In the midst of the bonus tankoban chapters, I’d totally forgotten about that Chapter 23 was coming out today. It’s a short chapter. A little more text focused, but only really because there’s not a lot of time to get the ball rolling on any action. There’s a little Genos and Saitama apartment shenanigans.

They’re talking about rankings in the Heroes Association. With my limited Japanese, I can’t tell who it is that’s in what ranks they mention. Saitama’s name comes up on the first page I think saying that he’s gone up from the 388th C Rank Hero to the 342nd. The word “cyborg” comes up after S Rank 19, so that might be where Genos is now. Oh, also, a meteor is going to hit the city, destroying it and possibly the Earth. (Edit: Since I wrote this last night, a string of new images were added to the update. After looking through them, I tried my hand at making one of those .gifs this series lends itself to.)

They don’t deal with the meteor in this chapter, but I’m not worried because there’s a new character kicking around the Association.

I love grizzled, stern, old man characters, and this guy’s got it all. Again, from my limited Japanese, I think his name is Bang and he’s the S Rank 3 Hero. By the metric of Hero Ranks, that makes him the third strongest member of the Hero’s Association just behind Tornado. That makes him probably around a hundreth of Saitama’s strength on a good day, but that’s not going to hold him back.

Because I think he’s going to kung-fu that meteor. That may not be what happens, but it will be what happens in my heart.

You can check out the whole chapter here at Tonarinoyj.

Have you heard of Dangan Tenshi Fan Club?

I hadn’t until about twenty minutes ago. It’s a one-shot story by ONE and drawn by Yusuke Murata, From my cursory glance, it’s about magical girl Himiko Natsuno, who is the best magical girl because her magical girl power is cyborg super limbs, and her fanclub made up of the most pathetic nerd guys from her class. A wrench is thrown into it when a guy who’s actually cool joins the class and they have to bring him into the fold.

It’s fun so far. It’s got Murata’s excellent art and ONE’s solid humor.

I may do a full write up of it once I’ve finished it all, but that’s not why I bring it to you today, though this is a good way to introduce it. I bring it to you because there’s a crossover with this and Onepunch-Man.

Like Dangan Tenshi, this is short little one-shot crossover, literally about four pages long, that’s just a quick little joke story between these characters because if you’re already collaborating on two stories, you might as well make a crossover and make a third. And what characters could go together better?

I submit that there are none.

(Images from Mangahere and Miracle Jump)

Since I post them pretty much every time it comes up, you should know by now that OPM lends itself really well to .gif images. Did you also think it might lend itself really well to AMVs?

These two did. These two guys, teppeli and huy respectfully, came out of the woodwork for these as they are the only videos by them. Nice debut on both. They both managed a fun AMV and good use a manga resources to help make real motion, you know on top of the real motion that Murata already puts in, where they could have just flashed a bunch of manga pages up with some filters and maybe a bit of camera movement. I mean, there is some of that, but there’s something so satisfying when you see Genos getting cut in half or little details like Saitama’s cape flapping in the wind.

Go give these guys some encouragement. Maybe they’ll make more.

I think Yusuke Murata doesn’t have enough to do or it’s possible he’s sustained just by drawing things. These have been coming out over his Twitter.

I love the level of detail he puts into even little gag things like this. The shading on Saitama’s arm lends itself so much depth and really makes his finger look like a wall. Also, tiny Sonic and Genos are adorable.

But that’s not even all. These were just the warmup for the main event.

If those above ones were the quick joke at the end of a tankoban, this would be the bonus art that’s comes between chapters or in a big collection at the end. There’s no part of this I’m not impressed with, even if it’s really embarrassing and weird to say that using knuckles for boobs was really creative. And effective.

Murata, I really want to you to draw OPM faster, but I also really like it when you do crazy stuff like this. I just don’t know how to feel.

If you were a cyborg, how would you comport yourself? Would you want to look as human as possible so as to remain inconspicuous? How would you get into your battle gear when it was time to fight evil, as cyborgs are wont to do? Especially if the evil is a giant meteorite about to come down on your head.

You have to do something. Normal people are just going to stand around crying until something gets done.

If you answered that you would carry your cyborg battle parts in an exploding attache case, then congratulations. You’d get Genos on one of those “Which Character are you” quizzes from so many years ago.

It’s interesting to see that Genos has non-battle arms. I didn’t even notice until he put on the actual laser shooting ones, but he’s been traveling around with just normal cyborg arms that probably only give him enough strength to lift and then crush a car like a tin can instead of super lasers that can blow away mountains.

There’s no Saitama in this one. He only gets a brief mention as “Sensei” while Genos is doing his heroic poses on a rooftop after his awesome suit-up sequence. And yes, it does come in .gif form.

Yes, the arms are jet powered just for this sequence

Heroic antics are all well and good, and Genos is certainly a good hero. There’s nothing in this world that could possibly make him abandon his duty to the city and Saitama.

Except maybe this guy. Based on Genos going, “That’s…” this may be the Harbinger of Backstory.

You can check out the whole raw at Tonarinoyj.

Scan surplus. These scans have got to go because there’s just way too many in stock.

First up, Boon Scans has translated the OPM/Dangan Tenshi crossover one-shot. The whole thing is contained up in the picture link. Cute little story about Saitama getting beaten to his namesake. The translation was rolled in with his translation of Chapter 21-2. I’ll go ahead and mention that scan set now because I forgot to mention the translation of Chapter 21-1 when I talked about these raws.

But that’s not all. Kewl0210 over on the JoJo Forums has started translation on Nisio Isin’s original JoJo work Over Heaven. Nisio Isin, who Kewl called a terrible writer, is the guy who’s made absolutely nothing I’ve ever read or seen probably most notably Medaka Box, which Kewl called a monstrosity, so I guess we should expect some terrible monstrosity. The premise is interesting, though. The story is a collection of Dio Brando’s diary entries over the course of his life from before Phantom Blood up through Stardust Crusaders. It covers his mentality, what he thought about certain stands, and the things that happened to him that would lead to his idea of “Heaven.” The idea that was eventually passed on to Pucci so that he could make Stairway to Heaven/Made in Heaven to fulfill Dio’s legacy. He mentions that it’s not a well fulfilled concept but that Dio’s character is done well. Sounds like it’s worth a look to me, but I’ve always enjoyed Dio.

(Thanks to JoJo Tumblr for the picture and finding the post about Over Heaven)

A masterpiece is always interesting to look at. Every time you look at a really incredible work, you find new things to appreciate. When I saw the .gif of Genos fighting Saitama for the first time, I didn’t notice that the sound effects had shadows. I was so impressed by the level of detail Murata went to to make those look like real objects in the world. To imagine his craft is mindboggling for a non-drawer like me. I’d love to see him work because it’s got to be an experience.

And now we can. Yusuke Murata has started a UStream channel where he streams himself drawing. Here’s a picture of the image he’s working on during the stream going on as I write this.

The stream is labeled with “Delivering Color to a Work,” so this may have started as a black and white drawing that he’s currently coloring, but look how good the coloring is. This is a golden opportunity to see a master at work, and the best thing is that all the streams are recorded and available to watch. The shorter ones tend to be a little over a half hour, the longest one is over two hours. Some of that is dead air because Murata isn’t a cyborg yet, so he does have to get up to eat and take care of things, but with recordings, you can just skip around. As a bonus, some of his drawings are of yet to have appeared OPM characters. Give it a look. It’s an experience.

You can follow Murata’s stream times via his Twitter or just subscribing to the UStream channel.

Have you been watching any of Murata’s streams? I’ve cherry picked my way through a few and was interested in all the coloring because that’s a barrier I can’t even imagine crossing in art. Turns out it was hiding in plain sight because this issue of OPM is all in color.

And that’s not all. It’s still drawn animation style. I would have made the .gif, but Goon AnonSpore beat me to it.

The only downside, if you can call it that based on what just happened, is that that’s the whole issue. Yes, except for the last page reaction shot from Genos about this guy, that .gif is everything you need to see. I was going to say something about the cleaning being a pain because I imagine that color pages are harder to clean than black and white, but there’s not a lot of text to translate, so maybe it won’t be a big deal over all.

You can see it in comic form at Tonarinoyj.

All right. It’s finally time for a full OPM chapter where we’re going to get story and action and progress. And guess what?

Still in full color

Never one to skimp on the artistic “IT LOOKS SO GOOOOD!” Murata has given us the next big story leap of OPM in full blown color. Genos is still questioning the big, new robot who is also interested in dealing with the overhead problem.

There does seem to be some mysterious someone behind the new robot. I can’t tell if that person is supposed to be in the robot wearing it as a suit or controlling/commanding it remotely. I think the latter.

Makes a pretty good try with his super missile cluster

Not that it helps, but A for effort

Genos gets an S for effort, though, being willing to tear out his own heart

so he can fire the ultra laser that is bigger than the building he’s standing on

At the end of the day, though, this is Onepunch-Man, not Cyborg City Savior Genos

“You won’t fall on my city!”

Sorry about the size and the white blocks in the first few pictures. The size isn’t consistent until after them, and I had trouble getting the colors to not horrible wash out into some half grayscale. It’s not the most cohesive .gif we’ve gotten out of the series, but the color is amazing and Saitama’s heroic cry is just too good.

There is another potential .gif of Saitama landing, but it’s broken up by other story events. Make sure and check out the whole chapter at Tonarinoyj.

Man, that guy over at Boon is fast. The translation for OPM 26 is already up at his place and at Batoto.

It’s pretty good, the humor keeps coming as you can see. Turns out I was right on my first guess and Hero Metal Knight was remote controlled. Bang gets to show off some of his super kung fu. Lasers everywhere and stuff. Good chapter. Give it a look.

Sorry for the tiny image. I couldn’t find a bigger one around. But yeah, Onepunch-Man Tankoban Number 3 is out and ready to be bought for the incredibly low price of ¥420 ($4.50) on Amazon. I’m not sure if I should be stunned, it is a free to read online webcomic after all, but you’ve seen how awesome that art is. Unlike most of the other things I tell you about maybe buying on here, this is for pocket change. Give it a look.

Who’s ready for a break from color so we can get some plot done? No one? Well, we need to, so get ready.

This around 40 page chapter is a text beast. There is a lot of talking going on. We don’t lack for any action, there’s just a lot of information to get across. Consider this, as it must be considered, a quick glimpse into this chapter.

It’s three days on from the meteor incident and Genos and Saitama are doing what they always do: sit around talking about this and that, mostly about Hero Ranks.

Genos was promoted one rank to S 16, Metal Knight was promoted one rank to S 6, and Saitama was promoted 337 ranks to C 5. He is now considered the 5th most powerful hero in the C Rankers.

He takes that as you might expect him to. He’s surprised that he went up so high, but Genos explains that it’s not abnormal considering the Threat Level they handled with the meteor.

Not that everyone is happy about this prospect. Tank Top Tiger and his brother in the Tank Top Band of Brothers Tank Top Black Hole come and confront Saitama and whip the crowd into a fervor of jeers because Saitama saved the city but in a way that smashed most of it to pieces.

“QUIT”

The Tank Top Heroes even go so far as to attack Saitama directly.

Not that he’ll be having any of that. Saitama gives the two what for with a little of his strength and tells the crowd off for getting on his case.

Then a giant, monster octopus attacks “several days later.” See you next time kids. Yeah, it’s a weird cliffhanger, but this was a lot to digest, so consider it an appetizer for Chapter 28.

Make sure and check out the full chapter at Tonarinoyj.

I think the chapter is text heavy and dude gets it done within a a day or two. Pretty good, I must say.

Yes, you’ve heard right. The guy over at Boon has already translated and put up the English copy for OPM Chapter 27. You can read them there in his Picasa gallery or over here at Batoto.

This is just as satisfying as you thought it was

Something about “young one with the athletic undershirt” tickles me to no end

There’s something about this chapter that just hits the spot . That meteor punch was excellent, but Saitama’s public relations are something very special. And as a bonus, as you’ll see if you follow the first link up there, the whole OPM Mediafire folder is open now, so don’t miss your chance to read every bit of this masterpiece.

(PS – When you go either Batoto or Boon, you may notice that this is listed as Chapter 22 instead of 27. The reason is because the previous chapters are sub to the whole of Chapter 21 [21-1, 21-2, etc.]  I’m still calling it 27 in spite of that is because that’s how they’re listed when published to Tonarinoyj. Just wanted to clear any confusion if it cropped up.)

So, everyone wondering what’s up with that giant squid monster from the end of last chapter?

I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

The other hundred or so floating around just off-shore might be cause for concern, though

A new chapter appears. Significantly shorter than last chapter at 18 pages. We’re going for more set up of this current disaster of mutated, vaguely Lovecraftian horrors because that’s just what happens after a meteor falls on a city. It’s got a decent amount of dialogue, but Saitama also explodes a squid monster, so who could complain?

We also get a new Hero. A Class #11: Stinger

Genos also gets to show off his capabilities as an appliance while he and Saitama continue talking about Hero rankings

You can check out the whole chapter at Tonarinoyj.

This is just the week for fast translations. This OPM is shorter, so maybe it’s not that weird.

The “Seafolk” are really obsessed with this idea of making humans into “cattle.”

Saitama is becoming a mythical being as people refuse to believe he exists

Genos continues to talk Hero politics. Apparently, it works like boxing and you can squat on your rank forever without having to move out of it. You can also probably take that last panel as foreshadowing Fubuki/Miss Blizzard.

I like this last panel because Saitama looks really serious about going to this fight. When gets there and wins immediately, he’ll be so disappointed.

This chapter is a lot of setup. It’s apparently not just going to be a one off, either, because everyone who’s familiar with ONE’s original keeps talking about it being a really good arc. Maybe Saitama’s serious expression won’t be for nothing. I wouldn’t be surprised for him to go up to B rank and then Miss Blizzard is eyeballing him because of his climbing speed, but I’m interested in if Stinger will stay around. He looks like he could be the guy who really wants to be Saitama’s rival but ends up being Sonic’s rival because they’re rivals for being Saitama’s rival.

Enough speculation from me. Go make your own speculations after reading it either from Boon Scans or over at Batoto.

The Onepunch-Man tankoban’s have sold over 600,000 copies since the team up of ONE and Murata. To commemorate that illustrious goal, this poster has been put up in Shibuya Station near the Hachiko statue and will be there until May 14th. On top of that, they’ll also be doing a drive around advertising car. (Edit: Here’s a picture from Twitter)

Also, they’ll be distributing this Saitama drawn in ONE’s style mask over this weekend. On the front, pretend to be everyone’s favor- everyone’s that bald guy that’s around I guess hero by wearing it on your face. And when you get caught by friends wondering why you look so plain all of a sudden

You can just flip it over and teach them about a great manga they’re missing out on. You are seeing that right, too. They are calling it the “No. 1 WEB Comic” with millions upon millions of views. The recognition is strong. I’d say this lays the grounds for an anime in the future, but Murata’s shown that he can show us anime just fine on his own.

Keep your fandom strong. There’s a new chapter and a piece of interesting news along with it due later today, I believe.

(Thanks to ONE for posting the news on Twitter. The images come from Tonarinoyj and Comic Natilie. © ONE, Yusuke Murata, and Shueisha.)

It is a desperate struggle as Stinger tries to take on the entire Seafolk army alone. Gotta give him credit, though. He’s fighting an uncountable amount of enemies that are all a few stories tall, and he’s gotten away with only a swollen face and a bloody nose and mouth.

It’s a hard fight for Stinger on his own.

Gigantic Drill Stinger!!!

But he can still explode monsters with the best of them. Anyone who’s willing to name and then call out their moves in such a grandiose fashion has got a handle on the situation. But can even that spirit stand up to…

The greatest monster design of all time!?

And that’s all. This chapter is a short 9 pages if you count the appearance of the Speedo Heart Nipple King of the Sea as two. But there’s a reason for that.

This chapter is short because Murata has to save his energy. He intends to make Chapter 30 an incredible 100 pages! Because he is crazy. If he manages to resist coloring him, I think it will only be because his sons hid the supplies out of concern for his health. If that doesn’t produce a .gif or two, I will be surprised. Let’s all cheer him on!

You can check out the whole chapter at Tonarinoyj.

Well, I think we were all expecting that. Since the chapter is so short, there’s not a lot for me to post here, so I’ll just leave you with this guy.

You can read the full chapter in TF’s Google+ Gallery or head over to Batoto.

Oh, there is one thing to append as it’s been placed at the beginning of this translation. The tweet where Murata mentioned the 100 page count? Just to be clear, this chapter isn’t short because he’s gearing up for that beast. He’s planning to write a one chapter tankoban as an apology for this chapter being so short. Wanted to make sure that came across right. His streams are still going strong, so give him some support for his insane love for drawing if you have the time.

It’s here. The monster Chapter 30, a bit. The chapter, so far, only equals out to 60 pages. Murata didn’t want to stretch the deadline too hard and decided to upload what he had. Cut him a little slack. 100 pages is a lot of work, and this is 60 pages of concentrated beauty.

Heart Nipple Speedo King of the Sea just out for his walk

He’s really excited to see the new guy, Hero Inazuma Max

And punch him through a building

But this was his greatest folly, because Inazuma Max can now be saved by S Rank Hero Puripuri Prisoner

And also an old friend of ours. (“Wind Cutter Leg!!!”)

You really need to check out these raws. The fight between Puripuri Prisoner and HNS King is awesome. I didn’t do any previews for it because 1: You should see it in full rather than these shrunk down preview snippets, and 2: I wasn’t sure if I wanted to post the parts where Puripuri gets naked to unlock his true potential.

You can check out the whole raw at Tonarinoyj.

Nice and quick at Inazuma speed. Chapter 30 has been translated.

It is as glorious as you imagine.

You can read the whole chapter from TF’s gallery or over here on Batoto. The post about the translation comes with an important translation note about Huff-Puff (Puri Puri) Prisoner. Directly quoted:

A small note to Huff-Puff Prisoner (original: ぷりぷりプリズナー, Puri-Puri Prisoner). It’s still not clear to me what the Puri-Puri part stands for. Here are the possibilities:

1. Puri-Puri as in huff-puff, he loses control and gets angry easily.
2. Puri-Puri as in firm butt, stiff muscles, commenting his bodyline.
3. Puri-Puri as in Pretty-Pretty. This one is the least likely imo.

If new information comes to light, that name my change, so hold off on the tattoos I’m sure we’re all planning for now.