One Punch Man is arguably one of the most popular anime to hit the screens in the last couple of years. With awesome action, hilarious hijinks, and memorable characters, the franchise has blown up internationally. Many compare the action and fights in One Punch Man to one of the most popular action franchise of all time, Dragon Ball. As OPM is a parody of the superhero and action anime genre, it makes sense that it got inspiration from the ever popular Dragon Ball. So much so, that a panel in a recent One Punch Man manga looks like a straight homage to a panel in Dragon Ball.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The panel from One Punch Man (seen above on the right) is compared side by side with a panel from the legendary Dragon Ball Z manga. This may come as no surprise, as the author and creator of One Punch Man, One, is a huge Toriyama fan. He has said many times on record that Toriyama is a huge hero of his, and he takes inspiration from his work. Regardless, it is always cool to see one popular series pay homage to another, and what better way then an epic punch to the gut.
For those unfamiliar with the One Punch Man series, here is a summary of the plot from Viz Media:
“Nothing about Saitama passes the eyeball test when it comes to superheroes, from his lifeless expression to his bald head to his unimpressive physique. However, this average-looking guy has a not-so-average problem—he just can’t seem to find an opponent strong enough to take on!”
The series first started as an ongoing web-comic by the author that goes by One, in early 2009. The comic went viral and so a full remake and publication of the series began in 2012 on Shueisha’s Young Jump Web Comics website. Viz Media brought the manga to America in 2016 in the Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine. One Punch’s anime series was created by Madhouse and first aired in Japan in late 2015, and was dubbed for English in the summer of 2016. The anime and manga both have had huge international success and recognition since release, winning New York Times Manga’s Best Sellers List, was nominated for an Eisner Award, and the anime was also featured on the popular Toonami block.
