10 Second Anime - One Punch Man S2 - Episode 4

Saitama enters the Super Fight Tournament. Metal Bat protects a Hero Association exec. Garou hunts heroes, but monsters are hunting too.

Episode 4 - "Metal Bat"

Hmm.

We got the first hints at the source of Garou's ambition to become a monster - he always rooted for the villains in hero cartoons. Is it that simple? Perhaps it is, because he has one singular mission of defeating heroes at this point, but he has many moral contradictions just to be labeled a bad seed. The best device to show these contradictions is the little kid Garou keeps meeting in the park.

Garou could have easily taken the kid's Hero Guide away from him, but he lets him keep it, even promising to read it together. He even makes sure the kid follows the evacuation plan for when the Elder Centipede starts rampaging. I think we're seeing that Garou has a singular obsession to become the best fighter. His rooting for villains as a kid just shows that he's not stuck in the single moral track of most of society.

Garou's journey to be the best fighter took him to Bang's dojo, which he crushed when he knew he wasn't learning anything from them any more. It took him to the previous year's Super Fight Tournament, where he won that. And now he's hunting heroes, but he's professing to become a monster. I think the monster part is only so that he'll become a target for heroes to come to him.

The ironic part, in the world of One Punch Man, is that if you obsess about something long and hard enough, you actually do become a monster of that obsession. Just how long will it take for Garou to become a strong fighter monster? I suppose we'll find out much later in this story.

Meanwhile, the guy that actually did become the strongest hero, is entering the Super Fight Tournament to see if martial arts can finally give him an opponent he would have to fight seriously. Saitama mused that he couldn't remember what a real battle felt like. That's also proof that Boros the Alien King knew the truth that he was never a match for Saitama. Saitama can be polite when he wants to be.

Heh.

Garou wakes in a pile of trash. Pretty harsh statement.

Hero Association thinks their execs need bodyguards because Garou beat up one. We know he's never doing that again, because there was no challenge, but the HA doesn't know that.

King is playing a video game, but the way he describes how busy he is just enhances his reputation. Also, his apartment got repaired pretty fast.

This kid with Metal Bat is going to be used as a foil with Garou's kid.

Metal Bat knows how conveyor belt sushi etiquette.

He's totally the old style drama character of a gang member, turned baseball player who dotes on his little sister.

Monsters attack! They have a picture! This is a targeted raid!

This is confusing the story line of who is going after the Hero Association. Good development!

Metal Bat gets to say cool hero lines, "You can't leave because you haven't paid yet."

Saitama looks at his seeding bracket. He hopes his first opponent is strong and immediately checks out the favored winner. We'll be seeing a lot of Suiryuu.

Sourface came from Bang's dojo and he stopped by just to mess with Charanko. He quit the dojo after Garou's rampage.

The real Charanko worries that Saitama will enter the tournament (rightly) because he's kind of stupid (also rightly). Mumen Rider knows he'll be okay because he's a hero. But Mumen Rider also thinks he won't enter the tournament because he's a hero... that lovable fool!

Sourface has got all the exposition. Genos couldn't be here so...

Garou won the tournament last year as Wolfman, so that's why there are new harsh penalties against disguises and fake names. Sourface somehow can't tell Charanko looks a bit different.

I wonder if Bang was away from the dojo during that meteor strike, or maybe it was the alien invasion?

Saitama can defeat you in one punch with words too. He got Sourface's number, "You quit, right? You ran away, so you don't get to act like you're better than me."

These centipede guys are like the Tank-Top guys. Bigger and stronger ones keep showing up. Kohai, Senpai, and then Chourou. There must be another level above this guy, because that's just how these things work.

Why is Saitama reading about tennis before a martial arts tournament?

Really? Watchdog Man just sits like a statue all day? It takes all kinds to be an S-Class hero.

Metal Bat's super power is "pumping himself up." Such a gangster.

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Garou insists on fighting Metal Bat while that centipede is destroying the city. He's totally obsessed with the one thing.

Next time, Suiryuu shows he's a strong fighter, plus Metal Bat's little sister looks tougher than he does.