One-Punch Man Fans Discover the Lengths the Manga Went to Avoid Censors – ComicBook.com

It is no secret that Japan censors some of its manga's most scandalous moments, but fans of One-Punch Man did learn recently how far the series has gone to outwit those guidelines. Over on Reddit, the conversation cropped up after a user pointed out an alleged instance of bypassed censorship which you can never unsee. So if you want to still be able to look at Puri Puri Prisoner without flinching, you better turn around now!

You can thank the user birdofnoel on Reddit for pointing out the rather salacious fact. The fan made a post on Reddit showing off One-Punch Man volume six which can be seen here. It is there fans can see Puri Puri Prisoner standing tall in all his muscular glory upon the volume's first page, but he is nude. As censorship laws dictate, the man's genitals are whited out to keep things kid-friendly... but artist Yusuke Murata found a way to rig the system.

Puri Puri Prisoner is on the other side off the volume's title page. On that title page, the text "One-Punch Man Vol. 6" can be found, and it is positioned strategically. That means if you were to, say, shine a light on this thin page that a secret image would reveal itself. It turns out the "6" on the title page is positioned so that it resembles the genitals which Puri Puri Prisoner had to obscure to appease the manga censors.

And if that is not equal parts genius and diabolical, then nothing is. Sure, this isn't the first time something like this has been done in manga, but fans are a bit surprised Murata went to such lengths. One-Punch Man isn't an ecchi series by any means, but its artist knows the tricks of that trade.

But before you go looking for this cover up, you will want to hit the pause button. The English version of volume six does not contain this secret, and the same goes for other translations from Brazil and beyond. It seems like this slip only made it past the first run or so of the Japanese volume, so Puri Puri Prisoner has been censored for good.

Did you ever notice this clever work around? Or do you wish you could unsee the One-Punch Man scene? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

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One-Punch Man Fans Discover the Lengths the Manga Went to Avoid Censors - ComicBook.com