One-Punch Man vol. 18

In this volume, Saitama does a near dine-and-dash!  He forgot his wallet after ordering a meal at a restaurant, and when Blizzard comes to talk to him about a potential partnership, he runs off to take on another dine-and-dasher and sticks her with the bill.  After he takes care of the other dine-and-dasher, Saitama returns to his apartment only to realize that he left the Napa cabbage bought for the hot pot back at the restaurant. It’s okay, though, because Blizzard has tracked him back to his apartment and brought the cabbage with her.  Before she can chew him out, Genos warns them that someone is approaching their apartment at high speed… and it turns out to be his mentor/creator Dr. Kuseno. Saitama’s about to throw the doctor out after he won’t stop running his mouth, but when the Doctor offers him some premium beef as a gift for helping Genos, the Caped Baldy happily accepts because it’ll make for an awesome hot pot!

The above is all that we get regarding the title character.  As the last few volumes have made clear, the real character driving this story is the other dine-and-dasher:  Garo. Vol. 19 continues his transformation into a proper anti-hero after he’s tasked by the Monster Association to go out and kill a hero as a show of loyalty.  While he’s got every intention of doing that, a chance encounter with that one kid who looks up to him changes everything. Does it make for compelling reading? Kind of.  Creators ONE and Yusuke Murata have enough style to coast on, which they do throughout the volume’s length. So while this volume doesn’t have any major problems, it winds up being another that just serves to set up what will hopefully be more interesting action down the road.

(Oh yeah, and we finally get an explanation as to where Saitama’s godlike power comes from.  If this is something that you’ve been waiting to find out after all this point, you’ll want to adjust your expectations.  Given the completely offhand nature that it’s delivered with, that is. There’s also a chance that you may have been reading “One-Punch Man” for the wrong reasons if you’ve been waiting for this particular plot point to be resolved…)