18 Anime You Must Watch if You Love One Punch Man

‘One-Punch Man’ is one of the most popular modern anime. It’s great that the anime is finally making a comeback this month, and we’re all incredibly excited for the show. But there are several other anime too, that are tonally and stylistically similar to this one, and they’re all definitely worth watching. So, here’s the list of best anime similar to ‘One-Punch Man’ that are our recommendations. You can watch several of these anime like ‘One-Punch Man’ on Netflix, Crunchyroll or Hulu.

18. Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (2015)

Are you looking for a funny anime with overpowered characters? If yes, then ‘Ansatsu Kyoushitsu’ is something you might want to check out. A mysterious creature arrives on Earth after chopping up the moon into a permanent crescent. There is no way that the government could subdue this creature as it is too powerful. The creature has the speed of Mach 20, which allows it to dodge any attack. But for some reason, it surrenders itself and offers humans a chance to kill it.

Class 3-E of Kunugigaoka Middle School is a class where all the failures and delinquents are put in. They do not have a lot of hopes for their future. The creature, now Koro-sensei, offers to teach the class. Suddenly, the students find themselves being given a huge responsibility — they have to kill their teacher before it can destroy the earth in a similar way as the moon. Are they up for it?

17. Gintama (2006)

‘Gintama’ is one of the funniest and most entertaining anime that you can watch. If you are looking for a long shounen anime to invest your time in, then go for ‘Gintama’. The show has a total of 201 episodes with each episode being 24 minutes in length. The series takes place in feudal Japan. Amanto, an alien race, invades Earth and takes over Japan. Now, there’s a ban on carrying swords and thus, the samurai lose their place in the country. The protagonist of the series is Gintoki Sakata, a samurai who still believes in the old ways. He earns his living by doing odd jobs for a fee. He is assisted by his companions including his oversized pet dog, Shinpachi Shimura, and Kagura, who belongs to the Amanto race.

16. Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan (2016)

A powerful character trying to fit in the normal human society is what ‘Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan’ is all about. This series is funny and entertaining. I was kind of skeptical about this anime after seeing the trailer. But well, I was wrong. Kusuo Saiki is a psychic and has a range of supernatural abilities including telepathy and x-ray vision. But all he wants is to not attract attention towards himself and lead a normal life. But is such a life even possible for someone like him? His powers rile up constant trouble for him and even though he tries his best to keep his powers secret, he ends up attracting weird characters like Rikki Nendou and Shun Kaidou. Well, it seems the world is really crazy even for a guy who is not normal.

15. Tiger and Bunny (2011)

‘One Punch Man’ is a superhero genre parody, so it is pretty obvious why ‘Tiger and Bunny’ is on this list. This anime is also a sort of parody of the superhero genre. It takes place in Stern Bild City where people with superpowers exist. These people are called Next. Next can use their abilities for good or bad and as is with every power in the world, there are many who use their special ability to do unlawful stuff. To counteract them are heroes who use their special abilities to neutralize or catch these criminals.

So far, it’s all routine superhero stuff, right? In this world, being a hero is being a TV celebrity. The heroes are given ranks and they receive sponsorships based on their ranks on a show in the Hero TV. A veteran hero by the name of Wild Tiger is in bad times because of his inability to cooperate with his partners. This time, a superhero who goes by his real name Barnaby Brooks Jr. becomes his partner. Tiger nicknames his partner Bunny and even though the duo is like oil and water, they have to do their best to work together if they want to continue working as heroes and also to save Stern Bild from underlying threats.

14. Samurai Flamenco (2013)

This anime kind of reminded me about ‘Kick-Ass’, a funny superhero comedy movie. Again, this is another superhero parody anime. The show has a total of 22 episodes with each episode being 23 minutes in length. Masayoshi Hazama is a normal guy who loves superheroes. He is so inspired by them that by day he is a famous model but by night he is a vigilante. He wears a costume and tries to prevent illegal things from happening.

His activities range from stopping juveniles from causing trouble to preventing people from littering or stopping theft. Hidenori Gotou is a policeman who discovers the true identity of Masayoshi and asks him to leave the crime-fighting to law enforcement agencies. But soon, Gotou joins Masayoshi in his crime-fighting and the two soon have to shoulder more responsibility than either of them would have thought of. Their actions are now critical to saving the world.

13. Dragon Ball Z (1989)

‘Dragon Ball Z’ is one of the longest surviving anime shows. It is funny, entertaining and filled with over-the-top action sequences, The main characters of the show train hard and keep on getting more and more powerful. So yes, the show is pretty much a treat for action-anime lovers. I mean, the characters of this anime franchise starting from ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and continuing in the subsequent series got so powerful that literal Gods had to be brought in to match their strength. Well, that’s the reason why the series is on this list.

Goku and a bunch of other action-loving fighters train harder and harder and try to meet the strength of their opponents, all the while trying to save Earth from extra-terrestrial danger. This series has been a fan favourite for many years now.

12. Inferno Cop (2012)

‘Inferno Cop’ is an action-comedy about a crime-fighting cop. The anime takes place in a town by the name of Knife Edge. Yes, if you thought that the name is edgy, wait till you experience the town. The only thing stopping the town from going out of limit or becoming too edgy is Inferno Cop. He tries to protect the law in an outlaw fashion. Doesn’t matter how serious or mild your crime is if you love making trouble, you will fall under his radar.

Years ago, the murder of his family by a criminal organization drove him to take revenge on criminals. But there is something far more dangerous that awaits him in the future. It involves him literally falling into hell and escaping it. Now, he has a flaming head (ring a bell?). The animation in the series is really wacky and makes you feel trippy. I mean, what else do you expect from an adult anime with 3 minutes per episode?!

11. Naruto (2002)

Many of you might be surprised as to why ‘Naruto’ is on this list. Well, that is because ‘One Punch Man’ makes fun of anime like ‘Naruto’, ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and much more. In this anime, you have got an array of powerful characters like ‘One Punch Man’ and then you have a character who keeps on working hard to surpass all other characters through sheer training and will power. Naruto always pulls through any tough situation by just training. I wanted to put ‘Bleach’ in here too but then I thought that one anime from that category should be enough. For people who are still to watch this anime, it is about a ninja who wants to become the best in his field and also become the leader of his village. This is a long anime, so if you are planning to stick to something for some time, then go for it.

10. To be HERO (2016)

Feel like watching a superhero comedy filled with slapstick humour? Then go for ‘To Be HERO’. To be honest, I did not know about the anime before doing this list, but it is so small that I binged it. Yes, the anime has a total of 12 episodes with each episode being 11 minutes in length. You have heard all kind of superhero backstories from the dark and saddening origin of Batman to the fantastic origin of the Flash. Let me now introduce you to the weirdest origin story.

Uncle is a handsome man who works as a toilet designer. But he loves to skip work to fool around with women and tell them about his superpower, which is the ability to tell a woman’s butt size just by looking. Not very useful, right? Well, that’s what the Space Peace Republic Alliance Hero Committee thought and they sucked him into a toilet and gave him real superpowers to protect Earth. But there’s one catch: he is now an ugly fat man whose daughter refuses to recognize him and kicks him out of the house. Now, he is dead set on convincing his daughter of his true identity.

9. Overlord (2015)

If you love ‘One Punch Man’ for the fact that its main character is overpowered, then you will love ‘Overlord’ too. This is an anime where the main character is so overpowered that he is close to God. ‘Overlord’ is one of the most famous isekai anime. Yggdrasil is a virtual reality game. The game has been famous for a long time but now the servers are finally going to close for good. Momonga is a powerful wizard. He is the master of the dark guild. He decides to stay logged into the server as long as the game is still up. But even after midnight when the game is still on, he decides to explore. He learns that the in-game characters have developed their own personality and he might just be the most powerful person in this world.

8. One Piece (1999)

‘One Piece’ is perhaps the longest-running anime series. The series has more than 900 episodes at this point, I guess. You would think that the show would have become boring since there are so many episodes. But no, it is still quite entertaining and I can tell you that since I have watched around 700 episodes so far. The series follows Monkey D. Luffy who wants to become the pirate king by finding a treasure by the name of One Piece. The treasure was hidden by the previous pirate king Gold Roger somewhere in the vast stretches of Grand Line, the most dangerous water body.

7. Nanatsu no Taizai (2014)

Staying on the overpowered characters wagon, let’s look at the next anime on the list. ‘Nanastu no Taizai’ is a magic, action, adventure genre anime. The show has been really popular and has developed a strong fan-base. The series is really entertaining and at times, it is ecchi too. So, if you are a fan of all the above criteria, then go ahead and check it out. The show has really strong characters and just when you think that maybe the bad guy is stronger this time, you learn that the main character has not been using his powers to the full potential. Then there’s Escanor who is so powerful that…Well, on second thought I guess I will leave that one for you to watch.

6. Hellsing (2001)

‘Hellsing’ is a supernatural anime which consists of monsters and vampires. The main character of the series is Alucard, who is a powerful vampire. But thank God that he is on our side, and based on orders from his boss Hellsing, he exterminates all the monsters with ease and enjoys doing so. He is really powerful, toys with his prey and does not really show his power unless he finds his opponent powerful or interesting. In the first episode of the anime, he turns a policewoman into a vampire to save her life. Now, she works for him, while trying to adjust to her life as a vampire.

5. Quanzhi Fashi (2016)

Let’s move to Chinese anime for the next entry on this list. ‘Quanzhi Fashi’ is an anime about magic. It has a lead character who is quite powerful than others. Mo Fan is the protagonist of this anime. He wakes up to find out that his world has changed. Though most of it remains similar, there’s magic now. Yes, his school now teaches magic but his problems remain the same. Later, he finds out that he is different from others since he can control more than one major element.