Saitama finally returns in One Punch Man chapter 209

Modified Nov 28, 2024 19:30 GMT

Saitama finally returns in One Punch Man chapter 209 — Saitama as seen in One Punch Man manga (Image via Shueisha)

With the release of One Punch Man chapter 209, the manga finally revealed some huge developments surrounding Blast and Empty Void. However, something that caught hold of fans' interest even more was the return of the series' protagonist Saitama.

One Punch Man manga has been depicting the Ninjas Arc for over a year. While the story arc itself hasn't been that big, manga creator Yusuke Murata and original webcomic creator ONE's desire to retcon the storyline saw the series releasing redrawn chapters. This effectively saw the manga depict the same proceedings twice with minor changes.

Such a re-release of chapters saw fans waiting for the manga to proceed further than it did previously, while also pushing Saitama's inevitable return to much later.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the One Punch Man manga.

One Punch Man chapter 209 sees Saitama make his return after seven months

Saitama and Manako as seen in One Punch Man chapter 209 (Image via Shueisha)

As seen in One Punch Man chapter 209, Saitama finally made his highly-anticipated return to the manga after seven months. The protagonist was last seen in the redrawn One Punch Man chapter 197 during which he expressed his desire to go eat some curry udon alongside Manako.

Since then, the protagonist has been missing from the series while the story switched its focus to Empty Void as Flashy Flash, Speed-o'-Sound Sonic, and Blast struggle to take him down.

Saitama and Manako as seen in One Punch Man chapter 197 (Image via Shueisha)

As for the redrawn One Punch Man chapter 197, it was released on Thursday, April 4, 2024. This means that Saitama made his return to the manga series exactly after seven months and three weeks. While this is a long time for a protagonist to have disappeared from their manga, fans are content with the pacing.

This is because the series already follows a biweekly release schedule and on top of that, had also taken a two-month hiatus between June and August 2024. Hence, it was only natural that any new proceedings also get delayed by two months.

Saitama as seen in One Punch Man chapter 209 (Image via Shueisha)

While many fanbases are known for attacking the creators online for making them wait so long for new developments, One Punch Man fans are quite supportive of Yusuke Murata. They have often expressed their admiration for his hard work and desire to see him work at a pace suitable to him. Thus, given how consistent he has been with the manga, fans were content with the creator taking a well-deserved break.

As for Saitama, the protagonist returned to the series with a bang. While Blast, Flash, and Sonic struggled to survive Empty Void's Dimension Slash, One Punch Man chapter 209 saw Saitama easily stop two of them by holding them with his fingers. The protagonist didn't stop at just that as he also confiscated Empty Void's Dimension Blades and pulled him back to Earth from the higher dimension.