'One Punch Man' Director On How International Response To 'Space Dandy' Inspired Saitama's Story

Animation director, Shingo Natsume, has always known that the international audience will love "One Punch Man." In a new interview, Shingo Natsume revealed how "Space Dandy" inspired the popular superhero parody anime. 

To the uninitiated, "Space Dandy" is a sci-fi comedy anime series that first aired in 2014. It followed a "dandy guy" who travels across the universe to discover rare aliens with his robot assistant and feline friend. It was well received when it aired in the U.S., U.K., and the rest of the world. 

Some might see some similarities between "Space Dandy" and "One Punch Man," well that is because the sci-fi anime had a massive influence in the creation of the story of Saitama and the Hero Association. Natsume told Comicbook.com that his experience with launching "Space Dandy" overseas help make "One Punch Man" such a success. 

"When I first took a look at 'Space Dandy' overseas and found out how popular it was, I quickly knew what I needed to do to excite ['One Punch Man'] fans even more," he explained. "When we took 'Space Dandy' overseas, I had the opportunity to watch it with the local audiences in real time."

He added that he was able to see which areas of "Space Dandy" worked well and because he knew that his work will reach viewers outside of Japan, he wanted to cater to all sorts of audiences. He was able to apply what he learned in "Space Dandy" into "One Punch Man."

Needless to say, it worked. "One Punch Man" has achieved international success and even will have a second season. Madhouse has not announced a release date as of this writing, but rumors suggest that fans can expect new episodes to drop by fall. In the mean time, the anime series' CD Drama is set to be released on Sept. 27.