You’ve probably seen that one shot of Saitama. You know the one—the high-definition, hyper-detailed "Serious Punch" where the clouds literally split in half across the globe. It’s the kind of image that makes you stop scrolling and just stare. Honestly, in the world of anime and manga, pics of One Punch Man have basically become the gold standard for what "god-tier" art looks like.
But there is a weird paradox here. One Punch Man started as a webcomic with art that looked, well, like a toddler drew it on a napkin. Now, in 2026, we’re looking at manga panels so complex they belong in a museum. How did we get from "egg-face" doodles to the visual insanity of the Monster Association arc?
It’s all about the hand-off. When the original creator, ONE, teamed up with Yusuke Murata, the industry changed. Murata isn't just an illustrator; he's a freak of nature. He takes ONE's crude storyboards and turns them into cinematic masterpieces that sometimes feel more "animated" than the actual anime.
The Murata Magic: Why Manga Panels Beat the Anime
Let’s be real for a second. While Season 1 of the anime was a masterpiece by Madhouse, the manga has consistently stayed ahead in the visual department. Why? Because Yusuke Murata treats every page like a final boss fight.
When you search for pics of One Punch Man, you aren't just looking for character portraits. You’re looking for those double-page spreads. There’s a specific level of detail in Murata’s work—especially in his recent 2025 and 2026 releases—that digital animation just can't keep up with.
Take the fight between Saitama and Cosmic Fear Garou. In the manga, there are panels where the sheer scale of the destruction is mind-blowing. We’re talking about galaxies being displaced. Murata uses a technique called chiaroscuro—heavy contrast between light and dark—that gives the art a weight you don't see in other series.
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- The "Flip" Controversy: Recently, fans noticed some "laziness" in Season 3's promotional art. One specific key visual from J.C. Staff looked like a simple horizontal flip of Saitama and Garou.
- The Manga Standard: Compare that to the manga volume 35 covers. Murata is still out there redrawing entire chapters just because he thinks a shadow looks slightly off.
- Scale: In the manga, when a city gets leveled, you see every individual brick. In the anime? It’s often just a brown cloud of dust.
Basically, if you want the "true" visual experience, you go to the source. The manga is where the real eye candy lives.
Comparing the Three Versions of OPM Art
It is kinda hilarious that there are three distinct "styles" of pics of One Punch Man circulating online. Most newcomers get confused. You’ve got the webcomic, the manga, and the anime.
1. The ONE Webcomic (The "Crude" Original)
This is where it all began. Honestly, the art is objectively bad by professional standards. But it’s got a charm. ONE’s sense of "camera" placement and pacing is actually brilliant. Even with stick figures, he knows how to make a punch feel heavy. People still share these screenshots as memes because the contrast between the epic dialogue and the "derpy" art is comedy gold.
2. The Yusuke Murata Manga (The "God-Tier" Version)
This is what most people mean when they talk about OPM art. Murata’s style has evolved a lot since 2012. Early on, it was very clean and crisp. By the time we hit the 2020s, it became much more "painterly." He started using more digital tools for things like the Jupiter sequences, giving the space battles a surreal, hazy look that feels almost like a photograph of a nightmare.
3. The Anime Adaptations (The Mixed Bag)
Season 1 was 10/10. Season 2 was... controversial. And now, with Season 3 Part 1 having wrapped up in late 2025, the debate is back. J.C. Staff has struggled to capture the "vibration" of Murata’s lines. This is why fans often prefer downloading high-res manga scans for their wallpapers rather than screenshots from the show. The anime just can't render the sheer amount of hatching and ink work that Murata pours into a single frame.
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The Most Iconic Panels You’ll Find Online
If you’re looking to deck out your desktop or just appreciate the craft, there are a few "must-see" moments. These are the pics of One Punch Man that define the series.
- Saitama’s "OK" Face: The ultimate subversion. After a villain gives a ten-minute monologue about being the king of the universe, Saitama just stands there with a flat, egg-shaped face and says "OK." It’s the most downloaded OPM image for a reason.
- The Boros Collapse: The finale of the first big arc. The way Murata drew Boros’s ship crumbling remains some of the best architectural destruction in manga history.
- Tatsumaki Lifting the Monster Base: The scale here is terrifying. She literally twists an entire subterranean city like a wet towel. The sheer number of lines required to draw that much debris is enough to give most artists a carpal tunnel flare-up just looking at it.
- Empty Void's Dimension Slash: One of the newer additions to the "best of" list. The way the panels literally seem to cut across the page itself is a 4th-wall-breaking flex of Murata's layout skills.
How to Find and Save High-Quality OPM Art
Don't just grab low-res thumbnails from Google Images. If you want the real deal, there are better ways to get your fix of pics of One Punch Man.
Follow the Source Directly
Yusuke Murata is surprisingly active on X (Twitter) under the handle @NEBU_KURO. He often posts "WIP" (Work In Progress) shots. These are actually cooler than the finished pages sometimes because you can see the raw pen strokes before the digital assistants clean them up. He also occasionally drops short animations he does for fun—which, ironically, sometimes look better than the TV show.
Official Manga Sites
Viz Media and the Shonen Jump app are the best spots for high-definition digital versions. They don't have the compression artifacts you find on pirate sites. If you’re a real nerd for the art, look for the "Tankobon" (volume) releases. Murata often goes back and completely redraws chapters for the physical books. The "Redraw" phenomenon is unique to OPM. You might find two versions of the same fight online—always look for the volume version for the "final" art.
Art Books and Special Illustrations
Every now and then, ONE and Murata release special "hero visuals." For the 2025 Season 3 hype, they dropped new character designs for Atomic Samurai and Zombieman by Ryosuke Shirokawa. These have a slightly different flavor—slicker and more "anime-ready"—but they still carry that OPM DNA.
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The Actionable Insight for Fans
The best way to appreciate the visual journey of this series is to compare the "Same Moment" across all three versions. Find the panel where Saitama meets Genos for the first time. Look at ONE’s original sketch, then Murata’s manga page, then the Season 1 anime frame.
It’s a masterclass in how a single idea can be interpreted through different lenses. If you're an aspiring artist, Murata’s Twitter is basically a free university. Study his "impact frames"—the single, messy frames used to show the moment of contact in a punch. That’s where the power comes from.
To get the most out of your OPM collection, focus on the "Redraw" chapters. They show a professional artist who is never satisfied, constantly pushing the limits of what a 2D page can handle. That’s why, even in 2026, we’re still talking about these images.
Your next move: Head over to the official Tonari no Young Jump website. It’s the Japanese home for OPM. Even if you can't read the text, the raw image quality there is the highest you can find on the web. It’s the best place to see the latest 2026 chapters exactly how Murata intended them to be seen, without the lossy compression of third-party hosting sites.