The Chosen Three with a New Amigo

In anime there has and will always be controversy of the biggest, strongest, and greatest anime characters of all time. Up until a couple of months ago the strongest characters had been in most peoples’ opinion Luffy of the Straw Hat Pirates, Goku a man that has cheated death multiple times from Dagon Ball Z, and lastly from Naruto the jinchuuriki from Naruto shippuden. All three of these characters have proven their courage and strength time and time again, but now there is a hero called Saitama from One Punch Man. He has single handedly launched himself to the top three strongest characters in a matter of weeks. It begs the question, does this egg head really have what it takes ?

Goku has been seen as the hero of worlds, surpassing his power from previous attempts of success multiple times. His tremendous power comes from being a saiyan, a rare breed of warrior that lives to fight and grows stronger after every battle. He has shown strength by an ability called super saiyan where he grows stronger with every numerical transformation. In the newest manga his most recent form is Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, whose raw power is greater than the tongue twister it is to say it. It has defeated Villains that can decimate away planets. However, even with his tremendous god powers he is still afraid of his wife Chi Chi.

Naruto is from a village hidden in the leaves. On his side he has the most powerful chakra beast, the nine tails, and toad sage powers. His rival from a young age is Sauske Uchiha, a character that’s tribe was wiped out in one night by his own brother. Among his accomplishments is mastering the demonic fox inside of him, becoming a toad sage, becoming a sage of six paths, and defeating Obito Uchiha another incredible power house. Naruto never quits and always manages to obliterate his foe no matter where he stands before him. His greatest weakness is ramen noodles and has been known to eat everything in site.

Monkey D. Luffy is a very proud rubber man born in the East Blue Who will be king of the pirates one day. Luffy comes from the anime One piece going 700+ episodes strong. On his crew he has the worlds best cook, navigator, doctor, sniper, swordsman, musician, geologist, and ship right. In the show there are devil fruits that give the consumer of the fruit next world powers. Luffy ate one of these fruits when he was a young boy, since then he has been made of rubber. Because he has eaten this devil fruit he can not swim and will drown if submerged. This creates a slight problem because his dreams are to be king of the pirates. His accomplishments are more likely the great of the 3 he is compared to in this article. He has proved himself by taking down gods, war lords, and powerful government officials.

When One Punch Man was released to Japan last October, it sky rocketed with popularity quickly getting Saitimas name out. Saitima from One Punch Man is a egg head that annihilates every villain with one punch. In all of the manga and anime Saitima has yet to become serious during combat, rather he uses moves such as “normal punch” and “consecutive normal punches.” His true power must be un containable which begs the question can this class D rookie compare himself to the great 3? Is he even stronger than Luffy that has immense plot armor? Is he stronger than the god of all Sayains? Stronger than the sage of six paths?

One Piece, Naruto, and Dragon Ball Z have been around for years and thrive with their corresponding characters. These are all great animes that intake adventure and gusto. One Punch Man has a more modern day take on things; he’s an ordinary human that poses enormous strength.  No power ups, no summoning, and no primal like transformations. One Punch shows a completely different era than either of the three compared. It just goes to show how much anime can change over time and still have great jokes, characters, and stories.