Before One Punch Man began to dominate the internet with its super-relaxed, bald, unbeatable hero, the man behind it all, known only as ONE, was just some kid posting weird pictures on flip-phone forums. Yeah, flip phones. Not exactly what you’d imagine when you think ‘manga success story.’
In 2012, ONE gave a rare interview, just a few months after he’d officially broken into the pro world with Mob Psycho 100 and collaborated with Yusuke Murata on the now-legendary One Punch Man remake. What came out of it? A refreshingly candid, completely hilarious, and kind of genius take on how being ‘the funny guy’ was literally the only way he stood a chance in the manga world.
Why comedy wasn’t just a style, it was survival for One Punch Man‘s author
Okay, before that, let’s rewind a little bit. Back when ONE was still a teen and laptops were not the norm in every household, aspiring artists like him were hanging out on mobile phone sites, basically ancient internet forums for people who wanted to show off their art.
But instead of drawing cool sword fights or tragic heroes, ONE was out here sketching dudes with massive chins, comically long necks, and foreheads so big they could catch radio signals. And guess what? People completely loved it. ONE said in the same interview with Tokyo Reimei Note:
At the time there were lots of people imitating popular manga, trying to make pictures that were likely to sell, so I guess because of that I stood out from the pack.
So while the world at large was out there trying to be the next Kishimoto or Oda, this dude, ONE, was sketching characters that were straight out of some wild fever dream. And guess what? It worked. So, eventually, ONE thought, “Okay, people like my drawings, maybe I should show them an actual manga.” And thereby came Sun Man, his very first attempt at drawing a comic.
We can’t read it today (it’s no longer online), but just knowing it existed is enough to get excited. And then, since this was the pre-smartphone era, his way of sharing manga was, let’s just say, ‘creative’. His speech bubbles were too small to read, the photographs were blurry, and he had no clue how to improve them.
Enter: his friend, another would-be manga artist, who taught him the lifehack of epic proportions: draw small manga on palm-sized paper and photograph them close-up. It worked. Sort of.
But eventually, ONE realized something: if he was going to make it big, he needed to level up. Creating those small comics for small cell phone screens wasn’t going to cut it forever. So when his friend started making comics on a laptop, ONE had a lightbulb moment. He said:
Web comics are really easy to read up on a big PC screen, and I thought it was just perfect.
So, that’s when One Punch Man happened. The real one. The webcomic one. Done on a computer and ready to change the game. At this point, you might be thinking: “Alright, so why comedy?” Well, the reason is quite straightforward: it was the only choice.
ONE didn’t have all the fancy tools or training to create art that looked like it belonged in a magazine. But he totally had a sense of humor, and it was a pretty unique one, too. While other artists were busy drawing those spiky-haired teens yelling about friendship, ONE was making fun of that very thing, with love, of course.
Saitama, the hero of One Punch Man, isn’t just a parody; he’s the punchline to every shonen cliche. He defeats world-ending villains with one punch and complains about prices at the grocery store afterwards. He’s certainly not the hero we’re used to, but he’s precisely the one we didn’t know we needed.
From anonymous web guy to global legend
By the time of this interview in 2012, ONE’s life had completely changed. Yusuke Murata, the god-tier artist behind Eyeshield 21, had reached out, and he had wanted to turn One Punch Man into a full-fledged professional manga.
With Murata’s ridiculously detailed artwork and ONE’s deadpan writing, the remake went crazy. Millions of views. Book deals. Anime. Merch. Memes. You name it.
But no matter how big things got, ONE’s core philosophy didn’t change: don’t try to be someone else. Be funny. Be weird. Be yourself. Just like One Punch Man, his other masterpiece, Mob Psycho 100, also became one of the most emotional series of the decade.
Let’s be real: ONE’s story is kind of the ultimate underdog tale. You’ve got this guy with no art training, no big connections, and no professional equipment, and he becomes one of the most talked-about creators in modern manga. All because he simply took the crazy route. He didn’t start by chasing fame. He started by trying to make people laugh. And you know what? That might just be the most powerful punch ever.
One Punch Man is currently available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
