One Punch Man Vol. 1 Review

Think of all your favorite heroes from Shonen and Seinen titles that you love and know: Some have awesome hair, some have flawless one-liners, and some have solid physiques. They may have attitude, fierce love for their comrades and weapons that are extensions of themselves. Most certainly if you see their likeness on a poster you’re sure to stop and look, right? Here’s the hero of this manga.

Yes that’s him. He’s bald. Seemingly ordinary. Forever forgetful of special sales at the market and what days to take out the trash. His name is Saitama and he can kill anything that goes up against him in ONE-PUNCH. Set in a world where the population is constantly plagued by evil: everything form super powered humans to alien conquerors—-Saitama seeks to be a hero for the people. He also seeks a challenge. A piece of his origin story is revealed: some three years ago he underwent special training that allotted him his strength that he currently has…it has robbed him of his hair, leaving him bald. We are also introduced to Genos, the “lone cyborg fighting for justice” who in this volume witnesses Saitama’s amazing strength and begs to become a discipline of his.

If you love Genos straight off the back, good for you! *Hint Hint* He’ll stick around and you’ll learn more about how he become a cyborg later down the line. Hilariously, he acts as a foil to Saitama: where Genos is effortlessly cool (even when he getting limbs blown off), Saitama is easily overlooked and plain to most people…