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gofancyninjaworld · 2 days ago

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The Man on the Moon and the Trolley

When I write this, I'm assuming that most people are familiar with the Trolley Problem. In short, it posits a runaway trolley heading towards a group of people on a track. There's no time to warn them, but you can throw a switch to divert the trolley down a different track with only a single person. The question is, do you throw the switch?

At the core of this philosophical problem is the notion that the people on the two tracks are interchangeable and differ only in number. It flatters us that we'd make the logical choice. ONE has been testing this idea to destruction in the MA arc of the manga.

A: Sacrificing A Few For The Many

Someone who'd take the trolley problem head on is Genos. He's long been on board with the idea of making sacrifices for the greater good, and he's literally put his body on the line to make that sacrifice.

The cold logic of the matter is that if there's any innocent people to kill to stop a terrible threat from killing many more people, heroes are the right people to kill. They're the people who are prepared to die for others. He acknowledges explicitly that killing heroes would have once been no big deal for him if the outcome was that a monster as terrible as Black Sperm didn't escape. He isn't afraid to die under those circumstances.

Not only was he prepared to throw the switch on the trolley tracks, he was prepared to throw himself in front of the trolley to be its first victim. Can't say fairer than that.

So ONE puts on his best shit-eating grin and asks him very directly, 'are you going to kill Tatsumaki?' Because the Trolley Problem only works when you don't know anyone on the tracks. By working so closely with her, she ceases to be a hero in the abstract, or even just a person. She’s the person he’s flown in the teeth of one of the most terrifying monsters ever to give her space to work. She’s the person he’s plunged down a mile to summon help for, then clambered back up to guard her when she could no longer protect herself. She’s the person he’s carried in his arms, giving his back to every obstacle and blow so as to keep safe. Furthermore, he’s seen and empathises with Fubuki’s fear for her sister’s well-being and that impels him to try that much harder for Tatsumaki. And she's a person who really, really doesn't want to die.

So when push came to shove, the question wasn't 'are you going to kill a dozen heroes to save millions of lives?' It was: 'are you going to kill Tatsumaki? Is that your idea of justice? REALLY?' It's at that point that he gets on top of her to shield her from being stamped to death, to protect her come what may. It might not have worked out as well as it did in the end, but no matter: Genos has decided that his path to justice and strength does not lie in strategically sacrificing others.

And then he started torturing himself over it, at least until Saitama reassured him that no, he hadn't chickened out. Ah, Genos, never change.

Let's go onto another guy who figures he's got the trolley problem licked.

B: Being Fair

The trouble with people is that they treat each other illogically. We invent differences and pick on each other on the basis of them: the way you look, speak, walk, your parentage, nationality, how much money you have. It is maddening. Garou's take on the trolley problem is to see it as a threat that can be wielded to scare the greatest number of people into self-protective unity at the cost of the fewest number of victims, victims chosen perfectly at random so that it's all fair.

Fair evil that strikes without warning, without fear or favour, terrorizing everyone equally. That's the dream.

The gamma radiation that Cosmic Garou gave off has got to be the most beautiful embodiment of fairly-applied evil. It is isotropic, radiating out evenly from him in all directions. It does not discriminate. It does not select. It affects all people regardless of religion, wealth, social standing, or creed, and brings destruction to their lives so that they must flee and huddle in fear.

He got exactly what he wanted, in the best possible way. Radiation hits everyone at once -- no coming up to you one at a time and finding a reason to hit you. Total unbiased fairness.

Perfect. All that remained was to get rid of that one pesky hero, Saitama, and he could scare the world into behaving.

Problem. Well, two problems. The first, Saitama proved harder to defeat than he anticipated. Impossible, as a matter of fact. Well... at least he could go out like a martyr. But then...

...Saitama pointed out that he'd forborne killing Garou on account of it being Tareo's dying wish...

PROBLEM.

Garou wanted to terrify the world equally but more than that, he wanted to save this one child. To make the world safe for ugly brats being picked on. And, instead, he had killed him with his unbiased evil.

Garou could say it wasn't just that Tareo was killed, but he couldn't say it wasn't fair.

There's nothing feigned about Garou's wails of grief as he comes to terms with the absurdity of his position. He preached unbiased evil but in the end, what he really wanted was biased justice, the 'crime' of looking out especially for someone who needed the help. And the enormity of this realisation crushed him.

He can't live with what he wanted.

However, that was not all Garou learned then. Let's go on to the third guy.

C: The Man on the Moon

"You wanted to save him? You weren't just clinging to him for support?"

There was a time when Saitama literally was the man on the Moon, The Moon, Our Moon, so to speak. It made for some beautiful symbolism of a man who wasn't quite of this world.

So close and yet so far from the world, Saitama as an otherworldly being condensed into an image.

I have to specify because he's since been to another. However, when Saitama stopped Garou's keening with the words quoted above, what he said sounded so outrageous that Garou rounded on him, ready to fight. And then froze.

When Garou looked at Saitama, he saw an impossibly powerful being who... had no ties remaining to his humanity. HE could solve the trolley problem for now, people were only numbers, like beneficial insects whose loss was to be minimized but otherwise had no individual value.

The astute reader may remember how strong a callback this is to Saitama when we first met him, where he described other beings as being like insects for which he felt nothing.

He's starting to get the Doctor Manhattan detachment -- this is beyond mere depression.

The slightly less astute reader may remember Saitama telling King how he felt isolated even in a crowd.

The sense that he's the only being in a world of life-sized being-like creatures.

Ostensibly, he thought he was simply under-challenged but we realise in his words that subconsciously, he knew that his alienation from humanity went far deeper and was more problematic than he wanted to face. It terrified him. Lightly as he's held Genos, he clung to him as a drowning man to a rope, anything to keep from being swept away. This chapter brings it to the fore, as we see Garou articulate the horror of what Saitama has become.

It's one thing to think of hypothetical people for a philosophy exercise. It's another thing to no longer be able to see humans as humans. In that lies madness.

The story doesn't rush through this point. Over three pages, we see Garou look at Saitama, and look at Saitama, and look at him until he understands and then looks away. There's gibbering insanity, and then there's this negation of humanity that's much worse, for madmen never stop being human and most of them get better, but a man ascended to godhood; from that state, there is no salvation.

It's at this point that Garou decides that nope, he's out! Fuck unlimited power, it'd make more sense to wish for cancer. Or rabies. Or both.

That's when he decided to use his God-given knowledge and unique talents to teach Saitama how to reverse the future. And more than that, he went back in spirit to dissuade himself from this disastrous path. Sorry, God, when Garou decides on something, not even turning him into salt will stop him.

They say you know you've really fucked up when someone comes back from the future to stop you.

You know you've really, REALLY fucked up when not only does someone come back from the future to stop you, but your ghost comes back to tell you to not even think of carrying on with your bullshit.

I know much is made of the way Saitama doesn't remember the future. But I would not be surprised if Future Saitama deliberately suppressed his memories from appearing in Present Saitama's mind. For who would want to remember what it was like to lose one's very humanity, even briefly?

The reality of the Ominous Future hasn't gone anywhere. It's just locked away. For now.

At some point, Saitama is going to let himself remember the future. And then, things are going to get really interesting.

D: Wrapping up

Because the manga is drawn cleanly and written clearly, many fans make the vulgar mistake of confusing that clarity for shallowness. If you don't get stuck on an image or a scene, then when you take a step back and look at the sweep of it, you see much being explored in depth.

One of the questions that comes up in OPM a lot is 'who are you to decide for others'. Watching these characters struggle with the idea of who to save and who to sacrifice, and how it impacts their humanity, is quite a scene.

ONE hasn't spelled out what the right answer is, or even if there's a right one. Only that, if it comes to you easily, you're not human.

#One Punch Man #the trolley problem #Saitama #Genos #Garou #the fact that Saitama was losing himself to the extent that he could just look at people as objects to preserve as best possible is awful #a being with the ability to erase the entire world at a whim shouldn't be involved with the quotidien #or it should stay really human and able to relate to people as people #that ability to relate to others is the anchor Genos has brought to Saitama -- or this arc would have gone somewhere very different #The way ONE cut through the central conceit of the trolley problem (interchangeable people) with these three characters in different ways

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gofancyninjaworld · 3 days ago

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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.

#One Punch Man #review #Chapters 196-203 #ninja arc #Saitama #Blast #Tenninto #Speed o' Sound Sonic #Flashy Flash #Empty Void #Sicchi #Genos #Overgrown Rover #if this is abridged it'll be because ONE has changed his mind about the role of the ninja arc #If you ask me he's decided against making it an easy-to-adapt series for animators #the prior rendition gave us a focused preview of the terror that God's avatars can be #ONE has decided he wants to do more with Void and the Tenninto probably Blast too so we'll have to look forward to the rest of the story

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