While fans are disappointed that the fall anime series One-Punch Man is just twelve episodes, there is a bit more coming down the road to look forward to. The official site has revealed that the upcoming home video release will have some new material with it as the first volume, which contains the first two episodes, will include an original episode as well. It’s not been revealed whether it’s a short or a full length episode, but we’ll gamble on a bonus short. The first episode is called Shinobiyori Sugiru Kage and is an original story written by creator ONE.
The cast for the TV series includes Makoto Furukawa on board to play Saitama, Kaito Ishikawa will be playing Genos, Yuuki Kaji as Speed of Sound Sonic and Aoi Yuki as Tornado of Terror. Supporting cast includes Yūichi Nakamura as License-less Rider, Kazuhiro Yamaji as Silver Fang, Hiroki Yasumoto as King, Takahiro Sakurai as Zombieman, Katsuyuki Konishi as Tanktop Master, Saori Hayami as Blizzard of Hell, Mamori Miyano as Sweet Mask, Kenjiro Tsuda as Atomic Samurai, Minami Takayama as Child Emperor, Tesshô Genda as Metal Knight, Youji Ueda as Drive Knight, Daisuke Namikawa as Pig God, Satoshi Hino as Superalloy Blackluster, Yuji Ueda as Watchdog Man, Kousuke Toriumi as Flashy Flash, Wataru Hatano as Metal Bat and Masaya Onosaka as Puri-puri Prisoner.
The anime adaptation is being produced by Madhouse for the animation with Shingo Natsume set to direct based on the overall scripts by Tomohiro Suzuki. Chikashi Kubota is on board to handle the character designs for it. The series is set to debut in October of this year.
The manga comes from ONE and Yusuke Murata, which began in 2012 in Tonari no Young Jump online after it was originally started back in 2009 by Murata online. The manga has nine volumes released so far, making it easy to imagine this will be a single season series when it lands.
Viz Media is releasing the manga in North America in both print and digital form.
Plot concept: In this new action-comedy, everything about a young man named Saitama screams “AVERAGE,” from his lifeless expression, to his bald head, to his unimpressive physique. However, this average-looking fellow doesn’t have your average problem… He’s actually a superhero that’s looking for tough opponents! The problem is, every time he finds a promising candidate he beats the snot out of them in one punch. Can Saitama finally find an evil villain strong enough to challenge him? Follow Saitama through his hilarious romps as he searches for new bad guys to challenge!