One Punch Man Webcomic vs Manga today we are going to learn about the difference between them. How they influence each other. One punch man is a very popular anime worldwide because of its amazing action, story and art. The creator of this anime is ONE. He is a Japanese manga artist. In 2009 this manga was publish on the website and according to NHK’s “Manga revolution from the Internet” it was broadcast on September 2, 2012.
It is a gag-type action manga featuring Saitama, who is so strong that he defeats all his enemies with a single punch. That’s why this show is called ONE PUNCH MAN.
One punch man doesn’t follow the traditional way of publishing. It doesn’t have any schedule for release and have multiple authors.
Because of the art style many people get confused and ask themselves “Is the One-Punch Man webcomic canon?“. Believe or not but it is cannon and it is the original source material for the manga. The webcomic comes first, then the manga. But the published manga which we read drawn by Murata, and then it turns into anime. But the original is the web comic, the manga would not exist without it.
The creation of web comic
In 2009 Japanese manga artist ONE created this amazing webcomic. Actually, he never meant to make it as a long-lasting series. He just wanted to test a new graphics tablets and some accompanying software.
After meeting with unexpected success, he decided to make it a long series and now it is almost 140 chapters. The web comic story is ahead of manga and anime and it is published first. Because of ONE’s other projects we don’t get the web comic version frequently.
If you want to be notified when a new chapter is released is to visit One-Punch Man subreddit.
If you want to read all webcomic version of one punch man for free you should visit ONE’s website. To read English translate version visit Mangadex. The web comic is non-profit, to support the creator is to buy manga publications and support the anime you can also buy ONE’s other work like Mob Psycho 100.
The Art style and quality of the web comic
There is a huge difference between the webcomic and the manga. That’s why many times people wonder if the webcomic is even cannon. That’s why many people thinks that the web comic is just a fan made.
If we see, ONE never been a bad artist and his drawing has been improved over the years. But there is something he is good at drawing like certain and facial expressions. It’s easy not to recognize that right away when comparing that to Yusuke Murata’s extraordinary drawing talent in the Manga.
I will highly recommend you guys to read the webcomic it very interesting and fun to read you will enjoy a different flavour. If you don’t find the drawing style interesting it is fine you can simply wait for the Murata’s beautiful drawings.
How One Punch Man manga created
As we know he created the manga in 2009, after the unexpected success of one punch man he created and publish a lot of extra chapters. As we know recognition doesn’t pay the bills, he went on hiatus to find real job. Soon he realized that regular office life is not for him, so he decided to continue his work and give himself one year time. He dedicated himself to be a manga artist. Around that time, he met Yasuke Murata, he was already a big fan of ONE’s webcomic.
At that time Murata was in very bad condition due to his health problem and even hospitalized at that moment. He was suffering from infected organs and windpipes troubled to breath fearing for his life. It was that made him realize to continue to draw what he loves most such as ONE’s webcomic. He was already an established artist. They collaborate and pitched few story ideas, then it was one punch man which was accepted and published in 2012.
Webcomic vs Manga: Difference in story
Apart from the fact that webcomic is the further in the story line, there are few other key differences that are worth nothing:
- The manga follow most of the original webcomic story, adding a lot of extra story. For example: The tournament arc in the manga and anime actually never took place in the webcomic.
- There are a lot of character seems to have received significant power boost
- There are some extra characters also added in the manga.
Where to read the manga
Just like the web comic the manga has no fixed publication schedule. Usually, they published a new chapter every two to three weeks. The number of pages for each update varies widely.
Just as the webcomic, if you want to get notified when new chapter is to regularly check One-Punch Man subreddit. When a new chapter released, they immediately post it on their subreddit. When a chapter get published by Murata it immediately gets posted on subreddit. One the chapter get translated which is usually takes 12 hours you can read it; you can find relevant link there(subreddit). After the raw scans of the manga approved by Murata and ONE everyone can see it publicly. That means you can easily find it everywhere on the internet. To support the author and the artist you can also buy the published versions. You can find most of the version on the Amazon, they are available in English.
Does the Manga have fillers?
As I mentioned the manga has a lot of extra story elements and characters. That’s why many manga readers think that they are nothing but fillers. Fillers are basically story elements to stretch the anime/time. They are not cannon, means not part of the original story.
For example, the tournament arc in one punch man season 2, which never happened in the original webcomic. Because was ONE busy with his other projects he could not give the source material to Murata on time. To continue the cannon Murata add some extra elements to the manga. Actually, the extra elements are added because of ONE’s request.
It’s also worth noting that the first character in the manga isn’t a filler either. For example, many of the heroes were first introduced in manga and its rankings. These ratings are standard and these characters may later appear in web comics.
For example, a B class hero Bone who appeared in the Manga first, rescuing a C class hero form a bus which attacked by a Demon class Octopus, who later defeated by Flashy Flash. Then the same hero appeared in the web comic later in the story. So we can say that there are no filler in Manga.
Murata’s Influence on the story
Murata doesn’t think up extra story elements that’s why he has no influence to the manga or the story. But he is excellent in drawing such as action scene he uses his skills to add some extra panels to a fight. Sometimes he changes some dialogue if he thinks it is necessary. But these changes should be approved by ONE.
The changes are often met praise. For example because of Murata we got an awesome fight between Saitama and Boros in manga.
From what point should you pick up the Webcomic and/or Manga?
It complete depend on your goal. There are some extra stories in manga, as well as extra scenes in the main story (More so in Season 1 than Season 2).
- If you are a big fan of season 1 of the anime but not the Season 2 you can start from Volume 8 (Chapter 36) of the manga.
- After finished the Season 2 you can start from Volume 17 (Chapter 86) of the Manga.
- To switch to the webcomic after the manga ended, just start from Chapter 65.
Some questions:
Where can I find the original One Punch Man webcomic online ?
You can find the original one punch man webcomic in ONE’s official website
URL – http://galaxyheavyblow.web.fc2.com/
How far ahead is the webcomic compared to the manga?
If we compare both manga and web comic, the web comic story is far ahead of the Manga. At least 10 year ahead from the Manga. The web comic story is faster that’s why.
Is the one punch man webcomic cannon?
ANS – Yes, it is cannon. It is actually the original source material for the Manga.
Where do I start OPM webcomic?
ANS – You can start from chapter 70 in the ONE web comic. It’s a good idea to read from Chapter 52, but from here the manga begins to diverge more, the manga grows into plots, and more details are added than webcomics.