Saitama needs Goku to stay relevant in One Punch Man and fans must realize it

While Dragon Ball's Son Goku vs. One Punch Man's Saitama is a battle netizens have kept going on for nearly a decade, it does not seem like it will end soon. Anytime Saitama would showcase a new feat, fans would immediately head online to discuss the power scaling between characters and how the Caped Baldy surpassed the Saiyan with his latest antic.

Upon noticing such behavior, several fans recalled that it had been quite some time since any new Dragon Ball content on Son Goku was dropped. So, why were the two fandoms arguing anyway? This effectively meant that any battles sparked between the fandoms were introduced by the One Punch Man fans who latched onto any opportunity to prove that Saitama was better than Son Goku.

With that, several Dragon Ball fans are convinced that Saitama needs Son Goku to stay relevant, and it was never the other way around.

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One Punch Man fan's latest Goku comparison sparks new debate over Saitama

As fans must remember, a few months ago, Yusuke Murata released an illustration of Saitama doing some skull crushers by adding two black holes to either side of a barbell. A black hole is known to be very heavy, typically weighing 3 to 10 solar masses. Thus, the fact that he was working out his triceps with two of them was quite insane.

However, upon seeing the illustration, instead of praising Saitama for attaining the impossible feat, a One Punch Man fan used the same to compare him to Dragon Ball's Son Goku.

While there is a point to argue that Akira Toriyama never depicted Son Goku to be this strong and Saitama could be stronger than him, the question that arose in fans' minds is whether One Punch Man fans are incapable of praising their protagonist without comparing him to Goku. Is Son Goku what keeps Saitama relevant amidst anime fandoms?

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Fans' reaction to the Dragon Ball fan's comment

Illustration by Yusuke Murata for One Punch Man manga (Image via Shueisha)

Most One Punch Man fans took offense to the Dragon Ball fan's allegation, as they were certain that the Yusuke Murata manga was plenty relevant, especially due to the over-the-top illustrations featured in the manga series.

Meanwhile, other fans argued that most people knew what One Punch Man was and were eagerly waiting for the third season. Thus, it was quite relevant by itself.

"I mean yeah. Most anime fans already know who OPM is and it’s still pretty popular and getting a s3 soon," one fan said.

"He’s a parody character, and goku is the most shonen of shonen," another fan said.

"I think all anime main characters can't stay relevant without Goku," another fan argued.

However, the Dragon Ball fans did not believe that they should take Saitama's feats seriously anyway. This is because, as stated by ONE himself, Saitama was a gag character. As for Goku, he was the "most shonen of shonen" characters.

Lastly, other fans believed that it was not just Saitama; no anime main character could stay relevant without Son Goku. He was the threshold everyone longed to surpass.

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