Monday, February 25, 2019

"One-Punch Man Vol. 5," by ONE

One-Punch Man, Vol. 5, written by ONE and illustrated by Yusuke Murata, stars Saitama, the titular, "One-Punch Man."  After years of training, Saitama has become so powerful he can defeat virtually every enemy with a single strike.  There's just one problem: according to Saitama himself, "overwhelming strength ... is boring."

This volume focuses primarily on the Deep Sea King, and his campaign of aggression against the heroes (and villains?) who stand against him.  The volume also includes a bit of bonus material where Saitama encounters bank robbers and hi-jinx ensue.

Pros:
  • A few ongoing pros: the draftsmanship, Saitama (even if his characterization is a little inconsistent, what with him vacillating between wanting fans and not caring about public opinion), and the "bonus content," that did not make it into the anime (since what's being covered is still well within the first season of the One-Punch Man anime).
  • It could be hold-over hype and good will from the anime, but the climatic scene with Mumen Rider is still clutch as hell.
  • The interactions between Genos and Saitama are endearing, even 5 volumes into the manga.
Cons:
  • A few on-going cons: the lack of women in the narrative, Puri-Puri Prisoner (the whole character), the mismatch between the right-to-left orientation of the visuals and the left-to-right orientation of the "sound effects," and details being lost in the binding process.
  • As I mentioned above, I think Saitama's characterization seems a touch inconsistent.  On one hand he is excited about having fans and receiving fan mail, but he is also willing to be a "heel," for the good of other heroes*.
Conclusion:
I am still having a lot of fun with this manga, and am most excited to see where it goes once it finishes sharing content with the anime.  My guess is that the manga will overtake the anime in the next few volumes, so we'll see if the story can maintain its momentum.

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Spoiler:
* by claiming that the other heroes had a large hand in weakening the Sea King, when really, Saitama was the one that defeated it.

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