English Dub Review: One-Punch Man “The Metal Bat”

Overview (Spoilers Below)
A flashback to Garo’s childhood occurs, giving us insight that even as a child, he felt for the villainous monsters. After the flashback, Garo wakes up, not knowing what (or rather who) hit him into a bundle of garbage the previous night.

Meanwhile, at the Hero Association, the board members enlist the help of Class S heroes to bodyguard top-level association executives in order to protect them from harm. Metal Bat ultimately takes the job of guarding an executive and his son, albeit regretting doing so. As if by clockwork, two monsters show up to kidnap the two.

Far away from the chaos, Saitama (disguised as Charanko) enters the Super Fight martial arts tournament that Charanko had briefed him on. Soon after settling into his waiting room, Saitama encounters Sour Face, a former pupil of Silver Fang and one who trained alongside Charanko. Sour Face acts all high and mighty around Saitama, alongside bringing up the incident involving Garo that lead to the closure of the dojo. Saitama brings him back down to earth by stating that someone who ran away from the dojo incident shouldn’t act all high and mighty. Furious, Sour Face leaves and vows to beat him in the ring should Saitama make it through his matches.

Back into the fray (or lack thereof), Metal Bat manages to wipe out the two attacking monsters…only for two more to show up in their place! Not to fear though, Metal Bat takes care of them as well. Oh wait, there’s another even greater threat popping its head out of the surface! Metal Bat attempts to smash this one’s face in, only to get flung clear across town…and right into the hands of Garo himself. With a Class S-hero right in his clutches, Garo duels it out with Metal Bat.

Nearby the Super Fight tournament, a mysterious fighter reveals themselves to two women, tagging along with them to the tournament.

Our Take
As one can gather from the summary above, nothing really happens this episode…again. It’s practically the same as the last episode, only this time with actual monsters rather than a human monster. The majority of the elements that make up this series feel sorely lacking this time around.

For starters, what on earth happened to the comedy? That was literally the one element that always came out on top, even the last episode. This time, they just chucked all of it out the window. I didn’t chuckle at all here. I’m not saying Saitama should act like a goofball all the time, but his antics were always amusing and helped the show stand out from the others in the shonen genre. Without it, the show just feels a lot duller and uninteresting to me.

One could argue that the scenes between Mumin Rider and Charanko are an attempt at comedy. To me, however, they just feel like pointless filler. We already know Saitama is going to do the exact opposite of what everyone expects him to do. So, why do we need a scene with Mumin Rider idolizing in the fact that Saitama would never commit such a heinous affair as disguising himself to get into a tournament? The humor of the series, in my opinion, comes from the absurdity of Saitama’s actions. It’s the things that one doesn’t expect to happen that drive our funny bones to their breaking point.

Then there are the monsters. They keep popping up one after the other out of nowhere. The monsters seen within the first season, for the most part, had unique personalities that made them enjoyable to view. Here, they just feel uninteresting and underdeveloped. They only serve the purpose of furthering the plot device of a monster apocalypse looming over the world. Other than that, there’s no reason for them to exist. They barely have any time on-screen for showdowns between them and the heroes!

Thanks to that plot device, it also adds another underwhelming element to the fray: predictability. The hero gets one monster, but oh wait, he’s not done yet! Then he finishes them off, only for yet another all-mighty beast to show itself and challenge the hero. It feels so overdone at this point that it’s hard to care. The outcome is practically a given, so why bother?

Despite this, there are a few moments that leave a single punch on viewers. One of these is something exclaimed by the childhood Garo: ‘Why should the popular win and the hated lose?’ That’s a pretty deep question in all honesty. It presents some commentary on how the focus is set on the majority, leaving the minority in the dust. We don’t tend to think about the underdog, but rather the idolized, the popular crowds, and follow in their footsteps. I’m not at all saying Garo (or anyone for that matter) is justified in taking innocent lives due to wanting the monsters to shine. My point is that perhaps in certain cases, the underdog should receive the spotlight over the majority.

The other moment worthy of discussion is a single line uttered by Saitama during his discussion with Sour Face: ‘Someone who runs off shouldn’t act like a big shot.’ Saitama once again proves to the audience that he’s not just a gag-filled absurdist hero for fun. He brings up a good point that one who runs away from trouble, abandoning all those who they’re familiar with, shouldn’t really be touted as a heroic figure. Sure, we all make mistakes and fear can sometimes get the best of us. But to act pretentious when in reality they ran away from what matters most to them? It all goes back to what Saitama has said previously about being a hero. Step up for what’s right, and not turn a cheek to evil.

All in all, this episode just feels like an utter disappointment. Even with some deep thinking here, the overall dull atmosphere here leads to a dry, unenjoyable experience. I’m unfortunately starting to see why people reacted so negatively to this season. At least the opening theme still kicks ass.