English Dub Review: One-Punch Man “The Monster Uprising”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)
While the tournament rages on, Genos receives a call from the Hero Association regarding monsters popping up nearby his location. With a call to duty in place, Genos leaves the tournament to fight off the baddies.

Numerous fights pass as Genos gives the beasts a sense of justice (including another one-punch knockout by Saitama). With all but one down, Genos heads to the scene of his final target: a cockroach monster. The cockroach and its fast speed prove to be as much of a challenge to Genos as it is to an average everyday homeowner. All out of options, Genos releases an adhesive to catch the cockroach in his tracks. Upon reaching his demise, however, the cockroach splits, leaving his legs behind in the process.

Meanwhile, Hellish Blizzard continues to duke it out with the monster Do-S. With all of her lackeys enslaved by Do-S, Hellish Blizzard struggles to combat Do-S while keeping the others off her back. Seeing an opening, Do-S unleashes her whip and attempts to take control of Hellish Blizzard. The attempt backfires though, as Blizzard remains in control of herself. Plus, Do-S now has to deal with Tornado, as she senses her sister having pain inflicted upon her. Tornado prepares to attack Blizzard’s enslaved lackeys, but Blizzard pleads her not to.

Tornado tries to tone down the attack, much to Blizzard’s chagrin. Their little discussion, however, proved to be the perfect distraction for Do-S to scurry off somewhere.

Back at the tournament, Seiryu and Sneck are up in the latest match. Sneck reflects on how there are those stronger than himself and ponders what the world would be like without a hero association. As if he knew what he was saying to himself, Suriyu states to Sneck how the strongest shall prevail during this monster uprising. With that said, Seiryu knocks out Sneck.

In the deepest caverns of the universe, the Monster King Oroshi reveals himself to viewers as the mastermind behind the monster uprising.

Our Take
Another average episode for the pile. That’s honestly the best way I have to describe this episode. While there are, of course, some fun and exciting elements in play, one major negative has leveled up to a horrific nature that throws off the entire balance of the episode.

Throughout each and every turn here, there are numerous battles, whether it be between monsters or martial artists. Therein lies the problem though. There’s so many crammed into one half-hour episode that it can’t even hardly show any of them. Not to mention the few we do see feel utterly lackluster. There’s hardly any stakes here. Why am I supposed to care about them? I believe the series would be better off choosing a select few battles to showcase in full, and cutting out the rest. That way, the series can further expand on these battles to make them more energetic and exciting bouts of fury to view.

Another issue that I noticed is how the episode tends to shift focus between the monster uprising and the tournament quite frequently. It’s almost as if the series flips channels every minute or so. The constant switches are honestly quite erratic. It would do the episode some good to have shifted the focus more towards the subject here, the monster uprising (at least from the episode title’s perspective). The majority of the tournament fights could have been neatly placed within last week’s episode instead (since, you know, it was called “The Martial Arts Tournament” after all).

Thankfully, there are some comedic moments here that help to alleviate my frustration. Saitama’s one-punch knockouts never cease to get a crack out of me, despite how predictable they are. I think this is due to the build-up these moments have. One goon’s always puffing out their chests only to get knocked out in one punch. It’s a continuously hilarious element that I love seeing. Saitama’s nonchalant nature also tickles the funny bone. He continues going on his way, not really giving a crap about other’s worries (the only craps he gives are in private, how ironic!). It’s nice to see that this unique element continues to shine gold here.

The reveal at the tail end was also immensely exciting. We finally know who’s behind the recent uptick in monsters! Now with a powerful figurehead in the picture, it increases the numerous amount of possibilities here. What will his next plan be, and will he create more-powerful foes in abundant amounts? The gears are spinning inside my brain, and they won’t stop until the final blow is dealt with.

An enticing concept I noticed here was the similarities between two pairs of individuals. As it turns out, Seiryu and Saitama have more in common than one might have initially thought. Not only does each have some fight in them, they additionally are both quite relaxed in their personalities. Each one of them tends to go through life without thinking much about it. When the situation arises to strike, they’ll be there. Otherwise, they’ll be chilling out wherever.

Hellish Blizzard and Do-S additionally have some common attributes. Each one of them, in their own way, forcefully groups together an enormous amount of people to strengthen themselves. This leads back into Hellish Blizzard’s ongoing inner struggle. She continually wants to be the best thanks to her sister always one-upping her. However, all this really does is hold her back from her true potential. If she holds herself to having satisfaction with being the best of one class, how can she improve her own strength? Likewise, if all Do-S ever does is enslave others to do her bidding, how can she grow in strength? In some cases, it’s important and even necessary to work in a group. However, if you hold yourself back just for petty standards, it doesn’t help anyone out in the long run.

All in all, not the worst episode, but it certainly strays far away from the top marks. It struggles to focus and expand upon its main bread and butter. While there is food for thought here, it’s a spice that doesn’t help make the main course taste any better.