In my post about the Destiny Comic Collection Volume 1, I mentioned that besides the Western Destiny comic, I had also ordered a Japanese and a Korean manga. For the Japanese manga, I chose ONE-PUNCH MAN - Volume 01. I’m already familiar with the anime, at least the first season. There’s a second one, but I haven’t been able to watch/find it yet.

At €6.95, the manga is significantly cheaper than the other two. However, the book is also of the lowest quality. The cover is only roughly colored, and the manga itself is entirely in black and white. No colors, very thin pages. The manga feels like an American or English paperback; for those who haven’t held one, you can imagine the paper being similar to that of a Bible. What’s initially confusing is that Japanese manga aren’t opened to the left and read from left to right like ours, but are read “backwards.” So, you open it to the right and follow the panels from right to left.

Without giving away too much of the plot, it’s about a young hero-for-fun named Saitama, who can defeat any opponent with a single punch. The first volume describes Saitama’s journey to becoming a hero and introduces the first supporting character who will accompany him on his future adventures. It also touches on the hero’s conflict with his own power, which leaves him with no challenges and feeling bored.

My verdict on the manga is a bit mixed. Not because the story is bad. The quality doesn’t bother me for the price, either. But you can’t tell the manga has 189 pages. Due to the paper, it’s surprisingly compact. You also get through it very quickly. I was done in under an hour. Granted, that was also the case with Asterix and the Destiny Comic Collection Volume 1. Still, the book only covers the first two anime episodes. How this aligns with the rest of the anime isn’t clear to me, as there are now 24 anime episodes but “only” 28 manga volumes. Perhaps the anime later suffers from the Dragon Ball Z syndrome, stretching out fights over many episodes. Nevertheless, if you don’t know ONE-PUNCH MAN and you like manga, read it. Alternatively, watch the anime!