'One Punch Man' Reveals New Anime Character Theme

One Punch Man is definitely as popular of a webcomic, manga, and anime series in Japan as it is in the West, and gets many forms of release, including audio drama CDs.

Audio drama CDs are a major part of the anime and manga industry in Japan as it gives fans another way to interact with the characters, and the latest Drama CD (bundled with Volume 3 of the One Punch Man DVD in Japan) was for a character that always gets the short end of the stick, Speed-o'-Sound Sonic.

The full Drama CD is in Japanese, but fans in the West will just be happy to hear the voices of their favorite characters in the series before the anime officially comes back later this year.

This is the third volume of the drama CDs, and follows Sonic who goes to a Summer Festival with Saitama. According to a fan translation, the story is as follows:

"Sonic watches Saitama looking for Genos at the Summer Festival. Saitama asks Sonic twice if he saw where Genos went off to because he wants to watch the fireworks with Genos. The kakigori stand guy asks Sonic and Saitama if they want kakigori and gives them a deal if they order together. Then Sonic and Saitama have a kakigori eating contest to see who finishes their first and Sonic gets a brain freeze. Afterwards, Sonic leaves and Saitama ends up having to pay 800 yen for both their kakigori."

Illustrator for the Weekly Shonen Jump version of the series, Yusuke Murata also regularly shares art that sets the Internet on fire like his sketches of famous Dragon Ball characters. He previously shared a sketch of the series' second lead Genos in a much cooler pose to also celebrate the new chapter. Murata's art is so great, he has also contributed to Marvel projects, even going so far as to draw an official poster for Spider-Man: Homecoming to commemorate its Japanese boxset release. His latest project is a manga adaptation of Back to the Future, which picks up after the end of the series.

For those unfamiliar with One Punch Man, the series follows Saitama, a regular working Joe who one day puts a stop to a violent villain attack. After this fight Saitama is inspired to become a hero. Training his body hard everyday, he's eventually granted with extreme strength. Looking for a worthy opponent, Saitama joins the Hero Association in the hopes of fighting them. But every fight he gets into ends after a single punch! Forced to wander through life increasingly bored of his supreme power, Saitama has become hilariously disconnected with the world of action around him.

One Punch Man started life as a webcomic by series creator ONE in 2009. After going viral, surpassing seven million hits in June 2012, illustrator Yusuke Murata approached ONE about redrawing the series for a release in Shuiesha's Weekly Young Jump spin-off webcomics. Thirteen volumes of the series have been released as of this date.

VIZ Media bought the rights to distribute the manga in English, and the series was later adapted into a 12 episode anime series from Madhouse. The series first aired in Japan in 2015, and later debuted its English language broadcast on Adult Swim's Toonami block in 2016. A second season of the series is currently in the works.