Damn, this show has a lot of characters…
One thing I’d kind of forgotten about One Punch Man is how frustrating it can be trying to keep track of all the characters ONE throws at you. That’s especially the case with an extensive break between seasons, because I have a hard time remembering who showed up in the first season and who didn’t. And when you get to like somebody and they get crowded out for weeks at a time, that can be frustrating too – hell, it’s not that uncommon to go through whole fights where even Saitama himself never shows up (as this episode demonstrates).
What about Metal Bat? Well, I’m pretty sure I remember him being somewhere in the background when all the shit was going down. This time around, he’s roped into service protecting one of the execs from the hero association after it’s decided that they all need bodyguards (and King turns down the job). Specifically, it’s an exec and his son slumming at “Nezumi Sushi” they can see how the plebs eat, and to say this is played pretty broadly would be an understatement. I’m down with calling out the .1% as much as anybody, but caricature is still caricature…
Meanwhile, Saitama is here – for a bit – he’s just not doing any fighting. He’s planning on it, at the martial arts tournament, but things take a bit of a turn when one of Charanko’s sempai from Bang’s dojo shows up. Sour Face (Yamamoto Itaru) is another one I’m not sure about, but I don’t think he was in S1 so I’ll credit his seiyuu just to be on the safe side. It sounds like Saitama could be getting Charanko into some pretty serious trouble with this stunt he’s pulling, which I hope he doesn’t treat in too cavalier a fashion.
As for Garou, he (ROFL) has no recollection of what happened with Saitama or why he woke up on a pile of garbage – whether that’s due to the blow or it’s his subconscious protecting his ego I don’t know. Garou is kind of an interesting case, and I think it’s rather fitting that we see a flashback to him in his childhood days, where he was already fetishizing monsters and rooting against the heroes. More than truly evil, what Garou is coming across as is a child in arrested development – I don’t think he’s aware in any meaningful sense of the consequences of what he’s doing. It’s just a game and a grudge to him, and it’s again fitting that we see him hanging out with the hero guide boy in the park, because while their rooting interests are different I place them on about the same level.
As for Metal Bat, he’s rather busy as a bunch of kaijuu show up at the kaitenzushi restaurant, seemingly intent on kidnapping the exec and his son. He proves himself to be pretty strong (he’s ranked #15), if perhaps a bit thick in the head. The biggest laugh of this scene for me was “Centikouhai” and “Centisempai” (both of whom Bat takes care of without that much trouble) but when the dragon-level threat “Centichoro” shows up, even he has to dig deep. Garou picks this moment to show up, and the fact that he insists Metal Bat drop everything and fight him right there only strengthens my belief that he’s totally disconnected with reality (and, obviously, self-obsessed).
David
May 1, 2019 at 10:50 pmBang’s a doujin writer? And Sour Face is in it? That’s a mental image I did not need, and now I can’t get rid of it.
Guardian Enzo
May 1, 2019 at 11:11 pmNow that’s an interesting Freudian slip. Or not.
daniel wu
May 2, 2019 at 10:54 amShould be Dojo, lol.
Garou
May 3, 2019 at 6:19 pmyeah man, the ma arc has been bloaty as hell lately
Tan Darrel
May 2, 2019 at 8:30 pmHmm alot of the subplots from this and the next few episodes are not from the original webcomic by ONE, but are by Murata. I personally feel this additional padding by Murata is welcome in small doses to build the characters especially Garo, but he kinda does way too much of it and detracts from the story originally intended by ONE.
Guardian Enzo
May 2, 2019 at 9:13 pmInteresting – I was not aware that Murata was doing meaningful writing as well. Thought he was just doing art.
Tan Darrel
May 2, 2019 at 9:55 pmWell, the material in the 1st season largely follows ONE’s original webcomic closely. But I would say at least 50% of the stuff this season will be Murata original. To not go into spoilery territory, Metal Bat vs Garo and the Martial Arts Tourney aren’t in the original webcomic.
Guardian Enzo
May 2, 2019 at 10:03 pmThat’s a difficult area, really. I mean, I think Murata is actually a pretty good writer in addition to being a terrific artist, but when one writer is writing in another’s mythology while the original is still (occasionally) ongoing, that’s a bit weird.
Orion Taylor
May 2, 2019 at 11:10 pmSomeone please chime in to correct me if I’m wrong, but IIRC the additional Murata are somewhat supervised by ONE.
daniel wu
May 3, 2019 at 3:15 pmThere seems to be a lot of confusion and misinformation out there, that Murata is rewriting ONE’s story. You are right. He is not.
If we look at all the cover pages, it always says ‘Story by ONE, Art by Murata’. It didn’t say ‘Manga by Murata, based on ONE’s web comic’.
Yes, there are a lot of differences between the web comic and the manga, starting from Garou’s arc, but they all come from ONE himself. And it is a welcome change. The original moved through things too fast, the manga version is better since we get to know a lot of people. Suiryu is also an interesting character. I hope he reappears in the future.
Orion Taylor
May 2, 2019 at 11:11 pm*Murata content is