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It’s lonely at the top. It’s also really boring. Saitama knows this all too well. Trained to perfection and is now never challenged by any opponent. How does a 25 year old become so powerful? How did he get bald so young? Let’s find out!

Saitama was a regular person living in a world where monster attacks were becoming more and more common. Heroes were the people who took down monsters to help keep the world safe. Saitama had always wanted to be a Hero and when his attempt at a day job had failed, he found the opportunity to fight a monster. He’d beat the monster just barely but still, he found a thrill he had to chase.

Three years of training so hard that he lost all the hair on his body. His regime included 100 sit ups, 100 push ups, and 100 squats, every day, even when he didn’t feel like it. No air conditioning or heating when the temperature got too extreme, this lead Saitama to become so powerful he could defeat any threat in a single punch.

Fights became more like pushing a button than actual combat. Saitama would go on with his day with monster battles having the same threat level as one might have thinking of what to make for dinner. He’d eventually draw the attention of a young cyborg, Genos, who witnessed Saitama’s power and was awed. Powerful in his own right, Genos would become dedicated to becoming Saitama disciple. Confused as to what he could possibly teach, Saitama gladly accepted the rent money Genos paid to live with him so he could learn.

Genos would be the one to bring up to Saitama that while he was clearly more than qualified to deal with world-class threats, he wasn’t registered with the Hero Association, the official organization that ranked and employed Heroes. The two would go to be registered and while Saitama broke records during the physical exam, which some thought were due to cheating, he just barely passed the written exam, placing him in the lowest tier of C-Class and the lowest rank among them. Meanwhile, Genos would ace both written and physical exams and be ranked at the lowest rank and highest tier, S-Class. The student had, technically speaking, surpassed the master. Genos knew better. Saitama didn’t really care. They eventually get Hero code names as well, Genos is the Demon Cyborg while Saitama is… Bald Cape.

Now an official Hero, but due to his C-Class rating, Saitama could no longer fight monsters casually. He had to go out and perform heroic deeds like stopping criminals and saving lost pets at least once a week if he wished to remain a Hero. Saitama’s bored and disinterested tone didn’t win him many friends and certainly helped him in making enemies. Many villains and heroes alike have found Saitama’s brisk tone to be rude and insulting which he doesn’t really care too much about since their threats just feel empty to him.

Thankfully, due to impressive heroic acts, Saitama is able to raise in rank and class as a hero and finds himself quickly moving up to B-Class where he no longer has to desperately find heroic deeds on a weekly basis. He does find that B-Class is filled with super teams, which run more like gangs, who threaten others to join them so as to become more powerful teams. One such team is Blizzard’s gang, a powerful psychic who lives in the shadow of her S-Class older sister who is ranked as the second most powerful Hero on the planet. Once again, not finding any real threat from anyone, Saitama declines at the absurdity of not only settling for B-Rank, but to think that the team wouldn’t just end up being a liability for him.

Saving a city, if not several, on several occasions, Saitama would garner the attention of Silverfang, the third most powerful hero on the planet, besides Genos, he is one of a handful of people to understand just how powerful Saitama truly is. He witnesses Saitama destroy a massive meteor that would have wiped out an entire city with a single punch, but also sees that he couldn’t stop the destruction his shattering the meteor. Saitama is often seen in the eyes of the public as either a loser who cheated his way into C-Class at best or a dangerous menace glory hog at worst.

The world’s most powerful seer has a vision, gets out the bare minimum of a description then dies from the shock of what she sees. Her words are that the world is in grave danger in the next six months. The fact that of all her terrible predictions that all came true, she never used the word “danger” before, putting the entire Hero Association on edge as her premonition could happen at any moment and any horrible even could be the beginning of the end with her prediction.

The world begins to experience increased monster activity, alien invasion, the raise of a “Monster Association,” and a Hero Hunter all in a short time. All the while Saitama deals with each threat when it comes his way. All while struggling with boredom that has become his life even with all these exciting events occurring around him. The world is getting more monstrous while Heroes are getting hospitalized more and more. Can Saitama help save the world and will he ever find a way to really feel anything anymore since none of this feels difficult for him?

There you have it folks! One-Punch Man started as a web comic that got so popular it got remade as a manga and eventually got its own anime which has a second season on the way. The series is a comedic look at super heroes and a sad look at what depression is like using  a superhero lens. Maybe some day Saitama will be able to feel something beyond boredom. See you next time!

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One-Punch Man

Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net