Alright, I’ll keep with real with you guys. When I started watching Season 2 of One Punch Man, all I wanted was fights and comedy. I never cared for the plot at all. However, that has slightly changed with how they’re handling these past few episodes. One-Punch Man season 2 Episode 5 – Martial Arts Tournament is one of those examples. Garou is a beast is his own rights.
Garou’s character is extremely fun to watch. His fight with Metal Bat was pretty damm intense. No matter tough or how fast Metal Bat was getting, he was still able to manage the fight and hold his own. However, what I really liked about this episode is the growth of Garou and the way he doesn’t completely enter the realms of full blown villain-hood. He’s never portrayed as been over-powered for no reason. We are constantly reminded that he’s human that just trained really crazy and mastered his craft but could be killed at any moment. An example is when he let his guard down and Metal Bat went for the kill. If it wasn’t for Metal Bat’s sister, Garou would’ve died.
It was here too that Garou had a perfect chance to fight Bat with his sister there, but he chose to walk away showing that despite him wanting to become a monster, he too has a moral that he’s following. It’s almost as if he’s trying to redefine what it means to be a monster. He even rejected the invitation to join the monster association, and calling those guys disgusting. I’m telling you, I can’t wait to see Garou face off against Saitama, they’re building him up really well so I hope he goes down is a blaze of glory.
The other aspect to the episode is the narrative of the plot. These monsters are all attacking the cities, each of them of various threat levels. All gunning for both the rich dad and his kid and Punk Bat guy. It actually got me interested and invested to see how this all plays out. Sometimes, I’d even forget that this is a comedy anime and would actually start to take the plot seriously.
If this is their way for compensating for the animations, then it’s working as I’ve completely moved on from that whole animation fiasco. Overall, it was a really dope episode and I’m looking forward to seeing the next episode.
