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One-Punch Man
Episode 6

by Jacob Chapman,

How would you rate episode 6 of
One Punch Man ?
Community score: 4.5

This week's One-Punch Man takes the long road to a simple conclusion that poor Saitama should have seen coming a mile away. It's a fairly textbook shaggy dog story, where the devil seems to be in all the little details, but then you realize the stupid conclusion should have been apparent from the start, and you feel kind of cheated and amused all at the same time.

Saitama has gradually begun to accept his status as a publicly recognized C-class Hero, but it's dragged him down into the doldrums. He spends his days staring blankly at the TV and chowing down on snacks, while trying not to appear so lackadaisical that his faithful disciple Genos thinks less of him. As it turns out, Saitama probably should have spent more time listening to Genos than giving him the uncomfortable fisheye, because the One-Punch Man is now one day away from being wiped off the professional hero roster! Since there are so many C-class Heroes, the Association requires its fringe inclusions to perform at least one heroic act in their first week of affiliation or else face expulsion. Saitama's been a lazy pro hero for six days, and the clock's ticking fast!

So of course this is where Speed-o'-Sound Sonic comes in. (Or was it Jack-o'-Lantern Panic? Saitama is an expert at kicking ass, but he's not so good at taking names.) After Saitama spends so much time schlepping and sweating around the city that even other Heroes suspect him of nefarious activity, Sonic's desire for a rematch finally gives our protagonist the big break he needs. When Saitama refuses to engage the crappy little ninja one time too many, he goes on a sadism spree right there in Z-City, turning himself into the perfect "bad guy" to improve Saitama's publicity. (RIP Tank-Top Tiger. C-Class won't be the same without you.) At least Saitama was kind enough to bonk Sonic on his other head this time. That poor guy might only have one testicle left to his name, and it would be cruel and unusual to pick up the spare. Either way, mission accomplished!

Now that's just the A-part to Saitama's ultimately fruitless adventure, so of course we need a B-part to undo all his hard work.

Z-City has actually been a hotbed of horrors recently, forcing the Association to send out a couple A-Class Heroes (named Spring Mustachio and Golden Ball because this show is a priceless treasure) to investigate. Unbeknownst to him, Saitama's neighborhood has practically become a ghost town after a wave of monster attacks caused the normal human populace to scurry off to other districts. Mustachio and Ball (an anime title that I would definitely watch) only find one culprit on the scene: an impenetrable tar-baby creature with a scarecrow face and innumerable seaweed-tentacles. Golden Ball gets flotsam-whipped immediately, while Mustachio calls for help to avoid death-by-kelp, but they're both down for the count before assistance can arrive. Luckily, Saitama has just returned from a grocery run, so his only reaction to this slimy abomination that just took out two A-rank Heroes is disappointment that he forgot to buy konbu for dinner. It's a good thing he's just run into a bulk delivery at a one-punch discount!

When backup from the Association finally arrives, they're devastated by the carnage. Not from the seaweed-monster, mind you. Whatever that thing was, it seems to have been swallowed up by a much greater monster of some kind! The area is placed under high alert, attracting the attention of Tornado, a top-ranked S-Class Heroine who's itching to rip something apart. Back at home, Saitama is pleased to discover that he's risen a few places on the C-Class leaderboard after teaching that "Panic" guy a lesson. (Meanwhile, Genos has skyrocketed in popularity from doing absolutely nothing but being cool, sexy, and "maybe a little misunderstood" in the eyes of his growing female fanbase.) But what's this in the paper about a horrible monster living in their neighborhood? Oh well, that's a problem for tomorrow's Saitama.

So all of that nonsense, with its rabbit trail action scenes and tangential comedy bits, is in service of a revelation we probably could have predicted from the start: Saitama is going to be seen as a monster long before he'll be respected as a hero. I suspect that the show is playing around in the social commentary sandbox more this week too. Saitama has unintentionally slipped right back into the salaryman grind, wasting his talents and effort on a system that's not designed to recognize him, dooming himself to the pursuit of fulfillment without recognition and opening himself up to the dangers of rejection because he just isn't what the world is looking for in a Hero. Maybe he never will be, and maybe that's okay. There's also a lot of discussion on privileged Heroes this week, as Association execs fiddle with their giant Microsoft Surface conference table and complain about how bad S-Class heroes are at sending in reports. (The show pans over these top Heroes' complacent expressions while they sit on mountains of fallen enemies.) It's too early to make any definitive statements about what all this means, but there's definitely some gentle ribbing of corporate culture going on here: like Fight Club without all the angst.

Regardless, all this roundabout tomfoolery isn't the kind of thing I've come to expect from One-Punch Man, so I wasn't sure what to think of this episode at first. Honestly, I prefer to see more wacky energy or focused direction over this meandering middle ground, but at least the show continues to be entertaining and handsomely animated above all else. They've set up a new conflict for the series' Heroes both nice and nasty, so I hope they're planning to knock it all down spectacularly in the weeks to follow.

Rating: B+

One-Punch Man is currently streaming at Hulu, Daisuki.net, and Viz.com.

Hope has been an anime fan since childhood, and likes to chat about cartoons, pop culture, and visual novel dev on Twitter.


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