One Punch Man's Latest Villain!

[skjam]

Hi folks! How's 2015 treating you?

It's been a while since we checked in on One-Punch Man.



As it happens, Saitama's taking this chapter off to play video games, and we are introduced to a new villain, Garo.

Four pages from the most recent Shounen Jump issue.







Garo wipes out an entire meeting hall full of superheroes and villains, and promises to train more so he can come back and fact the strongest heroes.

Your thoughts and comments?
SKJAM!
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Comments

[thanekos]

" I'll become the strongest villain and change the story! And then I'll.. I'll.. I dunno, go be in Zetman or something. "

[skjam]

It's one of those goals that doesn't really allow for a "and then what?"

[grumman]

Your thoughts and comments?

If it was a more serious title this guy would probably annoy me, but for One Punch Man it works.

[q99]

It's very meta in a way that very much fits OPM :)

To fight the embodiment of the hero's inevitable victory, you have the embodiment of the rebellion against plot fiat.

[sagrada]

But the only reason he could ever threaten the plot is by plot fiat! The only reason he even exists is because of plot fiat! Everything in a story exists to further that story in some way, even the crap that makes it stall for ten thousand pages and oh my God Jason just have them leave the Hallow already!

That's what never makes any sense to me about the more metafictional bros. If they ever even start to achieve their aim of altering how the story is "supposed" to go, then by definition shouldn't their metanarrative motives are groundless? Because the story they live in was never really that other kind to begin with.

I don't mean with this guy, he's fine. Perfectly sound in-world justification for wanting to switch the script. If I cared about any villains I'd likely feel the same way. And "got way too into cartoons as a kid and decided to destroy all superheroes" is a pretty avant-garde backstory.

[skjam]

There's a character with a somewhat similar backstory in Samurai Flamenco, which is something of a spoiler for that show. Samurai Flamenco is very, very meta.

[md84]

Not to spoil too much, but Garo's motive is a tad more complicated, though "got way too into cartoons as a kid" is a part of it.

'That's what never makes any sense to me about the more metafictional bros. If they ever even start to achieve their aim of altering how the story is "supposed" to go, then by definition shouldn't their metanarrative motives are groundless? Because the story they live in was never really that other kind to begin with.'

The manga Medaka Box had a great send-up of such a villain. Her "genre savviness" turned out to be a mental illness where she believed she was a character in a shonen manga.

[silicondream]

'That's what never makes any sense to me about the more metafictional bros. If they ever even start to achieve their aim of altering how the story is "supposed" to go, then by definition shouldn't their metanarrative motives are groundless?

That's the predicament of various versions of Lucifer and the Anti-Christ, innit? They can't beat God. They were created by God. They may even be part of God's plan. But they have to at least express their rebellion, even if it's futile.

It's not a very pragmatic approach to life, but it racks up a lot of tragic nobility points.

[q99]

Well, he doesn't think it's actually a story he's in. He thinks things are unfair in stories and that people believe in the stories too much, and basically wants to upset people's notions in favor of his version.

There's more to it as well, but he's not forth-wall-breaking, he thinks people are fooled by stories.

Also, the way monsters and heroes in this world work plays into it. Being obsessed with something can lead to someone having a much high 'power limit' than normal. So there's a variety of super martial artists and such, and it's not rare for them to be focused on something (one S-class hero, Dark Shine, basically is superhuman due to being obsessed with having the perfect, unbreakable body).

So a guy obsessed with beating any hero...? Scary as heck.

[md84]

Read the whole Garo arc in the original webcomic. Suffice to say, it's good.

[skjam]

Good to hear!

[sagrada]

"Garo wipes out an entire meeting hall full of superheroes and villains, and promises to train more so he can come back and fact the strongest heroes."
This looks really charming and even a little thoughtful, so I'm sad this sentence describes an actual thing in the book.

Otherwise, this is hilarious. It's like the direct opposite of somebody like Wiccan, who got into fighting evil because they thought the heroes were cool.

[skjam]

One-Punch Man is simultaneously farce and entirely serious.

[sagrada]

Oh yeah, I got that from the sharp contrast of the last three pages, I mean more that "Bad guy wipes out a room of other characters" doesn't do much for me anymore besides "So he's one of these guys."

[janegray]

"Wipes out" as in "beats them up" or "murders them?"

If it's the latter, I find it much harder to sympathize, even as somebody who always rooted for Trio Drombo as a kid (What? The Yattermen were boring! And they usually won because of dumb luck while the villains worked their asses off).

[skjam]

Well, Garo says "kill" and he certainly maims a couple of people, and the rest are not looking good at all afterwards. But the story doesn't come right out and say any of them are dead at the end of the chapter.

[q99]

Beats them up, significantly injures a number enough that they'd be unable to hero, but he doesn't kill any of them.