u/ritsulover

[Theory] Persona 4: Teddie is actually Lucifer

This sounds like an absolute April Fools' joke at first glance, but hear me out—I honestly think it’s a surprisingly solid theory.

Here is the evidence that’s been floating around so far:

The Megaten Connection: In the broader Megaten universe, Lucifer often sports blonde hair and takes on the appearance of a young girl (like Alice).

The Star Arcana: Fits the "Morning Star" motif.

Ice Skills: He primarily uses Bufu (Ice) skills.

The Max Social Link: Maxing out his Social Link unlocks Helel (Lucifer's pristine, angelic form).

The Name Pun: The word for demon/devil in Japanese is Akuma (A-Kuma).

Honestly, Teddie is a massive enigma. The game never gives a clear, logical explanation for how he can just casually wander into the Velvet Room, craft weird items, or hop between the real world and the TV world. His whole identity is supposed to be "just a Shadow," but as Igor himself implies, what Teddie does is way beyond the paygrade of a regular Shadow.

Here’s my take: Teddie is Lucifer’s Shadow—specifically, his "vulnerable side." Think of it like Kami separating his evil persona to create King Piccolo in Dragon Ball. Lucifer probably viewed his fondness and curiosity for humans as a weakness, so he split that part of himself off and cast it out.

For me, the biggest piece of evidence is the dialogue between Teddie and Nanako. People rarely bring this up, but it's incredibly telling. Nanako literally guesses that Teddie's true identity is a "King." A young child being the only one to see the raw, unfiltered truth is a classic storytelling trope, right? Yet, this line is never actually addressed or paid off in the main story.

What’s even weirder is what happens in one of the bad endings where Nanako miraculously survives in the hospital. Naoto just brushes it off as a literal "miracle." But right after, Teddie vanishes into thin air without a trace. If Nanako survived, why would Teddie suddenly run away like he's guilty?

My theory is that Teddie used his divine/demonic power as Lucifer to save Nanako's life. It would be a total cakewalk given his true identity. But once he fully awakened to the realization that he was essentially a devil, he felt he could no longer stay with the Investigation Team and dipped.

If this theory holds true, it ties perfectly into Persona 4’s core theme of "seeking the truth." It would mean the ultimate truth about our closest companion was right in front of us the entire time, hidden in fragmented clues scattered throughout the game.

u/ritsulover — 4 days ago

▲ 12 r/OnePunchMan

Theory: The Murata manga is actually the second loop of the OPM world

My theory is that the Murata manga is not just a remake of the webcomic. It might actually be a second timeline/second loop that happens after the webcomic world gets destroyed or reset.

Basically:

Webcomic = first loop
Murata manga = second loop

At the end of the webcomic, just like a lot of fans expect, Saitama eventually faces “God” as the final boss. The setup will probably be extremely dramatic: humanity on the brink of destruction, heroes gathering, Blast’s truth being revealed, God descending, all that final battle stuff.

But because this is One-Punch Man, Saitama still defeats God with one punch.

Something like:

“Damn it… it ended in one punch again…”

A classic anticlimactic OPM gag ending.

But right before God is completely defeated, he uses the last of his power to reset the world. And the result of that reset is the Murata manga.

So the Murata manga would not just be an “art remake.” In-universe, it could be the next cycle of the world after God reset everything.

1. Blast’s absence in the webcomic is suspicious

In the webcomic, Blast is the Rank 1 S-Class hero, but he almost never appears in the present timeline.

Huge world-level incidents keep happening: Boros, the Monster Association, Garou, the Neo Heroes situation, and so on. But Blast still remains more like a legend than an active character.

Sure, you can say ONE is just saving him for later. But after this long, his absence starts to feel suspicious.

Under this theory, the explanation would be:

Webcomic Blast was too late in the first loop.
He was strong, but he failed to save the world.

So Blast’s absence in the webcomic might not just be him being saved for later. It could represent the idea of “the strongest hero who never showed up when he was actually needed.”

2. Why Blast is much more active in the Murata manga

Blast in the Murata manga feels completely different from Blast in the webcomic.

In the webcomic, he is almost like a myth, a rumor, or a figure from flashbacks.

In the Murata manga, he is directly connected to the cubes, God, dimensional warfare, his teammates, Empty Void, and all the cosmic lore.

You could just call this a change in the remake, but under the second-loop theory, it becomes something else:

The world ended in the first loop.
Blast was too late.
So in the second loop, Blast moves earlier and more aggressively.

The reason Murata Blast is tracking the cubes, stopping God’s interference, and working with interdimensional allies could be because some memory or echo of his failure in the first loop remains.

He might not remember everything clearly.

It could just be a vague sense of déjà vu, anxiety, obsession, or the feeling that “I can’t be late this time.”

That would explain why manga Blast is much more proactive than webcomic Blast.

3. Saitama beat God, but failed to stop the reset

The important part is that this theory does not nerf Saitama.

Saitama does not lose to God.

He beats God in one punch.

The problem is that right before dying, God uses his last power to reset the world itself.

So the structure would be:

Saitama won the fight.
But he did not stop the world from being reset.

This keeps the core joke of One-Punch Man intact.

Even the final boss gets one-punched.

But the aftermath causes the timeline to twist, and the second loop begins.

This does not mean Saitama failed because he was weak. It is more like Saitama is so outside the rules of the world that causality itself cannot properly process him.

4. The time travel in the Murata manga might be foreshadowing

The Garou arc in the Murata manga already introduced time travel / causality correction.

The future gets destroyed.
Saitama goes back to the past.
Future Saitama and present Saitama merge.
The memory disappears.
But evidence from the erased future, like Genos’s core, remains.

This fits the second-loop theory really well.

Something similar could happen at a much larger scale at the end of the webcomic.

In the webcomic, the entire world is destroyed.
God uses his last power to reset everything.
The Murata manga timeline begins.
Most characters do not remember anything.
But traces remain around Blast, God, the cubes, and dimensional beings.

So the time travel in the Murata Garou arc could be a smaller version of the webcomic-to-manga reset structure.

5. Blast’s teammates might be a countermeasure built from first-loop data

When Blast appears in the Murata manga, some of his teammates look strangely familiar.

One looks similar to Boros.
Another looks similar to Beast King.

You could say this is just fanservice or reused design language. But under the second-loop theory, it becomes much more important.

Blast may have learned the potential of beings like Boros and Beast King during the first loop.

So in the second loop, he found beings equivalent to them, or alternate-universe versions of them, and recruited them as allies.

Boros was an enemy in the original timeline. He came to Earth as an invader.

But he was also an insanely powerful cosmic warrior wandering the universe in search of a worthy opponent.

As an enemy, someone like that is a disaster.

As an ally, someone like that is exactly the kind of cosmic-level fighter you would want against God.

The same idea could apply to Beast King.

In the early story, he gets taken out easily by Saitama. But in another universe or under different conditions, a Beast King-type being might have developed into a much stronger warrior.

So Blast’s group might not just be a random alien party.

It could be a team made up of the “potential” of boss-level enemies that Saitama erased too easily in the first loop.

In other words:

Boss monsters that Saitama deleted in the first loop
were recovered by Blast as party members in the second loop.

That is honestly one of the strongest points of the theory for me.

6. God is also moving faster in the second loop

Under this theory, Blast is not the only one who changed.

God may also be acting faster in the second loop because he experienced defeat in the first loop.

In the first loop, God did not properly understand the anomaly called Saitama.

So in the final battle, he got one-punched.

But after the reset, what if some memory or instinctive fear remained inside God too?

That would explain why God-related plot points appear much earlier and much more directly in the Murata manga.

The cubes.
Giving power to Garou.
Blast’s dimensional interference.
Empty Void.
God’s apostles.

All of this could be happening earlier because this is the second loop.

So the manga is not simply “the same story but with bigger scale.”

It could be a world where both the God who lost and the Blast who failed are now moving much faster than before.

7. Saitama is an unfixable bug across timelines

This theory actually makes Saitama even more absurd.

Saitama is not just “the strongest hero.”

He exists outside basically every system in the story: the rules of the world, God’s authority, the hero system, monster evolution, limiters, fate, dimensional warfare, everything.

Blast fights God from within the rules of the world.
God interferes with humans by using the structure of the world.
Monsters are still tied to things like obsession, evolution, limiters, and God’s power.

But Saitama is different.

He just shows up.
He punches.
It ends.

That is why God still loses to Saitama in the first loop.

But God resets the world and tries to rewrite the board.

And yet, Saitama still exists in the second loop.

So Saitama is basically an undeletable bug.

An error that remains even after the reset.

An exception value that even God cannot remove.

Overall timeline

First loop: the webcomic world

Blast is Rank 1 S-Class, but barely appears.
God’s threat grows.
Blast realizes the truth too late.
The story reaches a final-battle scenario.
Saitama defeats God with one punch.
But God uses his last power to reset the world.

The reset

The world starts over.
Most characters remember nothing.
Saitama remembers nothing.
But some traces remain.

Blast has the feeling that he cannot be late this time.
God becomes more cautious of Saitama.
The cubes, dimensions, apostles, and cosmic war elements appear much earlier.

Second loop: the Murata manga world

Blast acts much more aggressively.
God-related lore appears much earlier.
Blast gathers Boros-level and Beast King-level beings from other universes/dimensions as allies.
The Garou arc shows time travel and causality correction, which may be a smaller version of the larger reset structure.
Saitama still exists outside all the rules.

TL;DR

The webcomic is the first loop.

Saitama eventually one-punches God, but God uses his last power to reset the world.

The Murata manga is the second loop.

That is why Blast is much more active, why God’s plotline appears earlier, why Blast’s teammates resemble old enemies like Boros and Beast King, and why the manga already introduced time travel/casuality-reset mechanics.

Saitama beat God, but the world still got reset.

And even after the reset, Saitama remains the one bug God cannot delete.

reddit.com

u/ritsulover — 5 days ago

▲ 0 r/OPMFolk