One Punch Man fans furious despite Dragon Ball community admitting "Saitama can actually beat Goku"

Modified Jan 04, 2025 04:11 GMT

One Punch Man and Dragon Ball fans debate the Saitama vs. Goku battle once again (Image via Madhouse and Toei Animation).

One Punch Man and Dragon Ball fans have debated for years who would win in a battle between their respective protagonists, Saitama and Goku. It makes sense because they are both very powerful fighters who always crave a challenge, but the recent exploits of everyone's favorite bald man have generated debates once again.

In the One Punch Man manga, Saitama recently stopped an attack from another dimension, leading some Dragon Ball fans to argue that he could defeat Goku. However, others believe the series has lost quality by focusing too much on making Saitama stronger. The debate is complicated, as some argue Saitama has not yet reached Goku's level.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and the people quoted.

One Punch Man and Dragon Ball fans debate Saitama's strength when compared to Goku

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As mentioned earlier, Saitama recently managed to stop an interdimensional attack in the manga, which has prompted a lot of people to claim that he has finally surpassed Goku. However, a Dragon Ball fan stated that while he did manage to surpass the legendary protagonist, it came at the expense of the quality of his manga decreasing greatly.

While opinions on the current run of ONE and Yusuke Murata's manga might differ from one reader to another, that didn't stop fans of the franchise from starting the debate once again. Moreover, there were some Dragon Ball fans who stated that Saitama is still not stronger than Goku because the interdimensional attack angle is, according to them, "a Buu saga feat".

Some mentioned how the likes of Super Buu and Gotenks managed to break through dimensions in the Room of Spirit and Time when they are fighting, which is something that ranks to a similar level to what Saitama did recently. Therefore, when extrapolating Goku's current strength in the canon material, which has far surpassed that arc, this would mean that he is still stronger than Caped Baldy.

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Naturally, there have been a lot of disappointed One Punch Man fans with the direction that the manga has taken since the moment Saitama fought Cosmic Garou. While perhaps the franchise's peak, there have been a lot of complaints about how the manga constantly releases the same chapters while making changes that don't elevate the story, with the protagonist's feats no longer impressing anyone.

There were also a lot of claims that the character getting stronger for "Janemba-level feats" is something that has hurt the franchise in the long term. It is likely that wasn't the intent of the authors, but there is no denying that the franchise doesn't have the same reach that it did during the Monster Association arc, with the Goku debates still having the latter as the winner.

"Killed their series' writting just for Buu saga level feats is crazy," someone said.

"So Satiama went from interesting to literally just being written to be strong and nothing else?" another person said.

"Saitama is a difficult thing because like yeah based on what they show, if that’s his limit he can’t beat Goku. But he does it all so casually that obviously it’s not his real limit. He’s not even really written with one in mind. He can just do whatever the writers want him to do," someone else said.

This debate has been going on for over a decade and One Punch Man and Dragon Ball fans are very likely to keep it alive for a while longer.

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Edited by Divya Singh