Friday, March 1, 2019

"One-Punch Man Vol. 11," by ONE

One-Punch Man, Vol. 11, 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 particular volume of One-Punch Man features more Garo, S-Class hero Metal Bat, the tournament sub-plot continues, and monsters have started their own invasion.

Pros:
  • A few ongoing pros: the draftsmanship, Saitama (who's characterization has been more consistent over the last few volumes, i.e. with him showing less interest in public opinion), and all of the interesting characters (Metal Bat definitely included). 
  • I got a bunch of laughs out of this one, whether it was Metal Bat being a badass, Saitama being Saitama, or Genos being precious (e.g. when he is the only one cheering for Saitama in the tournament).
Cons:
  • A few on-going cons: Puri-Puri Prisoner (the whole character, though he did not appear in this volume), 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.
  • "Monster Princess Super S" is getting some serious side-eye from me, since she is basically a dominatrix character who uses her "wiles" to control heroes.  My side-eye is only increased by the ever-so-small number of women in the cast.  Then again, Maiko Plasma and Ganriki also appear among the invasion, and they are both women (even if Ganriki's outfit is ... "fan-service oriented").
  • (nit-pick) The "Super Fight" tournament is taking place at the same time as the monster invasion.  Since multiple heroes are present, wouldn't some of them be called to counteract the ongoing monster invasion?
Conclusion:
I am happy to report that this volume was still a pleasure to read, even after all the material from the anime has been covered.  It was also much more character-focused than the last few volumes, which has only increased my appreciation of the manga.  I'm still invested in the characters and excited to see where the story goes next.  There hasn't really been a subversion of the tournament arc yet, but then again, that particular sub-plot got a lot less "screen time," than I expected.  In short, OPM continues to impress.

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