One-Punch Man vol. 32

At the end of vol. 31, humanity was facing off against not one, but two Threat Level:  Unknowns.  By the end of the first chapter, however, they’re only facing off against one.  Who could have taken out such a threat in the space of 46 pages?  None other than the title character himself who actually plays a significant role in this volume.  That’s because after so long – I mean, it has to have been a dozen volumes at this point – he finally comes face-to-face with Garo again.  The Hero Hunter may also have his own axe to grind against the Threat Level:  Unknowns, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop trying to become the ultimate evil.  Which means that he and Saitama are going to have to face off again one more (last?) time.

I can’t lie:  This series is going to have to change its name after Saitama faces off against Garo in this volume.  Not that anyone else here actually refers to him as such, but it seems that he’s finally met the one character he can’t utterly defeat with one punch.  Whether or not he’ll finally get the knock-down, drag-out fight he’s always craved remains to be seen; though, the extra condition attached to his battle at the end of the volume does make things more interesting for next time.

As for everything else in vol. 32, it’s more or less what you’d expect.  ONE and Yusuke Murata are still delivering the same epic superhero action they’ve consistently been for a while now and the battle against Centisennin is pulled off well with a hell of a climax.  It’s still nothing we haven’t seen already, which makes the shift in focus to Saitama and Garo at the end of the volume even more welcome.  I will say that this is probably the first time I’ve been looking forward to seeing how the ideological conflict between characters plays out as opposed to the physical one between them.