One-Punch Man Is the True Sequel to Dragon Ball | Screen Rant
Considered by many the founding father of modern shonen manga, Dragon Ball is a milestone in the genre that has influenced countless other works, including One-Punch Man. The manga created by One and illustrated by Yusuke Murata, however, has the merit of reversing the shonen stereotypes, bringing the genre forward towards a more contemporary approach, and thus proving to be the true spiritual successor to Dragon Ball.
Created by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball began serializing in 1984 in Weekly Shonen Jump and ended in 1995 with 42 volumes and 519 chapters. Toriyama drew inspiration from the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West and from the Hong Kong kung-fu movies he was a fan of. Dragon Ball is the third best-selling manga in history, but with a higher average sales per volume than any other, with the only exception being Demon Slayer. The true legacy of Dragon Ball, however, is the unparalleled success that the franchise had around the world. The manga and its anime adaptation are responsible for popularizing Japanese pop culture around the world in the 80s and 90s, and no other manga had the same impact on popular culture as Dragon Ball.
Following works that reached similar heights of sales and popularity, such as One Piece (the best-selling manga of all time), Naruto, and Bleach, followed many of the same narrative tropes, building on Toriyama's groundwork. A key concept in shonen manga is the growth process of the protagonist(s), who has to overcome constant challenges in order to grow stronger. While the settings are completely different, all the works mentioned above follow this same pattern, be it about pirates, ninja, or shinigami. They can be considered successors to Dragon Ball in the sense that they furthered the growth of the genre, but they did not revolutionize it in any way as Toriyama did. It is understandably hard to deviate from such a successful formula, so mangaka focused their creativity on other aspects. There is, however, one exception. By cleverly playing with the shonen stereotypes, One-Punch Man created the first real innovation of the last three decades in the genre.
Created by One as a webcomic at first, and then turned into a successful manga with the help of Yusuke Murata, One-Punch Man tells the story of Saitama, a professional hero who is powerful that he can end fight with one punch. This simple premise is a total reversal of the shonen formula: Saitama doesn't have to become stronger throughout the series, because he already has ultimate power. He doesn't train and he doesn't struggle with enemies, his worst foe is actually the apathy that comes from the lack of challenges. While heroes like Goku, Naruto, or Luffy are always motivated and full of enthusiasm, Saitama is their exact opposite: he often repeats that he is a hero "just for a hobby", even if this aloofness hides his strong sense of justice. One-Punch Man, however, still makes use of the best aspects of the shonen genre: there are a lot of heroes who struggle against villains and monsters, and their hard-fought battles are often the focus of the manga. Whenever Saitama appears, however, it's like reading a completely different comic.
One Punch-Man provides its readers with high-octane battles and over-the-top characters that they came to expect from shonen manga. However, by flipping the stereotypes of the genre, One-Punch Man created its first real evolution in decades, proving to be in that regard the one true successor to Dragon Ball.