So, let's keep this summary short. We get Psykos's backstory as a series of flashbacks in which she goes round recruiting others to their cause, expounding on her successes to an unenthusiastic Fubuki. She researches the 'third eye' ability to enable her to see into the future and succeeds. What she sees leaves her so disturbed that she decides that the best thing to do with the verminous mass that is humanity is to eliminate it altogether. The sight of her initial freak out segues into her freaking out as she faces Fubuki in the battlefield, only to collapse... she really was running on fumes. Fubuki catches her and muses what it was that Psykos had seen back there, and an image and words come to her head, unbidden. The vision vanishes nearly as quickly as it comes leaving a shaken Fubuki wondering what she saw. It's God (no ID) but she has no way of knowing that.
One thing is clear to Fubuki: she has to get Pyskos to talk, cost what it may. She barges into the visitation and orders it stopped, saying that with the prisoner list now published, Tatsumaki was sure to come along to kill Psykos and it's in everyone's best interest to leave as quickly as they can.
Right on cue, Tatsumaki breaks into the holding cell and makes a credible show of trying to kill Psykos, and launches the Tsukoyomi rep into the nearest wall. The Tsukoyomi representative isn't phased and gets up. He launches a counter attack and in the melee, Saitama, who has just been standing there, falls into a crevasse that opens up under his feet. Ironic, given that Fubuki had just been praising him for being an ascended one similar to Garou, whose strength she was glad to have.
We end the chapter with Saitama surrounded by demon-level monsters, who, glad of having had their containment fail, are also glad of this free snack before they break out properly and kill all the humans there. Saitama's more glad than worried as it means he can justify keeping pets after all.
Meta
Again that issue of balance
Right from the first chapter when Vaccineman declared humanity a pestilence that was killing the Earth, to Dr Genus talking about God giving every creature a limit so as to maintain its purpose, to even Blast's advice to Tatsumaki, which both nearly got her killed and saved her life in the same night, balance, that idea of all things having their proper place, is something that comes up repeatedly in the story.
Once again, the issue of balance is back. A young Psykos looked at the future and realised that humanity was utterly out of control. By our very natures, we seem bound to commit overreach without considering the future. Normal people encountering this reality go organise. Less-normal ones already committed to subjugating humanity take it one step further.
Given that the vision she saw was divinely inspired, if God (no ID) has been talking to Psykos, why shouldn't we consider Psykos a victim who ought to go scot-free? Very simply: realising that humanity is over-using the Earth's resources and driving ruin is one thing. Deciding that the solution is to kill everyone? That's all her. God (no ID) loves to approach people who want simple, sweeping answers to complex problems. Maybe give them a tool or two. Then sit back and watch the carnage. ONE doesn't let characters who commit atrocities with God's tools go: the best he could do for Garou was a redemption equals death ending. He's not about to let Psykos go either.
Sister Act
I thought I'd be starting with Tatsumaki asking Fubuki for help, but, momentous though that is, it's the second-most important thing I want to talk about. The first is that, whatever Tatsumaki's full reasons for wanting to save Psykos from the clutches of Tsukoyomi, those reasons are important enough for her to deliberately trash her reputation and make the Hero Association believe her to be crazy. There are sure to be severe reprecussions and she's willing to risk them. The story has been at great pains to show us how much the Hero Association relies on Tatsumaki, and how she enjoys that fact, even though she complains about being over-relied on. The last arc has shown us why the HA has such trust in Tatsumaki as we got to see just how capable, considerate, and courageous she is.
It's also shown us that Tatsumaki isn't 100% impulsive. Wringing Psykos's neck is something she'd gladly have done over and over, but she curbed it long enough to literally wring information out of Psykos to ensure that the heroes rescued every last human held at the Monster Association.
For Tatsumaki to throw the trust justifiably invested in her away is non-trivial. It means so much to her and she's trashing it for the sake of a villian she really would rather see dead. Is Tsukoyomi really that great a threat? Some other reason? It will be very interesting to find her reasons.
At the same time, she has arranged things so that Fubuki comes out of the situation well, being the principled hero who warned of the danger and did her best to ward off her crazy sister.
Which brings us to the next most interesting thing: Tatsumaki enlisting Fubuki's help. One thing I had feared (but would have respected) was that Tatsumaki would dismiss the help she had to receive from others -- most notably from Genos -- as a one-off, never-to-be-repeated event. Something seems to have sunk in with her to consider reaching out to her sister. Fantastic.
I say again and again that a central tenet of ONE's writings is that 'when people do more, they get to be more, ' and I'm glad to see that it's once again on the cards. Since the sisters have long been able to build a relationship that is cordial and trusting enough for them to actually hang out, the issue Fubuki had with Tatsumaki was the latter not respecting her as a hero. And to be fair, Fubuki, with her habit of hiding behind others and only looking to punch down whether at monsters or people, was nothing to respect. Once Fubuki earned some measure of respect from her sister by coming out to do the difficult and dangerous of her own free will, the story has been able to move the hell on! Artificial espers and organised evil? Sure, bring it on! In turn, Fubuki doesn't know why her sister is doing what she is, but she trusts her sister sufficiently to work with her.
The manga edition of the Psychic Sisters arc may feature them cooperating for now but how long that cooperation lasts, given that they have different ideas of what to do with Psykos, we'll have to see.
Playing Dumb
It's hard to say how aware Saitama is at any given time as he's both extremely obtuse and extremely insightful, often within the same breath. Nice to see that someone else has been able to piece things together. Fubuki may or may not have seen Saitama take out Garou, but she saw enough of Garou both before and after he ascended into Cosmic Garou to know that he was Something Else. She's seen enough of Saitama to know that if it was going to be anybody, it'd be him, not the much-bandied around theory about it being Blast.
Saitama, is of course, nonplussed. Again with someone insisting that he defeated Garou. Again with someone praising him for just being who he is. And oh, will you look? The ground appears to have opened up. He's very unbothered by it all.
How is Saitama going to fit into all this? Well, first he's going to make some short work of some monsters. Other than that, all I'm sure of is that things are about to go sideways in a big way. Saitama on scene generally means bad news for any other heroes who are around.
Short notes
Feral Tatsumaki who never learned to eat with Western cutlery is too cute for words.
Couldn't have happened to a nicer set of assholes: the one good thing the Tsukoyomi rep has done.
Speaking of acquisitve bastards, I'm so glad Genos isn't here. With his acquisitiveness, the idea of artificial espers would get his attention for all the wrong reasons.
So, this has been a minute or two coming. Part of me wants to wait still more until 212 and complete what's shaped up to be a pretty crazy day but then this review would be way way too long.
Story
Update 219: Beauty
So, we're two days further on from the time Saitama caused a billion dollars worth of damage, trashed Metal Knight's reputation, and sneaked two monsters into the Hero Association headquarters. Can I have an oops?
Anyway, we've no time to talk about Saitama's misadventures just yet for 210 opens to Fubuki and convoy heading towards a very special appointment, the precise nature of which she declines to reveal to Eyelashes.
We move onto R-City, home of Handsome Castle, the talent agency. There, Amai Mask's manager is trying to persuade the hero idol to stop looking at his phone a moment to give some promising new talent advice. It's heavy going as Amai Mask's attention is transfixed by the footage of two days' ago, as Saitama wrecked robot after robot, all without appearing to even move. Finally, he gives his manager his atention, if only to tell the man off for creating such shoddy fakes.
Naturally, the Bubbly Boys crew didn't take it too well. True to their derivative nature, Murata has given each one a vaguely familiar face, while still respecting ONE's original designs. Their leader, Cherion squares off against Amai, going so far as to wrap his tie around his right fist. Fantas adds to the trash talk, relaying the manager's frustrations to Amai. Once Amai tires of this, he quells the upstarts by giving them a hint of his true nature, which leaves them quaking in their boots. As they tremble with fear, he declares that none of them are the real deal. None of them have what makes a hero truly beautiful, overwhelming power.
Speaking of overwhelming power, how's Saitama getting on? Well, he's finally let Forte and co into his apartment and is serving them tea in the cracked mugs he salvaged from his apartment, even though he has no idea who they are. Instead of replying, Forte tries a little light hazing but quickly desists once it becomes clear that a) Saitama's older than him and it's Forte who needs to be deferential and b) King recommended Saitama live here. Don't want trouble with King.
Introductions start properly at last with Chain n' Road being introduced by the others, Butterfly DX donning his costume in a vain attempt to be recognised by Saitama, and Forte challenging Saitama to a fight when the latter questioned the wisdom of his fighting style.
Update 220: Visitor
We start where we left off, with Saitama opening the front door to find a forlorn monster dog and monster sitting outside. He'd forgotten about them. Saitama has the bright idea of offering them as the booby prize for the loser.
The heroes are understandably sceptical about these critters but Forte accepts the wager as it'll make things more interesting.
Forte and Saitama face off in the car park and Forte wastes no time getting into his rhythm but Saitama seems distracted by something… which turns out to be an oncoming car. Eyelashes has to be one of the world's worst drivers to have hit Forte rather than brake or swerve in a mostly-empty car park but there you go.
Fubuki gets out of the car and asks what Saitama is doing there. She's very glad to see him and orders him to come with her -- unbeknown to everyone, she's sensed something and she's under no illusions that she's going to need every bit of firepower she can get. Fortunately for her, Saitama's joy at getting out of what was going to be a very sticky situation outweighs his irritation at her manner.
That something turns out to be a masked man. He's met at an underground car park by three Hero Association executives (we've met two of them previously, more on that later). They thank him profusely for his donation and escort him to an elaborately reinforced holding cell to reveal a heavily-drugged Psykos restrained in a chair. As their guest inspects the prisoner, one explains that she's been declared a monster and has had her human rights stripped from her and so he's free to do with her as he will. He starts to explain the value of his new goods and mentions his organisation. Psykos might have been drugged, but she's not so out of it that she can't listen for highly significant words and on hearing Tsukoyomi, she rouses herself and tries a desperate psychic attack. Alas, it's easily warded by him and he knocks her out with one of his own.
No, no need to torture her, he says to the surprised executives. Her brain is far too important for that: it contains the secret to seeing the future and he intends to have it dismantled thoroughly once he gets her back to his own facilities.
Honestly, this looks like it was referenced from some particularly sadistic porn, only no director is going to yell 'cut'! to end the torment.
Meanwhile, the calvary is… I'd like to say they were desperately pounding down the stairs to the backdrop of a heavy bass line, but they're taking an elevator, Fubuki having persuaded the receptionist of the special internment facility of the import of gate-crashing the ongoing secret visit. The lift is so enormous that the 34 members of the Blizzard group have no trouble spreading out. Saitama wonders what the hell the Hero Association usually moves in these.
Fubuki isn't looking round as she's lost deep in thought. She recalls confronting Pyskos as the latter tried to crawl away from the battlefield and the latter lashing out. First, with words, accusing Fubuki once again looking to get in her way after having sealed her powers away when she realised Psykos was about to surpass her. We're treated to a deeper flashback of Fubuki and Pyskos kissing under a tree, with Psykos realising too late what had happened. Fubuki admitted that she had been a selfish person then. Back then, she'd seen her vice president as an enemy whose plans to exterminate humanity had to be stopped -- not because they were immoral, as the rest of the club saw it -- but because they'd deprive Fubuki of people to be superior to. The chit chat didn't last long as Psykos started hurling rocks at Fubuki and the chapter ends with the two of them flying up to fight.
Meta: Hell Soup
If this is like a bowl of hot soup, let's start on the outside, shall we?
What's the saying? A kind man has regard for the life of his beast but the mercies of a wicked man are cruel indeed? Something like that at any rate.
This is why adoption centers screen people
Turns out that Genos had Saitama bang to rights when he started to object to the latter having a dog: Saitama's only gone and forgotten about his new pets. Rover is significantly smaller than when Saitama picked him up two days ago, and he was much shrunken then. Something that Child Emperor said: the biology of transformed monsters is governed by the idiom on which they transformed. Rover's idiom is that of a watchdog. A really good one eats only what its master proffers. Without the care of his master, he's literally wasting away.
Crapsack
I've said before that the world of One-Punch Man is a double crapsack world: it has both the fantastic threats of monsters and supervillians and much more deep-seated, realistic problems. Up to this point, the story has spent a lot of time looking at the right testicle in this scrotum of despair, with monsters taking centre stage and only the briefest of nods to the evils of humanity. Monsters are indeed a potent threat, but saying that, the most sustained, deadly, and destructive campaign of violence at the claws of monsters (the Monster Association) was conceptualized, organized, and orchestrated by a human being. And with that, we're ready with this saga to pay attention to the left testicle, humanity.
What measure is a non-human?
I noted in a previous meta that Amai Mask was playing a dangerous game being so close to heroes who'd kill him without hesitation if his monsterous nature were known. He's skiing ever closer to the edge of the crevasse in letting the mask slip briefly to shut the wannabes up. However, a violent death isn't his only problem if he's outed.
Cast your minds back to chatper 85 (86 if you're reading in print), when Sicchi was demanding that Garou be declared a monster. See the guy second from right with the too-small dark glasses? Say thank you to him: his questioning Sicchi's strategy shot down this line of attack. However, I want you to also give attention to the guy on the far right.
We've met him before, worrying about keeping major donors happy and willing to throw any heroes necessary at the problem, even if those heroes are much more needed elsewhere. He's the guy responsible for seconding Metal Bat to Narinki and son. Here he is again. The buck-toothed guy on the right we've also met before but this is the first time we've seen him speak. The guy in the middle is new to us.
That's right: the Hero Asssociation has been granted power by the government to declare, without any judicial overview or right of appeal, that a human is not human. In a world where people can and do turn into monsters that do need killing, being able to make such a determination is a horrible necessity. Without it, killing someone like Surprise Attack Plum, who was a person before he went monster and started systematically killing police officers, would be murder.
However, when there's no oversight or accountability, even people who see themselves as scrupulously good and acting for the best will s-t-r-e-t-c-h its applications. Sicchi saw it as an expedient way to stop the threat Garou posed dead in its tracks. The guys in this chapter aren't doing this to enrich themselves: their concern is keeping the Hero Association solvent at a time when demands on it have never been greater. Anyone declared a monster can be kept, bought, sold, or killed like an animal. No, their plight is worse than that of an animal: we recognize a duty of care to non-human animals to not permit unnecessary pain, suffering, distress, or suffering. Monsters are accorded no such consideration.
Now imagine what harm that kind of power can do in the hands of people who actively mean ill. I'll leave you with that thought for now.
Powerful bad guys
Nothing is as scary as a human being, Reigen once said, and from the get-go, the handiwork of powerful, well-organised groups of no-gooders has been seen. The cyborg that destroyed Genos's town (among others)? Human. The Organization? Human. Mercenaries and their paymasters? Human. The Ninja Village and its assassins? Human. The people who took Tatsumaki? Human. And as noted earlier, the most devastating monster attacks to date had a human behind them.
Not even the depredations of that terminal fight junkie, Boros, so desperate for his next fix that he didn't care what he destroyed, touches the sustained vision and capacity for evil that a human mind can contain. You'rew wondering why I'm not featuring Tsukoyomi below? That's because there'll be plenty of time next chapter to do so. For now, what's more emblematic of the problem of humanity than a high school society dedicated to subjugating humanity -- or exterminating it?
In keeping with human nature, of the two people running that society, one has gone on to become one of the greatest menaces we've seen to date and the other, well, Fubuki's got a way to go yet but she's shaped up to be a good hero. Her reminiscence appears to be tinged with regret for the way she used to think.
In a healthy reminder that the enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy, no more and no less, while no one would disagree with Fubuki derailing Pyskos's plans then, Fubuki herself would have been a villain in her own right.
The plot is defintely thickening
So, the immediate threat to Psykos may not be a Tatsumaki determined to finish a wicked person off but rather, a representative of a much more patient and cruel evil. It looks like Fubuki has bitten off more than she can chew here: she's going to need bailing out either by Saitama or Tatsumaki. However, the fact that Fubuki sees the risk to Psykos and has acted to save her (for reasons that I'm sure we'll learn soon enough) is itself very interesting. I guess, minimally, that she does have some sense of responsibility towards her former underling, if not lingering affection for her.
We're seeing too the consequences of the Hero Association being entrusted with power that no non-governmental organisation has any right to be given. Heck, even governments don't go that far: there's due process for a reason. The short-sighted, unilateral decisions made by the three execs are dangerously bad judgement.
Too, we have the same questions Saitama has. Why is there a special internment facility in the first place? Monster-moving lifts? Torture equipment. What else is happening?
Final thoughts: Timings
The next chapter is submitted and scheduled for December 15th. It's pretty short, so don't be surprised if it's mostly Fubuki taking down Pyskos again.
