If you’ve ever scrolled through a chapter of the One Punch Man manga and felt like your eyes were being blessed by a god of ink and pixels, you've met the work of Yusuke Murata. Most people know him as the "guy who draws the pretty version of the webcomic." But honestly? That’s underselling it. Murata isn’t just a photocopier with better pens. He’s essentially the co-architect of a global phenomenon that redefined how we look at digital manga.
He didn't just take ONE's rough doodles and make them shiny. He took a hobbyist’s passion project and turned it into a masterclass in cinematic pacing.
Yusuke Murata One Punch Man and the Art of the "Impossible" Panel
There's this thing Murata does that other mangaka rarely touch. He draws in "sequences." If you read the digital releases on Tonari no Young Jump, you’ve probably seen those chapters where you scroll down and it feels like an actual animation. The fight between Saitama and Genos or the massive scale of the Monster Association arc—these aren't just static images.
Murata grew up obsessing over Akira Toriyama and Kinu Nishimura. You can see it. The way he handles "visual weight" is heavy. When a character gets punched through a skyscraper, you don't just see the debris; you feel the structural failure of the building.
Why the Webcomic vs. Manga Debate is Kinda Silly
Look, there’s always going to be that one guy on Reddit arguing that the webcomic is "pure" and the manga is "bloated."
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- The Webcomic: Fast, cynical, and focuses heavily on the subversion of tropes.
- The Manga: Deepens character backstories, expands the lore (like the God entity), and gives side characters like Metal Bat or Flashy Flash actual room to breathe.
Murata doesn't just decide these changes on a whim. He’s constantly in talks with ONE. People forget that ONE actually writes the storyboards (names) for the manga. Murata is the one who says, "Hey, what if we made this fight ten pages longer and added a martial arts tournament?" And usually, ONE is down for it because it builds a world that the original 2009 webcomic simply didn't have the space to explore.
The Village Studio Pivot and 2026 Reality
It’s currently 2026, and if you've been following the news, you know things have changed a bit in Murata’s world. He’s not just a mangaka anymore. He launched Village Studio, his own animation house.
He’s been working on Zaiyuki, his original anime project about a Kappa boy. This is huge. It explains why the One Punch Man release schedule became a bit "irregular" for a while. You can’t run a whole studio and draw 50-page chapters bi-weekly without something giving. He's human. Even if his art looks like it was made by a machine, his wrists definitely aren't.
What Most Fans Miss About His Background
Murata wasn't an overnight success. Before the Yusuke Murata One Punch Man era, he was the artist for Eyeshield 21. If you haven't read that, go back and look at the later volumes. You can see the exact moment he mastered drawing "motion."
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Did you know he actually designed villains for Mega Man when he was a kid? He won contests for Mega Man 4 (Dust Man) and Mega Man 5 (Crystal Man). That’s where that weird, creative creature design comes from. When you see a monster in OPM that looks like a nightmare fueled by a fever dream and a junkyard, that’s 12-year-old Murata’s spirit coming through.
The "Redraw" Rabbit Hole
We have to talk about the redraws. It's a meme at this point.
Murata will finish a chapter, the fans will love it, and then three months later he’ll say, "Actually, I didn't like how that rock looked," and redraw twenty pages. This isn't just perfectionism. It’s about the physical volume releases.
Digital manga is the "beta" version. The tankobon (the books you buy off the shelf) is the "final" version. If he realizes a plot point in chapter 150 contradicts something ONE just thought of for chapter 160, they go back and fix the "digital" history so the book is perfect. It’s a luxury most mangaka don't have, and it’s why the One Punch Man volumes are some of the highest-quality products in the industry.
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How to Actually Support the Work
If you're just reading scans on a random site with ten pop-up ads, you're missing the point.
- Check the Official Source: Read on Viz or Tonari no Young Jump. The image quality is night and day.
- Follow the Animation: Keep an eye on his Village Studio updates. The man is trying to bridge the gap between manga and anime himself.
- Appreciate the Gaps: When there’s a hiatus, it’s usually because he’s polishing a volume or working on Season 3 stuff.
Murata has basically become the Saitama of the art world. He’s reached a level where his only competition is his own previous work. Whether he's drawing a massive cosmic battle or just Saitama buying groceries, the level of care is identical.
To keep up with the latest updates, follow Murata’s official X (Twitter) account where he often posts "rough" animations and status updates on current chapters. If you want to see the evolution of his style, pick up the One Punch Man "Hero Perfection" art book—it shows the transition from his early Eyeshield days to the hyper-detailed monster designs he’s known for now.