One Punch Man is about a man who became too strong. Saitama trained until he could defeat any enemy with a single punch, and now he's bored. Monsters, aliens and martial-arts masters keep arriving to destroy the city, and he keeps ending each fight before it starts, then going home to check the supermarket sales. The comedy comes from everyone around him, who take their battles very seriously and almost never notice who actually won them.
The series began as a webcomic by ONE in 2009 and was redrawn as a manga by Yusuke Murata from 2012. Madhouse made the first anime season in 2015, and J.C.Staff produced the later seasons. Below you'll find Saitama and his disciple, the S-Class heroes, the rest of the Hero Association, and the villains, plus the Japanese voice cast and an A–Z list.
- Creator
- ONE
- Manga art
- Yusuke Murata
- Anime
- Madhouse (season 1), J.C.Staff (later seasons)
- Genre
- Superhero action comedy
Saitama and Genos
Saitama
Caped Baldy · Hero for fun
Saitama is a 25-year-old with a plain face, a yellow suit and no hair, which he lost during the training that made him unbeatable. He started heroing as a hobby, only registered with the Hero Association later, and entered C-Class at rank 388 after acing the physical exam and scraping through the written one. Nobody believes he's responsible for the disasters he quietly ends. His problem isn't villains: it's that nothing can excite him any more, and the series treats that emptiness as both a joke and something sad.
- Voice
- Makoto Furukawa (Japanese), Max Mittelman (English)
Genos
Demon Cyborg · Saitama's disciple
Genos is a 19-year-old cyborg whose family and hometown were destroyed by a rogue cyborg. He's chasing it for revenge. After watching Saitama end a fight in one hit, he moves in with him as his disciple and takes earnest notes on everything Saitama says. He enters the Hero Association directly at S-Class, loses an arm or his whole body in nearly every big fight, and keeps getting rebuilt stronger.
- Voice
- Kaito Ishikawa (Japanese), Zach Aguilar (English)
The S-Class heroes
The Hero Association ranks its members in four classes, C to S, with a number within each class. S-Class is the elite: a small group who get called in when a threat reaches Dragon level, where whole cities are in danger. Most of them are strange people, and very few of them get along.
Tatsumaki
Tornado of Terror · Rank 2
Tatsumaki is the most powerful psychic in the world, able to rip up whole city blocks and fling them at an enemy. She looks like a child, is 28, and has a temper that terrifies even other S-Class heroes. She's fiercely controlling of her younger sister Fubuki. The manga eventually explains her distrust of everyone through a childhood spent in a research facility, and the hero who rescued her from it.
- Japanese voice
- Aoi Yūki
Bang (Silver Fang)
Martial arts master · Rank 3
Bang is an 81-year-old master of the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, a flowing style that redirects attacks. He's calm, decent and possibly the most honourable hero in the Association. His failure with his former student Garou weighs on him, and his attempts to stop Garou drive the hero-hunt storyline.
King
Strongest man on Earth · Rank 7
King has no fighting ability at all. He was in the right place at the wrong time when Saitama defeated several monsters, received the credit, and is now believed to be the world's strongest man. The thumping of his terrified heartbeat, the King Engine, makes villains back down. He's also Saitama's gaming buddy and the one person who knows the truth, and he's surprisingly wise.
Blast
Rank 1
Blast is the number one hero, and for most of the series a near-legend who almost never shows up to meetings. Everything about him is kept vague. The manga slowly reveals that he has been fighting a much larger, cosmic threat of his own.
Atomic Samurai
Swordmaster · Rank 4
Atomic Samurai is a grizzled swordsman who can cut an enemy to pieces in a blink. He runs his own school with three disciples and is proud and prickly toward other heroes, especially Bang.
Child Emperor
Genius inventor · Rank 5
Child Emperor is a schoolboy genius who fights with a backpack full of gadgets and, later, a giant robot. He's analytical, cautious and one of the few heroes who tries to understand the science of the threats they face.
Metal Knight
Robot army · Rank 6
Metal Knight is Dr. Bofoi, a reclusive scientist who only ever appears through robots. He measures heroes and monsters as data and seems more interested in collecting technology than protecting anyone, which makes the other heroes uneasy.
Zombieman
Immortal investigator · Rank 8
Zombieman is a chain-smoking hero who can regenerate from almost anything because of experiments done to him. He wins by not dying, and he's one of the most level-headed people in the S-Class.
Flashy Flash
Ninja · Rank 13
Flashy Flash is a stylish, aloof ninja who moves so fast most enemies never see him. He trained in the same ninja village as Speed-o'-Sound Sonic and treats the rest of the S-Class with polite contempt.
Metal Bat
Delinquent hero
Metal Bat fights with a single bat and pure fighting spirit, getting stronger the longer a fight goes and the more he's hurt. He's a pompadoured tough guy who drops everything when his little sister Zenko tells him to.
Puri-Puri Prisoner
Prisoner hero
A burly hero who lives in prison, breaks out to fight, and is cheerfully attracted to handsome men.
Tank-Top Master
Leader of the Tank-Top heroes
A muscle-bound brawler who heads a whole school of tank-top-wearing heroes.
Superalloy Darkshine
Rank 11
A bodybuilder with an unbreakable body and a surprisingly fragile ego.
Watchdog Man
Rank 12
A hero in a dog suit who single-handedly guards City Q and fights by instinct.
Drive Knight
Cyborg · Rank 9
A mysterious transforming cyborg who warns Genos not to trust Metal Knight.
Pig God
Rank 10
An enormous hero who fights by eating his enemies.
Other heroes
Below S-Class, the Association is full of people trying their best with ordinary powers. Some of the series' best moments belong to them.
Fubuki
Hellish Blizzard · B-Class rank 1
Fubuki is Tatsumaki's younger sister, a capable psychic who chose to rule B-Class through her Blizzard Group rather than live in her sister's shadow in S-Class. She tries to recruit Saitama, fails, and ends up part of his circle of friends. Her story is about stepping out from under Tatsumaki.
- Japanese voice
- Saori Hayami
Mumen Rider
C-Class rank 1
Mumen Rider has no powers, a helmet and a bicycle. He throws himself at monsters he can't possibly beat because someone has to. His stand against the Deep Sea King is one of the most loved scenes in the series, and he's the clearest picture of what the show thinks a hero is.
- Japanese voice
- Yoshimasa Hosoya
Amai Mask
A-Class rank 1 · Idol
Amai Mask is a pop idol and actor who refuses promotion to S-Class so he can block others from rising. He's obsessed with heroes being beautiful as well as strong, and he has a secret that ties into that obsession.
Charanko
Bang's last disciple
Charanko is the only student left in Bang's dojo after Garou's rampage. He's weak and comic, but he enters a martial-arts tournament for his master's honour.
Suiryu
Martial arts champion
Suiryu wins the Super Fight tournament and openly mocks heroes for wasting their strength on duty. When the tournament is attacked by monsters, he learns what being a hero costs.
Villains, monsters and rivals
Monster threats are ranked Wolf, Tiger, Demon, Dragon and God, from least to most dangerous. The series' best villains mirror Saitama in some way.
Garou
The Hero Hunter
Garou is an 18-year-old martial artist, Bang's former top student, who always identified with the villains in hero shows. He decides to become the monster every hero fears, and he beats hero after hero while carefully never killing them. As he's pushed harder he begins to transform, but he never quite stops protecting weak people. His final fight with Saitama is the manga's centrepiece.
- Voice
- Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Greg Chun (English)
Speed-o'-Sound Sonic
Ninja · Saitama's self-declared rival
Sonic is a vain, very fast ninja for hire who tries to fight Saitama and loses badly. He's decided Saitama is his rival ever since, and turns up repeatedly to try again. He's competent against anyone else, which makes his humiliations funnier.
- Japanese voice
- Mamoru Miyano
Boros
Dominator of the Universe
Boros is an alien warlord who conquered his way across space looking for an opponent who could challenge him. He's Saitama's mirror: bored, lonely, and stronger than anything he's met. Their fight closes the first anime season, and it's one of the few times Saitama gets to use a serious technique.
- Japanese voice
- Nobutoshi Canna
Deep Sea King
Dragon-level monster
The leader of the Seafolk invades J-City during a rainstorm and tears through heroes of every class. The arc is less about him than about how the public treats the heroes who fall, and the one who finishes the job.
Psykos and Orochi
Leaders of the Monster Association
Orochi is the Monster King, the Association's figurehead. Psykos is a psychic who actually runs it, and she has a history with Fubuki. Together they launch the war that fills the anime's later seasons.
Gouketsu
Monster Association executive
Gouketsu is a former martial-arts champion who accepted monster cells and now recruits fighters for the Association. He's the series' warning about what Garou could become.
Dr. Genus
House of Evolution
A scientist who clones himself to build monsters. After meeting Saitama he gives up and opens a takoyaki stand.
Carnage Kabuto
House of Evolution
Dr. Genus's strongest creation, who notices that Saitama wants to go shopping.
Vaccine Man
Demon-level monster
Earth's embodied anger at pollution, defeated in the opening episode.
Mosquito Girl
House of Evolution
A monster who leads a swarm of mosquitoes against Genos.
Voice cast
| Character | Japanese voice |
|---|---|
| Saitama | Makoto Furukawa |
| Genos | Kaito Ishikawa |
| Tatsumaki | Aoi Yūki |
| Fubuki | Saori Hayami |
| Mumen Rider | Yoshimasa Hosoya |
| Speed-o'-Sound Sonic | Mamoru Miyano |
| Garou | Hikaru Midorikawa |
| Boros | Nobutoshi Canna |
In the English dub, Saitama is voiced by Max Mittelman, Genos by Zach Aguilar and Garou by Greg Chun. Mamoru Miyano, who plays Sonic, is also the voice of Light Yagami in Death Note.
What the series is about, and where to start
One Punch Man is a parody of shonen battle series like Dragon Ball: every fight builds up a villain's power, then ends in one punch. Underneath, it's about what heroism means when strength stops being the question. Saitama has all the power and none of the recognition. Mumen Rider has no power and acts anyway. Garou wants to be the villain and keeps doing the right thing. If you liked the hero rankings and hero society of My Hero Academia, this is its funniest critique.
Start with the first anime season, which is short and a near-perfect introduction. The second season continues straight into the Garou story. If you want the full story, the manga is much further along and is often redrawn and expanded, so newer volumes can differ from the anime. For more on how ranking-based power systems work, see our power scaling guide, and browse every series on the anime hub.
All One Punch Man character names A–Z
A–C
- Amai Mask — A-Class hero
- Atomic Samurai — S-Class
- Bang (Silver Fang) — S-Class
- Blast — S-Class
- Boros — Alien warlord
- Carnage Kabuto — House of Evolution
- Charanko — Bang's disciple
- Child Emperor — S-Class
D–G
- Deep Sea King — Monster
- Dr. Genus — House of Evolution
- Drive Knight — S-Class
- Flashy Flash — S-Class
- Fubuki — B-Class
- Garou — Hero Hunter
- Genos — S-Class
- Gouketsu — Monster Association
K–O
- King — S-Class
- Metal Bat — S-Class
- Metal Knight — S-Class
- Mosquito Girl — Monster
- Mumen Rider — C-Class
- Orochi — Monster King
P–S
- Pig God — S-Class
- Psykos — Monster Association
- Puri-Puri Prisoner — S-Class
- Saitama — Caped Baldy
- Speed-o'-Sound Sonic — Ninja
- Suiryu — Martial artist
- Superalloy Darkshine — S-Class
T–Z
- Tank-Top Master — S-Class
- Tatsumaki — S-Class
- Vaccine Man — Monster
- Watchdog Man — S-Class
- Zenko — Metal Bat's sister
- Zombieman — S-Class
Frequently asked questions
Who is the strongest character in One Punch Man?
Saitama. The whole joke of the series is that he beats everything in one punch and has never been pushed to his limit. Among the other heroes, Tatsumaki is the most powerful we see in action, and Blast, the number one S-Class hero, is presented as stronger still.
How did Saitama get so strong?
He says it came from a daily routine of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and a 10 km run, kept up for three years, along with eating properly and never using heating or air conditioning. Nobody believes him, and the series has never given a better explanation.
What are the S-Class heroes' ranks?
At the start of the story, the top of the S-Class runs Blast (1), Tatsumaki (2), Silver Fang (3), Atomic Samurai (4), Child Emperor (5), Metal Knight (6), King (7), Zombieman (8), Drive Knight (9), Pig God (10), Superalloy Darkshine (11), Watchdog Man (12) and Flashy Flash (13). Tank-Top Master, Metal Bat, Puri-Puri Prisoner and Genos fill out the rest, and the lower ranks shift as the story goes on.
How old is Saitama?
Saitama is 25. Genos is 19, Garou is 18 and King is 29.
Who is Garou?
Garou is a former student of the hero Silver Fang who decides to become a monster and hunt heroes, because he always sympathised with the villain. He's the main antagonist of the Hero Hunter and Monster Association arcs, and his fight with Saitama is the manga's biggest event so far.
Is One Punch Man finished?
No. ONE's original webcomic and Yusuke Murata's redrawn manga are both still running, with the manga often revising and expanding earlier chapters. The anime has adapted part of the Monster Association arc, so the manga is well ahead.