How to Watch One-Punch Man Online in 2020
The popular manga turned anime One-Punch Man only aired for a short time, broadcasting to Japanese televisions from Oct. 5, 2015 to Dec. 21, 2015. That first season contained only 12 episodes, but that was enough to earn it a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In this guide on how to watch One-Punch Man, we’re going to show you every route for streaming the first season. Thankfully, the show is readily available, so long as you have a subscription to major streaming platforms. If not, we have recommendations for how you can watch One-Punch Man for free.
Watch One-Punch Man Online
You can watch One-Punch Man on Netflix or Hulu if you have a subscription to either of those platforms. Netflix is the preferred route, though, because Hulu’s base plan shows ads in the middle of the episode. That said, Hulu has dubbed and subbed versions of each episode, so the trade-off might be worth it.
That’s assuming, of course, that you can access Netflix or Hulu. Distribution geoblocks make it difficult for people around the world to get into certain streaming platforms. For example, Hulu is only available in the U.S., likely because of the strong distribution policies that networks such as NBC have.
That said, there’s a way to get around the issue. By using a virtual private network, you can appear as though you’re in the U.S., or anywhere else, when you’re not.
VPNs connect you to a remote server before connecting to the internet, replacing your IP address with a new one. Your initial connection is encrypted with a VPN protocol, too, meaning it can’t be traced back to your machine. Read our description of encryption to learn more about that.
The process behind it is long, complicated and best reserved for our VPN security guide. All you need to know here is that a VPN can help you stream Netflix or Hulu, even when you’re in a region that normally wouldn’t have access. If you’re looking for recommendations, our best VPN for Netflix and best VPN for Hulu guides are a good place to start.
If you want to go easy mode, you can just sign up with ExpressVPN. It’s the best VPN we’ve tested and ranks first in our reviews. As you can see in our ExpressVPN review, it provides ease of use, security and speed for a decent price.
Watch One-Man Punch for Free
As with a lot of anime, there are ways to watch One-Punch Man for free. One of the more legit routes is through Tubi, which is a free streaming platform that uses advertisements instead of a subscription to monetize. That said, the privacy policy for Tubi is, frankly, horrible. The service collects your IP address, geo-location information, usage data and more.
A VPN can help with that, too, but you’ll want to use a secure option so no personally identifiable information falls into the wrong hands. You can read our most secure VPN guide for recommendations.
There are also anime streaming websites, such as 9Anime and KissAnime, that have streams for One-Punch Man, but you’ll only want to connect to them if you’re using a VPN because they’re participating in copyright infringement. Illegal streaming platforms are usually breeding grounds for cybercrime, and a VPN can keep you protected from anything malicious.
Our best VPN for streaming guide is a good place to look if you’re interested in one of those platforms. Of the lot, CyberGhost stands out with its dedicated streaming servers. There are even options for anime websites, as you can see in our CyberGhost review.
In addition to a VPN, you’ll want to get the best antivirus software before starting a stream. In combination with a VPN and our best pop-up blockers, these admittedly annoying streaming websites will feel just like Netflix.
Watch One-Punch Man on Kodi
Kodi is another way to watch One-Punch Man. If you’re unfamiliar with the platform, read our Kodi guide and how to use Kodi tutorial. In short, it’s a front-end interface for a local media center that can be expanded with add-ons.
For anime — or any movie or TV show — we’re mainly concerned with add-ons that scrub streaming websites, such as 9Anime, and serve them through Kodi. You can find the list of add-ons we recommend, as well as how to install them, in our best Kodi add-ons guide.
The same rules apply to Kodi that apply to streaming from websites directly, though. You’re going to need a VPN and an antivirus, but a pop-up blocker is less of a concern. If you’re looking for recommendations, read our best VPN for Kodi guide.
Outside of security, there’s the legal issue of Kodi. Our is Kodi legal guide talks about the ambiguous specifics, but the gist of it is that Kodi is legal, but streaming copyrighted content is not. We’re not lawyers, and we’re not going to pretend to be. It’s best to stay safe and hide your IP when streaming One-Punch Man or anything else on Kodi.
Watch One-Punch Man Torrent
You can torrent One-Punch Man, too. Torrenting is essentially the same as downloading any other file, but instead of downloading everything at once, you download pieces of the file from multiple computers. A peer-to-peer connection, as it’s called, opens your computer to a list of others.
One-Punch Man is available from popular torrenting websites, with one of the biggest pictured below. That said, it’s crucial that you use a VPN and an antivirus to protect yourself. Torrenting has even more legal grey areas surrounding it than Kodi, so it’s best to stay on the safe side.
Read our best VPN for torrenting guide to see our picks for the ones that will keep you most secure. NordVPN ranks first, though, largely because it includes dedicated torrenting servers that can satisfy the data-hungry connections (read our NordVPN review).
An antivirus is important, too, because there’s no way to tell what’s inside the file you’re downloading. Using the most secure antivirus software, though, you can take the worry out of torrenting because it’ll scan files for malicious code before they have the chance to touch your machine.
Bitdefender is our pick for almost anything (read our Bitdefender Antivirus review), but you can read our other antivirus reviews for options.
Final Thoughts
Of all the content you can stream, the resources for streaming anime are most plentiful. Between the websites online that allow you to stream for free and platforms such as Hulu that offer subbed and dubbed content, One-Punch Man, and most anime, is easy to track down. Just make sure to use the proper security tools when watching.
Now that you’ve learned how to watch One-Punch Man, read our guides on how to watch Dragon Ball and how to watch Evangelion. Those guides, as well as many others, are available in our streaming archive.
How are you watching One-Punch Man? Let us know in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
Jacob Roach is a Midwesterner with a love for technology, an odd combination given his corn field-ridden setting. After finishing a degree in English at Southern New Hampshire University, Jacob settled back under the Arch in his hometown of St. Louis, MO, where he now writes about anything tech. His main interests are web technologies and online privacy, though he dips his toes in photography and the occasional card game as well. You can reach him at jacob[at]commquer.com.