#sicchi

[gofancyninjaworld]

OPM Manga Ch 226 Review

Summary

Let's start with a flashback. A little bit earlier in the day, when the Neo Heroes debuted, Suiryu made an unscheduled stop to try to help out a hero in trouble, only to see a certain speedy baldy slay the monsters as he hurried to some appointment. That was chapter 224.

Saitama had arrived somewhere outside the Hero Association headquarters to meet up with the rest of his new group, and had been handed something.

Right. It's now chapter 226 and we get to find out what that is. It's a protest! The grand idea is to hold a sit in and protest until the executives give in and let them pick new names. Maybe give them compensation too.

Two problems with that. First, what's the guarantee that the Hero Association executives will listen? Saitama wonders if he won't just end up called The Bald Complainer instead. Second, they are rather far away from the gates of the building. How are they actually going to be heard? Just as they get started, the monster alarm goes off, drowning out any sound they might have made. Ah, well, I guess that's three problems then.

Just ahead of the sirens going off, we see the inside of the Hero Association board, with most of the executives in attendance. They too have been watching the Neo Leader debut and it has filled them with despair. It's like their heroes are chopped liver: the media is all Neo, Neo, Neo! Jinzuren points out that notwithstanding the Neo Hero coverage, pro heroes are actually doing very well -- they're holding their own against the increasing horde of monsters. The problem is that when it comes to presenting an image of competence, the Neo Heroes are just too good at it.

Their methods aren't all for show either: rather than toss single heroes out into the field to fend for themselves as best they can, they have grouped their members into multi-talented teams and then headed them with excellent leaders. Added to that, they actively support their heroes with good equipment, training, transportation and logistics. Of course the results are better. They can't not be.

The worst of it is that not only has the Hero Association not taken any interest in developing leaders among the heroes enrolled, but when a few heroes, such as Sweet Mask and Child Emperor, have tried to suggest improvements to their organisation, they've ignored them.

Walrus Moustache (one day he'll have a name) asks if they don't have someone like that in the Hero Association, a rough diamond that can be polished up. Sicchi, recalling how dismissive they were of Sweet Mask's suggestions, thinks that it's a bit late to be asking that question. Proceedings are cut short by the emergency broadcast of multiple dragon-level monsters simultaneously showing up in five different cities.

McCoy doesn't lose his head; in the midst of the mass consternation around the room, he wastes no time in demanding that they get in touch with Neo Hero HQ to request back up. The heroes might not win this and there's no point in putting pride before human life.

He has a point: dragon-level threats are a lot worse than the varied demon-level threats the Neo Leaders had been flexing on. If these aren't stopped quickly, the death tolls will be horrifying. So, where are the monsters? And who is fighting them? Well, the first we saw that Blue has already hared off to tackle.

The second is being faced by Tank Top Master in City N. Heavy Smoker couldn't be more of an antithesis to the clean-living hero, the veritable symbol of a filthy life ill-lived. The smoke is toxic and is poisoning the life out of the city. Nevertheless, he shoulder barges the monster, only to find that it breaks up into clumps before reforming and punching him. He's nearly at his last gasp already.

In City D, Tatsumaki faces the most disgusting mass of bugs she's ever seen. They swirl into an aptly named Aggregation, and as she watches, they go charging off in all directions.

Looks like distributed threats are in fashion. In City T, Genos has a horde of monsters of his own to deal with. The Extended Family of Darkness may sound like your least-liked neighbours are holding a cookout but no dragon-level monster is ever a joke.

Undaunted by the prospect of being on their menu, Genos backflips into their midst, and as they come charging in, activates his scorching core.

And the fifth? Never ask for whom the bell tolls: it's the Hero Association headquarters itself. Machine God Mirror has an important assignment and wants King, stat.

Suiko takes it upon herself to attack the robot, jumping down through the hole it made to drop kick it.

Fight's on!

Meta

One more time and this guy is going to feel he's been personally cursed

What are the chances that monsters send you flying, not once but twice, in the supposedly safest place in the world? Poor rich boy.

Astute webcomic readers have noticed that Machine God Mirror is no longer at a random city (aka I can't be arsed to look it up but it's nowhere important) but has come to a stragetically vital location, somewhere King is very likely to either be, or be rapidly summoned to. Nice!

Saitama may be fast, but Wisdom is a persistence hunter

It gladdened my heart to see Saitama not plunge mindlessly into another thing that catches his attention but think a bit for once on whether the method makes sense. He's finally learning.

Sadly, it won't take too much annoyance to tip Saitama into committing full-heartedly. And given the way things he forsees end up coming to pass, we could be looking at the preview of his new hero name.

The best lies are half truths, the best traitors are the apparently resonable

What McCoy says sounds reasonable. Indeed, in the webcomic, his call for the Neo Heroes was initially written for Sicchi. However, coming out of his mouth and in combination with his knowing little smirk, we realise that this monster irruption is no accident, but most likely an attempt to undermine the crediblity of the pro-heroes.

When we look at which heroes have been sent to deal with the monsters, and how utterly unsupported each of them is, we must shake our heads. They're all going to struggle with the match ups. Which brings me to something else...

The Culture Clash

There is a genuine culture clash between the pro-heroes and the neo heroes. Through no fault of the Hero Association's, the landscape of monsters has changed. Back when the HA was established, the idea of a hero as someone you could reliably pay and support to protect people from the random attacks of monsters was an untested idea, they pioneered and proved that system to great effect. And when monsters were few, far between, and generally weak, rigourously vetting hero candidates for their morals, then letting individual heroes make up their minds about how to tackle disasters made a lot of sense.

It's always been a brutal system if one wasn't already a very strong hero, or lucky enough to work with a strong one and now, with monsters more common than ever and strong ones no longer rare, it's a system that's been in desperate need of change.

The system proposed by the Neo Heroes, which doesn't depend on one strong person but systematically trains, equips, and organises groups of heroes to fight monsters makes sense. It's very professional and isn't one that can be dismissed out of hand.

Whether the two systems can co-exist remains to be seen.

I was initially thinking that I'd review chapters 227 and 228 today as well, but I think I'm best waiting for 229 to come out and round out the dragon festival before I do so. Stay tuned!

[potsweeta]

Another fun req from Twitter 😆

[acidproofnotebook]

Update 163 (previously 162). Changes between online and print versions, part 1

Yes, we continue! Original on left, changes on the right. Not translated as of 26 Feb 2022. With several dialogue changes for this one, look for an update.

I will never hate Waganma for being less of an asshole, particularly as Food Battler has actually been cut this time

Of course, the super-dramatic fashion in which they're swept up sees no change

Food Battler is bandaged up as well, no miraculous escape from injury this time!

Murata remembers to consistently give Genos cheek pieces; woes of having a very complex model. Pity the animators.

Now here's a change; a much more knowing look crosses Genos's face as he concludes his talk with Sicchi. Puts a different spin on things.

Understandably, Waganma isn't keen to be ditched. Food Battler raises himself to offer a solution to the impasse.

In the interests of avoiding an awkward break, I'll finish this chapter in the next post

[gofancyninjaworld]

All Stitched Up

Cast your mind back to the Monster Association. You know how in the webcomic, it was purely by chance that the heroes stumbled upon the monsters in their hideout, and equally by chance that the 'wrong' heroes happened on the cadres able to counter them? In the manga, the Monster Association was so well-organised that it launched a pre-emptive attack on various cities and had a plan of which hero was going to be funnelled to meet which cadre. That was wonderfully evil, and it nearly worked too -- damn that Caped Baldy.

If you want to draw your enemies into a trap, forcing their hand is the best way.

Anyway, coming to the present crisis. The webcomic just had the various S-Class heroes stumble upon the various dragon-level threats, like they just happened to be the nearest hero. Here, it's clear that individual heroes have been dispatched to deal with the threats. And one can't help but think, they really could have done better.

Sending Tank Top Master to deal with a monster emitting tons of toxic smoke is cruelty. It's guaranteeing he's going to be poisoned and hoping he'll not die before killing the monster.

As if taking notes from Black Sperm, a group of individually-strong monsters working in coordination is not the situation Genos would favour. Guess the doctor still hasn't given Genos back his multi-targetting beams.

Now a group of monsters is nothing for Tatsumaki. Doubly nothing when we've seen her fight Psykos-Orochi. However, she's grossed out by the bugs -- does she have a phobia? In any case, she's been wasting precious time being paralyzed with horror while the bugs scatter, presumably to cause havoc.

Who would know these things about the heroes? McCoy. As vice Chief of Operations, he legitimately has access to individual heroes' characteristics, and can direct who is to be dispatched where.

Just in case you need the reminder: McCoy is where the buck stops when it comes to hero deployments.

McCoy would know that if he sent Tatsumaki to deal with The Extended Family of Darkness, she'd destroy them without breaking a sweat, and that Genos absolutely *excels* at pouring pain onto a single point -- Heavy Smoker would be dead in an instant and the toxic smoke could be rendered considerably less toxic by extreme heat, something Genos is uniquely placed to do. With some back up, Tank Top Master would have a field day bug-swatting -- his aim is crazy-good. Instead, McCoy has had those three dispatched to bad situations, each with a city full of people as hostages.

It's almost as if he doesn't want them to succeed. At least, not easily.

Reasonable on its face but what a conflict of interest!

And if convincing the public that the Hero Association cannot protect them is a goal, then having a monster tear through the re-reinforced HQ like a starving kid through a cake will definitely do that!

I can feel the sponsorship funds evaporating like that wall.

And to think that just a few minutes' earlier, he'd been talking to Blue. This double-dealing McCoy is nearly surgical in the precision with which he undermines the Hero Association.

We need Sekingar, Badd, and Isamu to make some kind of breakthrough fast! This guy is too good and too dangerous to be left to run free for much longer.

Something Sicchi could do, other than looking concerned, would be to 'accidentally' pull the live feed. It will not do morale good to see TTM gasping like a fish, Tats failing to save lives and peoperty as she fights her revulsion, nor Genos getting damaged.

No need to guess whether the HA's live feed is being used dor underground betting. I bet McCoy and Ryumon will do nicely today if no one spikes their bets.

What a stellar guy!

[gofancyninjaworld]

And so I punched him [Review of Ninja Arc]

Yo, it's been a minute! Damn. being old and busy sucks. Ah well, let's get on with reviewing the third (and hopefully final) version of the 'Ninja' arc.

SUMMARY

?!???

Yeah, yeah, I said I liked skipping those but with so many versions, a quick recap is worthwhile.

As you know, the Obstreperous Flash[1] barged into Saitama's gaming session, wouldn't take go away for an answer, challenged him to a fight that saw his life flash before his eyes, got saved by the bell (um, I mean reports of a monster attack), tagged along, met Sonic, Saitama saved Manako on his own, and they all went to Sicchi to try to arrange a meeting with Blast only to find him conveniently there.

So, what happened this time? Well, Blast came, not to see if monsterization can be undone (more thoughts on that later), but because of his evil ex-partner, Void. It was handy that Flash was here as that meant he could warn him that That Man was back and out for his blood. Also, to leave it to Blast to deal with the dude -- for reasons he couldn't disclose. Saitama, finding out that Flash too was a ninja understands why Flash is so like Sonic, being a clingy, violent-addicted pervert. This upsets Flash and he's determined to set the record straight.

Said record-straightening comes in the form of a lengthy glob of backstory on the Village culminating in Flash's triumphant slaughter of nearly everyone in said place, for which Flash commandeers Saitama's flat. As appreciation, Genos comes through the wall to thunk a mug of hot tea onto Flashy's head, along with a preroration on letting Sonic live. Anyway... Flash leaves after that, and Blast and Sicchi take their leave too, after a very pleased Genos (at last! he must have thought, they're taking what I said seriously! [2]) tells Blast to consult Saitama if he runs into any issues. Flashy gets a letter of challenge from Sonic and goes off to meet him. In the meantime, Blast and Sicchi discuss where and how to lay hands on Void, as the latter is of vital strategic importance in the fight against God (no ID). Turns out Blast has Sonic's hideout bugged, so he knows about the trap set for Flash.

Unfortunately for Blast's plans, Sonic did challenge Flash and so the two of them are in a random forest somewhere having a scrap for old times' sake and other ninja nonsense. Contemporaneously, Saitama declares that he's off to Sonic's hideout to help the dude and give him and the other ne'er-do-well ninjas a drubbing and theorises that they're acting this way because they have nothing better to do with their lives. He then says that perhaps it's not good to be alone [3] and scurries off quickly before Genos can ask any awkward questions about what he meant.

Anyway, back to the scuffle. Sonic tries some fancy moves only to see Flashy Flash bat away all his techinques before sending him flying with some fancy kicking of his own. The Tenninto show up in their variously-weaponed glory (oh, did I forget to introduce them earlier? Never mind! We know who they are) and try to execute Flashy Flash. Sonic reappears, tells them to get lost, and then it's the two ninja frenemies against the Tenninto. Just as Flash and Sonic are about to turn the other ninjas into very poor quality sashimi, Blast shows up out of nowhere to stop the fight. He's fed up with the fratricidal tendencies of ninjas and there's no longer any point to this fight. The Tenninto try to jump him and all get punched down. Voilent Force then declares that their master, That Man, being a serial killer without equal, will totally take care of Blast, even if they couldn't. To which Blast says he's got something to show them.

That something is the exterior of Sonic's hideout, where there's Saitama sitting on the pavement watching a man-shaped hole in the ground. Saitama might not have fancypants portal technology but he can still beat Blast to the punch. Even loaned him his dog as compensation, so he could go find the other ninjas. The Tenninto naturally don't believe that Saitama really beat their master, but they start to change their minds as the baldie lays them all out.

Proceedings are interrupted by the sky opening up and some chimeric beasts coming through. Overgrown Pochi spits fire at them and they return the favour, after which it's a very good thing that a) no one lives there any longer because it's all been turned to ash and b) that Blast has a handy-dandy shield or the ninjas would be toast. Saitama goes to teach the beasties manners but before he can do so, the hole in the ground starts to smoke and Void explodes out of it to slice and dice said critters, and Blast punches them mightly to send them back whence they came and shuts the dimensional rift after them. Saitama decides it's nothing to do with him after all and makes to head home...

...only he lingers a bit. Looks like Empty Void is indeed back to his senses, Saitama's punch having driven God's influence out of him (Blast wonders what the hell Saitama is). Sonic and Flash try attacking Void, who dodges them easily and Blast stops them. With some very fast talking, Blast insists that Void's actions weren't truly his fault, being rather undermined by Void himself as the latter says he remembers what he did perfectly well -- it was just that being under the influence made the worst of him easier to access. Anyway, he had things to do now, so would his ex-victim ninjas please get along and not make trouble? Bye! And the pair are gone, though not before Blast tells Saitama that he'll be back for him when he really needs his help.

The Tenninto have a bit of a think before deciding that the best thing to do would be to follow Saitama around as their new leader, much to Saitama's dismay. Flashy Flash confesses to Sonic about poisoning him, which Sonic brushes off, saying he was more disappointed than angry. Besides, they have more training to do. The arc closes out a few days later with Saitama beseiged by ninjas. The Tenninto want him to lead them, Flash wants to train him, Sonic wants to challenge him, and Gale Wind and Hellfire Flame want to fight Flash. It's all very chaotic. Genos remarks that well, looks like Saitama's not alone any longer, to which Saitama protests that that wasn't what he meant!

Poor Saitama, he can't win for winning.

Baldie keeps attracting the wrong kind of attention.

Meta below the cut.

META

Where to start? Let's go with the extradiegetic.

Extradiegesis

The biggest difference between this arc and the previous version is that the previous one was meant to be the culmination of an arc, where it would draw together the disjointed pieces of Saitama putting his life back together again in the aftermath of the Monster Association raid, introducing the new challenge the Hero Association is facing in the Neo Heroes, filling in and using details of what happened when Garou turned Cosmic, and topping it all off with a terrifying preview of an Avatar of God. In this version, we're no longer rising to the culmination of an arc: the issue with Void and the ninjas is just one more thing happening and something else is going to be the capstone. Or, in simpler terms, if the previous iteration felt a lot more epic, that's because it was intended to be a closer!

Void was going to go out with a bang.

Many of the facts established earlier are still congruent with this arc but the means of storytelling used have changed a lot. We've got a lot more webcomic-style telling rather than showing, which has made the chapters more compact at the expense of exploring the characters more deeply. Some things, such as Blast and Void's history, will probably come out later. Some things, such as the demonsterization attempts, have probably been sent to another storyline (as u/Nanayon123 suggested, it'd have an incredibly powerful impact in the Amai Mask arc). And some things are gone, such as Sonic's dream place for his new village.

The biggest change in emphasis has to be Void. He's less proactive, being happy to wait for his minions to work rather than start proceedings with an attempt to take out the Hero Association. Since Saitama smacks him into a hole rather than wandering around and accidentally spoiling his plans, we don't get much of him. Well, at least he's alive. So are the Tenninto. They've all been saved for something later. I hope it's cruel and full of pain for them.

Well, at least Blast is happy. And he's left without even trying to visit his son.

Intradiegesis

Once is a coincidence. Twice is stalking

One thing this arc gave us is an appreciation for why Blast is so rarely seen. He has a post to man, with the job of keeping God's pets at bay. With him having left for a while to see about recovering Empty Void, we've started getting those pets coming through. So far, they've been modeled on Chinese heavenly beasts -- look elsewhere if you're curious.

However, the turtle and the tiger weren't the only ones who came through. We find out that Saitama also took out a Qilin. It is interesting that in both cases, the beasts appeared right over where Saitama was, and that they appeared to be looking for something, or someone, particular.

Congrats, you found me! Have a free fist!

When Sicchi speculated that 'God' was being drawn to something in particular and we were shown Saitama's back, I guess that He's started sending his pets through to find the baldie if they can slip through.

Since they don't seem to resurrect, there's only the Vermillion Bird left. It might wait a while before trying its luck.

So it looks like this preview of 'God' and his soldiers is going to be just that, a preview. Until later. Anyway, let's stick with the baldie for a moment.

The mightiest mountain will be worn down to a stone

Apologies to JAM Project, who have in their season 1 theme song that the mightiest mountain started as a stone. The single most moving thing that happened in the story for me was watching Saitama going to Sonic's place and why.

Saitama's been so passive in his life. We've seen him be the sort of person King has to prompt to even consider checking on his disciple. Whereas in the webcomic, Saitama went to Sonic's place to steal a sword from him so Flashy Flash would leave him alone, here, he's decided to go to get Sonic out of whatever trouble the Tenninto are making for him. That's growth. Slowly, like tiny drops of water wearing away a mountain, living and interacting with people has finally started getting through to Saitama.

But he'll beat Sonic too? Yup, spare the rod, spoil the child, or something like that.

So far, so moving. u/PerFerVidCreator said it better than I ever could, but Saitama talking about maybe Sonic being lonely (well, about it not good to be alone), left me shook. The empathy inherent in it. How close he's come here to telling Genos about his own struggles. And then he yells about having to go. Before Genos asks questions that could lead to a conversation he's not ready to have yet. The cracks are showing, heh heh.

drip, drip, drip…slowly, slowly, Saitama is becoming more human. An awkward and embarrassed one.

Lies, damned lies, and Blast

No matter how generously one tries to view things, the maths that Blast maths about Void only doing evil on account of God's influence just doesn't math. If the Village is a consequence of Void being influenced, that cannot explain the existence of 44 classes. Doubly so when Void has been out of it for the last fifteen years. It doesn't tally either with what we know of Blast's history with the dude.

Blast has to be lying -- it's much easier for him to get Void away if he can spin a tale of Void being a good guy gone wrong and leave while the ninjas still pondering things, than it is to admit that yeah, he knew this guy was evil but he wasn't like evil-evil until recently and he has plans for him. It's not the first time he's told lies of convenience: we first saw that with Tatsumaki when he told her to rely only on herself while himself having a team around him.

Not cool for a guy who claimed to be able to see through lies.

He means this literally.

But then, the story has established that Blast has a ruthless the-ends-justify-the-means streak to him, and he was determined to let nothing get between him and recovering Void. So that's that. For now. This has to come back and bite him later. Hard.

Dangit, he was right after all

I really wasn't expecting Genos to be vindicated. When he went on a four-hour rant about Saitama, even though what he was saying was true, I didn't expect it to go anywhere. Whenever a character suggests a story-shortening strategy, the story usually goes out of its way to make it not happen. Not OPM (I know, subversion of tropes, who does that?).

Happiest guy who ever misunderstood a situation.

And yet, here we are. Blast has indeed seen what Saitama can do and realised that Saitama has a very special ability: when he punches, God flees. He doesn't know what that means yet, but he's savvy enough to realise that this guy is worth calling on whenever he finally tracks his ethereal foe down.

Though Blast had no intention of taking Genos up on his suggestion, he did end up consulting Saitama, whereupon the latter loaned him Overgrown Pochi, so he could find the ninjas.

Always willing to lend a fellow hero a helping hand, or paw.

Genos is even completely unharmed this arc. That's one happy boy. Speaking of boys...

Ooos a good boi?

Yes, you are!

Finally

You'll have noticed I've not said anything about the Tenninto. Whichever version you happen to be referencing, they're victims in a much larger story than they. They should be grateful that they're alive this time!

ASIDES

[1]Flash: "That's the worst name yet. You make me sound like a very stubborn pervert." Genos: "It's also the most accurate."

[2] See chapter 173, "Secret Intel". There, Genos tells Sicchi to call on Saitama if/when he hears from Blast as that's who is needed to deal with the 'God' problem. He left annoyed because he thought he wasn't being taken seriously.

[3] That IS what he says, and without that, what Genos says at the end of the arc literally makes no sense. The translators chickened out and mistranslated it as him talking about Sonic. Shame on them.

[gofancyninjaworld]

I have a funny feeling

Remember Flashy Flash musing that his long-shot investigation might just turn something up about God that changes everything? Yeah, let's admire his pretty face for a second:

Isn't he pretty? He was right, too.

This arc has plenty to explore about 'God' and his minions and ninjas and more, but I'm getting a funny feeling, a wee tingly bit of a hunch, that we're about to find something paradigm-shifting about cyborgs too.

What's tweaking my nerve endings so? Two lines of occurrences ( I won't yet dignify them with the term evidence).

The first is Void. Back when he first appeared, my first thought was that he was a cyborg.

Those arms look decidedly mechanical

His second design still strongly suggests prosthetic arms rather than armoured ones.

His ability to twist his neck and limbs independently through 180 degrees and still have them working could totally be a bonus of taking 'God's' hand, but they could just as easily be a result of extensive body modification. Not saying it's definitive, but I remember so well Garou learning about how tricky a greater-than-normal range of motion could be.

Blast being wrong-footed (or is it wrong-armed?) by Void's unexpected flexibility.

As Garou found out to his cost, cyborgs aren't limited to the normal human range of motion.

Strange but true, body modification is not unknown to ninjas. Witness Gale Wind telling Sonic that monsterisation delivers more than body mods ever could.

Training, drugs, body modification? Eh, one monster cell and you'll leapfrog all that sweat and pain!

So far, so hmm.

What's the second line? Well, there's ONE's tendency to wake up and choose violence. Whenever a character decides they have something all figured out, he loves to come kick over their bucket of milk and force them to reconsider the way things work. He especially loves doing that to Genos... but that's beside the point.

Anyway, back when Saitama came back from the future and derailed the Ominous Future, Genos, on reviewing what his time-traveled core had to say, decided that it was his duty to let those who needed to know about what happened. We subsequently saw him do so at great length in chapter 173 at a secret meeting, which he left, declaring that whenever Blast returned, Saitama was to be contacted as that was all they would need to deal with God.

This is above my paygrade, but I know the right man for the job.

Genos was initially disgusted that all the Hero Association seemed to take from it was to promote Saitama from B-Class to A-Class rather than make him the guest of honour right away. However, he's much happier now. We know that Saitama and Flashy Flash meeting up with Blast was a lucky accident but as far as he's concerned, the HA was listening after all, and Blast is now consulting and working with Saitama as it should be.

Look at him: he's so proud of how things have turned out.

It's interesting to note that Genos has not offered to accompany Saitama to whatever contretemps the ninjas and their god-bothering ways are getting up to. He came to track down a mysterious mass murderer, and the power he seeks is to ensure that he kills the guy without fail. Along the way, eliminating monsters and bad guys is the right thing to do. He can leave the really gnarly stuff to the likes of the transcendentally-strong Saitama or those with freaky powers, like Blast. He completely accepts the paradigm that his strength as a cyborg derives from his parts. There's no way that parts will enable him to play jump rope with the laws of physics or ignore distance, effort, and other unrealistic things, so this is not a plane of power he can touch, and it's one he does not need to concern himself with, as long as Saitama exists. Off we see Genos go, happy to walk the dog and go buy groceries like a contented little NPC.

Nothing to see here, just a happy little 'borg with his dog and shopping.

With me so far?

How does this all twist together?

Well, 'God' works with whatever He finds when he finds a worthy apostle, so if Void is a cyborg now, he was one then, back when he was Blast's partner -- sufficiently strong to have supported Blast in his God-bothering activities and apparently still so important that both Sicchi and Blast are determined to wrest him from God's hands at any cost.

Yes, he's evil, but more importantly, he's useful. What operation? I guess we'll find out.

If Void has had any amount of body modification, even if it's a low percentage, it blows Genos's suppositions about how the world works out of the water. Maybe it'll just be left as dramatic irony, for us the audience to know and Genos to continue groping around in the dark about, like how Nichirin's grasped that living and non-living parts don't matter -- it's your chi that determines how strong you are. [Yes, we know that that's what Saitama told Genos at the beginning but the latter hasn't truly learned what he meant by that.] But I have a nasty suspicion that some aspect of this will come and kick Genos up the jacksie. Because choosing violence is what ONE loves to do to his characters whenever they start getting comfortable.

Just a hunch, no more. At least for now.

[gofancyninjaworld]

Only the funny ones matter

Consider this meta for Chapter 201.

I half joke that only the joke predictions come to pass.

I was looking through my old Tumblr posts (can't remember what I was looking for, something about Saitama and cats) and found one in which I was commenting on the change of emphasis between original and redraw. The chapter in question was chapter 120, 'The Only Thing is Strength', and in the published version, Genos was less explicitly inspirational than he'd originally been portrayed. Back then, I'd quipped that with all that he would go ont to do (the redraw came after chapter 155 was out), he'd otherwise be like a cyborg John the Baptist to Saitama's Bald Jesus [Link].

How little I knew!

When Genos said that he needed to let the people who needed to know know about Saitama, I'd thought he meant to remind Saitama of what the latter had actually done. Oh no, he wasn't joking!

Hoo boy, when it comes to preparing the way for his master, Genos did not slack off!

He spoke to the secret gathering that Sitch convened to discuss the looking God (no ID) problem, and while they publicly doubted him, they did ponder on his words.

Now, now, no need to be cross: you have kept them for four hours so it's natural they're a little sarky. They did listen, promise!

Normally, stories in which a character proposes a sensible action with the potential to greatly hasten a story's resolution (like Genos's proposal that Saitama be called if Blast appeared), never see that suggestion come to fruition. But here we are, with Blast not only meeting Saitama, but doubling back to consult with him, just as Genos suggested he do.

To be fair to Blast, he did tell Genos that he'd consider consulting Saitama. He's just very honest (also totally out of leads as to where Sonic might be).

The latest chapter makes it clear that Blast is legitimately a very busy man who cannot afford to be away from his post long. He and Sitch must have been at least a little curious about Saitama to spend so much precious time visiting Saitama's apartment. I know Flash would like to think that it's because his origin story is that fascinating, but Blast knows all about ninjas and their fratricidal ways. He is, in fact, sick of ninjas and their schemes.

As good a pretext as any to see what this bald guy is like.

Well, now Blast has met Saitama. He has seen the latter apprehend Void with ease, and keep the Tenninto in check. Now, he's in prime position to see what Saitama does about rude, fire-breathing pets.

I'm here for an epic str-- oh, never mind.

The horse has well and truly been led to the water. Will it have the nous to drink? That's the question we have regarding what Blast will make of Saitama.

I'm very keen to see what the next chapter brings.

[gofancyninjaworld]

The New Ninja Arc So Far (Review)

RIght, they do say that third time's the charm! I'm hoping that ONE and Murata are happy with how this falls on the page this time.

I am SKIPPING any summary: we've seen this enough times. Let's go straight to Meta, shall we?

Meta

Hard stop

So, in a Youtube video I can no longer find, some wag called Saitama a guy suffering from Premature Eradication Syndrome. It's pretty accurate -- he doesn't so much have fights as he has encounters that end when he decides to stick his fist out. The suddenness with which fights can end in OPM is something that really got me into the story. While Saitama is the guy who most often does this, it happens elsewhere, like with the unfortunate Sky King.

Rest in pieces. I'm sure you were a tough monster but, unfortunately, you were just in the way.

And alternatively, fights that you think will end quickly don't and turn into horrifying prolonged struggles that sap combatants' very will to live. So it goes!

This is why you see readers who have been raised on the choreography of shonen and action movies flipping out, alternatively ranting about how a certain 'monster' was 'wasted' and decrying fights that go on for longer than expected. Sorry! Life-and-death struggles aren't portrayed here as action pieces. [1]

I'm always down for some Premature Eradication Syndrome. I was personally delighted to see that right as Flashy Flash was about to shiskabob himself some Tenninto, Blast comes in and stops the whole fight, beating down the Tenninto himself when they try attacking him.

Now this is another definition of 'sudden death'.

The beliefs that enslave

With this, I see that the initial idea ONE had of the Tenninto surviving has come back, albeit in a different way. I'll start with another idea that has returned: the question of what freedom is. Initially, we had Flashy sparing them, first to gloat, second to show off his superior understanding of what the true purpose of the Ninja Village had been, and thirdly, out of a sense of pity for them having had their lives stolen. Which amused them greatly, as they saw freedom as lying in serving a master faithfully.

Gosh, that was so CREEPY.

This time around, as we see Flash turning over Sonic's words in his mind and wondering whether the idea of freedom was an illusion, the narration lets us know that despite being free of the Ninja Village, none of the fighting parties had the slightest idea of what freedom actually meant due to how restricted their upbringings had been: it's a much sadder affair, one of ninjas unable to escape the cruel fates they've been shaped to accept. In a way, it shouldn't surprise us that they fight: we've seen that each and every ninja is convinced that he alone is the best and is prepared to die proving that to be the case, no matter how hopeless it is. It's just lucky for Sonic that Saitama is as tolerant as he is strong.

Freedom is a lot more than merely not being in captivity.

A few chapters ago, we'd seen Blast musing on how ninjas seem fated to kill each other in a struggle for power, only to replicate the same cruel conditions that make more ninjas, and have the cycle repeat anew. Looks like he has decided to step in and try to break this particular cycle. Whether he will succeed is something we'll just have to see.

Fame, power, influence. Kill your way to the top and make more minions fit only for death. That appears to be the real ninja way.

I have many more thoughts on cages, but I'll have to leave it here.

Ohhh, it all starts to add up

ONE's simple observations are really freaking obvious, and yet surprisingly frequently overlooked. One of them is that for someone to share information with you, they need two things: first, to know what it is that you want to know, and second, a reason to share it with you. We were initially treated to the hilarious scenario of Genos popping out of Saitama's wall to smack Flash on the head with a cup of hot tea, having eavesdropped on the proceedings next door, and then the slightly cringe scene of him delightedly inviting Blast to come back to consult Saitama whenever he liked. Ah Genos, you are so crazy, like a cybernetic Oscar The Grouch.

Genos is so much like a proud mother sometimes. He thinks it's because he told the HA to call Saitama if they heard from Blast. Let us not disabuse him just yet.

But not so fast...

Blast knows where Sonic's hideout is: he has it bugged. However, some time after Saitama left, Blast came back to Saitama's, apparently in the hopes of finding a lead on where Sonic's current whereabouts might be. He did not see Flashy Flash get a challenge letter, and was in conference with Sicchi when the former left, so has no idea of where the ninja could have gone to even think of following him. Sonic has definitely not sent Blast a challenge letter as he didn't even know that the guy was around.

ONE has been diligent in not creating a plot hole of leaving Sonic possibly aware of Blast's presence.

Genos sure as hell doesn't know where Sonic might be. However, he knows a few things. One: that Saitama has a stash of challenge letters from Sonic. Two: where Saitama would have put those letters. Three: they have a freakish dog that just might be able to pick up Sonic's scent. And, most important of all, four: he really likes that Blast *has* come back to consult Saitama and so wants to help.

All of this is how Blast ends up presenting one of those letters to Overgrown Rover, sweat beading on his face as he thinks what an incredibly stupid idea this is, and how desperate he has to be even to be considering it.

if it's stupid but it works...

And how, despite its stupidity, it works: the monstrous scenting ability of the dog does lead him to the correct place.

...it's not stupid.

So, who's minding the shop?

This time around, Blast has not told Flashy Flash or Saitama anything about That Man; not his real name (Empty Void), not his relationship to him (former partner), and certainly not his strategic importance. It's clear that Void is still extremely important to some plan that Blast and Sicchi have, and that it is primary importance that Void is wrest from 'God's' clutches, no matter what he's done in the past and no matter the cost.

Ah yes, Void, former partner, ex-brother-in-law, serial child abuser, slave trader, assassin, and now avatar of an evil eldrich being. Totally the guy you want to stick your neck out for.

All Saitama knows about this guy is that he was an exceptionally cruel ninja, buying boys and brutalising them into being either killers to be sold onto criminals or turning them into minions to serve an evil entity called 'God'. He knows that Sonic is being menaced by this cruel ninja and a bunch of ne'er-do-wells, and he's gone specifically to save Sonic. [2]

Saitama...actually taking the initiative to reach out to someone out of empathy... well, I did NOT have this in my bingo list.

Currently, he's alone in Sonic's former hideout, where Void is going to be showing up sooner rather than later. And Blast isn't there to intercede.

Hmmm, I don't know about you, but I have a feeling this isn't going to end well for Void or Blast. I have some popcorn I'm dying to pop and munch on as I read the way this goes down.

Asides

[1] That said, when ONE is writing shonen, he knows the formula well and executes it beautifully: the fights Mob gets into and the sprawling battles of Versus are testimony to that.

[2] FUCK, I AM STILL SHOOK!!!! Like even the mightiest mountain is shaped by wind and water, Saitama is slowly changing! And in this case for the better. Wow.