'One Punch Man' Illustrator Shares The Manga's Touching Inspiration

One Punch Man stands as one of Japan's hottest franchises, and fans are still waiting for its second season to come around. Manga fans are also biding time until its next chapter comes out, and they're letting Yusuke Murata know how much they love his work.

However, if you knew why Murata first chose to work on One Punch Man, then you would love the artist even more.

During an interview with Sugoi Japan, Murata sat down with One Punch Man's creator ONE to talk about the franchise. When the artist was asked what made him decide to work on the manga adaptation, Murata admitted he was in a difficult place and wanted to work on a project he felt was meaningful.

"Around that time, I was actually really sick. I broke out in hives, my inner organs were infected, and I couldn't breathe well with my windpipes swelling. I was in the hospital when I thought, "Ah, I guess people die just like that." If I'm going to die, I want to do something I really love to do. I want to draw manga with Mr. ONE. That's what I thought," Murata revealed.

"If I was going to do it, I wanted to create a manga that didn't change Mr. ONE's original manga. I just tried to contact as many publishers that would fulfill my wish, regardless of my contract. It was thanks to my editor who contacted Weekly Young Jump that my dream came true. The deciding point was that I had already previously contacted Mr. ONE about working together, and that we were going to write with published books already in mind."

If you are unfamiliar with One Punch Man's history, then you should know it began back in 2009 by ONE. The web-comic was a fast hit, and Murata wanted to turn the online series into a full-fledged manga. The pair became friends, and Shueisha finally agreed to publish Murata's adapted take on One Punch Man starting in 2012. The series has gone on to sell well around the world and was just recently the top-selling manga series in the U.S.