrown in the mix where he assembles his recurring cast
including the powerful martial arts master Bang and the cowardly liar, King.
Unlike most shonen manga though, all of Saitama’s opponents are INSANELY powerful.
It’s not like Dragon Ball, Bleach, One Piece, Naruto, Fairy Tail, etc. where the threats
start small and then work up to these MASSIVE baddies.
Instead, nearly every threat is like…
Vegeta at the lowest.
Every single time, Saitama defeats them with one punch, except for this alien dude.
This guy was so strong that Saitama had to use a series of consecutive normal punches
and finish off with the “Serious Punch” a couple pages later to defeat the guy.
Even then however, Saitama was still holding back.
All this time, Saitama didn’t have an official hero codename, but around the time he achieved
Class B, Rank 7, the Hero Association officially dubbed him…
Bald Cape…
Yeah no, he’s actually not called One-Punch Man.
I know, I was surprised too.
And really that’s as far as what’s been released in the American translation of the
manga at the time of this recording.
See, while Saitama is the main character of the series, One-Punch Man is special in that
it gives a LOT of attention to its plethora of side characters.
It helps build a fully fleshed out and cohesive world, but at its expense, there really isn’t
much to Saitama, especially since his fights end so quickly.
On top of that though, One-Punch Man is a very visual based series.
The spectacle, absurdity, and non-verbal storytelling are the main focus of things as opposed to
deep and complex lore.
So if you can’t tell, I recently moved which is why the set looks a little bit different.
I honestly didn’t expect this giant window to be here so I can’t hang up my comic frames
like I normally do.
That’s why we have Captain America here filling up the space with his handsome body,
but I am planning on doing a new backdrop.
I hope it will make the set look a little more professional and it will also let me
bring the comics back into constant rotation, but I wouldn’t have been able to consider
doing this without all of your support on Patreon.
It’s because of the money you guys pledge that I’m able to keep upgrading this channel
making everything look better and better and hopefully now that I’m all settled in and
I’m not having to drive forty five minutes to get to this set.
Now that it’s here in my home, I can probably start making videos more often.
So a huge thank you to all of you guys who are supporting me on Patreon and a special
shoutout to Edgar Avalos and Tim Wyllis and also there’s some more Patrons that have
their names down there in the description below if you want to check it out.
So I guess that’s the end of this video.
I’m going to try to crank it out and get it out ASAP.
If you like this one, watch another one.
If you like this video then please consider subscribing.
I’m gonna go now, too-da-loo!