When the One Punch Man anime series was first announced, Sugoi Japan interviewed its creators ONE and Yusuke Murata to talk about the series and its development. During the interview, Murata revealed that he chose to work with ONE despite his contract with Shonen Jump because he was extremely sick. He pointed out that he felt like he was going to die, and thus wanted to work on his favorite series.
Murata stated:
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.
Murata was already a fan of ONE’s One Punch Man series and wanted to work on it someday. When he was in the hospital, he saw that ONE was retiring and contacted him immediately, expressing his desire to work on One Punch Man. He knew that he was extremely sick and thus wanted a chance to draw manga with ONE so that he wouldn’t regret his life choices.
One Punch Man Brought Murata Out of His Darkest Health Struggles
According to the interview, at the time Murata broke out in a hive as his inner organs were infected, and he couldn’t breathe well with his windpipes swelling. He believed that he might not live long and thus decided to pursue his one last desire before passing away. He had already contacted ONE long ago, and ultimately got a publisher, which allowed them to work on One Punch Man together.
Following his dream and working on One Punch Man more or less saved Murata and brought him out of his darkest health struggles. He recovered from his sickness and went on to create one of the greatest anime and manga series of all time. It not only generated great numbers but also inspired other manga creators in a major way. To this day, there are very few series that have reached the same hype as One Punch Man.
The credit for the majority of its success goes to Yusuke Murata, who illustrated the One Punch Man series. Murata worked on the digital manga remake that came out in 2012, on Shueisha’s Tonari no Young Jump website. He purely adapted the original manga by ONE, and by 2025, it had over 34 million copies in circulation.
Will One Punch Man Season 3’s Release Revive the Anime’s Lost Hype?
Although One Punch Man is considered one of the greatest anime and manga series, it realistically lost its hype over the years, especially for the anime adaptation. The second season of the series came out over six years ago, and even though it was celebrated a lot, the anime lost its charm over the years because of other major anime projects.
However, One Punch Man anime is making a return with the third season, which is scheduled to release on October 5, 2025. The series will have weekly releases every Sunday, and it will continue the developments of the Monster Association arc. One Punch Man recently celebrated its ten-year anniversary with new promotional materials and event details.
The battle between the Hero Association and Monster Association will be the highlight of the entire series, with Garou and Saitama standing in the middle of it all. The upcoming season might just bring the anime’s lost hype and put it on the pedestal once again. Do you think One Punch Man will once again become as popular as it was originally? Let us know below!
One Punch Man is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll.
