Hi everyone. It’s Mokugyo, an anime and manga loving writer from MANGA.TOKYO. Various campaigns for the second season of One-Punch Man have already started. The fact that there are items going on sale prior to the broadcast of the anime demonstrates the high expectation for it. I myself am looking forward to watching the second season.

One-Punch Man began as a webcomic drawn and written by ONE, who is not good at drawing and makes it for fun. Popular manga artist Yuusuke Murata made an offer to remake the webcomic into a manga and it became a smash hit. Murata’s manga was adapted into the spectacular action anime series.

In this article, I’m going to speculate how the second season will be, based on the storyline of the original manga. Please be aware that it will contain spoilers from both ONE’s webcomic and Murata’s remake manga.

※Spoiler Alert!
This article contains spoilers for both the original webcomic and the manga remake of One Punch Man

本日9/25開催「ワンパン秋祭り」でTVアニメ「ワンパンマン」第2期制作が発表されました。今後の情報は公式サイト＆ツイッターで発信していきます。楽しみにお待ちください！ https://t.co/ZEx0x1ZFAM #onepunchman pic.twitter.com/f2nsdijGxY

— TVアニメ「ワンパンマン」公式 (@opm_anime) September 25, 2016

Revision of One-Punch Man’s First Season

The 12 episodes of the first season of the anime series were aired between October and December in 2015. The story revolves around Saitama, the protagonist who can defeat any super villain or monster with just a single punch. He is incredibly powerful, so much so he can’t enjoy any sense of fulfillment from battles, as he always defeats his enemies without effort. He is a plain-looking man, so that no one, including other heroes and the general public, take him seriously. One-Punch Man is an action comedy anime series depicting Saitama’s life and battles.

The comedy aspect of the anime, mainly Saitama and his relations to other characters, is appealing, and the spectacular action scenes that depict the battles between heroes, super villains, and monsters are parts to watch out for. The story is straightforward and easy to understand, therefore viewers who didn’t watch the first series will be able to enjoy the second season straightaway.

The Production of the One-Punch Man Second Season is in Progress

The production of the second season of One-Punch Man was officially announced and the official Instagram has been updating its progress. Furthermore, the release of an original CD series featuring original character image songs sung by JAM Project, and a new spin-off audio drama played by original cast members were announced as well. Starting such projects before the actual broadcast proves the popularity of One-Punch Man and raises our expectations for the second series.

When will the Second Season be Aired?

The broadcast hasn’t been announced yet (as of June 2017), though I presume it’ll start airing in October this year at the earliest, as the projects for the second season have already started. I personally predict it’ll start airing at least by January 2018.

How Far the Anime goes?

Many fans must be concerned about how many chapters of the original manga will be adapted into anime. The first season covered up to Chapter 41 of ONE’s webcomic and Chapter 48 in Murata’s remake. The anime adaptation requires quite a lot of chapters, as both are published online and each chapter contains fewer pages compared to physical publications. As of June 2017, ONE’s webcomic has 109 chapters and Murata’s version has 117.

Murata’s version followed a different plot from the chapter 74 onward. It depicts battles between Metal Bad and Senior and Junior Centipede, whereas ONE’s original revolves around Garou, a hero hunter, and the Monster Association. I really want to watch the battle between Metal Bad and the giant centipede monsters in the anime, and I expect the production team to put the plot in the anime series.

In Murata’s version, Saitama takes part in a martial art tournament called ‘Super Fight’ in which new characters exclusive to Murata’s version, Suiryu and Gouketsu, appear. The Super Fight arc continues up to chapter 116. I’d love it if the second season ended up including this arc.

The first season adapted up to chapter 48 of Murata’s version. If the second season adapts up to chapter 116, it’ll contain 68 chapters. I think it’s possible that the second season could be a double cour anime series. I’m expecting that the second season of One-Punch Man will include up to Chapter 116 over 24 episodes. If you want to know a bit more about what I mean by ‘cour’, take a look at this article here.

What is a Cour and a Season in Anime?

Will King and Fubuki appear?

I presume that the episodes of King and Fubuki coming to Saitama with the Blizzard Group will be included in the second season. These two heroes visit Saitama’s room accompanied by Silver Fang and Bomb. They are one of the best parts of the manga because One-Punch Man is a story of heroes getting together with the solitary hero Saitama. King and Fubuki are important characters that will help express Saitama’s great personality. For instance, the 57th chapter of ONE’s original depicts these heroes gathering in Saitama’s room and have a hot pot meal. The fierce battle among the heroes to get the meat from the hot pot will be hilarious to watch in the anime.

Fubuki has an issue with her elder sister Tatsumaki who surpasses Fubuki’s ability. Fubuki, a class B hero, was never able to match up to Tatsumaki, one of the strongest among the class S heroes. I expect the relationship between the sisters will be depicted further in the anime series whose characters are mostly male. I anticipate the sisters will be focused more in anime because both made enough appearances in the original manga.

Is a 3rd Season of One-Punch Man Possible?

In the previous chapter, I predicted that the second season will be a double cour anime if it includes the full story of the Super Fight arc in the manga. I think if the second season ends up being a single cour, it will show up to the battle between Metal Bad and the giant centipede monsters, instead of the Super Fight arc. In that case, the season needs to rearrange the original manga, or insert original stories for the anime series to add scenes of Saitama, because he didn’t make enough appearances in the original manga at that part.

I think the Super Fight arc itself requires at least 12 episodes to depict fully, because it has a long storyline. Saitama impersonating Charanko; the actual tournament; the defeat of Suiryu against a monster; and Saitama helping Suiryu and defeating the monster with a single blow. The Super Fight is equivalent to The World Martial Arts Tournament in Dragon Ball Z, so that it must be adapted completely into the anime series. The arc of the Super Fight is exclusive to the Murata version. I expect the anime will faithfully recreate the arc because the anime is based on Murata’s version.

Will the Monster Association Appear?

It will be interesting to see how far the second season will deal with the Monster Association. In ONE’s original, heroes venture into the Monster Association after the existence of it was revealed. On the other hand, in Murata’s version, the Super Fight arc is involved with it. For this reason, I think the storyline in the anime will be rearranged a bit when the Monster Association is mentioned. That will also determine how many monsters who belong to it will appear in the anime. The Monster Association persuades Garou, who is a human but longs to become a monster, to join them, though he won’t listen to them. The relationship between the Monster Association and Garou is an essential point in ONE’s original manga, since it brings out the questions of what a monster is.

The scenes of the heroes venturing into the base of the Monster Association and the decisive battle between Saitama and Garou haven’t been introduced in Murata’s version, therefore I think these scenes won’t be included in the anime for a while. The existence of the Monster Association and Garou will be mentioned but won’t be explained in detail, in my opinion. I think they might appear in the second season but only briefly, like Tatsumaki in the first season.

ONE PUNCH!

Well, these are my predictions for the second season of One-Punch Man. It’s an easy-to-understand and fun-to-watch action anime, which is rare and refreshing, as most of anime in recent Japan have complicated narratives, for better or worse. I like the comical aspect of the protagonist, who is invincible but has a laid back personality. I can’t wait to watch the second season and see how many of my predictions will come true!