One Punch Man

Just read it myself. I mean, we all kinda knew, but to not only see it confirmed, but to see that Sweet Mask is both fully aware of it and that he knows he doesn't have much time before he crosses the Point of No Return is more than I expected from him.

So now a character who seemed more inhuman than anyone might actually get humanized. Go figure.

At the end, Did Saitama say "we're human" because he actually was listening to Sweet Mask and he still thinks of him as a human, or was it because he wasn't actually listening to what Sweet Mask said about him actually being a Monster? Sweet Mask seemed to assume the latter, but I'm betting it's the former.

It's pretty hard to tell with Saitama to be honest.

Maybe we should start to put (webcomic) and (manga) before spoilered out text just to be safe? It can be hard to tell which is which.

Wouldn't be a bad idea, actually.

(WEBCOMIC) Another new chapter turns out the clown thrives of an audience, and everyone loves Sweet Mask so the obvious happens. However, looks like the man does have a bit of morality left in him after all. Question is, what happens after the fight ends.

....

Wow. That's Character Development. To think Sweet Mask of all people would do something like that.

I know we said Saitama is one of those Static Characters who changes others around him (though it seems more like it's an excuse to just keep doing the same jokes with him) but this moment really gets across the effect he has on people. I know that should have been clear with Garou and Tatsumaki, but I guess it just didn't really click until now.

What You Are in the Dark essentially.

Sweet Mask could have let people die and preserve his reputation (even improve it) and no one would have known about it...except himself.

So he does have standards.

And I mean, this is the same guy who murdered some mind controlled mercs in the Murata redraw. Sure, that hasn't happened in this version, but we can assume it's something he might have done in this version too. So doing this says a lot about how devoted he currently is to saving lives.

What happens next is vital. Does releasing his true form bring him closer to monsterization? Does his decision to sacrifice his reputation in order to save people preserve his humanity? Will the people be grateful to him for saving him, or will they turn on him?

I'd expect the latter myself considering how shallow a lot of people in this universe are. That being said, these next few arcs seem to be about a lot of heroes re-evaluating who they are and why they do what they do, with many of them potentially becoming better heroes in the process, or at least taking their lives in a new direction if we consider Super Alloy Darkshine and his decision to retire and train Neo Heroes.

Saitama isn't really a Static Character, it's just that his character development (turning his hobby into a career, making friends with his new co-workers, moving into a better neighborhood, becoming respected in his chosen field of work, and becoming less depressed) is so far removed from the superhero thing that a ton of people both in and out of universe completely miss it, including himself.

As for the chapter, I really loved that Beauto considered letting the entire crowd die before he killed the monster to protect his identity, but his human heart won out and wouldn't let him. Looks like his monster form is the logical conclusion of all those times we've seen him with crazy veins bulging out of his skin, which means that his monster side was starting to come out every single time that happened.

Saitama is an average late capitalism twenty-something. He just happens to have extraordinary power and live in an extraordinary world.

Saitama's character development is him slowly recovering from depression.

King's words to him in that one chapter would probably help.

So there's apparently a Garou vs Suiryu OVA. I watched a clip of it on youtube

They are fighting each other in a virtual reality video game, but Garou loses because his game character can't keep up with his actual movements. Always wanted to see these two go at it, so what little I saw was good. I will probably check out the full thing at some point.

(Manga) New chapter, limits about to be broken.

Aw yeah.

OooooOOHHOOoohhhooOOOOOHHHHhhhhHHHHhhhhhHHHHH yeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh, that's the GOOoooOOOD shit right there. This, right here, is my single favorite non-Saitama fight in the series. Drink it in, everyone, this fight is what I have been impatiently waiting for ever since the tournament arc started.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Feb 7th 2020 at 8:39:26 AM

Huh.

Guess I won't have to wait for A Hero Nobody Knows now.

SPEAKING OF WHICH

THE GREAT DENOMINATOR OF THE UNIVERSE

Just binged up to volume 13 of the manga, with more on the way from Amazon. Guess I'm still way behind everyone. But I'm getting damn hype for A Hero Nobody Knows.

I actually tried downloading the App game to tide me over but it's pretty disappointing. The character selection sucks; it doesn't even have Garou in it.

So, what's up with that "Denominator of the Universe" title, anyhow? Did Boros mean to say "Dominator" and he just misspoke, or did he actually mean to say "Denominator"? I forget if he explained the title or not.

I take it as him saying he's the only person in the whole universe that matters.

He probably had a plan to explain things, but y'now.

Edited by ShirowShirow on Feb 16th 2020 at 6:30:53 AM

I thought it was just Saitama mishearing him.

Yeah, that was what Saitama called him.