Saitama is a bland, deadpan "hero for fun" who became too strong, and no one has any idea.
Kid Rating:
I think the 14+ rating is accurate here, with some wiggle room. We watch the anime with our 11 year old, who's a hair on the young side for this. There’s gore but it’s mostly monster gore, a couple scantily clad/suggestive female characters, and some mildish language. Knowing my kid’s maturity level none of this was a deal breaker for us. In terms of the manga, there's stronger language in the webcomic vs. provocative drawings in the manga, and more overt stories with the sketchiest character that probably shouldn't be read by children.
One Punch Man
Manga Review
01 February 2026
One Punch Man (OPM) will forever be my favorite manga of all time. Not just because it is so on point with my sense of humor* (and Murata’s art is incredible), but because it’s the series that really got me into manga to begin with. There are no words to describe how much I love Season 1 of the anime, and I still enjoyed Season 2 although it lacked the magic and suffered from being too drawn out.
I had the bittersweet experience of discovering OPM just before Season 3 came out (after a four year wait), and I was so excited to watch it in real time… but it was a travesty of epic proportions. The animation quality is so bad it felt like it couldn’t possibly be real, and the OPM fandom coped through excessive meme-ing (the entire Internet has seen the Garou PNG hill slide).
So I decided to read the manga instead. I prefer reading over watching things anyway, and due to *gestures wildly* I finally understood escapism and fell down a manga hole.
There are 3 versions of One Punch Man:
- Original Source: The webcomic by ONE, which can be read online (whenever it gets translated to English, anyway). The story arc diverges quite a bit around chapter 50.
- Illustrated Manga: The official manga drawn by Murata and released online. The storyline differs from the webcomic and is starting to feel like a separate, parallel story.
- Official Canon: The manga collected into physical volumes, which features retconned scenes that differ even from the manga, and is considered the official version.
I read all three.
I love ONE’s writing, so I’ll always be partial to the webcomic storylines, which are fresh and thoughtful while also being more straightforward (less… gimicky?) than a lot of manga.
But I also adore Murata’s illustration style, so I’m always excited to see how he brings it to life.
I have varying thoughts on the different arcs between the first edition of the manga vs. the volumes, but on the whole I prefer the official canon (print volume) storylines when they differ. One frustration about the Season 3 anime was that for some reason, they did not use the official versions, which was disappointing and probably confusing for anyone who didn’t read the manga.
I know I’m burying the lede here, but the premise of OPM is that Saitama is a hero for fun who has surpassed his human limitations and can beat any opponent with just one punch. Due to his bland appearance he’s never taken seriously, he’s hilariously deadpan, and he only gets upset about things like monsters breaking his ceiling, not the fact that they’re trying to kill him.
The concept and characters are the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, and it’s not just Saitama; the personalities of all the other main heroes are fully fleshed out and add so much to the story. I have died laughing out loud at this manga on multiple occasions, and that doesn’t happen often.
Where to Read:
- One Punch Man webcomic on Cubari (English, free)
- One Punch Man webcomic on MangaDex (Multiple Languages, free)
- One Punch Man manga on Shonen Jump (English, free trial or subscription)
The printed volumes are available at local libraries or as ebooks via Libby. I generally check them out on Libby and read on an iPad.
*Helpful context: my all-time favorite movie is Hot Fuzz and The Emperor’s New Groove is probably in my top ten. For a barometer of my sense of humor.
