(Warning: Spoilers for One Punch Man SS episode 10)

Brief Synopsis

While Saitama plays video games with King, Gyoro-Gyoro and a parasite monster infiltrate the Hero Association HQ. Gyoro-Gyoro states that the Monster Association wants all the high-ranking heroes to come to Z City in three days and fight Orochi and his forces. If not, the hostage (son of one of the executives) dies. While there, the parasite monster kills one of the younger executives, before Blackluster the Hero kills the parasite. All this makes the news and everyone who isn’t holed up playing video games is notified of the recent events.

Meanwhile, Garou is wounded and feverish, so he hides and rests in a shack that turns out to be the “secret base” of Tareo, the kid, and his friends. Tareo talks to Garou for a bit before eight heroes show up, surrounding the shack, and challenging Garou to a showdown. The fight begins, and by the by the end of the episode, the weakened Garou seems like he’s about to drop. He has one chance to surrender, but will he? The episode ends with the outcome of the fight uncertain.

Story/Plot Thoughts

For this episode, the story turned to Garou after focusing on the Monster Association for the first half. It’s going basically the way I expected it to, except for one thing. I expected Saitama to play a more active role. Instead, well, he’s playing video games. There are only 2 episodes left, so I expect them to have more Saitama action.

Art and Audio Notes

The scenes of Garou fighting the eight heroes outside the shed were enjoyable. No, they’re not the same quality or style as fights in the first season, but they’re adequate enough to be quite entertaining. The character design for Garou is also something I like a lot. I didn’t notice any of the instrumental music, but I like the opening and ending songs for this anime.

Thoughts on the Characters

Garou is looking more and more of a tragically stupid character, and yet I feel for him. Based on earlier episodes, he seems to want to be a monster and hunt heroes because it isn’t fair that heroes always beat monsters. He apparently doesn’t understand the point that’s been made clear all through the series, that in this universe, monsters are innately destructive and evil, loving killing and chaos. I love complex anime where monsters aren’t just evil because they’re monsters and “monsters are evil.” And if I were a fighter in the One Punch Man universe, I’d wish that monsters were something a little deeper, and I’d wonder if they deserved to be killed all the time. That’s what I meant by feeling for Garou. However– obviously– One Punch Man isn’t one of those anime, and the monsters really are hateful, cruel, and uncontrollable.

The Monsters/Heroes Shown This Week

Blackluster is an S-class hero with toooons of muscle, and skin with steel-like properties. Episode 10 was his first appearance in season 2, and I don’t remember him showing up in season 1, but my memory is awful so I’m not sure. Gyoro-Gyoro is the name of that creepy eyeball-monster who serves Orochi, leader of the Monster Association. This episode, Orochi showed he had no tolerance for those who lose to heroes, eating Cockroach alive, and almost killing Super Sadist, too. He let her live, though. The heroes that attacked Garou were Smileman, Shooter, Wildhorn, Megane, Chain Toad, Blam Blam, Death Gatling, and Stinger. Genos made a brief appearance. He’s back in shape with a new cyborg body, ready to fight.

What I Enjoyed Most

Gyoro-Gyoro the eye-monster was kind of funny when he joked about a society where Monsters and Heroes could live in peace. I like dark humor, so I laughed when he shot the Hero Association executive out of nowhere. Likewise, it was funny when Blackluster casually killed the parasite creature like it was a little mosquito, as everybody else in the room was freaking out. When Saitama kept losing at video games, it amused me. The interactions of Garou and Tareo were interesting and cute, and Garou versus the eight heroes was exciting. I still enjoy OPM season 2 enough to make up for it not being as high-budget or high-quality as the first season.

Thanks so much for reading and have a wonderful afternoon! Ja ne!