“Martial arts is a way of moving around all cool like, right?”
Saitama’s superficial takeaway is unfortunately not that different from other’s takeaway of this series on first glance – the fact that Saitama has reached such depths of strength but yet he himself is unable to understand why is a testament to the discipline a martial artist undertakes when studying the arts of self defense (but without the mental discipline that comes with it, unfortunately!) Naturally, the source of his strength is one of the core mysteries of the series and what his disciple is so eager to discover through his current tutelage.
Through Atomic Samurai’s swordsman summit, we see that the monster association has begun to hand out “monster cores” – the consumption of which turns an average citizen into a monster. This sheds some light on where the unknown beings and monsters in the One Punch Man universe originate from – Some are merely brought into existence as monsters, some become monsters after a deep longing (Such as crablante), and others were formerly humans that became monsters after abandoning their humanity thorugh the consumption of a monster core. With this comes greater power than you possess as a human but, as they say, you can’t polish a stone, which Atomic Samurai demonstrates.
Saitama’s fated clash with Suiryu begins. When this moment occurred, there was actually some debate whether Suiryu would be able to be a match for Saitama – he was shown to be so powerful so as to trivialize A class heroes and have won several super fight tournaments in the past. In fact, his very presence was shown to be like that of a legend. It’s clear he was a cut above the rest, but not strong enough to even damage Saitama. The fact that he’s taken out with a single hip slam is comically how many villains in this series meet their end – anti-climatically. Technically, Suiryu has won anyway – Saitama is disqualified for stealing the identity of another. But a martial artist like Suiryu cannot accept a meaningless technicality like that – he understands this means he is not as strong as he believes he is.
Most interestingly on display is Saitama’s mythos – while clearly an unmotivated individual, he has interestingly displayed many heroic traits and clear beliefs about right and wrong during key moments. What compels him to act as he does still remains a mystery. That said, he definitely observes some deep darkness inside Suiryu’s heart – darkness that can consume him. Realizing this, Saitama advises him against getting any stronger than he is now. What does this mean? Saitama has seen where Suiryu’s hedonistic accumulation of strength has gotten him and how it has warped his personality and has already followed that path to its logical end. Saitama is clearly not a hero in the traditional sense, but he has shown he will not idly let evil flourish either and will act in the greater good. The fact that this part of his personality is so unexplored and lightly touched upon makes him extremely interesting to me. What are his motivations? They clearly go beyond the one sentence plot synopsis you read on myanimelist – what drives him to help people? Why does he seek to take down Garou? I would argue due to his critique of King that because of the strength he has acquired, he feels a responsibility to save people who cannot save themselves, less so out of a feeling for the “greater good” and more for a fulfillment of his role. Of the many things Saitama is, a hypocrite is not one of them.
Meanwhile, a truly terrifying foe unlike any other begins heading towards the Super Fight Arena – a foe who is so powerful, he one shotted Genos off screen. Who is this monster and what is his purpose? I know, but I won’t spoil it for those of you watching along. Things are about to get more interesting…and very, very dire. Who will hold on to their humanity when push comes to shove?
