#empty void

[faceless-dude]

Already sharpening my fork phoiiuphpioipjphph

[freebakeryfireroad]

[badjohnspeakeasy]

Blast: DON'T GO! YOU'LL LEAVE AN EMPTY VOID IN MY HEART!

Fubuki: Good one!

Flashy Flash: So Blast DOES have some skills.

Sonic: That was the worst thing I've ever heard

[theomnicode]

Saitama and otherworldy powers

It's not the first nor will be the last time Saitama has showcased that he seems to work outside the established logic, time and space of the manga. In the last chapter 209: Catch, Saitama catches Empty void's Dimension blade by hand, which is supposed to cut through space itself as Void slices into the world from hyperspace.

Saitama's other feats featuring him using some kind of otherworldy, illogical power has Saitama break into Phoenixman's creation, a spiritual space where Phoenixman attempted to get Child emperor to join his side. (Chapter 100: Light.)

(It's ok, he knocked first before entering. :p)

Lastly but not leastly Saitama showcased his illogical, science defying abilities is when he not only kicks away Garou's portal in chapter 167: I.O but on the same go, he grabs a hyperspace gate and turns it vertical to avoid a blow from Garou and counterattacks.

In the same chapter, right after performing Omnidirectional serious punch and Garou dodges with a hyperspace portal, Saitama is already inside the portal, ready to punch Garou out.

Troughout all the epic battle between Saitama and Garou, Saitama also manages to keep Genos' core completely unscathed despite losing his own clothes, which is already impressive on it's own.

There is really nothing Saitama cannot seemingly do, which makes him quite terrifying to plain exist in the opm verse, as Garou noted after Saitama sneezed away jupiter.

[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.

[janeruxox]

real and true

[sonicsgrippers]

[zleepyzlut]

[gottahaveguts]

Gay

[alexandraundone]

How the fuck do you describe how this feels to your psychiatrist? that at the end of the day, no matter what you do, there will be nothing there to fill the void you sometimes fight desperately to fill? By impulsivity that feels good at at the time, but what weight does it hold truly…?

how can someone understand that when they don’t experience it on a daily basis?

I am an empty being at my core and desperate attempts to fill the void that exists inside will NEVER work…. And the scariest part about that is I know it’s true

I have a gaping hole and I exist somehow

it is excruciating when I think about it

how do you explain

how the fuck do you explain

[faceless-dude]

Hi, i hate dig

Process

[freebakeryfireroad]

[badjohnspeakeasy]

"He was disguised as a log, and I really love logs, so I approached it to inspect it, then he yelled SUPRISE, IT'S ME, HERE TO TAKE REVENGE FOR YOU STEALING MY SHADES! And then he stabbed me."

-Blast

"Yeah, ninjas are like that."

-Saitama

"We are not, and I'd gladly stab you for saying otherwise! Test me and see if I'm wrong!"

-Sonic

"Honestly if he just asked I would have given the sunglasses back."

-Blast

[theomnicode]

Love is blind

Get you a guy who looks at you like Blast looks at Empty Void.

Seriously though, Blast has a ton of patience to wait 15 years for anything resembling demonsterization process to take place and something resembling a working method, then he's kept developing his technique for 15 long years to pin down someone of as slippery as Empty Void's skill level efficiently.

And efficently pin down he did, because Empty void could not even lift a finger, yet nothing on his hands were breaking against the huge gravity they were under. Quite outstanding level of control, but alas, Void vacuumed up the power with his mouth when Blast was distracted and managed to escape with a cackle of laughter yet again.

But how did Blast actually perfect his arm pinning, chokeholding technique? I'd hazard a guess on monsters or sparring against his teammates would give the best results. Wonders how many hands or trachea and lungs he accidentally broke in the process though.

But first the guy really, really wants to demonsterize Void so badly he waited 15 whole years to do this and develop his technique in await that someday, somehow, someone might find the key to demonsterization process.

That's what I call insane amount of dedication.

But this fool is completely blinded by his love for Void as well, because nothing erases the fact that he is the ninja village leader and did all those horrific deeds. He was the big boss who made young, orphaned children go through hell as cogs on a machine and horrific conditioning in terrible conditions to create emotionless ninja minions. Yet somehow Blast looks past all that and wants to "cure" Void and assumes Void would wish to be cured as well.

Blast is going this far to preserve Void so it begs the question; just how far is Blast willing to go to "save" Void? From himself and from others who might kill him like presumably Sonic tried to? Void is not exactly someone normal humans or even heroes are able to pin down indefinitely if he just chucked him in the Hero association HQ incarceration cell (but then again, Psykos wasn't one either) and he doesn't look like wanting to demonsterize either.

With all that in mind, Blast's quest for Void is not very sane option but one borne out of desperation and nostalgia glasses, even if we ignore the rewritten portion of Void having the key to God's dimension.

It is as they say, Love is blind.

[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.

[mc-makesstuff]

opm stuffs cause im BACK IN MY OPM PHASE WOOOOO

also, tf2 stuffs soon maybe😴😴😴