One-Punch Man vols. 20 & 21

With Garo recuperating from Orochi’s beatdown and Saitama walking. very. slowly. into the underground lair of the Monster Organization, this means that “One-Punch Man’s” two main protagonists are currently out of the action.  Which means that it really is up to the heroes in the Hero Organization to pick up the slack in terms of being interesting enough for us to care about all the fighting they do in these volumes.  Vol. 20 doesn’t fare too well in that regard as it has the high-ranking heroes squabbling amongst themselves before they, and a gaggle of lower-ranked ones, head out into the abandoned city to take on the monster vanguard.  Meanwhile, Saitama’s crew — Genos, Silverfang, Blizzard, and King — are all hanging back as they wait for the man himself to show up.  When the fighting does start, the heroes give a decent show.  The only problem is it never gets more interesting than that, as it feels like ONE and Yusuke Murata are kind of coasting here.  Oh, and Amai Mask is back.  No, he hasn’t become any less annoying in the time that he’s been away.

Fortunately for us, vol. 21 finds the creators actually putting some real effort in as they remind us what they can do when they’re properly focused.  This volume features two main fights:  Flashy Flash vs. Hellfire Flame and Tempest Wind.  They all used to be from the same ninja village before the latter two’s lust for power got the better of them.  Being from a ninja village, this means that you get to see the kind of action that entails on steroids.  While the depiction of the fight certainly impresses, its real appeal lies in how the creators manage to keep raising the stakes as the combatants deploy new strategies and powers.  It was genuinely nerve-wracking to see the fight unfold and wonder who was going to win.  The same goes for seeing Child Emperor in action in the last third of the volume as there doesn’t appear to be an end to the tricks he can pull out of his backpack.  He does save the best one for last, which ends the volume on a cliffhanger. The creators didn’t need to do that as I was already properly motivated in seeing how this fight was going to turn out.  As long as future volumes are more like this one than the previous one, I’ll continue to be invested in seeing where this series goes — regardless of where its protagonists are.