More reason to believe Yusuke Murata might not be mortal.

Most manga artists lead very busy lives, what with the high standards and voracious appetite of comic readers in Japan. However, the publishing of the next chapter of hit series One-Punch Man is being slightly delayed, and so artist Yusuke Murata had a bit of downtime recently.

Rather than spend it resting and relaxing, though, Murata just kept drawing…and put together an amazingly energetic One-Punch Man anime short.

https://twitter.com/NEBU_KURO/status/1440944255011225601

Again, Murata isn’t an animator by trade. He’s a manga artist, and his area of professional expertise is supposed to be still pictures. “I had some time on my hands,” he explains, though, “so I tried making a short anime.”

Though it’s only about a minute and a half long, Go! Saitama, as the short is called, has an astounding number of animation frames, and even tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end that captures the appeal of the series starring low-key strongest-superhero-in-the-world Saitama.

After seeing Saitama effortlessly, and listlessly, dispatch yet another gruesome monster, we see something that really gets him fired up: an ad for deep discounts on meat at the local supermarket! This sends Saitama speeding off to the store, using his superhuman strength and agility in order to reach the butcher counter ASAP.

Helpful hero that he is, though, Saitama can’t ignore a citizen in need, and puts on the brakes to help an elderly lady cross the road. That delay means he has to take a calculated risk at a railroad crossing, with more unexpected results.

▼ Seriously, you’re going to want to re-watch this sequence with one hand on the pause button, because there’s a lot going on.

Finally, Saitama arrives at the market…but is he too late?!?

The amazing amount of kinetic energy packed into the video has commenters as breathless as Saitama at the anime’s end:

“You made something this incredible because you ‘had some time on your hands?!?’”
“This is way beyond the level of something someone just puts together in their spare time.”
“I was shown something truly incredible here.”
“This is so polished and dynamic!”
“You’re a god.”

And if all that isn’t impressive enough, Murata says he actually wants to do more the next time he makes an anime video. “I’d like to study more and add voices and sound effects,” he says in a follow-up tweet. “I want to make videos for other works too, not just One Punch Man.”

The video ends with a reminder that the One-Punch Man manga is published through Shueisha’s Tonari no Young Jump, credits One as the series creator. It also lists 10 staff members, though it’s unclear if they’re strictly assistants for the manga or helped out on Go! Saitama, though the final credit is for Murata as the short anime’s director.

If Murata ever decides to go pro as an anime director, odds are whatever project he helms will be a sight to see, but then again, this video’s level of quality is probably something we should have seen coming.

Source: Twitter/@NEBU_KURO via Otakomu
Images: Twitter/@NEBU_KURO
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he can’t recommend Murata’s Eyeshield 21 manga enough.