Solo Upgrade‘s Sung Jinwoo has risen through the ranks of anime royalty at a pace befitting the genre’s latest and greatest overpowered hero. With the Anime of the Year award under its belt and a record-breaking second season in the rearview mirror, no one wants to pick a fight with the new king of OP protagonists. not even The one-punch man.
In the past, the debate over who was the strongest anime protagonist would always have included Saitama, The one-punch manHe is an unbeatable hero. Unfortunately, those days are about to end. Saitama was Sung Jinwoo’s last major threat to reign as king of OP anime protagonists, but he is gradually losing his crown. Even though much of Saitama’s diminishing relevance is due to Sung Jinwoo’s dominance, the sad reality is that it’s One Punch Man himself who is to blame. Or at least, season 3 of The one-punch man animated.
One Punch Man Season 3 severely nerfs Saitama’s place among anime greats OP
Six years after season 2 completely let down one of the most popular shonen series of all time, fans were beyond excited for The one-punch man Season 3 redeems Saitama’s story. Unfortunately, the promotional buildup for the anime’s fall 2025 season premiere was anything but impressive. Each trailer consisted of still, lifeless images that fans compared to a PowerPoint presentation. Before The one-punch man Season 3 was even released, it was already receiving the nickname “One Frame Man” among the fandoms.
Despite all possible signs pointing to the worst, fans still held out hope that this time really could be different. Unfortunately, this was not the case. With the release of The one-punch man From the first episode of season 3, on October 12, the worst hopes of fans of the series were realized. Instead of dynamic fights, impressive animation and high-quality images. The one-punch man Season 3, Episode 1 celebrated Saitama’s return with a boring, dialogue-filled episode with virtually no movement aside from some occasional lip flapping. Unfortunately, all of the disappointing trailers leading up to the release of Season 3 were an accurate representation of what fans could expect from the current season.
As a parody and satire poking fun at shonen anime and superhero comics, high-level meta-commentary on an anime’s inability to live up to fan expectations is never out of place. The one-punch man. Perhaps releasing a mediocre first episode that disappointed fans was part of The one-punch man Season 3’s ingenious plan to troll the anime fandom. This would open the door for an incredible action spectacle in the following episodes, catching fans off guard and thus making headlines.
All of this would make for an incredible marketing plan that would fit perfectly into The one-punch manThis is a myth, but it is also very improbable. Once the copium high wears off, all that The one-punch man fans are left with a shell of an incredible series that never had the chance to realize its full potential.
One Punch Man has no chance of beating Solo Leveling Season 2 for Anime of the Year
The one-punch man is the quintessential story of an overpowered protagonist whose type of parody had the potential to force fans to rethink what they truly value in a great anime story. The year of Solo Upgrade The unparalleled domination of season 2, The one-punch man had the perfect opportunity to poke holes in Sung Jinwoo’s bold aura farming to show it for what it is. As much as fans like to call Freeze “Solo Upgrade‘s downfall”, the only series that could have really damaged Sung Jinwoo’s pristine image was The one-punch man.
The awesome return of the original OP protagonist making a complete joke about everything Jinwoo represents would have been a completely poetic way for Saitama to re-enter the spotlight. Unfortunately, the quality of The one-punch man The Season 3 adaptation is nowhere near enough to make fans actually care about its deconstruction of the OP hero genre.
The one-punch manThe refusal to take the notion of an overpowered protagonist seriously is part of what makes it special, but the anime adaptation ultimately fails because it also refuses to take itself seriously. Instead, The one-punch man Season 3 only reinforces the reality that Solo Upgrade single-handedly put overpowered heroes back in the mainstream spotlight.
By taking his power fantasy more seriously, Solo Upgrade effectively accomplishes what The one-punch man will never do it. The thing that initially did The one-punch man It’s interesting how he was able to juggle his witty, self-aware humor with genuinely cool moments that still took shonen-style combat seriously where it counted. This made The one-punch man feels special, but somewhere between seasons 1 and 2, the show lost sight of this crucial facet of its storytelling.
Sung Jinwoo is also stronger than Saitama
Not only is it Solo Upgrade carry the ballt The One-Punch Man abandoned, he undoubtedly pushes his idea of an OP, unstoppable protagonist even further. While fans see much more of Jinwoo’s development and journey to power than Saitama’s, by the end of the Solo Upgrade In the storyline, it’s arguable that Jinwoo actually surpassed Saitama in raw power.
Saitama’s entire shtick OPM it’s that he became overpowered after the most mundane training routine imaginable, and now he’s struggling to reign in his strength against bad guys. He can effectively beat anyone with a single punch, although his punches have varying degrees of severity. A lot The one-punch man Fans view Saitama’s power level as infinite, as he is essentially a gag character whose only limit seems to be related to the opponent he faces. He could very well have infinite power, but he hasn’t really shown it so far in the series.
Saitama’s greatest feat of strength in The one-punch man So far he destroys several stars at once due to the collision of him and Garou’s punches. While impressive, this is a Galaxy-level feat at most. This contrasts with Sung Jinwoo, whose greatest feat of strength at the end of the Single Player Upgrade: Ragnarok the light novel takes him to a very clear slice of power. In it, Jinwoo completely disintegrates galaxies without even moving a muscle and defeats several gods who created and destroyed universes.
At this point, in terms of physical strength and the strength of his anime adaptation, Sung Jinwoo has surpassed Saitama. The one-punch man was the anime industry’s last hope to introduce an overpowered anime hero who could beat Solo UpgradeThe domination of the power fantasy genre in 2025. With no one left to stand in his way, Sung Jinwoo has become the undisputed king of superpowered anime protagonists.
Seasons 1 and 2 of Solo Leveling are currently streaming on Crunchyroll. New episodes of One Punch Man season 3 release every Sunday on Hulu.