One-Punch Man vol. 14

For the last several volumes this series has been focused on the martial-arts tournament that Saitama has been competing in so that he can learn more about this particular style of fighting.  While this has been going on, a monster invasion in the city has had the many members of the Hero Association playing defense. Both of these storylines fully collide in this volume as Goketsu, a Demon-class threat and a former champion of this particular martial-arts tournament, offers its competitors the chance to become monsters themselves.  Some of them accept his offer and proceed to challenge Suiryu, the arrogant champion of the match, to test their newfound strength.

There’s no denying that Suiryu’s has needed some comeuppance due to his attitude for a few volumes now.  Is pitting him against these monsters the way to do it? Well, creators ONE and Yusuke Murata show that they’ve got the right idea by having Suiryu break a sweat and even bleed while taking these guys on.  Showing him actually struggle in a fight is a good way to get us to sympathize with him (at last). Then he takes on Goketsu and things go bad. Then to worse. And then on to “all hope is lost.” This might seem like overkill on the creators’ efforts, but this is “One-Punch Man.”  Here, “overkill” just means that they’ve put in the necessary effort to get you to care about the fight at hand.

Which is a good thing too because there’s nothing new as far as the storytelling goes in this volume.  I’ve read plenty of superhero stories where arrogant heroes are humbled against impossible odds and have to learn what constitutes real heroism along the way.  It’s very much the same here. What makes this volume, and “One-Punch Man” in general, worth reading is that the execution is absolutely spot-on. ONE and Yusuke Murata know exactly what to put into the story to keep you invested without any distractions and how crazy the action needs to be in order to present a credible threat.  Oh, and (most importantly) when to have Saitama show up to do the series’ title justice. It’s the superhero formula done close to perfection and it’s remarkable in the way that the creators have been able to keep pulling it off for as long as they have.