English Dub Review: One-Punch Man “The Varieties of Pride”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)
Garo continues his fight against the Class A heroes. The Class A’s put up a grand fight, even manage to take Garo down a few pegs. However, the hero hunter’s still no match for them. When all hope seems lost, Genos arrives on scene to take down Garo once and for all. Genos fairs better than his contemporaries, but ultimately struggles a bit to hold Garo down. After a few tricks up his sleeve, Genos finally pins down Garo and prepares to incinerate the monster. Before he can do that though, Bang, alongside his brother Bomb, arrives with a quick kick. The decisive battle between student and pupil finally comes to a roaring start.

Our Take
As you’ve probably guessed, Saitama’s had a good, long two-week holiday break to recharge his stamina. So, with the benefit of rest on its side, how does this week fare? Well…it’s entertaining at least. But, there’s still something missing here. Let’s grab the magnifying glass and take a closer look.

For starters, considering this episode is largely devoid of its signature comedy routine, the storyline actually plays out quite well. The action is non-stop exhilarating, just barely letting the audience catch a breath here and there. The movements seem well-timed to my eyes and flow quite well overall. There’s a good amount of suspense too that keeps things exciting and fresh, compared to Garo’s many previous fights. All in all, this piece of the episode is a highlight rather than a stain.

Surprisingly enough, there’s a mass amount of deep insight this time around. It comes out of left field, but they’re interesting enough to mask that. For starters, during their fight, Death Gatling brings up the inequalities of the Class system for heroes. This could very well be a comparison to the inequalities within our own society.

Secondly, Garo’s flashback where he sympathizes with the monsters could very well have the deeper meaning of preconceptions of various people. Similarly to how monsters are immediately portrayed as evil, there are some within society who, unfortunately, portray others in a negative light.

Lastly, Saitama’s message to the green-suit hero is an important one applicable to everyday life. Like Saitama says, no one really reaches their limit. There’s always room for improvement and thus the ability to keep moving forward. Overall, it’s a bit odd to see these all crammed into one place. However, each message is more than welcome here.

My main concern lies with the pacing of the episode. Throughout the entirety of the episode, it’s just a non-stop Garo versus someone brawl. Did the show forget that they have, you know, one episode left of the season? There’s a whole Monster Association thing to resolve, remember? I honestly cannot fathom the decision to focus on Garo this entire episode. It’d be one thing if his plotline was tied up here. However, the plotline just keeps chugging right along! Heck, it’s practically just begun from the looks of it! If the whole Association bit is resolved just from Saitama’s one-punch, it’ll honestly feel like a cop-out. I don’t think I could that blow much better than the monsters would.

To conclude, there are certainly some gems to take away from this treasure heist. However, when burdened by lack of focus on pacing, their shine tends to dull, fading away a significant amount of their luster. We only have one episode left and we’re hardly even close to wrapping up the season’s plotlines. It’s ridiculous.