One Punch Man (TV)

The #1 ranked C-Class hero Mumen Rider is clearly a parody of well known Japanese TV hero Kamen Rider. Mumen Rider's armor is broadly similar in design to some Kamen Rider. While Kamen Rider wears a helmet with bugeye-like goggles and rides a motorcycle, Mumen Rider only has a helmet, goggles, and rides a bicycle.

The #9 ranked S-Class hero Drive Knight (Engine Knight in the manga) has a visor covering much of his face that has a single red glowing light moving back and forth. While this effect is reminiscent of the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica, given his name making reference to cars and the "Knight" in his name, this is clearly a nod to the 80's TV show Knight Rider, specifically the car K.I.T.T., the "Knight Industries Two Thousand," whose distinct feature was having a red glowing light moving back and forth across part of the nose of the car.

According to the chief animation director Chikashi Kubota, the series was made with the average budget for a TV series.

The name of One-Punch Man (abbreviated in Japanese as ワンパンマン Wanpanman) sounds a lot like the children's show and hero Anpanman, and is a reference to it. Compounding this, the villain in the first episode, Vaccine Man, is a reference to Anpanman's villain Baikinman (Bacteriaman), both voiced by Ryūsei Nakao.