Things pack a kind of so-so punch this time around
Creative Staff
Story: ONE
Art: Yusuke Murata
Translation: John Werry
What They Say
Life gets pretty boring when you beat the snot out of every villain with just one punch.
Nothing about Saitama passes the eyeball test when it comes to superheroes, from his lifeless expression to his bald head to his unimpressive physique. However, this average-looking guy has a not-so-average problem—he just can’t seem to find an opponent strong enough to take on!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Things kick off with… a whimper, frankly, as the martial arts tournament continues to carry on. This starts with a fight between Suiryu and Lightning Max which serves to show off the skills of the former fighter, and… it frankly feels a bit overdone for that. Like, I suppose it’s all part of a build up to show how overwhelmingly strong he is only for Saitama to casually humble him at the end of all this, but we’ve seen that done much better before plenty of times, and it frankly feels pretty old hat at this point.
After this we actually fast-forward a bit more or less, as we rush through the less important rounds of the tournament. This is probably the “gag” I appreciate most in this volume as we see each round’s highlight juxtaposed with a related flashy shot for Genos taking out monsters at the same time. It’s quick, amusing enough, and allows for some nice visual flair. That’s not a super high bar, but frankly… the rest of the volume doesn’t exactly have a whole lot going on. Oh, and it all ends with a kind of fun little fight with a surprisingly stubborn cockroach man, so that’s something.
We then get a fight between Blizzard and an S&M themed monster who takes control of her underlings. In theory it’s a big character moment for her, and it’s functional enough, but it frankly feels so generic, like the sort of thing you’ve seen done a billion times in other manga, without really anything special to set it apart. Oh, and we end on a bit more hyping up of the monster association, complete with a cute little moment for Child Emperor.
And then to conclude the book, the bonus chapter is based around King unwittingly disarming an attack on himself. It’s a nice enough little bit, though it’s largely not that far removed from the basic gag of the character, either.
In Summary
This volume is easily the low point of the series thus far, with no real great moments or amazing flash to prop up the weaker parts of the book. There are still some charming enough small gags, and some decent moments of the sort you’d see in a more generic battle series… but the spark, the thing that made the series so special, just feels completely absent here. Rather than this amazing, unique thing, it’s just… alright. Serviceable. All-around middle of the road. That certainly doesn’t make it BAD, per se, but it’s definitely a shame, considering all the great moments the series has given us up to this point. I do have hope, though, that things will pick up again in the future, as it largely seems to be this tournament arc that’s been such a drag. So maybe once that’s out of the way, the magic will come back. But for now, what’s left is a book that’s just sort of okay, and feels like it’s seriously just spinning its wheels.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: September 5th, 2017
MSRP: $9.99
