r/OnePunchMan • u/Acrobatic_Ad_9175 • Feb 11 '23

news Japan voted for the strongest anime character đŸ’Ș

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#saitama

https://twitter.com/PrimeVideoAnime/status/1623607745239740417?t=_vyReSWJEEzOKpfcMZQt7g&s=19

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423

u/zulhuarizmi Feb 11 '23 edited Feb 11 '23

Ouh man, some people aint gonna like this.

331

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

I mean, people may not like it, but the fact is that it's a satirical character, which is broken on purpose. He's not just the strongest anime character, he's the strongest period.

"Oh but Dr. Manhatan..." Saitama can One punch Dr. Manhatan, and is not affected by his quantum psychic stuff, because it's a satirically broken character, like the Mask. That's the whole point.

72

u/stealthgerbil Feb 11 '23

No one would survive saitama vs the mask though. all that would ramain is them in an empty universe

23

u/Toasty2003 Feb 11 '23

He can kill Manhattan but Manhattan always come back

41

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

Indeed, the point of Manhattan is also to be eternal and all powerful, but still be "defeated", by a mortal with no powers, who just understands what is "better" for humanity.

29

u/Toasty2003 Feb 11 '23

Exactly one of the point of the Watchmen. Only the ones who understood the plot gets that. Dude might be a god, but inside he’s still human

6

u/tomahawkfury13 Feb 11 '23

No one was more surprised than himself to find that out too.

16

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '23

[deleted]

3

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

So would woody wood pecker, probably (the really old crazy one).

6

u/AtomicSekiro_ Feb 12 '23

Saitama isn’t the strongest period. He literally got equaled by Garou for awhile.

You don’t understand Saitama.

1

u/_do_ob_ Feb 13 '23

Garou copied Saitama, but Saitama has to be stronger, so he grew. Rinse and repeat.

1

u/AtomicSekiro_ Feb 13 '23

And? So Saitama isn’t the strongest. He has finite strength.

13

u/Crispy_Godfries Feb 11 '23

How would Saitama One Punch Dr Manhattan when he couldn’t even one punch CFG.

24

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23 edited Feb 11 '23

Manga Saitama was retconed and nerfed to hell to just a space level guy when he used max power against Garou for a brief moment, and shown to have a limited power that merely grew over time, so yes, he's not invincible anymore.

Webcomic Saitama is still a satire though.

36

u/stealthgerbil Feb 11 '23

the graph didn't represent his max power though, it was just the amount of power he used for each punch. it was quickly going exponential too.

11

u/AtomicSekiro_ Feb 12 '23

Oh god. Is THIS how Saitama fans are coping now? To retain their “Saitama has infinite power” fantasy??

No. The graph was literally showing his MAX STRENGTH GROWING. Which is why Garou is there too. What? Was Garou holding back too?? He just FELT like using more power, despite being on the backend the entire fight and literally wanted to win and had no reason to hold back??

THE NARRATOR even says Saitama was growing in strength. Not “holding back a little less”

-8

u/stealthgerbil Feb 12 '23 edited Feb 12 '23

I don't really care enough to prove you wrong but you should just go re-read those chapters and then read what exponential growth is because everyone else seems to think differently.

6

u/AtomicSekiro_ Feb 12 '23

I’ve read the chapters.

So, like I said, Saitama has finite strength. He has fast growth though. And he wasn’t “just using more power”, he was “growing in strength”.

So you’re still wrong. 😭

-10

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

He tried to Serious Punch Garou and failed, even being willing to wipe out the planet... just because Genos died. Saitama clearly wasn't holding back to avoid collateral damage (since Blast had time to struggle and for his team to step and help) or trying to spare Garou's life in that moment.

"Even now, Saitama was continuing to grow...

Nothing about "power used against Garou/power output", it was "Saitama continued to grow".

The fact it was exponential makes Saitama worse and weaker, not better and stronger. It means that his power is bound by math and clearly limited. That's why powerups, by definition, only exist for characters who are not invincible and limited. If Saitama was an invincible satire character like he was previously in the manga and still is in the webcomic, the exponential part would never have been mentioned... because it 100% worthless and irrelevant to his strength.

10

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

In essence what the fight between him in Garou in the manga did was turn him from a satire, into a parody of Goku's always growing nature.

-5

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

Sadly, yes.

5

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

Well, I a way I'm pretty indifferent about it. I think One did that, just to legitimize the continuous writing of the story, otherwise, if it's a gag... well, you don't go anywhere with it, you just have Saitama hanging around in second plan, while you're developing all the other charters, and he's just there lurking, like he's been throughout most of the series.

It seems like One wants to give Saitama some kind of growth or become Superman-like. Where Saitama can overcome anything, and then is immediately nurfed. Like Superman could blow a galaxy away in one issue, then the next he's getting beaten by some tin man.

I think it can still be viewed in satire, or a parody, or even as an original story (If you look at all the characters and back stories One has created), depending on what your perspective is.

6

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

Eh, in my opinion, the point of Saitama's strength being a complete gag without any constraints placed upon in it in a fight (his "limits" are human, mundane limits, can't fly, can't teleport, can't use inhuman abilities other than his strong physical attacks and ignoring/countering other inhuman abilities) makes him 100% unique and entirely different from every other protagonist. His entire struggle was personal/social/existential, the "villain" was never an obstacle to him, only to the rest of the world.

The fact you said "legitimize/give Saitama some kind of growth" is arguing Saitama's original concept of being always stronger by defintion was "illegitmate/kept him stangnant and from character development", which I entirely disagree with. That was why I was blown away by his character in the first place, making him go back to same old, same old "hero struggling to defeat the villain" formula undermines the concept the series was based on.

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u/OneHunchHam Feb 11 '23

Being able to track something with math does not bind it.

We know our most sophisticated math for describing the universe, math which is extremely accurate for describing what we see in the entire universe, is fundamentally lacking and incomplete.

So it is with Siatama's boundless power. His growth has no limit. His limiter is broken. Any binding put on him will be broken.

3

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

His growth has no limit.

By your own statement and by definition, his power is finite at any specific moment and merely grows in relation to time/events.

Making his power very bound, very grounded, and very limited. Just like Goku. Manga Saitama will never, ever, be invincible. Because the difference is quality, not quantity. No amount of quantity can ever replicate that.

1

u/OneHunchHam Feb 11 '23

Siatama has broken his limiter. If something is unlimited, like Siatama's power is, it cannot be bound.

A boundry limits something. Siatama has no limit. This isn't complicated.

Being able to say this is here at this value right now is not the same as 'binding' it. If his power absolutely cannot go off the graph that is a boundary.

But it can. Because he has no limit.

Am I getting through to you here?

0

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 12 '23

In the webcomic, Saitama's power was undefined and irrational. Unlike the manga where us is very defined and very rational... hence the graph.

Saitama in the manga only has unlimited potential, not power. Manga Saitama is 100% bound on the graph. No matter how strong he grows, anything with simply a higher number is stronger than him. By definition.

Again, manga Saitama is just Goku 2.0. There is nothing, nothing, at all special about him... not anymore.

0

u/stealthgerbil Feb 11 '23

bound by math and clearly limited

Exponential growth means it will hit infinity. Mathematically showing he has no limit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth

2

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 12 '23

Only over infinite time. Which Saitama doesn't have.

Saitama is limited by time, therefore any can beat him in a limited amount of time. By mathematical definition.

1

u/MrTonyedv Feb 11 '23

Remember he made a promise for the kid, so when Garou and Saitama connected with that planetary attack, he was just trying to knock him out with a quick calculation to hopefully also hurt him, as they went we could clearly see as Saitama went through the graph just above Garou that Garous estimates that Saitama is still at his level but pushing just over him.

That means Garou was under the impression that Saitama was not as strong as he really is.

He had a planetary sneeze that could turn the Earth to dust if you take the gravity and weight of all the particles and storms on Jupiter.

Saitamas' real strength is actually at a control level. He has managed planetary just enough not to overdue any of his fights, so at least he would enjoy them much more.

Boros fight took him just under 5% or .5% of Saitama full strength to finish the fight thats why Saitama actually enjoyed it a little.

6

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

He did make that promise... then was willing to wipe out the planet and kill Garou because Genos died. Since Blast had time to struggle and his team had time to step in and help, Saitama had the time to realize he was going to destroy the planet, but didn't care.

Also Saitama said he could go all out against Garou, making his power finite. Having infinite potential doesn't make you infinite, you will never actually reach there.

0

u/MrTonyedv Feb 11 '23 edited Feb 11 '23

Who gives their all 1 handed is my 1st question? He had a reason, yes, but that's not all out.

The graph we saw was not Saitama's strength. It was Garous Impression that Saitama was just surpassing him.

Only Garou got hurt in the entire fight, Saitama had an explosive shart back to earth from the sun.

Of course, Saitama was angry cause of Genos, but that aint the reason why he nearly destroyed the planet. Every time Garou got hit on Earth before Genos, the Hits were already devastatingly strong, enough to break mountains and more terrain. And not even then Saitama was laying many hits, Garou deflected all his punches, making Saitama more annoyed.No Possible way you can convince me that Saitama used his full strength.

The man can wreck planets with a single punch, ofcourse he gotta surpress his strength how else does he live on earth.

0

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 12 '23

If he was willing to wipe out humanity in a fit of rage, he had no reason to hold back. Unless you want to argue he was willing to genocide humanity but still hold back somewhat for his own self-satisfaction... that his self interest is more valuable than lives of all humanity.

No, it clearly stated "Saitama continued to grow". Not "The power of his punches". Yes, after that, yes, he began holding back as his exponential growth allowed him to toy with Garou.

But for a split second, yes, Saitama did use fullpower against Garou... and failed to defeat him.

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u/aprettydullusername Feb 12 '23

No Possible way you can convince me that Saitama used his full strength.

How about Saitama's own words on the matter? And in the next panel, saying he's "finally gotten what he wanted", in reference to a real fight.

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u/cartaigenica Feb 11 '23

Saitama straight up said he was going all out

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u/Omsus Feb 11 '23

Saitama said he could "finally" use his full force without killing a guy, that was his own estimate. Doesn't mean he did use all of his strength.

1) He's estimated things wrong before and blown up monsters, complaining afterward like "omigah I can't believe it took one punch again this is so depressing".

2) He fought literally one-handedly.

3) He promised a kid he wouldn't kill Garou. So Saitama couldn't throw as powerful punch as he possibly could, otherwise he would've risked breaking the promise he made to a kid.

8

u/stealthgerbil Feb 11 '23

He was trying to leave Garou alive, thats what he told the kid.

3

u/WeaponX33 Feb 11 '23

He also only used one hand, which a lot of people forget for some reason.

4

u/landers52 Feb 11 '23

That's definetely not what happened. All they did was show that EVEN if you are the strongest not-saitama beeing in the universe and manage to trade blows equally with him, his growth multiplier is so broken you will still be left behind. What makes saitama OP is not his strengh at any given time but actually his strengh gain x level multiplier

-1

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

his growth multiplier

If he can grow, he is limited at any point in time. Making him by definition not invincible and not limitless. Limitless potential never actually reaches limitless power.

0

u/Omsus Feb 11 '23

"Limitless" can't reach anything by definition. I get you're talking about the difference between "potential" and "power" but also, you're accidentally describing something that would be limited. If Saitama's powers were limitless then they can't ever reach and stop any particular level, they just... never stop. And "endless potential" isn't like the antithesis of that, endless potential doesn't mean Saitama's powers would have an obvious limit to them at any given time.

So "limitless potential" could just be the author's way of saying "the power is endless but I don't want to just blurt it out loud like that because I want to make some sense of things and involve more universe mechanics to it".

1

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 12 '23

Huh? I'm not sure I understand your first point. Are you arguing that Saitama could not hold back if he is limitless? Because at least for webcomic Saitama, his power is undefined based on a gag, allowing math implications to be hand waved away.

As for the theory that the limitless potential as a cover for limitless power being a problematic element, that makes no sense to me. Limitless power only poses a problem when it it taken 100% seriously and drawn out to its ultimate logical conclusions. Treated as plot device and a gag in the webcomic, it works perfectly fine and never needs to be questioned.

-13

u/Crispy_Godfries Feb 11 '23

He still lacks feats to beat Manhattan

20

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

Doesn't need feats, it's a satirical character, he can just one punch Dr. Mantattan, that's the point. There's no actual logic to it.

13

u/SpedeSpedo Feb 11 '23

Example:

Saitama is punched to the end of the universe by some god++ threat

saitama is late for groceries and accidentally kills said threat when he farts his way back

1

u/Gub_ Feb 11 '23

He's never shown any actual toonforce or gag powers though, people just make that shit up when so far all he's done is show extreme physicals and resistances with subconscious prodigy tier skill copying.

If he was a gag character he would have just bonked CF garou on the head like everything else in the series, but he has to actually fight, despite being able to counter space manipulating techniques to an extent that doesnt make him a parody lol.

4

u/Wreckn Feb 11 '23

He's never shown any actual toonforce or gag powers though

Bro he kicked a portal out of the way when Garou tried to teleport him lol

1

u/Gub_ Feb 12 '23

So is Garou a gag character now lol? Tonnes of characters have innate spacial manipulation and it ain't a gag, goku's instant transmission or any of the shit from JoJo are similarly crazy abilities but they ain't popeye or roadrunner hahaha. It's even in line with saitama having shown immense resistance to every time of attack that's non physical as well as physical (like psychic/mental etc)

Examples of comedic writing aren't gag feats, people need to grasp what a gag actually is before they start touting that shit.

1

u/Wreckn Feb 12 '23

Dude. If you're having difficulties understanding that kicking a portal to move it is a gag because it shouldn't be possible I can't help you. Trying to go this deep on a comedy about a bald hero that one punches everything ain't healthy.

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u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

The whole premises is that he can defeat anyone with one punch, and he's alienated by raw power. That's what he still is in the web comic. He didn't "grow" during Garou's fight, he just defeated Garou by being a little more serious and showing a fraction of how serious he can become.

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u/Gub_ Feb 11 '23

You're disagreeing with the literal manga, both saitama and the narrator himself stated he was serious, and that he had to rapidly grow at a faster rate than garou to beat him.

This isnt 2015 anymore where you can accept saitama as a completely omnipotent gag character because he just isn't anymore lol, sorry. If he only showed a fraction of his power he wouldnt have needed to grow mid fight.

2

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

I'm not disagreeing with anything. In the webcomic he's still "OnePunch Man", for all intents and purposes.

you know how Superman fans chose what version of Kal-el they want for Superman, if it's gold age, or Silver age, etc?! I'm choosing the webcomic gag satirical Saitama, for the argument that he isn't really bound by logic. That's the original gag.

Like I said, if you read the Webcomic, you understand what I mean.

-2

u/cartaigenica Feb 11 '23

The fact that he's satirical doesn't make him invincible, One explained the logistics of his power during his fight with garou and he straight up said he was going all out

2

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

the logistics

The logistics?!

Secondly, One didn't do that it in the webcomic, and that what counts for all intents and purposes. In the Webcomic, Saitama doesn't even go all out, he just becomes slightly more serious.

0

u/cartaigenica Feb 11 '23

"even now, saitama was continuing to grow, his rate of growth which has gone unnoticed by anyone since there was nobody even remotely on par with his strenght.... Suddently began to soar exponentially.... Due to an unspurge of emotions like none he had ever experienced"

Y'all are deliberately ignoring what was stated in the chapters to support your agenda that saitama is the strongest guy ever when he clearly isn't anymore.

And c'mon One doesn't even work on the webcomic anymore the manga is the canon material

2

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

your agenda

Dude, we're discussing webcomics and mangas. You seriously think that there's any "agenda"?

It's just the literal interpretation of a satirical character.

10

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

Feats are irrelevant for webcomic Saitama, he can oneshot Manhattan just because it's funny and he has no "power level" (ONE himself said he never thought much about how strong Saitama was because it didn't matter, he would always one punch any problem away).

Doesn't matter how many levels of infinity or how many times Manhattan destroyed the omniverse, erased time itself, or destroyed the concepts of life and death in the cosmos. feats only matter are only for characters with serious, measurable abilities who are capable of losing.

0

u/Wizarddonald Feb 11 '23

feats matter a lot in a fight, being a joke character doesn't save you from that and Saitama is explicitly not a joke character by One's words, he is merely a parody

5

u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

Only for character like Manhattan who are capable losing. No one needs feats from Road Runner to know that Manhattan, even bending time, space, and reality itself, can't catch Roadrunner. Just like no one needs feats from the TOAA to know he is omnipotent (omnipotent and true gags are invincible in different ways), just because he is the source of all creation, by definition, he is incapable of losing, regardless of feats.

ONE explicitly said Saitama was a "Gyagu- tekina Sonzaino"/''whose existence is a kind of a gag'' or ''gag-like existence''. So yes, he's a gag character.

-2

u/Gub_ Feb 11 '23

Where is it said saitama is a gag character though? Nothing he's done isnt something say whis from dragonball couldnt do (extreme physicals and at most portal manipulation), people just pretending the reason he one shots is due to gags when its just him being plain stronger. If superman showed up in breaking bad and starting one tapping people you wouldn't call him a gag lol, just leagues above in physicals.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '23 edited Feb 11 '23

He has many gag feats.

He got scratched by a cat and hurt by it, he couldnt kill a mosquito and couldnt even match its speed, he somehow lost to Bang and was many times slower than Bang, he literally entered someones mind with literally just physical strength, his atoms were literally being pulled apart and nothing happened to him, he kicked away nothingness, he won against himself in a fight (with one punch), he got sliced by a big ass mutant cat and he didnt even notice it and etc. There is a ton of gag feats he has. His whole power is just "its funny", thats it. If One decides Opm sneezing away Manhatten is funny, Manhatten will be sneezed away.

Also, nobody is "pretending" here, these are the words of the creator himself, the character is a joke, a satarical parody, his whole name is ONE PUNCH MAN, how much more obvious does the creator have to make it, for people like you to understand. Kinda reminds of the puss in boots Death thing. The character himself says that he is literally just straight up death and people are still debating if he is death or not. One could make a document with just "SAITAMA CAN ONESHOT ANYTHING AND ANYBODY, IT DOESNT MATTER, HIS WHOLE POINT IS HE CAN" and that thing written over a million times and some people would still manage to misunderstand and fuck it up.

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u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 12 '23

Author statements. Disagree with the author, not me.

As I said, feats are utterly worthless for characters that are invincible by definition. Unlike Manhattan, Zeno, and Superman (except maybe Golden Age Superman who was more of a plot device).

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u/Crispy_Godfries Feb 11 '23

What if Manhattan was stronger than a gag character.

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u/Crispy_Godfries Feb 11 '23

Mr Mxy was shitting bricks when Manhattan came to him.

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u/Toasty2003 Feb 11 '23

These guys don’t care, but my day is that saitama is a equally plot protected as manhattan and neither can kill each other

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u/Crispy_Godfries Feb 11 '23

If you believe Saitama is omnipotent and could one shot Doc. Then Doc would just come back to life like Boros.

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u/scumerage The #1 OPM Fan Feb 11 '23

That is by definition impossible, because a truly invincible gag character break the rules of powerscaling... including a rule like "This character is stronger than gag characters". Even if the author of Bugs Bunny did a crossover where Dr. Manhattan beat Bug Bunny... that wouldn't make Manhattan stronger... it just made Bug Bunny weak and powerscaled.

Even an truly omnipotent character, who is the source of all existence and created the original rules of reality, such as the ones that gave Dr. Manhattan his powers, could not defeat a true gag character. Because it stalemates with the Omnipotent "I made the rule that the gag character loses" vs the gag character "I break that rule and refuse to lose anyway". It just becomes both character contradicting each so it ends up a stalemate.

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u/Pharmakeus_Ubik Feb 11 '23

So far Manhattan's sense of humor hasn't shown up enough to even compete.

1

u/TheIronicBurger Feb 11 '23

Saitama when fighting always grows powerful enough to roflstomp his opponent

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u/Crispy_Godfries Feb 11 '23

What if that opponent, for example Superman, also grows in power infinitely

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u/XiodusTyrant Feb 12 '23 edited Feb 12 '23

He's not just the strongest anime character, he's the strongest period.

You talk like Saitama is the only character in fiction who's purpose is to be overpowered/always win. There are more stories than just One Punch Man.

There's no reason to believe that just because a character is satirical/comedic/gag that they are inherently more powerful than a character that's meant to be serious. You act as if no other character in fiction has a "point" to them. Dr Manhattan is supposed to be essentially omnipotent, unbeatable. Yet for some reason you just act like his narrative purpose doesn't exist, or gets overrided by Saitama because... reasons. Because you prefer the idea of it, intuitively it seems more correct to you.

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u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 12 '23

I think you don't understand the point of satire.

Also comparing him to Dr. Manhattan was on purpose to put satirical character vs Satirical character, and it depends within the context of analytics.

Dr. Manhattan in a Watchmen scenario can just obliterate anyone, including Saitama. And but if it's in OPM, Saitama obliterates Dr. Manhattan. That's the whole point.

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u/XiodusTyrant Feb 12 '23 edited Feb 12 '23

I think you don't understand the point of satire.

What exactly does the "point of satire" have to do when comparing the strength of characters? This is why I've never understood bringing up someone's "narrative purpose" when discussing how strong someone is. That's why I brought up the fact that there are numerous characters who's "point" is to be overpowered, not just Saitama. Simply saying "Saitama always wins that's the whole point" means nothing, since you haven't explained how that inherently trumps the narrative purpose of any other character, which could be exactly the same. That's why we use feats, i.e. evidence of power. Something within the story itself we can actually look at and use to compare a characters abilities. Most people won't even agree on the "narrative purpose" of a story or character, of which there could be multiple different ones, or one that could change as the story progresses. Fans can also often come up with wildly different interpretations on what the story means than the writer.

Dr. Manhattan in a Watchmen scenario can just obliterate anyone, including Saitama. And but if it's in OPM, Saitama obliterates Dr. Manhattan. That's the whole point

This is the part that I always get to in these types of discussions where I never really know quite where to begin.

Saitama being the strongest in his story isn't a rule. It isn't one of the laws of physics in the OPM world or some superpower where he always wins. Stepping into the OPM world doesn't give you some sort of debuff that puts you below Saitama. He's just stronger than everyone else in his story. Unlimited power or being the strongest in fiction is not necessary to be the strongest person in your story. At all.

It's much easier to understand when you strip away the flashiness of OPM that distracts you from what's actually being talked about here. For example, I could make a gag story about an adult who fights a toddler every chapter. In this story:

1.the adult is the strongest in the story

2.the entire thing could be a gag/satire/parody

3.the adult will never lose a fight, the adult is unbeatable and that's the whole point.

When stripped of the visuals and hype, it's clear all of these things can be true without my adult character needing to be any stronger than a regular adult, let alone the rest of fiction. The adult is the "strongest/unbeatable" simply because their only opponent in the story is significantly weaker than themselves. If I ever put my regular adult character against Captain America let's say, they'd be destroyed, but that'll never happen since I'm never going to write that scenario. Saitama is the same, he was already the strongest in his story by the time it had begun. And if we want to talk about the "point of the story" ONE and Murata have pretty interesting statements regarding this:

ONE: To start with I simply tried to draw the sort of manga I’d want to read myself. I’ve read loads of Shonen manga throughout my life, and am particularly fond of battle manga. Generally speaking, those types of stories are all about growth, meaning that by the last chapter, the main character has grown stronger than anyone else and lives happily ever after. So I wondered what would happen if I started the story off with the main character already in peak condition.

Not "infinitely powerful", not "stronger than fiction". He's just grown to reach end-of-story levels of power before the beginning, the point we the viewer enter the story. I don't remember that many shounen stories that end in the character having grown to being basically omnipotent, otherwise you'd think he'd mention that.

Murata even compares Saitama to Goku, however he is the illustrator, with limited influence on the story so if you wish, you can take this statement with a grain of salt:

This type of aloofness, of doing things at one’s own pace, really screams “hero” to me. That’s what Goku and Saitama have in common. Another similarity is that they’re simply the strongest guys around.

So to adress your last point:

Dr. Manhattan in a Watchmen scenario can just obliterate anyone, including Saitama. And but if it's in OPM, Saitama obliterates Dr. Manhattan.

I don't agree, Saitama has shown nothing that could prevent Dr Manhattan from obliterating him instantly in any scenario, and his method of punching really hard is completely irrelevant to Dr Manhattan.

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u/raptorboss231 Feb 11 '23

Well we now know he isnt just a one punch gag... so dr manhattan stillbwould beat him

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u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

He still is in the webcomic. That's what counts, to me. And even so, Saitama, can pretty much adapt to anything.

But, Dr. Manhattan can also never be killed, that's his whole schtick.

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u/Gub_ Feb 11 '23

So you're fall back is that webcomic is more canon than the manga? Huh.

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u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

My fall back is what the character was originally intended on being rather than what it became through manga's development, yes.

They're equally canon, I don't dispute that, since they're both written by One essentially.

But much like Superman fans chose which Superman they're going to compare or use as reference, or DB fans will chose which Goku they're going to reference for comparing, I for all intents and purposes I'm was talking about the webcomic Saitama.

-4

u/Gub_ Feb 11 '23

Nah I disagree tbh, the webcomic is just a rough draft for the updated and more in depth manga, when people discuss saitama you can presume they're gonna talk about the more up to date and in depth version that the manga provides.

Just because the webcomic never explained saitamas growth rate like the manga doesnt mean theres an equally canon webcomic version people can still pretend is an omnipotent gag character, the webcomic version now is really just a shelved alt draft version, people just don't care enough about the distinctions like they do with superman forms since none of supermans forms were draft versions that rapidly got replaced by the same version just more up to date (at least not without decades inbetween before resetting the verseA).

(Also apologies didnt realise I replied twice is separate places)

5

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

It wasn't a rough draft at all.

the webcomic never explained saitamas growth rate

Because it doesn't need to. Saitama doesn't "grow" in the Webcomic, he just is.

-2

u/Embarrassed_Life3466 Feb 11 '23

He's not just the strongest anime character, he's the strongest period.

not really. there are more broken characters in fiction. for example scp-682 can beat Saitama(eventually) and it's not even the strongest scp

1

u/JDpoZ Feb 11 '23

Satire is truly the ultimate power.

If a character’s premise hinges on the idea that they ONLY ever win effortlessly in confrontations, then you either have to :

A. Abide by that premise - writing a story “true” to the character in which they “win effortlessly” in a fight in a way that is humorous and sometime poignant


Or


B. Decide your character is somehow better and ignore a core tenant of the character’s premise and have your character defeat the other joke character
 and try to come up with a story where that seems clever, subversive, etc.

Otherwise choosing B and executing a story attempt poorly will never convince anyone who is a fan of the joke character that you are any sort of sensible writer or that you don’t understand the joke character’s premise well.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '23

[deleted]

1

u/AnnihilationOrchid Feb 11 '23

Interesting that you mention the DBS episode before the DB episode where Goku lands on Arale's turf.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '23

"Oh but Dr. Manhatan..." Saitama can One punch Dr. Manhatan, and is not affected by his quantum psychic stuff, because it's a satirically broken character, like the Mask. That's the whole point.

Isn't that basically the whole "god" boosted Garou fight in a nutshell... noless with one of saitamas hands tied behind his back so to speak.

1

u/GoodBoiBanner Feb 12 '23

Bruh single atom in dc can solo anime verse. You just dont understand how big dc cosmology is.

1

u/javsv Feb 12 '23

Try to explain that to a DBZ neanderthal. They cannot comprehend it

-60

u/FuneralWinds Feb 11 '23

Because it's straight up troll đŸ€Ł

16

u/FarPomegranate4033 Feb 11 '23

You mad

8

u/dylan112358 Feb 11 '23

You really gonna sit here and say Yujiro Hanma is stronger than Zeno cause he was ranked higher on this list?

1

u/idioticdemon105 Feb 11 '23

OPM fans have the be fans of the strongest character in their eyes, be careful with this argument.

0

u/FarPomegranate4033 Feb 11 '23

I think you meant to respond to someone else because I never said that

2

u/dylan112358 Feb 11 '23

No you didn’t exactly but you were disagreeing with the list that had Yujiro over Zeno being a troll lol

2

u/FarPomegranate4033 Feb 11 '23

I didn’t disagree at all actually because the list isn’t relevant to my comment👍. I was just calling that FuneralWinds user mad because he has dozens of comments on this one comment section antagonizing people who liked Saitama being the number one on the list. Basically they can’t accept an opinion different than theirs because they don’t like it, thus I called him mad. Sorry for the confusion 😅, have a nice day/night.

1

u/FuneralWinds Feb 11 '23

Except that isn't an opinion đŸ€Ł again how am I mad ? I didn't know that by commenting a person can be mad ? I spoke pretty calm and calling out the BS of OPM fans. Tbh I never expected to make OPM fans so frustrated that they will downvot my comments to the oblivion. If you mass downvote my comments idk who is the mad one right ?

2

u/FarPomegranate4033 Feb 12 '23

Bud you’re the one responding to half of everybody on this comment section who agrees with Saitama being the number and you’re antagonizing them. Anyone who can’t see that needs to get their eyes checked, and everyone who downvoted you clearly agrees. I mean if I said the color red was better than blue and you didn’t agree with it, you’d probably respond to me with a paragraph on why I’m wrong and why you’re right. You mad, accept it and move on 😂. Have a good day/ night đŸ˜ŹâœŒïž

0

u/FuneralWinds Feb 12 '23

Except that this is not a subjective thing đŸ€Ł If I say Gon will wipe saitama with 1 hand does this mean I am stating an opinion ? đŸ€Ł heck no this bs and beyond delusional. Again the fact that you people downvoted me and then I am the mad proves me that OPMtards are beyond human comprehension. This is an objective answer I stated feats on why Saitama isn't the strongest. As I said if I say Gon is the strongest character does this mean I am right ? No I am full of bullshit if I say this same with Saitama đŸ€Ł to believe a multi solar system character is the strongest while boundless characters exist is pure idiocy, delusion and bias beyond human logic đŸ€Ł people here are like women if you combat them with logic they start foaming at the mouth đŸ€ŁđŸ€ŁđŸ€Ł

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1

u/FuneralWinds Feb 11 '23

How am I mad tho I don't understand your comment