One-Punch Man vol. 25

Another volume, another chapter in the ongoing war against the Monster Society.  You could say that this storyline has been going on long enough to make it feel interminable, or just admit that this is “One-Punch Man” now.  To that end, there are a lot of little narrative beats that do a good job of illustrating the scope of the conflict.  Saitama’s encounter with Flashy Flash at the start of the volume is the best of the lot as it provides another helpful reminder that public perception is the real thing preventing the character from getting the recognition he deserves.  We also get a couple scenes illustrating that Garo is now back in the game and better (worse) than ever, as well as a reminder that Genos can be really badass when he wants to.

As has been the case for a while now, most of this volume is given over to a single fight.  This time it’s the Demon-Level threat of Nyaan who makes short work of all the B-Class heroes still fighting topside.  As Nyaan’s name implies, he’s a cat-monster and writer ONE and artist Yusuke Murata get a lot of mileage out of the threat he poses by amping up familiar cat-like traits to monster-level proportions.  I enjoyed seeing this, as I’m a cat person, but that also made it more satisfying to see him finally taken down by a character who has been MIA for a while now.  A character who comes back with some key information regarding the potential traitor in the Hero Association.  Is this the break they need, or just some skilled manipulation from the actual turncoat.  I can’t say for sure, but it’s nice to have a little narrative drama aside from the quality brawls this series has been serving up on a most consistent basis.