You want us to talk? Really? Okay, you asked. Go get yourself a drink: this gets long and ranty!
I actually set half a day aside for the last episode. After seeing what an excellent and emotional job they did with episode 11, I was all set to just go nuts for the last episode, particularly as it was one I had such a strong reaction to in the manga. But then I was overwhelmingly underwhelmed.
Only one picture. Just look at the difference in intensity between manga panel and anime. The anime it looks like Genos is just wondering which pair of pants he wants to put on today.
A face full of unhappiness vs ‘where are my pants?’
It’s taken me all this time to realise what this look is all about. I remember that when I first saw it in the manga, I thought ‘oh no, Genos is putting on a front – that Gouketsu must have really rattled him.’ It’s only looking back that I understand better.
It all goes right back to chapter 38, when Genos sent Saitama away so that he could fight G-4 without a safety net – a true do-or-die fight – and then brought the parts back to Dr Kuseno. And it’s also related to chapter 44, where Fubuki is explaining her despair over being overshadowed by her elder sister, no matter what she does.
The struggle Genos is having is over what role exactly he should play.
‘Don’t push yourself’, accepting that there are people who will always be better than you is in direct conflict with 'rise to the top of Class S’ and 'heroes face powerful monsters, even alone.’ And through the 40s and 60s of the manga chapters, Genos has had to admit that his doctor has a point. It came to a head with Awakened Cockroach, when Genos admitted that Dr Kuseno was right about needing to respect that others might be better at least in some respects in order to make progress.
Because that was the time the manga was beset with delays, redraws and hiatuses, it took several years for the story to make any progress and that’s a plot point that got very much diluted. But after chapter 80, when Dr Kuseno told him yet again to stop being so reckless, Genos has really taken it seriously.
I had been a bit annoyed at the fan translation group behind Mangastream translating Dr Kuseno’s advice as 'respect your limits’ rather than 'don’t be reckless’ and while it’s still wrong, I see where they’re coming from a lot better. Becaue that’s exactly what Genos tried. He stepped back a bit. He ceded Garou to Bang. He was cooperative. He was even supportive. And yet, it did not helped. All that happened was that Garou escaped, the monster kept growing and Bang had no clue of what to do next. That’s what Genos meant by it not being enough.
I usually despise Viz translations, but in this case, I think they have the most succinct interpretation
When he attacked Elder Centipede, it was because he had realised that he couldn’t take a subordinate role. The fight is unavoidable and he can’t step back and let his 'betters’ do it. For better or for so much worse, this is a fight he has to be at the forefront of. That’s what made it so intense. That’s what made it doubly so when he completely refused to be dismissed when the monster bit him in half, did the impossible, putting himself back together and then **forced himself down** the monster’s throat to burn it from ship to stern.
In the manga, WE HAD GOOSEBUMPS. It was that intense. As was our disappointment that the monster recovered – we shared his bafflement and despair.
And Saitama’s off the cuff remark 'isn’t it power?’ is the answer. The solution is not to step back, but to grow stronger until he can. The one in front has to be a cyborg.
Did you get any of that from the anime? I don’t think so! They failed to make any links or to present Genos in any consistent or coherent manner. Forget about adding stuff, just present what’s there already!
The anime really had the advantage here. Instead of 4 years from first chapter to last, it was just 11 weeks between first episode and last. Literally all they had to do was put Genos’s words and actions on the screen and the more compressed format would have made the case powerfully. They didn’t even have to add a word or anime-only scene. JC Staff didn’t start out too badly. When Fubuki told her case of woe in the second episode and Genos was listening quietly and intently to her, it linked very well with episode one, where we’d seen just how much of a struggle it’d been for Genos to prevail over an enemy without Saitama to back him up. As well as how determined he was to forge forward.
After that good start, they started to steal from Genos instead – omitting his thoughts, abbreviating his actions and just made a mess really of what should have been a very easy win.
They even missed on the very easy visual irony to Genos doing his best to be supportive. If he had done the 'reckless’ thing and gone first, he would literally have done twice as much damage to Elder Centipede, since the monster had only half the volume it did before it moulted. I bet the outcome would have been very different then! But no, they missed even letting the monster grow after the brothers broke its shell.
By having JC Staff not care to show and thus build Genos’s character progression rather robbed the climax of its power and that’s why (even more than the art) the vore scene isn’t quite as powerful at it should be and that’s a shame.
And that’s why we’re not talking about it.
And if you haven’t yet, read the manga! The chapters flow… and the feel of this chapter is totally different in a good way to the anime.
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