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gofancyninjaworld · 1 year

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The post-MA Arc Timeline -- So far

Sorry that this is so long, but I've seen that quite a few people are confused over what's happening when. Unusually, the events aren't being told linearly, so here's it as disentangled as it can be.

The fateful dawn (chapter 169)

Garou runs off. Heroes get swept up to Metal Knight's facilities for urgent treatment. All save Saitama and Genos, who have different plans.

Some unspecified number of days later

Bang gets discharged after treatment, finds Garou, and brings him back to the Hero Association for questioning.

Heroes file reports of the events of the MA raid. Some of them attract extra attention.

Fubuki and Tatsumaki have dinner at a nice restaurant. Tats has terrible table manners.

Two days before the events of when we return (chapter 173)

Told in flashback.

Sicchi and Sekingar hold a secret meeting with Flashy Flash, Zombieman, Amai Mask, and Genos to discuss their reports and pool information on God (no ID).

As a result of Genos's passionate intervention, B Class hero Saitama is promoted to Class A Rank 39. So far, he's the only attending hero who we know to have been promoted.

The morning of the day we return (chapters 170-1)

Bang accompanies Garou to the police station where he addresses the last of the charges against him, that of dine-and-dashing. The Hero Asociation has decided to let him go. They embark on an apology tour.

Sicchi reveals that Bang is retiring, but not that he's decided to appoint Garou to be a pro-hero, as he knows it'll cause trouble.

Forte and friends go looking for the new guy who moved in to Hero Association headquarters three days ago but hasn't introduced himself. Find only King.

The new guy turns out to be Saitama, who is back on the new beach that used to be his neighbourhood, looking for his apartment along with Genos.

Finds apartment, also monster dog, and weird 'monkey' (Black Sperm, who is desperate for shelter from the upcoming sweep of the MA base wreckage).

The afternoon of the day we return (Chapter 172)

The Hero Association holds a pitch meeting to well-heeled potential residents, promising that the headquarters provides complete security. The A-Class heroes attending are unimpressed at finding that free security guard duties are the small print for free housing.

Saitama returns with some items, as well as monster pets in tow. On account of the monsters, he is intercepted by the new security robots but destroys them.

Metal Knight is horrified, but wisely, decides to keep schtum just in case Saitama turns out to be bad news for him.

Two days later (Chapters 174 - 183)

Amai Mask is given footage of Saitama destroying the robots and is convinced. He is interrupted by his manager presenting a new pop idol/pro-hero boy band group and puts them in their place.

At the same time, Saitama is being rudely disturbed by Forte and friends, who have finally come to introduce themselves. Forte challenges Saitama to a fight.

They go to the car park, where Forte is hit by Eyelashes. Fubuki sweeps Saitama up to come with her as she's on an urgent mission.

The mission turns out to be to save Psykos from the clutches of Tsukoyomi, who have sent a representative to collect her. Fubuki and Tatsumaki set up a ruse that gives out that Tatsumaki is so incensed at finding Pyskos on the prisoner's list that she can't help but tear the Hero Association to pieces until she finds and kills her.

It goes a bit wrong, but eventually, the evil psychics are subdued, the freed monsters are killed, and everyone's alive...

Tatsumaki, shaken at finding out that the Blizzard Group contains traitors, decides to maim Fubuki's hangers-on so that they can't be heroes any longer and Saitama stops her.

Tatsumaki goes on a rampage trying to beat Saitama, going among other places, through a gang of criminals looking to kill Feather, through the head of a giant pincushion monster, and past the building in R-City Amai Mask is at. Eventually, she's tuckered out and Saitama leaves after telling her to behave better.

Saitama comes back home to find Forte and co there yet again. Forte has discharged himself from hospital to apologise to him after seeing him fight Tatsumaki.

In the immediate aftermath, Fubuki blackmails the vice chief of operations, McCoy, into allowing the sisters to escape censure and to make it seem as if the headquarters had been attacked by monsters.

Tatsumaki scatters monster remains around the base, and smuggles out Psykos in one of the pieces. Fubuki retrieves Psykos.

Later -- some unspecified time, may or may not be same day as rest of chapter 183

Tatsumaki gets the credit for defeating the horde of monsters who tried to attack HQ.

Saitama is furious at hearing her take credit, but on hearing the cost of the damage, asks Genos to say nothing.

Several HA executives call Tatsumaki to explain how it was that Psykos escaped. An unrepentant Tatsumaki insists on being the only one to hunt for the fugitive, holding the executives' misdeeds and the cover up over their head. McCoy seems to know the shit she's up to but is happy to let her run. For now.

Child Emperor discovers that the HA is covering up a lot of stuff. How much, we have to wait and see.

#OPM #manga #One Punch Man #meta #post-MA arc #a lot has been happening #and there are a lot of fateful discussions happening

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garoumylove · 8 months

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So what does Garou actually think a monster is?

When I was first reading the OPM manga I had this impression.

*heroes exist*

Garou: disgusting. I'm gonna kill them all because I'm a monster.

me: seems legit

*monsters exist*

Garou: disgusting. You can all fuck off or I'm going to kill you all because I'm a monster.

Me: ??? ??? ?

I didn't expect Garou to join the MA or rub shoulders with the monsters but I didn't expect him to have such a visceral disdain for them either. I thought he'd be all "Heh, it's my people".

So what does Garou actually think a monster is? Or rather, what kind of monster does he see himself as and how is it different compared to the other monsters?

Because Garou doesn't just think he's stronger than them. He almost sees himself as a completely different manifestation of monster to the 'riffraff' of the MA and other sundry monsters plaguing society.

When he yells to Tareo to "Watch now as a monster is victorious" (terrible VIZ translation imo) I don't think he's talking about a monster monster, like an MA monster.

I think what he's really shouting about is "Behold, an underdog is going to win for once"

There's a lot of religious parallels with Garou's journey which I won't go into detail now and I'm sure someone else has probably already covered them, but I feel like he sees himself as a sort of David to the society's/HA's Goliath.

The heroes don't understand his crusade because they don't understand that he doesn't see them as individuals but purely as symbols of the the type of narcissism that made his childhood a living hell.

This is why in the WC Zombieman gets frustratingly confused by Garou's answers when he questions his goals and motives. Zombieman points out that it is not evil to fight evil (i.e. it is not a bad thing to kill monsters).

They are talking past each other and not at all about the same thing.

It's like Zombieman is saying, "Listen you little shit. These monsters are a real physical threats to innocent people's lives and you're preventing us from doing our jobs of eradicating that threat."

And Garou says, "Fuck you, all you care about is beating up on the weak you goddamn narcissist."

And Zombie man is like "WTF?? What weak? These monsters are literally killing people. What are you on about?"

And Garou is like "Fuck you that's why! You're all a fuckwad of self-absorbed assholes."

It's again that 'crossed-wires' thing from childhood. In Justice Man, the monsters weren't actual dangerous monsters, but the heroes weren't actual heroes either. They were narcissistic, toxic abusers. Remember how Tacchan says something to the effect of, "You should've seen Crab Demon's face when Justice Man destroyed his treasure" or something to that effect. I'm too tired rn to look up it word for word.

But first, Crab Demon is established to just be a kindhearted outcast, and then Justice Man beats him up and destroys his life's work for no reason and then gleefully laughs about it. That's not heroic, that's horrific.

And then with Tacchan always playing the hero, no wonder Garou has such a terrible impression of them!

The heroes themselves aren't perfect. They are flawed just like every other human character but Garou doesn't see the heroes as individuals with their own strengths and weaknesses but only as a representation of that abusive narcissism that forced him into the role of monster, a role meant to dehumanise him so that it would be acceptable to abuse him without guilt.

Garou grows up never updating his definitions of neither hero nor monsters. To him, monsters are outcasts minding their own business and heroes are terrifying narcissists that rule society (or the playground). Neither of these is the definition of a hero.

Garou has his own vision of what a hero should be, and his vision probably closely aligns with the actual definition of a hero as someone who selflessly saves others.

As I kept reading the manga and the WC I just wanted to shake my beloved boy and force him to see that his childhood experiences had completely warped his views on monsters and heroes and that he was never a monster, and Justice Man was never a hero. I honestly just want to set him free from these toxic ideas he had picked up.

I think, as time goes on, Garou will emotionally mature and realise that he had it wrong. That heroes, or heroic intentions, do indeed exist, and that a person doesn't have to be perfect to also be a hero. And that heroes are not de facto narcissistic assholes like Justice Man and Tacchan were.

Ok I'll stop here for now. Thanks for reading my rants if you've been following them! Appreciate it.

#meta meta garou #garou #opm #one punch man #garou meta #opm meta #one punch man meta #text post #garou analysis #one punch man analysis #anime discussion

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rants-about-opm · 1 year

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Saitamarink

This is gonna be a weird parallel but I promise I'm going somewhere with it.

Skinamarink.

Both the child and the adult in me were terrified of this film. It takes a special kind of person to not see the horror at play. Because if you don't understand, it's because you got to outgrow the idea of monsters under the bed, instead of having to learn that that's not the only place they can find you.

The line that utterly broke me in Skinamarink was one of the siblings asking the other, "Can we watch something happy?"

Do you know the kind of desolate isolation that drives you away from anything but the TV?

I've said those words to my older sibling before. When she asked me if I'd come with her and run away. When the people I depended on weren't there and I wasn't sure if they were ever coming back.

Light is tangible, and fierce.

It makes its presence known, and it's borders clear. The utter fear that has to be in your heart where you trust the dark more than the light, where you would rather switch off the nightlight than turn on the lamp. When your safety is no longer tangible, you recede to places where you can pretend everything is intact. You're choking back tears, and tearing your eyes away from the screen for even one second could tear you apart.

But it's ok. SpongeBob is laughing. The sky is bright blue, and you can pretend it's your sky, your joyful laughter in the company of friends.

Can you imagine doing that forever? And still begging every second for someone to come home?

Some of us don't have to imagine.

I guess the reason I mention these two pieces of media in the same breath is that they both capture that feeling in utterly different ways.

Being adrift in the void, and being the void in which you are adrift.

The children in Skinamarink only had the TV and one another to keep themselves from the consuming emptiness they've been cruelly thrust into it.

Saitama created this cage for himself, and now he seems to observe his own life from afar, carefully switching channels and hoping he doesn't switch off the only link he still has to his humanity.

But we never really see how painful such existences must be. If Saitama did ever find himself back in the moment, flooded with the emotions he'd been tamping down all along, what would happen to him?

What would that little boy do, if hundreds of day of torture later, he returned to the real world without his sister?

Existing in this cycle of pain is a double edged sword. If you ever made your way our, you wouldn't be the same. Everything you'd been praying for would be an inch from your feet, and what would you do? When you're in the thick of it, you can pretend there's a normal to go back to.

You watch something happy, because everything else has been taken from you. When you return, you can't trust those things anymore. The part they played is unforgivable. But you dont really have the TV anymore do you? Because that was a bond you forged in the darkness, a frail thing that could only last until the morning light.

And friend...

The sun is finally coming up.

#Opm #One punch man #Saitama #Meta #skinamarink #horror #waxing poetic #Anime #Manga #webcomic #Rants #rants about opm #comparison #Long post #Gonna be honest I cried writing this #Please think of it as more of an open discussion than an open and shut opinion #I'm interested in knowing if anyone sees the parallels #horror movies #indie horror film

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badjohnspeakeasy · 5 months

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Looking for an inclusive Reddit community to discuss One-Punch Man?

Tired of being dragged into bitter powerscaling arguments?

Tired of being attacked by homophobes who use slurs to shout down rational discussions?

Head on down to r/OnePunchFans!

Spearheaded by the brilliant Meta Analysist GoFancyNinjaWorld, it's an inclusive, friendly, growing community of OPM Fans!

Get in on the ground floor of the only One-Punch Man subreddit that has not angrily accused me of being a lesbian!

#opm subreddit #the first time i've ever had good news about reddit!#frankly i should have endorsed this place sooner #i repost revamped versions of my old memes there #there's obviously nothing wrong with being a lesbian but i'm *not* one

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the-nysh · 1 year

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do you have any bnha blogs rec?

Sure! It probably depends on what you're looking for, as there's so many art + shipping blogs out there for example, but if you're primarily looking for more writing/updates/opinions/meta blogs, then here's a good handful (mostly active) blogs to start:

Katsuki-centric (all bkdk):

hanashimas (Japanese translations, insight from the eastern side, great takes & updates)

pikahlua (leak translations, great meta & theories)

siflshonen (also into opm & mp100 too!)

punkbakugo (not as bnha active as before, but still some of the best takes out there)

Shouto-centric: class1akids (general updates/news/official art/content coverage, and 'bnha critical' is the tag if you need to filter discourse)

Shigaraki + Deku-centric:

mettywiththenotes (good chill vibes, fun shitposts)

haleigh-sloth (be prepared for some hot takes! from the villain side)

More general + All Might coverage, with neat insight & panel observations: greenhappyseed

More tags to check out if you're interested (don’t view the main tags or you’ll see everything under the sun): try 'bnhaedit' for all the fandom's fancy gifsets and colorings, 'bnha spoilers' for discussions on the latest happenings both manga + anime (watch out for wild takes!), and 'bnha [chapter number]' to view content on specific chapters as they come out. Along with the tags for your favorite characters/ships of your preference~

#bnha #blog recs #anonymous #replies #i prefer to follow those whose fav is kacchan for the most like-minded opinions #but you'll find so much out there (brave yourself for hot takes if you venture the tags)#my friend sifl might also know of more recs!

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beileil · 2 years

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Increasingly Improbable Predictions on Time Travel

Let me preface this by saying that I am not the person to go to for OPM meta discussion. There are plenty of people on Tumblr that are far more talented in that regard. My strengths are fanfic and shitposts, and I’m way out of my wheelhouse here. I considered not posting this at all. But I have a lot of thoughts about Chapter 166, and I need to get this into writing, even if no one reads it and it’s only to keep me from going crazy. Manga spoilers below the cut, obviously. Also some Mob Psycho 100 spoilers that I tried to keep sort of vague? Ready? Let’s get stupid!

I have a prediction brewing and I don't know how I feel about it. I'm not alone in thinking that the latest chapter was much darker than usual, nor in finding the chapter 164 redraw jarring. I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this thought either: What if there are multiple timelines and we're being shown the darkest one? We've seen ONE do something similar with the Mogami arc in MP100, so we know he's good at making both his fans and his characters go through Some Shit, even if the events are an illusion or aren't permanent. (Also see: Mob going ??? in “Even Then ~Continue Forward~”, an otherwise lighthearted episode that ends with a cliffhanger so brutal that the first time I watched it, I gasped out loud, explained to my concerned spouse that my reaction was because I couldn’t believe the writer would actually go there, and had to stop watching for the night. Obviously, everything turned out to be a trick, but this moment stuck with me.)

ONE is a great story teller. He doesn’t need to kill anyone to make his audience feel pain, nor to leave his main characters with lasting trauma.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to my stupid time travel theory, which I’m sure is also not very original.

Now surely (and this is the point you may roll your eyes, but stay with me, I promise I'm going somewhere with it) Blast or one of his crew has the ability to send someone back in time. Like seriously, the guy fights with portals and tried to send Garou to another dimension. Let’s say Blast & Co. can send exactly one person back in time. But maybe time travel takes an extreme toll on the person’s body to the point that normal people can’t survive the jump. Hm...do we know anyone who can withstand any amount of physical stress without getting hurt? Oh, I know! How about we send the guy who uses a magma pool as a hot tub!

Scenario #1 (the “immediate fix”): The Blast Crew can only send Saitama back in time by a few minutes. But it’s enough. Enough to stop Celestial Garou’s radioactive attack. Enough to save his disciple. This time, he doesn’t arrive too late. He arrives just in time, like a true hero should.

Scenario #2 (the least bullshit one): Saitama gets sent back just far enough to stop Garou from getting possessed by God (no ID), and instead of continuing their Fistfight to End the World, Saitama (who is the only one who remembers the Worst Timeline and is just so tired) asks Garou if he's done yet, offers to lend an ear…and the chapter ends with a panel of dragon!Garou sheepishly sitting seiza at a low table with Saitama in an abandoned house floating in the sea. It’s odd to me that the Murata would spend so much time on the original, very different version of Chapter 164, only for it to be scrapped three days later. Maybe this scene does happen…just in a different order than expected. In this scenario, nothing is wasted.

Scenario #3 (improbable, confusing, and meta af, but indulge me please): Saitama gets sent back to some point earlier that day. LET’S GET META for a hot second. I remember reading a discussion by @gofancyninjaworld a long time ago (sorry dude, I tried to find it on your blog but no luck) about how the manga is ultimately written for the people who read it in its final, published volume form. But here's an awful, fun thought: What if the redraws are ONE/Murata throwing an extremely meta bonus to the readers who read each update as it comes out? If there's time travel fuckery involved, it explains at least one of the redraws…or all of them if Saitama were to get sent back further than meeting Awakened Garou on the shoreline. I'm imagining something like the scrapped chapters actually being an alternate timeline where Phoenix Man doesn't become chickified, Do-S and Narinki's mercenaries are killed by Sweet Mask, Orochi is killed by a punch instead of a bathtime mishap, etc. Time travel could also create some fun deja vu moments, like Atomic Samurai telling Iaian "I swear I've told you about this before" about the Sun Blade. Maybe he really did!

Scenario #4 (for lulz only, everyone would rage quit the series if it happened): Saitama travels back in time to the meeting that Sitch calls with the S-class to warn them about Shibabawa’s prophecy. Saitama informs him that the prophecy is about Bang’s student going off the rails. The entire Monster Association arc is canceled. Saitama beats up everyone in the subterranean and takes their gold. Garou gets therapy and a job at Fedex.

Pros of time travel being used as a plot device:

Saitama saving the world and no one knowing about it would be very on point for the series.

Saitama retaining his memories ties in with my earlier point: ONE doesn’t need to kill anyone off permanently to leave his main character with lasting trauma. Even if Genos survives this, I guarantee Saitama will be having nightmares about holding his core in his hand for years to come.

Many fans found Saitama’s comment that he’d “rather destroy the world” out of character for him. The comment makes a lot more sense if he’s already seen the people he cares for…you know.

It makes no damn sense to set up future sub-plots (Garou becoming a hero, a fetch quest for a magic sword, etc.) if everyone is just going to die of radiation poisoning anyway. It’s wasted potential, and as much as I’m hurting, I have faith in ONE/Murata to not do that.

Cons of time travel being used as a plot device:

Let's face it. Time travel as a fix-it is kind of a cop out. The only time I've seen it done well is in Steins;gate. (Which is a brilliant show if you haven't seen it.)

The further back in time we go, the less character development everyone gets. The S-class never learns to work together. Fubuki never discovers her healing powers, or stands up to her sister. Waganma never stops being a brat. Sweet Mask never gets to beat a pep talk into Darkshine, and Zombieman never gets to admit that Sweet Mask isn’t as bad as he seems. The Bad Boys don’t get their team-up. Garou doesn’t get to (try to) tell God to fuck off.

We’ve already seen characters we thought were goners come back through the power of magic (looking at you, Tanktop Master), and if it happens too much, it's going to be difficult to truly experience suspense properly again. The stakes just won’t be there. Every time a character dies, it’ll be a case of the boy who cried wolf. (Or rather the boy who cried, "Can't we just have Fubuki/Blast fix it?")

So I’m conflicted. Would a time travel fix-it make you rage quit the series? Would it cheapen the trauma that everyone has been through, or could it be done well? Or can you not see this happening at all? I guess we’ll find out in two weeks.

#one punch man #manga spoilers #mob psycho spoilers #meta post #manga predictions #a rare serious post from me #well it's half serious anyway #cursing

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aforrestofstuff · 3 years

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How can we discuss opm meta if you blow up at the slightest criticism like an insecure little kid?

You could... send me an ask like you’re doing just now... or you could make a post and tag me in it so I can see and discuss it with you...

#hey anon you wanna tell me what prompted this SEETHING RAGE within you....#god I sound like a WoW character #but seriously where is this coming from DHFHDHDHDH #who criticized me?#asks #poopyheads

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rayadraws · 4 years

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Hello thank you for being a content creator !! and a consistent one at that !! glad that I can count on you and your blog for quality creative stuff. You’re amazing (this is true of basically every opm blog tbh)

Oh my gosh, thank you SO much!

I’ve been in this fandom for four years now and I’ve learnt so much, not just about increasing my art skills but many subjects... made so many friends, too... I use this blog as a way to escape the dramz of RL for a bit and just have fun drawing, writing, discussing meta etc. Thank YOU everyone who indulges me! It is a great fandom!

For you, a happy pupper offering his all-time best ball:

#garou #nekomimi au

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iwillgetridofyourangerforyou · 4 years

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["..., and I don’t like how female characters are written in BNHA.] I'm sorry but could you please elaborate about this? I haven't read or watching BNHA for so long, already leave it behind and don't have any plan to return, so I don't know if something happen in the story. What are problematic things that you have found on how the female characters are written in BNHA?

Oh boy, so to start off, I really haven’t seen much. I don’t follow the fandoms, I haven’t read the manga. I don’t even know the names of any female characters. I am woefully under qualified to share an opinion about this at all but here is what I see:

1. Most all of the complex metas and discussion are centered exclusively around the male characters possibly indicating the female characters aren’t contributing much of substance to be discussed.

2. I have seen discussions about how conveniently sexual the female hero super powers are, especially compared to their male counterparts.

3. I have seen discussion asserting that the female characters do not further the plot much or at all and they don’t show much agency.

At this point I’m not sure that there is anything that is problematic outright, but I just hope for higher standards (perhaps too idealistically) at this point.

I am hesitant to judge too harshly since I haven’t read enough to have a truly developed opinion and I am open to changing my mind, but the little I see as an outsider looking in is not very appealing.

At the end of the day THE MAIN REASON I don’t get into BNHA is because I feel I have better things to do with my time than get invested in another possibly long-running, shounen, that’s still being released. OPM being the exception, I typically prefer to watch or read things once they’ve been completed, at my own pace.

I am curious? What did you think of the female characters? And why did you stop reading/watching it?

#ask #asks #anon

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bicodeofhonour · 5 years

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join my MP100 SERVER!

its also a one punch man server, and its P O C ONLY!

[image description: a poorly but enthusiastically editted mob, from mp100, pointing at you in front of a white background with the writing “MOB WANTS YOU! YES, YOU! so long as you are a person of colour! TO JOIN THIS mp100/opm SERVER!” end description.]

Do You wanna discuss the wonders of ONE’s works? are You are person of colour with even a mild interest in mob psycho 100 or one punch man? d’you like staying up late sharing jokes about characters for hours before turning on a heel and comparing 10k meta about the themes present in the source work at 3am?

if you answered yes to even ONE of those (lol get it), this server is for YOU!

so just DM me, op n owner, with any interest and you, sir, are in the Gang.

[image description: a screen shot of an invite to a discord server which says “the Good Taste Gang has invited you to join ‘mobpsychopunchman’.“ This invite has been accepted. there are hastily drawn arrows, one on the right the red arrow is pointing to the number of members, the “Joined” box and the “you” in the invite’s inviting message with the note “This Could Be You!” There is a second arrow, which is blue, on the left pointing at “the Good Taste Gang” which has been underlined, with the note that “This Could Be Us.” end description.]

#mp100 #one punch man #mob psycho 100 #discord server #open discord server #oof i hope the image description is alright its my first time doin one of those #also fwenz and followers even if you arent necessarily interested in joining.... please rb for views #myorrin.origin

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theomnicode · 2 years

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The self-delusions of Saitama

Saitama: "There's no point trying to provoke me. My emotions have already started to become numb."

Also Saitama when actually provoked:

Saitama, honey, we need to talk about this. This self-delusion and pitying attitude.

As much as your powers seemingly sap away at your emotions, you also can't keep bottling them up and living in this self-deluded state where you think you can't express emotions anymore, because you clearly do and the more you feel this apathetic, the more your emotional control lapses and you become impulsive. This lack of self-perspection and introspection will be your undoing.

This close-mindedness and self-pity too, that King rightfully calls out to be immature and something of his own doing bullshittery, that he supposedly cannot learn anything anymore, cannot learn new moves or cannot get stronger, got directly proven wrong in 168.

He literally got stronger, so strong that he could have destroyed the solar system if he so wanted and learned to time travel.

Fucking time traveling.

Saitama: There's nothing left for me to learn from anyone Also Saitama: *learns how to time travel from Garou*

It's not just a shallow look of himself because he's not wise enough yet, it's also dangerous.

If Genos role in Saitama's life is to provide growth in terms of emotional stability, King's role in Saitama's life is to provide wisdom because in this, he is more mature than Saitama is and has more experience in life, despite not being that much older than Saitama. Saitama's look about himself is coloured by his lack of self-esteem and the alienation his powers bring him, so he cannot perceive himself without those goggles. His situation is difficult in general, but it is not an excuse, not any longer.

He cannot allow it to be an excuse any longer.

The sweet irony of King, who is a fraud hero, lecturing Saitama about heroism and now in 168 Saitama reflected on those same sentiments and found them to be correct.

Real friends will tell you unpleasant truths, not just what you want to hear but what you need to hear.

"Life is a journey with no destination. If you wanna see new things, you have to make a path for it yourself."

Saitama may not consciously know it yet, but the clock is ticking.

Ticking down when it's too late to come to these realizations. How to grow as a person and how to become a true hero.

I am glad that Saitama has found some good friends. Cherish them and learn from them and this is how you can grow, Saitama.

(Inspired by reddit post)

#opm #one punch man #opm spoilers #king #saitama #friendship #character growth #opm manga panels #self-delusion #self-pity #opm meta discussion

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gofancyninjaworld · 10 months

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OPM Manga Update 232 Review: Butterfly and Back

Story: Place Yer Bets!

The chapter opens with Murata casually flexing his rendering skills with a hand-drawn bicycle. This man!

The story opens to a defeated looking hero with incongruously-small butterfly wings on his back. Wondering why he's doing this. McCoy calls to ask if he's ready, and soon, he's on the trail of a monster for the benefit of a select group of punters.

The 'demon'-level monster turns out to be a giant, terrified monsterised chihuahua, which advances down the road uncertain of what to do. It's a planted Wolf-Level monster, intended to give the falsely-badged C-Class hero the appearance of a tough win against the odds.

But life turns out differently. Under the stressor of its most feared situation (being outdoors), Shiverhuahua blows up into a genuine demon-level monster, and soon, 'Papillion 800' is locked in a real life-or-death battle, all while McCoy thinks that he's acting to perfection.

As the odds lengthen, Mad Devil Yankee (the real identity of the hero) forces himself to face the monster, driven by the twin imperatives of wanting to save his mother from whatever harm McCoy has planned for her, and the desire to live up to the example of his hero, Mumen Rider.

Just as it gets hopeless, with characteristic timing, Saitama comes in and blows the monster away.

The major donor looking forward to an upset win is furious, and McCoy storms onto the scene to tell Saitama and Genos off for interfering.

Saitama may ask himself who cares about credit. Genos does, when it comes to making sure his master is recognised for his work. McCoy is about to find out why the Demon Cyborg lives up to his moniker...

.... but luckily for him, and for his role as bad-guy fixer, Child Emperor interrupts to mock him for having his rigged game upset. McCoy excuses himself quickly. Child Emperor explains the hero gambling ruse (more on that to follow). I'm just going to step out a bit to note that it's quite heart-warming to see that when Genos asks why the kid is giving them this information and Child Emperor admits to having been the one who'd been suspicious of Genos, Genos doesn't blow up but lets it slide. I like his little reassuring smiles.

After finding out what this is all about, we see Saitama sleepless in bed, furious at the idea of being thought so ill of as to deserve a x20 rating. However, he also smells opportunity.

The next morning sees him discussing with Genos the possibility of betting on himself to make money. He starts to portray it as a way to teach the Hero Association a lesson but Genos sensibly points out that it makes no actual difference to the house, which puts him on the spot. Luckily for Saitama, the odds start rolling again, meaning the game's afoot again. Saitama runs out the door, Genos following in hot pursuit.

They overtake the heroes assigned to the monster, and Saitama is just about to place his bet (his multiplier having risen to x25) when there is a scream: someone's purse has been snatched by a race-car driver! For a moment, Saitama is torn as to what to do, then...

... the lady is overcome with gratitude for having her family jewels saved. Saitama is also overcome with emotion, but it is not gratitude. At least he's getting a better public image!

However, he's then overwhelmed with a blackness. His depression is back, fuelled by his realising how close he came to the edge of becoming a corrupt money-grubber.

Temptation is never far away, and the lady offers him a diamond ring as a reward. After a long struggle, Saitama refuses it, saying he's not doing this for money.

Well done, Saitama.

Lots to say under the cut.

Meta: A Tawdry Affair

Method in the madness

A race car to snatch purses? Man, it seems anything can happen in this story! Still, when I look at how unsurprised the public is that Saitama caught the driver, I think there's method in the madness. Heroes are really super humans. Even your regular C-Class hero is impossible to out-pace on foot or on a push-bike. Modern problems call for modern solutions.

A world in which people are not surprised that the no-name hero catches a race car is a scary world.

Dirty laundry

The first thing I have to say about this is that it's tawdry. Not a great crime that leaves a giant stain to be dealt with but rather dirt, grubbiness, an all-pervading grubbiness that greys the entire fabric so that no amount of washing can make it look clean. Let's dig into this pile of dirty laundry, shall we?

Nothing wrong with aspiring to be more

I've got to give it to Mad Devil Yankee. In a world where people are often typecast for life (see Garou's despair at being considered a monster), his being able to turn his life around is testament to some serious mental fortitude. Furthermore, he's B-Class Rank 4, all without having joined the Blizzard Group: that takes serious strength.

If you remember nothing about the story, you might think that a high-ranking B-Class hero working independently is no big deal. If you do, you know this guy is the real deal: Fubuki is a hero-crushing asshole.

Turning heroism into bloodsport

It's inevitable that people would bet on heroes. Heroes are very much public figures, and the monsters are an unpredictable lot, so that makes for a highly exciting spectacle. As we can see, a lot of the people watching Papillion 800's predicament aren't anything to do with the HA.

The Hero Association getting a cut of the action is morally reprehensible. And as we see, it leads to moral conflicts. McCoy may be organising it, but the HA is facilitating it. As long as the money's coming in, look the other way.

Like a rotten apple, McCoy being allowed to operate unchecked taints everyone by association.

Unforgivable is what this betting did to Mad Devil Yankee. In a world where people often feel typecast for life (like Garou), turning one's life around in two months from infamous ne'er-do-well to hero has taken an incredible amount of mental fortitude as well as physical prowess. Additionally, as B-Class Rank 4 and yet not press-ganged into the Blizzard Group, this guy is really something in toughness. He's admired Mumen Rider, but his work ethic is all his. And for him to have nearly tossed this all away, thinking himself unworthy to think of himself as a hero, that's a crime.

Getting a guy to think that he deserved to die for making the best of an impossible situation? God, that's ugly.

McCoy bet that Mad Devil would not be psychopathic enough to bet his mother's life and dare him to threaten his mother's health. Even though he'd been coerced, he thought that a true hero wouldn't have taken up such an impossible task under any circumstance. And yet he hung in there and did his best to fight.

Threatening peoples' families is truly the lowest of actions. Using the very benefits given to heroes as leverage digs a basement under that cesspit.

It was good that Mumen Rider put it in perspective for him: no matter what had happened, he'd been faced with a very strong monster, and he'd stood up to it anyway, knowing that it was unlikely to end well for him. That's the stuff a hero is made of. I'm glad that Mad Devil looks to stay a hero, but for him to have been brought this close to despairing over his life and choices, is unforgivable.

Mumen may not have the best muscles, but he has the best words. Often imitated, but never equalled.

Take one wrong step...

Speaking of corruption, it's scary how easy it is to try to play the odds if there's money to be made. Saitama realising how close he'd come to actually participating in the hero betting game for profit was a salutatory reminder that this shit is easy to do and dangerous. If he'd chosen a little differently, he could be several hundred thousand yen up, but he'd have sold his soul to the worst of human impulses.

It's as Saitama said in a much earlier chapter, take one wrong step, and you're in hell.

Came real close to selling your soul there, didn't ya?

It's one of the things that has most endeared me to Saitama. His recognition that no matter how hard he works, there's still a lot of chance in how things have turned out for him and he remembers this when he looks leniently on people like Hammerhead, who he sees as not too different from him. Just one or two bad choices and that could have been him. That kind of wisdom and humility serves him well.

With friends like this...

I'd love to say that Genos would stop him, but damn, that guy… It's a pity he's a cocksucker has such a narrow viewpoint. Every so often, Genos reminds me that he's far more observant and intelligent than he usually gives out. He's noticed the odd rankings and monster disaster levels, and it made sense to him that it was a gambling ploy. So did he investigate the oddities? No man, he filters everything through the metric of 'does this threaten my access to Saitama sensei?' and if the answer is no, he doesn't give a shit. Seriously.

Yeah, yeah, corruption and problems at the Hero Association, but does it actually affect anything *I* care about?

Also, seeing him see what's wrong with Saitama's proposal to gamble but following Saitama to see what happens anyway… no, man, this fixation of yours is wrong. A healthy reminder of why King is so necessary. He'll not just point out what's wrong, but he won't go along with it.

Genos sees clean through Saitama's scam but stop him? Hell no! He's coming along to see what happens.

The Grab Bag of Pop Culture is Back, Baby!

This story reminds me of what's at the heart of One-Punch Man: its love of finding and referencing popular works while making them something of its own. If you know Squid Game, the rich guys betting on human lives will feel very unpleasantly familiar. If you don't, that's fine too: it's self-contained enough to not need familiarity with its references to work. It's true that a lore-heavy story such as this would often be put in an extra chapter, but because what's happening here is exceptionally germane to what happens next, it's here as a main chapter. I liked it quite a bit.

I am VERY GLAD not to see Narinki as one of the major donors betting. I would like to believe that he appreciates too much the actual sacrifices made by heroes to want to bet on their lives.