Saturday, March 2, 2019

"One-Punch Man Vol. 13," by ONE

One-Punch Man, Vol. 13, 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 the conclusion of the "Super Fight Tournament," as well as more of the monster 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.
  • I got a bunch of laughs out of this one, whether it was the Super Fight contestants, Saitama being Saitama, or the bonus images between chapters (Tank Top Mumen Rider, anyone?).
  • Seriously, Mumen Rider is still a complete champ.  What a BAMF!
  • It is fascinating to see the parallels between the Hero Association and the Monster Association, and how there's corruption and jockey-ing for rank in both, as well as the conversation between Suiryu (the man who wants absolute power to make his life easier), and Saitama (the man who has absolute power and is rather bored of it).
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.
  • (Nit-pick) Women seem to have more or less disappeared from the story once again, with the exception of S-Class hero Tornado and A-Class hero Okama Itachi (both of which have bit parts in this volume).  
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 continues to be character-focused, 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, especially with the conclusion of the "Super Fight" arc.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Over the Garden Wall #2, by Pat McHale and Jim Campbell

3.5 / 5 From the Publisher The Tale of Fred the Horse! This issue takes place between episodes 4-5 of the Cartoon Network miniseries and tel...