#because i know there are some fans who like to portray genos or garou as misogynistic

[the-nysh]

Regarding that menstruation ask, I don't think they taught that stuff in the dojo because it has nothing to do with fighting a lady opponent (she won't talk about it to Garou and for him to assume such would be condescending) He probably doesn't know because he was 14/15 when Bang took him under his wing...the age where such stuff was taught in schools.

(The topic is starting to get a little weird cause normally bodily functions like this, including bowl movements, which is another Weird Ask I've gotten, aren't things fictional characters Need to worry about. So why......unless someone was intent on portraying the chars needlessly worse than they are - as in ignorantly idiotic or misogynistic - pick your poison, which are both unpleasant to think about.)

Because in the real world, 14/15 is already a high schooler - far too late past the onset of puberty, in which the basics of anatomy and preparation should have already been introduced or taught in 5th grade (age 10 for me) or followed up in middle school health/biology classes at minimum. (Otherwise not teaching the basics to kids in time is either irresponsible to downright harmful, boys included.)

This example would also assume Genos is in the same boat and wouldn't know anything from that age either, if female anatomy would be irrelevant to his body & combat functions as a cyborg too. It'd be just too absurd if he, or Garou, as top students even, had never heard of it before or had basic coverage in their primary schools already, before even Kuseno or Bang's respective 'home' schooling later. So I don't buy it, unless someone really had a beef with these characters and wanted to make their female fans feel uncomfortable or weirded out....so let's not, please. :'D

[scary-senpai]

Salty ask - 14, 19

Hello, Wonderful Anon! Thank you so much for dropping me a note <3 I always get ridiculously happy when I have something in my ask box. Perhaps you've figured out the theme by now, which is "if I hate something, it's probably a Me thing."

Salty Asks Done Nicely

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

90% of the OPM subreddit needs to quietly sit in time out until they learn to play nicely with other kids. Although I don't think that counts as an unpopular opinion.

As an avid consumer of meta and fan-made content, I think that having disparate interpretations of characters/scenes/events is usually a Two Cakes problem.

[[redacted/Blorbo]] is Ace/Aro? Love it. I'll be in my bunk.

[[redacted/Blorbo]] is a Sex God? 100%. Fabulous. I am curled up with my tablet and covered in cracker crumbs as we speak.

Do I sometimes catch myself giving the side-eye when someone portrays a character differently than I normally imagine? Yes--I am human and my opinions are strong. But at the same time, I try to remember that this person is giving their time/effort/energy/love to create something--almost certainly for free--and then has the courage/gumption to release their baby out into the aether for others to enjoy (because formatting for ao3/tumblr/etc is its own other beast!)... seriously, I'm figuratively kissing y'all on the mouth right now, and/or handing you a proverbial soup bowl with a side of undying admiration. I think it's fantastic that I have different types of content to choose from, in addition to canon, and that I have diverse options depending on my mood. Or, who knows! You might even change my mind :) To be honest, I did not understand Mumarou at first, and while it's not my OTP it is one of the ships in my armada. :) I'm grateful for any content that features my faves.

That being said... on Reddit in particular, I noticed some (actually a lot) of readers reacting in a strongly negative way to the relationship between Saitama and Genos, or just outright being mean to Garou or hating on Genos... I don't really understand that. I mean, I do, but... I've largely curated my fandom experience to avoid those people. Life's too short, you know? I'm really grateful to the Tumblr community for being such a chill and supportive place.

19. What's the thing you hate most about your fandom?

Writing for a small fandom is really hard.

I have yet to fully uncouple my desire to create with my desire for attention (it's an ongoing struggle). And because I mostly write genfics (no romance), that makes it really, really hard. And when I do write something that features a romantic relationship, I do so for an OTP that runs counter to the two most popular fandom ships, that makes it really, really, really hard.

Sure, I write meta stuff too, but I haven't been blogging very long, and I don't have much of a following so I don't get much engagement/asks/etc. I'm always a little surprised when people want my opinion on things.

I put a lot of work into everything I write, particularly my fics, so it's hard not to get down about the near-radio-silence sometimes. I accidentally wrote 100 words of Batarou for Wanpanmas 2020 and it was easily the most popular thing I'd ever done... until I briefly stepped into the Jujutsu Kaisen fandom with a Gojo x Reader sickfic. But that was better, because I did it on purpose--specifically, I did it for a friend who (like me) laments the lack of SFW/smut-free x reader stuff. Same writing style, similar character (white-haired & insufferable pretty boy), but very, very different experience. I do have some JJK fics drafted and occasionally I fantasize about switching over because maybe I wouldn't feel so left out. Then I take a deep breath, check my feelings, and close out my Sukuna x Reader drafts. (don't worry, I'm not planning to switch fandoms any time soon. I have enough OPM stuff to keep me busy for years... and if i hesitate to share my fannish work with IRL friends now, imagine having to explain "canon-typical cannibalism" to people.) There's a saying song from the musical [title of show] and it goes like this: "I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than 100 people's ninth favorite thing" and that's sort of my mantra when it comes to creating these days. I wouldn't be as confident in my work if I hadn't had this little fandom detour on my writing journey--it's pretty much necessitated that I dig deep into my motivations and confirm, "yes, I'm doing this because I love it," and "yes, I am 100% at peace with this finished product even though nobody's actively patting me on the shoulder right now," and actually I do have quite a few people that regularly interact with/entertain my ideas (I've jokingly used the term "emotional support mutual" but I feel weird assigning titles without consent... but if you have to ask, you probably are <3).

I may not have hundreds of followers--I'm, at best, midway through the double digits slightly over 100 but I'm grateful for everyone who's ever commented on/hearted/reblogged anything I have written, even if it’s a silly one-liner. Quantitatively, I don't get much interaction but qualitatively my heart is overflowing when I consider some of the exchanges I have had... Like it really tickled me that enough people actually wanted to play OPM bingo which started out as a silly joke, or joined in my Toaster Prayer Circle… any time the ship name I made gets used, my soul leaves my body (that’s only happened three times, but when your soul escapes your physical form, it’s a real bear to make it go back in…) little things like that seriously means a lot to my ADHD/Autistic Chaos Brain, which has always struggled to connect with people.

[velmashaircut]

OPM ship review

Credit to @fubukiswifenoimnotjoking I saw them do a post like this first and they were kind enough to let me do it as well.

I don’t have any problems with these ships or anybody who likes them, this is just my opinion. If you get offended that I don’t like your otp, go outside and touch some grass. It’s not that deep.

This is going to be long so it’s under a cut. And it has webcomic spoilers. So watch out.

Saitama/Genos - A classic in the OPM fandom. There’s over 2300+ fanfics about this pairing on Ao3, as well as hundreds of pieces of fanart across loads of platforms. It’s undoubtedly the most popular OPM ship. I understand why people like this ship so much; Saitama and Genos are protagonist and deuteragonist. Genos is one of the first people Saitama meets and for most of season one, the story revolves around those two. Personally I’m not a big fan of it. The idea that Genos, who’s barely an adult, is dating Saitama who’s six years older than him feels wrong. If Genos was a bit older, let’s say around 24, and Saitama was 30, I’d have less of a problem with this ship. A lot of the fanfics I’ve read for this ship also portray Genos as a character who only pines over Saitama 24/7 which I don’t like. I’ll give this ship a 5/10.

Metal Bat/Garou - Another popular ship. Despite there being much less fanfics for this pair on Ao3, I see plenty of material for this ship on tumblr. I think it’s a decent ship, not the worst, not the best. I think so many people like the idea of the chaos that will obviously occur when two dumb shits are dating one another. If I see Garou and Badd actually have a conversation, my stance on this ship may change. This ship gets a 6/10 since the fanfictions and fanarts for this pairing are banging.

Saitama/Fubuki + Saitama/Tatsumaki - I’m putting these two ships together because my opinion on them are the same. BORING. I prefer Saitama/Tatsumaki slightly more tho because of their fight in the webcomic (if you can even call it that) 4/10.

Genos/Sonic - This ship won’t work, these two rats are too busy trying to get Saitama’s attention. They’ve also tried to kill each other. 3/10.

Genos/Fubuki - I would have given this pair a 3/10 too because Fubuki also tries to get Saitama’s attention, but after some of the recent manga chapters, I decided I like this ship. Fubuki saving Genos? Cool af. Genos giving Fubuki his jacket? Lovely. 6/10.

Genos/Tatsumaki - I like this ship a little bit more than the Genos/Fubuki ship because of the recent manga chapters. Genos and Tatsumaki helping and saving each other was unexpected but really nice. I’d give this ship a 7/10 but Tatsumaki is nine years older than Genos, so I’ll rate this ship as a 6/10 too.

Garou/Mumen Rider - Why would I like this ship? Garou is a little bitch who smashed Mumen Rider’s face after he saved him from getting his ass whopped by Tank Top Master. Also Garou is 18 and Mumen Rider is 25. No no no no no. 2/10.

King/Tatsumaki - The idea of these two having a crush on each other is a very cute concept to me. I don’t think Tatsumaki is going to be pleased when she discovers King is a fraud though. 5/10

Sonic/Flash - This ship is amazing. I love it. Unlike most of these ships, Sonic and Flash have a backstory, which automatically makes this paring better than 99% of the other ships on this list. Sonic didn’t sell out Flash and the pair worked together to kill those annoying ninjas! I know Flash poisoned Sonic when they were younger, but I can ignore that. I can’t wait for the ninja arc to be put into the manga. 9/10.

Iaian/Atomic Samurai - I like this ship a lot. I know AS is fourteen years older than Iaian, but I can excuse the age gap because, unlike Genos or Garou, Iaian is 23. He’s older, maturer and legal so he can date whoever he wants cause he has the braincells to know what he’s getting into. Atomic Samurai was so worried for Iaian when he wasn’t at the surface with the other disciples, and was so happy when he was okay. It was so sweet. The fanfic authors write this pair so amazingly, so I’m forced to love it. 9/10.

Atomic Samurai/ Bang - Bang was an old man before Kamikaze was even born. Why would anybody ship these two together??? 0/10

[gofancyninjaworld]

2020 in One-Punch Man. Part 1: Manga

How shall I describe this succinctly?

It's like ONE and Murata looked around them, saw a raging pandemic, massive disruption to all walks of life, uncertainty of when, if, or how it might affect them, took a massive drag of their cigarettes and said: “Fuck being conservative.  Let's go wild. Fuck making our current arc a webcomic retread with fancier fights.  Let's introduce more lore, let's have more characters interact in ways one would never have imagined, let's have characters do things that hadn't previously been thought of and make this really exciting.“

If you were holding onto the webcomic as your guide to what next, 2020 was not a good year for you. 

723 pages in 24 updates (including revisions) changed the status quo ante in deliciously unanticipated ways!

Where we left off in 2019, we were following the webcomic pretty faithfully, with most manga-original elements being removed at a fast clip.  Phoenixman was dead, the mercenaries had died a brutal death, the ninjas had been resurrected but had run off buck naked, Orochi was dead, G5 was very much destroyed, Drive Knight had appeared but had obligingly limped off, taking Nyan with him.  The S-Class heroes were in trouble with the cadre exactly as expected and Saitama had met up with Flashy Flash.  Tatsumaki had finally found Psykos. Yup, no real changes here.

2020, HAHA! 

Awaken!

Throwing manga-specific elements away? As if!   They took the great opportunity that preparing chapters for publication to critically review and revise the story so as to first, make it move at a faster pace and second, to be enriched.   It’s meant that chapters for volume 22, 23, and 24 (to come) have been redrawn to accommodate the changes and we got the benefit of many of them between April and August of this year.

We started with Phoenixman’s fight with Child Emperor.  It started innocuously enough with Phoenixman resurrecting, but then we got a much more interesting chunk of knowledge -- the existence of a metaphysical world modelled on one’s on psyche where the assault on Child Emperor’s sense of self took a much more existential nature. 

From a purely physical battle (and some nifty cool info about the Subterraneans) to an otherworldy battle happening in parallel with the physical battle:

It ended up a very interesting examination of Child Emperor’s character and his relationships with other heroes, as well as telling us something else freaky about Saitama’s ability to be anywhere he damn well wants to be.

Ah, and Phoenixman lives. Albeit as a little chick (for now).  He’ll probably be back, but not just yet.

The mercenaries were next.  They didn’t die.  Not because Amai Mask had a change of heart, but because Iaian listened to the niggling feeling in the pit of his stomach and turned his team mates around to intervene just in time. 

As you’d expect, trying to guide the mercenaries back to the safety of the surface has been an incredibly challenging ordeal for the disciples. It’s revealed much more about the way the disciples trust each other and lean on one another, and yet, when there was no option to do so, Iaian stepped up wonderfully to fight to save the mercenaries.

We’ve also learned something interesting about why mercenaries exist at all in a world supposedly at peace.  I look forward to seeing where this plot might go next.

Elsewhere,  we got to learn a little less about Puri Puri’s dancing and swimming lessons, but we got some really awesome nods to the mythical in Bakuma (the baku is a long-nosed creature formed out of all the bits left over after creation that eats dreams) and Electric Catfish Man’s sudden sense of doom is both reference to the way catfish are supposed to detect earthquakes and just damn cool. 

A monsterised exploitative business man taking the form of a demonic dream-eating monster that consumes weaker monsters so as to exploit their abilities is so appropriate on many levels (and unreasonably hot!).

Yes, Waganma does make it to the surface, along with Saitama and Child Emperor.  Saitama gets chased away by a Sekingar outraged that there’s a clueless hero just wandering aimlessly around.  Child Emperor goes back underground and I loved to death Waganma being pierced with remorse as he realises that the hero is going to go risk his life anyway.   He’s spoiled, but his keeping quiet came from a place of being a scared human being desperate to be saved  (a surprising number of fans did not like that -- they preferred to think of him as a psychopathic monster incapable of remorse).

Orochi still has a date with a gloved fist, but he’s getting to live a little longer than he did before.

Overall the story is tighter and there’s a lot more interest as well as future plot hooks than there were.  I’m interested in seeing how it gets tied up in the next volume sometime in 2021.

Reddit did not take it well.  Summary of discourse:

sorry not sorry, I lost patience around the 500th whiny post

Advance!

What about the new chapters we got?  Also here, ho ho ho, that status quo has gotten a good kicking!

Orochi came back.  Not the most surprising surprise in the world, given how carelessly Saitama punched him. Also not surprising that he came back stronger; Phoenixman had wonderfully demonstrated that monsters can bounce back from near-death situations much stronger.  But his form... such a disgusting, slimy, ever-shifting mass of tentacles and dragons, consuming all in its way led to the third craziest development: his fusion with Psykos to launch a new monster.

I’ll spare you the disgusting intermediate stages but the end result has been the birth of Psykos-Orochi and with that, what had been a total sweep for Tatsumaki turned into a much more dangerous enterprise where every mistake of hers got punished brutally.

Why is that only number three?  Because Tatsumaki raised up the entire base to try to encompass the whole monster (and it turns out that she was thinking far too small -- the monster had actually eaten large sections of City Z) and Psykos-Orochi uses the space to launch a beam so powerful that it literally cuts off part of the Earth itself.  It was a real I see it, but I don’t believe it moment.

if you didn’t spend a few seconds just staring in disbelief, you’re not paying attention. OMG.  Boy is the Earth in trouble.

Why is that only the second craziest thing?  Because of why this fusion monster was able to do as it did. ‘God’ doesn’t just go round looking like a semi-tangible being giving random homeless men magic powers.  Yup, the Earth really in in trouble if some supernatural being is smushing monsters together to make a stronger one and then granting it extra powers.   Just like that, the struggle has turned cosmic.

Tatsumaki trying to figure out how to fight back and save City Z from being swept away by a tsunami, save the heroes, and save the planet from further damage by the beams all at the same time was one of the most spectacular fights to date. 

As I said earlier, this monster has presented Tatsumaki with a real fight where the slightest mistake on her part leads to severe punishment.  She wound up in trouble when she underestimated how extensive the monster actually was and let up on twisting it too early, only to have it come right back and skewer her hands. 

Thankfully, Genos came in and saved her from that pinch, then held the monster at bay long enough for Tatsumaki to finish saving the strike team so she could give the monster her undivided attention.

Which is a very tame way of saying that that was an incredible development in capability.   That some of the fandom had trouble accepting (they suck). Watching their protests has been an exercise in special pleading.  They have no trouble understanding how Murata uses scale...until it came to accepting the size of the explosion resulting from Genos smacking away Psyko-Orochi’s execution beam then it had to be a fisheye lens (visibly incorrect, but who’s talking facts here?).   Have had no trouble understanding how Murata portrays escalation... until it came to accepting that Genos is strong then no, somehow the monster had to be weaker.   Have had no trouble with the freeze frame language that Murata uses to portray things happening at great speed... until it came to accepting that Genos could move really, really fast.   For some people, the new is only welcome when it confirms and validates preconceptions.  Anyway, that’s my rant done!

the most unlikely of partnerships and they’re still going despite having taken a hell of a battering since this scene

Guess who’s back?

We’ve also been seeing more heroes come back to the fray.  The emergence of the Tower of Doom acted as a clarion call to every hero around and able to move.  Metal Bat sneaked out of hospital to come running back.  Tank Top Master hitched a ride with Mumen Rider to go to City Z.  He intended to stick around and save people, but seeing how much wider scale the fight was,  he literally threw himself into battle. 

Drive Knight decided he literally had to have a piece of the action,  took up a ton of power from the nearest substation and came flying in to intercept a desperately escaping Psyko-Jet... ah, I didn’t say?  Yes, the monster turned into a machine to run away once hard-pressed.

And we finally got to see what Blast actually looks like, courtesy of a flashback of Amai Mask’s.   He definitely looks the part of a caped superhero and it’s little wonder he’s stuck in the imaginations of so many.   But now I’m even more interested in seeing what his deal is and what is he’s like now

The one thing we know for sure will be happening is that Garou will not be denied his destiny.   He’s coming.  But what else is happening?  Ah, that’s all in the air.

Bring on 2021!

[the-nysh]

I just wanna say thank you for writing the recently analysis meta for Garou being an empath, that's an excellent explanation and I always enjoyed your essay about OPM or MP100 characters!

Tbh I think the OP's post is meant to be a lighthearted one, therefore there's no intention to slander Garou's characterization at all, I assure you. On the other hand, I also like your take on Garou about the matter, the way he understands Tareo and want to help him going through it.

My dumbass brain take is, Garou has clearly shown empathy for others and totally has capacity for emotional intelligence, he just didn't know how to say it right. Knowing his social skill beforehand is pretty much non-existent, and Garou also doesn't have anyone else to opened up about himself (no friends, his mentor basically doesn't want to listen to him, everyone was kinda afraid of him, Garou himself has trust issue towards others since the bullying happened, etc). He gets difficulty on how to deliver what he actually means. Thus Garou said some dumb things instead, even though he has well-intentions. Someone please give him more friends to interact with! :""(

Anyways, thanks alot for giving more of your insight about Garou, love it! ❤

Oh! :’) Ah, thank you anon! And no worries, everything was clarified in the responses of that post, so it’s all good~

But exactly, from such circumstances of his origins, here Garou’s always felt that much, both from witnessing and experiencing injustice himself, but he’s just...never allowed himself or gained/practiced the tools needed to properly process his anger. Which compels him to hastily react (even acting on others’, like Tareo’s, behalf) and often leads him down to make some very rash (dumb) decisions without thinking things thru (cause hey he’s young). And his ability to honestly face his feelings, or even openly express himself to others is well...oop, quite inexperienced. :’D He’s basically as ‘eloquent’ as Saitama is when it comes to explaining himself and articulating his thoughts/feelings well, aha. But even so, he still can’t help but feel (cause it’s part of who he is), even when his capacity to care that much upsets him. So his inner conflict (and part of his appeal on his journey to find/accept himself) is that he’s not the heartless ‘monster’ he believes himself to be, to the point of denying his true nature and forcing himself to perform as someone he’s not. :’) Cause as we see, in those other telling moments, his true self still shines through~

---

Anyway, witnessing and lightly teasing all his antics is fun, because he’s a silly dork yes, but (and this is addressing a separate, but general fandom observation I’ve seen over time) it’s another story when I see genuine character hatred for him over on reddit for ex (usually from incomplete readings of the story or misinformation about him, from people wanting him to die or hoping Saitama kills him at the end of MA arc in extreme yikes cases)...because then I honestly can’t tell anymore if some of the fandom’s common takes & ‘jokes’ about Garou are made thru fond endearment (simply poking fun), or are just veiled excuses for continued character bashing. o.o Blurring the lines and confusing me even more when I see fellow Garou fans going along with it like it’s accepted, or unknowingly(?) spreading it further like nothing’s amiss. Like...whoa wait, guys??? I thought we already knew and trusted his character more than this? D:

For example, most of the time things are pretty chill so it’s no big deal, but sometimes I see this strange trend of mean spirited & fatalistic ‘humor’ towards him even in the teen squad posts for instance, where Garou’s often demeaned or used as the butt-end of a joke. Making bullying ‘jokes’ at his expense in ways that are....truly unfunny (especially when considering his past, it comes off either tone deaf or unsettling in poor taste). Worst case, it makes me resent those fanon characters who’re portrayed perpetuating the same cycle that got Garou so upset in the first place. D: (Which is another ❌ for me when it’s Genos who’s used in this role. ;o; So I doubly don’t like it when the Garou-bashing ‘jokes’ have the adverse effect of making me dislike Genos too, noo!) So you see? :’) It’s sometimes hard to tell what’s up or considered ‘funny’ anymore, when it feels like the circumstances that made and shunned Garou in the first place, are ironically circling back around towards him again, but playing out in real-time (which I’ve become privy to notice, but I’m not sure if other fans are aware yet). Overall, when it comes down to a case-by-case basis of what content to look for, I think Tareo canonically summarizes that mindful feeling best:

[the-nysh]

At what point in the story you started liking Garou as a character? What was his first impression on you and how did it changed later as the story progressed?

Oooh! What a GREAT question, I’m so glad you asked! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (Cause yes, my perceptions of him certainly did change over time! And that’s one of the fun things I love to see happen with other opm fans too.) So let’s see…*pulls up a chair and shovel to dig thru nearly 5yrs of archives* where to begin~

It was definitely a gradual process (so buckle in, this is gonna be a looong chronological trip thru memory lane. About 3500~ words!)

First impressions

Early on (and cause I’m skeptical to most new characters who I don’t ‘know’ yet), I remember feeling kinda like ‘huh? Who the heck is this guy? This wannabe Hiruma-lookalike (recognizing some of Murata’s recycled Eyeshield 21 char design elements for him) with some silly double Vegeta hair? The hell does he think he’s doing??’ Beyond being kinda incredulous about him, I honestly didn’t really give him much passing thought or attention either, and definitely not anything on a deeper level yet. He was just kinda there (I suppose?), but also out there forcefully (cockily and somewhat annoyingly?) inserting himself as the ‘villain’ into the story at times (which wasn’t really my thing), seemingly WAY in over his head with reckless antics and overambitious about what he was claiming to be and challenging himself to do (which I thought seemed both ridiculous and ironic to set up like that when characters like Saitama exist to directly check/refute his aims).

So at the time I wasn’t fully ‘on board’ or invested much in his story/concept yet cause I hadn’t really seen him…define himself (beyond those first impressions) into his own fleshed-out character. Because he still kept reminding me too much of other characters (I even heard him with Hiruma’s voice) rather than breaking out on his own. Murata’s early art also had yet to really evolve and settle him into his own distinguishable ‘face’ for that matter too (he would though later, when he’d draw ‘Garou’ recognizable as himself and not like…‘Hiruma’s shadow’ anymore). So with all that coming in, it’s hard to ‘see’ or genuinely ‘like’ a char at first when they haven’t done much yet to distinguish themselves from others and grow into their own. (Oho, how time will tell~)

This impression of Garou hadn’t really changed much and continued all thru the Metal Bat fight, by the way. (I actually caught up to the manga around the time Murata introduced MB with the centipedes and was about to start his fight with Garou. Events which weren’t on my highest priority to see either, cause I still mostly preferred seeing Saitama + Genos interact instead.) But on a surface level, I at least knew Garou was fun/impressive to watch and his excitable/feral energy was infectious and entertaining (Murata really knew how to hype him up too), but other than that, I’d yet to really ‘like’ him on his own (enough to talk/blog about) still.

I first eased into reblogging stuff with him back in Oct 2016, which included the first reblog of his back muscles (lol) appreciating how Murata drew him facing Watchdog Man so ksjggh that part of the story (when Murata was teasing their fight) was also when Garou starting having a presence on my blog. :O

First turning point

However, I distinctly remember the first ‘aha I see now’ point in understanding him better was when I did a second reread of the webcomic. (I don’t exactly remember when that was, but probably sometime during the tournament arc when the pace was kinda dragging, so I prob reread the wc around then for fun.) It was around early-April 2017 when I later admitted that (in the tags):

I’ve come to really like Garou, a second read of the webcomic made me fond of him, of his background and ideas he wished to set out and change, his heart was in it and he had his set of morals, but he was young and brashly took the wrong path, I really want to see him return someday now that he's learned better

Cause following the big webcomic reveal at the end of his arc (when Saitama calls him out), going back thru his entire story again you could totally spot all the consistent hints and signs (from both his backstory and actions) ONE sprinkled the entire time, making everything revealed about him true, and not suddenly sprung up outta nowhere. It was finally like ‘aaah, I understand what’s up with him and can sympathize where he’s coming from. Yes that makes sense. :O’ However, this clarity/acknowledgment had yet to shift from simply ‘seeing’ or understanding a thing as knowledge, to actually feeling it (connecting on a deeper/personal level) later. That’ll remain a big distinction.

May 2017, I first started writing some early meta break downs about him, starting with his end-arc parallels in Suiryu’s despair moment and from this, there was acknowledgement how all ONE’s manga additions (up til then this was still all tournament arc stuff) were only building further context towards what’s to come much later on in the webcomic.

June 2017, I started posting stream coverage about him (vs Watchdog Man stuff when he intercepts King and Saitama.) Around this time I also admit this kinda stuff in tags ‘goodness how I love that this nerd has a soft spot for that kid (truthfully he's not monstrous at all)’ for appreciating the manga’s wholesome extra Tareo moments.

Second big turning point

Around Sept-Oct 2017 was when post content/stream coverage kinda started exploding during the whole vs A/B heroes + shed fight. This whole sequence, following the tournament arc, was the first big long-awaited return back to the wc’s script (with style!), but with significant expansions (esp to his character) never seen before. In particular, the bullet shielding moment was changed/revised from him simply standing there in the wc, to Garou protecting Tareo in the shed.

Truly awesome and moving because dang, he selflessly put his life on the line for that ‘Garou the determinator fending off the impossible while protecting a kid ;o;’ Firmly standing up to (injustices) and revealing his solid moral core, like wow, what a guy. <3

Murata’s stream output picked up significantly back then too (compared to his slower pace drawing the previous arcs), so I also admitted: ‘gosh been cheering for Murata's hard work just like Garou's in-chapter determination!’

But also cause this whole fight was like the first actual, legit demonstration (shown, not told) of Garou’s prodigious fighting skills, intelligence, tenacity, resourcefulness, perseverance, etc. Like this is what he’s actually capable of when pushed to the brink; testing the actual quality of his character (showing his true colors) and allowing those merits to shine while under unfavorable, difficult, and desperate conditions. And all impressively done in a way to make the audience both believe it and root for him (presented from his side much like a protagonist? Wild! 8D) It was extremely thrilling and badass (truly that whole shed part was brilliant, narratively and spectacle-wise. As I’ve repeatedly gone back to write about many times and again. :’D) My impressions of Garou around this time:

yoooo boi see I really like Garou, the wild prodigy determinator with a misguided goal, going all out and demonstrating his talent and prowess (even tho he gets in over his head), PROTECTING CHILDREN WHEN HE PRETENDS HE DOESN'T CARE, omfg what a softie (as Saitama would say) :'D, yaaa see he was never a 'real' monster at all, Saitama can see straight through him, and what he REALLY wants to achieve

Dec 2017, first started getting some sporadic Garou anons after the whole epic manga spectacle vs Genos + Bang + EC fight with everyone.

Jan 2018, back when Garou was captured in the MA base and then left to his own devices above ground…things started getting really interesting. Including noticing ONE’s more careful (or perhaps more transparent?) approach to writing Garou’s manga portrayal this time around. Different and more nuanced from the wc for instance, so there were many fascinating contradictions and complexities to uncover (break down meta-wise) about his convictions, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and how he applied those thru his actions and behavior (revealing decisive acts of character). This was when @gofancyninjaworld also started joining in to discuss and explore Garou’s ongoing dilemma with his goals and mindset. “His heart is in the right place, but his means are not, because at his core, he’s not a monster.” I admitted ‘Garou’s one of the most well-written characters in the story, I feel.’ And I was really looking forward to all the significant changes ONE was doing to make his manga story all the more defined and cohesive than it already was in the wc. That made things extra engaging (when there’s a desire to look deeper into things for fun and excitement for more).

Third turning point

Feb 2018 Oooh man. It was around here, (when Garou saves Tareo from the bullies and confronts RR and Bug God) that I was really starting to feel that shift happening (the impression of him turning into something more), so I had to comment on his ongoing characterization presented thus far (budding into a well-rounded, 3 dimensional character) and how ONE was (re)writing him in a more personal, sympathetic light that made him so easy to root for and genuinely likeable. I was fully AWARE of this happening and what both Murata and ONE were doing to increase his appeal. Admitting the more they revealed of him the more I was falling deeper for him, and fully welcoming it by narrative design. (Like alright let’s goooo! 8’D) Cause it was obvious how much differently and expansive he was getting portrayed vs the wc (with much less moral ambiguity). I said:

“Garou’s not simply a rogue, prodigious teen going on a spiteful rampage with an overconfident, slasher smile. Consistently, he’s been shown what really makes him tic: what gets him serious, passionate, sincere, and desperate – things that force his hand to either fight or defend against, with standards and ideals that he’d put his life on the line for. All of it is great: a variety of expressive emotions and definitive acts of character that all build towards the whole. Which we’re then left to ponder exactly what that is. Is he truly a villain or a hero? Is he really a troublemaking bad guy or actually a misguided ‘nice guy’? The answer isn’t so black and white; it’s more like a mix of ALL of the above. And I LIKE that. As ONE has presented him, Garou is Garou, and not really someone to align or classify as simply one or the other. He’s in that kind of delicious gray zone where he’s getting put to the brink to show his true colors. And it’s so GOOD and refreshing to see.”

That plus the manga showing his deeper bond with Tareo, his gruffly protective qualities (ok but that’s kinda hot?) and a more sincere showing of his morals (which he refused to budge on no matter what anyone else ordered him to do), brought on all the feels. :’)

Stream coverage + ch commentary devolved to like unintelligible screaming, with some ‘man he’s so fucking cool,’ or ‘damn protective Garou’s SOO good,’ or ‘I swear the more Murata draws of him the more I fall for him like wtf,’ or even the flat out ‘GODDAMMIT MURATA ;A;’ types of suffering reactions, ahaha.

At this point I was all ‘bring on the Garou appreciation; he deserves it; I have a mighty NEED’ but was kinda annoyed/frustrated with the fandom cause there was hardly any recent fan content of him (relevant to his current plot progression, it was all suspiciously dry or old ship-related content I wasn’t interested in cause the plot had moved on, so I was like omg where is everybody, hello?!) It was already a dry spell in between seasons so overall fan content was slow anyway, but it seemed like there were so few actual fans of him (to my confusion?!) So I started making my own content (beyond just the stream coverage and ch reactions/commentary + meta) with the expression posts appreciation.

March 2018. U-uhoh, things (and posting frequency especially) were starting to escalate. His reaction to literally getting backstabbed by the monsters and losing Tareo (his quiet but seething controlled feral rage) definitely had me feeling™ things.

Final nail in the coffin

April 2018 Oshit;; Garou forcefully storming and bulldozing his way thru the MA base, his awesome BIG DAMN HEROES moment rescuing Tareo from Royal Ripper, to his hilarious absolute tsundere™ moment denying it (before running into Rover and immediately protecting the kid again) pretty much destroyed me. This was also like the first time I’d seen ONE make a character go full tsundere mode and pull it off in a genuine comedic way (with the classic ‘it’s not like I came here to save you or anything baka’ line and all) so pfft, that was so much endearing icing on the cake. :’D

At this point someone even asked me who’s my favorite opm character, to which I was all, ‘Garou’s current manga content has been on fire so he’s been quickly skyrocketing into my favs (if he wasn’t there already)!’

But then Murata soon dropped THIS ‘protect the child’ page all with perfect timing, and I was…fucking doomed.

'sugoi ojisan' was pretty much the moment of instant death for me ;A; my constant reaction to the streams has been that gaijin 4koma meme with laser heart eyes for emphasis, and I'm pretty much losing my ability to articulate much beyond screaming at this rate

Garou’s behavior could then be summarized as ‘a very stubborn and in denial asshole tsundere little shit nerd. <3’ But there was classic ONE heartwarming irony in there too, cause Garou hadn’t fully ‘lost’ his battles either…during those critical times where he actually assumed the role of the ‘hero’ for Tareo instead. (Oho~)  

basically Garou is a great character, the more you look into how ONE has built him the more meta af it gets

May 2018 (the long-awaited debut of the wc ‘scarf’ vs Rover towards Garou vs Orochi’s epic wtfshitstorm) lolwhoops~ I finally made the inevitable back muscles compilation while also writing longer, more in depth meta posts about him.

Murata delivered some of the best stream content we’ve seen of him. (Completely on FIRE, both literally and figuratively. And looking back, this was probably some of the most fun Murata’s stream sessions ever got. :’D Was awesome to be a fan tuning in during this time.)

even Murata was doodling chibis of himself freaking out in the margins XD

Delivering content from the pose of peak badassery…to dropping stream doodles of peak heartwarming/cuteness (Garou & Tareo in suits) on the fans for good measure.

bam Murata’s out to kill us with his art ...Murata can you like -maybe- chill? ABSOLUTELY NOT

Basically Murata knew exactly what he was doing, always delivering and servicing the fans (drawing the coke bottle was a fan suggestion too) yet also remaining a huge tease~

Towards S2 and beyond

June 2018, following the Orochi fight, Garou was put on a bus and absent from the manga for a while, so I went back revisiting older content again (rereading the manga for fun) and realizing/noticing/wondering stuff I hadn’t really caught about him before like…oh no why is he cute?? Was he always this way or had my eyes finally opened after everything??? (Cause aside from him being a little shit or a cool badass, he was also a complete dork and a nerd, and an oblivious dummy, and just…that was so…wtf endearing, a full package of fun to enjoy.)

But we soon got clips of Midorikawa’s voice reveal (from the opm drama cd) and all hell broke loose among the resident Garou fans. 8’D Especially cause his voice was ‘dark/smooth/mature/sexy’ as opposed to a higher-pitched, unhinged teen voice many had expected (remember that old Hiruma voice I first thought for him? So interestingly many fanboys were disappointed with this deeper voice casting). But also cause Midorikawa said “I’ll do my best to make Garou even more charming than before,” so we were excited to see Garou’s popularity spike even more cause of s2.

Aug 2018, the s2 key visual revealed with Garou prominently featured up and center and I WAS NOT PREPARED!!! I remember having like a full hyper-incoherent breakdown because of this so…yeaaaaah. 8’D I was all rationalizing,

If anything it’s all Murata and ONE’s fault that (the hype and appreciation for him) feeling’s grown even stronger. He was already a thoroughly fun walking meta source, but the manga made his softer/compassionate moments much more obvious (than in the wc). Just watch as this badass dorky nerd becomes even more hugely popular than he already is!

April 2019 was his anime debut…coincided with his post-arc WEBCOMIC DEBUT AFTER 5 FUCKING YEARS (before he even returned in the manga even) IMPECCABLE timing from ONE, holy shit people lost their minds. Including Murata, who had to draw him too! With all that and the anime airing (adding even more wholesome cute Tareo interactions not seen in the manga), fandom participation (+anons) really started to kick off.

I remember seeing the influx of new fans and how so many (who didn’t ‘know’ him yet either) would unironically label him as genuinely ‘evil’ or a ‘heinous villain’ at face value, which….uhhhhhh were the kinda takes that were hard to take seriously, but I appreciated how ONE’s writing allowed the readers to see and think for themselves as the narrative revealed more (rather than believing everything the characters said or claimed), so it’d only be a matter of time until they ‘saw’ the truth about him too. :’)

May-July 2019 the anime continued airing with fandom activity popping, until August when he finally reappeared and ‘awoke’ in the manga! ;A; After like an entire full year of him mia too. This was also the time frame when all the thirsty (and interestingly meta-hungry) Garou anons started (finding me???) regularly chiming in with fun participation. I was grateful though, cause they prompted certain takes I couldn’t have come up with on my own, and allowed me to think, examine, and explain things much more closely and thoroughly than I had ever posted before. (Yaaay~) Such as looking into just what IS it about him?!

“Garou wouldn’t be as compelling, engaging, and appealing as a character without (all) those other interesting layers and nuances to talk about too! :D It’s even better that way! Cause Murata can draw everyone looking drop-dead gorgeous and conventionally attractive, so just having a pretty face and impressive muscles isn’t enough to make him stand out in a special way from the rest of the cast. Already all those things (about him) are certainly impressive, so just what is it about him in particular? (That makes him unique.) The fact Garou has all that AND those other compassionate & interesting qualities to him just makes it the icing on the cake for a complete, well-rounded package. The fact we can know him, for all his feelings and attitude why he behaves and acts the way he does, such as when he’s contradictory, troubled and tsundere-like sometimes, to hardcore and badass other times, to softer and empathetic to fiercely righteous, protective and determined other times, and all portrayed in the way he’s capable of the range (and makes us feel) the entire spectrum of emotion too. …Like whoa (I could keep going but I’d be preaching to the choir at that point aha), all that only enhances what’s already there. In this way, I feel the Garou we’ve come to know by now is much more endearing and appealing than the one we were introduced to at the start. Because as he appeared then, he may have seemed like just another wannabe thug-of-the-week we might not have given much passing thought & attention to. But now…uhoh, you could arguably say he’s grown to the point he’s almost taken over the rest of the manga (within good reason!) by challenging our perception of who’s even the active protagonist. :O Who keeps us engaged and tuned in to see more. Buaha, just what the hell happened?! Now that’s quite the impressive feat from both ONE and Murata to create a character with a lasting impact like that!”

…So that’s what happened. :’D In my opinion, I feel Garou’s best moments where we (or really, I) got to know him better (shed scene, Elder Centipede aftermath, dine n dash, rescuing Tareo, all up towards his fights vs Rover & Orochi) mostly only happen until after s2 so… Since those were some of my absolute fav manga moments (which only enhanced my perceptions of him), those’ll be the moments I’m really looking forward to see animated in s3. But most of all, I’m hoping to witness some of that same ‘aha!’ gradual realization process happen to newer fans who come to appreciate him too. :’3

[gofancyninjaworld]

OPM Manga Chapter 127 Review: Demons Combine

Sometimes I think of a clever title, but the title of this one is just too brilliant for it.  Elsewhere, Darkshine is getting his shit kicked in by Garou, Saitama is rocked at losing a fortune, Fubuki is shakily tagging after an equally-shaken Bang and Bomb, heroes are trying not to die, and Genos is distracting himself with irrelevant thoughts as he heads into hell on earth.  But we’ve parked the camera here now,  where Tatsumaki is trying to unearth the ringleader herself.

I sometimes get irritated at fans who ignore the great story being told in preference for whining for promised set piece battles.  However, when Murata delivers, dayum, he DELIVERS.

seriously, Sadistic Tatsumaki is Scariest Tatsumaki

Unlike the webcomic, where Psykos gets yanked up like a minnow by an angler and the whole base just happens to come up as well because Tatsumaki is just that extra,  the manga is making a much bigger meal of things.   All to the good, I think.  Seeing Psykos fight back, also dragging Tatsumaki *down* to meet her halfway, trash-talking, even firing eye-beams at Tatsumaki is great. She’s out-classed, but it’s good to see that she’s not afraid to take opposition head on if she has to.

“come down here, you bastard!”

Now the tits and ass pose that has disgraced so many American comics and been rightly pilloried as idiotic and sexist does make its appearance here. [Murata: not all my standards are high.] But with a twist (pardon the pun): here, it’s also portrayed as the incredibly painful stress position adopting it would be.  Tatsumaki is literally wringing information out of Psykos. 

We get two small diversions from the battle, both related to the disposition of the non-hero humans also in the Monster Association base.   First,  King and Tareo finally meet!   The memory of the shape-shifting monster is still fresh on King’s mind, so he baffles Tareo by shouting at him to reveal his true form.  Of course, the kid doesn’t shapeshift, but something else comes to light:

serious question: is there no ability some monster won’t have?  This would have been a seriously troublesome one if the monster were any stronger!

After that,  King and Tareo walk off  hand-in-hand, looking for a way out. My favourite panel:  a pang of recognition at the suffering of the unfit mouse jockey.  Fortunately, there’s a working elevator out.

The second gave me the best feeling of schadenfreude I’ve felt in a long time.  Once Tatsumaki gets the requisite information out of Psykos, she relays it to the other heroes, only to get Amai Mask’s confession of having killed off the mercenaries. 

Her not buying his bullshit, or agreeing to help him is sweet karma indeed.

You tell him, Tatsumaki!

The Heart of a Monster

Meanwhile, Orochi starts to stir.  Unfortunately,  his heart was still very much alive. Like the Hydra, as long as it’s alive, it’s able to regenerate the rest of the body... more on that in a moment. 

It’s a great point to what Puri Puri says about where the boundary between man and monster lies: when the heart goes.

It’s definitely too late for this one!

As we see Orochi consume other monsters for their blood and spread througout the base, he notices Psykos and Tatsumaki and extends tendrils towards them.   Not out of loyalty to Psykos, but to consume their blood too!  Monster do as monster does.

The update (I don’t know if this is the full chapter) ends with Orochi using his still-scattered dragon heads to blast Tatsumaki and create a diversion that allows Psykos to break away and go diving for Orochi’s viscous embrace.

Psykos thinks she’s found refuge and reinforcements.

She may be in for a shock.

Meta: A house divided will fall

The lack of team-work between the S-Class heroes has come up many times.  The first time it comes up was in chapter 33, titled ‘Men who don’t listen’, where Iaian makes a sensible suggestion as to how to handle Meltzegard, but the other heroes blow him off in preference for just doing their own thing.  It worked out that time. But will it work this time?

In the webcomic, the failure of the heroes to cooperate with each other was brought up as a reason for their losing.  However, the manga is expanding on the problem of powerful heroes not working together much more explicitly and organically, starting all the way back in chapter 93′s bad-tempered board meeting.   The volumes have a nice bit in an extra chapter where Flashy Flash snaps at the support heroes for talking, even though they’re trying to understand each others’ capabilities better so they can work more cohesively.

The webcomic dealt with the fallout in the showdown between heroes and cadres at the surface, where we could see what went wrong for the heroes without pointing out the role that divisions between heroes played.   However, in the manga,  we’ve got Psykos here noticing their divisions.  As a resourceful and ruthless general,  we are all but certain to see her use her observation to her advantage. 

How exactly remains to be seen, but I am looking forward to an avoidable debacle even more painful than it was in the webcomic.

[One of the things I think in the original webcomic is that if Fubuki, Bang, Bomb and Genos had gone up as a unit, they were all the cavalry needed to hold off the cadre until the rest of the heroes could join them to finish mopping up.  Fubuki would have peeled Psykos off, ending the cadres’ ability to coordinate prematurely. And with the three of them guarding each others’ backs and able to lay down both long-range and short-range punishment, the monsters would have had a thin time of it.  Black Sperm for one, was shown to be susceptible both to being burned and to being chopped by Bang, but he was able to sneak up and take two of them out in a very shameful way just because no one was watching out for their comrade.

Come to that, if Tatsumaki had pulled the HEROES as well as the MONSTERS up to the surface, even if only the heroes she knew about, it would also have gone badly for the monsters.  But she got greedy for all the credit. So it goes.]

Finally, Saitama being too casual will never get old for me: