10 Second Anime - One Punch Man S2 - Episode 7

The S Class Heroes join the battle against the Monster Association. Saitama meets Suiryu in the Final Match at Super Fight.

Episode 7 - "Class S Heroes"

Hmm.

One of the major themes of One Punch Man is the question of scale in terms of strength. There's always the classic question of what it means to be strong, but in the wrinkles of that question is how does one measure strength and how do you tell if someone else is stronger. The fun subversive nature of this story puts our hero Saitama as already the strongest hero, but his power is so off the scale that other people can't even recognize the difference in their relative scales. But since the convention of shounen adventure is getting stronger and testing those new levels against powerful rivals or enemies, this means all the other characters have to deal with this or crash against the infinitely tall wall known as Saitama.

Here, we saw the A Class heroes trying to see how strong they were in relation to the S Class heroes, like the bunch that met up with Flashy Flash. But even among the S Class heroes, the scale of power is not linear, but logarithmic. Tatsumaki as the number 3 rank is miles and miles above Flashy Flash. For the viewer, it makes us question just how these rankings are decided, because there seems to be very different terms of effectiveness between each of the heroes in the S Class. Not only that, we know from Fubuki that Sweet Mask as the number 1 A Class hero seems to like it there instead of becoming an S Class. So the question becomes what these rankings are even measuring, if not straight up power like B Class Bald Cape who broke all the records at the testing ground. And the even better question, which whirls around Saitama, is do they even matter if one is to become a real hero.

One last thing - I said in my first episode review that I wouldn't complain about the animation style and direction any more, but I didn't say that I wouldn't praise it. This week, we have a scene that is absolutely praiseworthy in capturing the Hero Master Saitama. We had the bold, dark lines. We had ONE's version of Saitama's face. We had Saitama's theme music. We got a line that Genos would have written down in his notebook. Even with all the jaded disappointment Saitama feels about not finding a strong opponent, he is still a hero and people shouldn't look down on them in his presence. What he tells and teaches Suiryu with his pulled punch also touches on the theme of power scales.

Suiryu told Saitama that he wanted to be strong to have fun, and it was pointless to use that power to help people or save the world. Of course, he doesn't know how many times Saitama has already saved the world. Neither do we, for that matter. But Saitama knows what the scale of power means, which is why he told Suiryu, "if you just want to have fun, you probably shouldn't get any stronger." Trouble finds the truly strong, because there are always people or monsters trying to measure their power along the strong's scale. But with that power comes the feeling of responsibility. So far, we've seen Saitama show up to the places he knew he had to be, like destroying a meteor, or defeating invading monster kings. Saitama just lets other people deal with troubles he thinks they can handle. But he does it so callously... Well, it's not like he's a perfect hero, or person. He just became a hero for fun, and he's still hoping he can find some fun again.

Heh.

Gyoro-gyoro is way more talkative than Monster King Orochi. It makes you wonder who's really in charge of the Monster Association's plans.

Sourpuss lost to Saitama in one punch. We didn't even get to see that punch.

Suiryu is still One Kick Man.

Garou wants to beat Watchdog Man. He's really just sitting there like a statue. Ah, those monster, though.

Sweet Mask's concert got interrupted. He's not going to like that.

Dog Man... it's a robot dog.

Ha. Goes straight for the snake boobies and self-destruct.

Drive Knight is a transforming cyborg.

Child Emperor turns his toys into weapons.

Pig God eats his way through adversity. Gross.

Back to Saitama's semifinal opponent. Choze, as in Chosen Ones.

Ha. "Geez, you're dramatic." Saitama calls him a new strain of GMO corn! One Punch!

Class A heroes feeling inferior to Class S Flashy Flash.

Flashy Flash is flashy, but not really effective. He's just making that octopus monster mad and cause more damage.

Tatsumaki shows up to complain, and make a big takoyaki ball. Talk about feeling inferior, and Flashy Flash is S Class like Tatsumaki.

These swordsmen want to help Bang against Garou because they know masters might get soft against former students.

Ah. The other side of the Monster Association plan - monster cells and hero traitors.

Atomic Samurai shows how he got his name, slicing enemies down to atoms.

The swordsmen need to go after the Monster Association first before tackling Garou. That's expected.

Back to Super Fight. Saitama is still worried about his wig.

Ha. Saitama has resting idiot face.

Suiryu knows Saitama is strong because he's strong too. Eh, he's like an ant on top of an iceberg.

Saitama came to experience martial arts, not have fun, or find a decent opponent. He's too jaded to expect normal people to give him a hard fight.

Nice. It's clear from that crater that Saitama knew exactly when to stop his slide to stay in bounds.

Safe! Safely holding onto his wig.

Suiryu just realized he got his sense of power scale wrong.

Saitama's hobbies are going on walks and defeating monsters. Not much else to do in abandoned Z City.

Saitama is getting provoked by Suiryu talking down heroes.

Saitama got a little serious by not even dodging Suiryu's kick, which knocked off his wig.

Saitama Hero Master says Hero Master things.

Whoops, almost ended the match too early. Pulled that punch.

Whoops again. Saitama disqualified for wearing a disguise. Soupuss empathized with Charanko for bearing such a burden of a bald head at such a young age. Dumb but loyal, that one. Snek recognized Saitama.

Suiryu got serious now. Saitama looks bored.

Yeah! Saitama finally figured out martial arts - it's a way to move around looking cool! Don't tell that to Bang...

Saitama hops around, not looking cool.

One Hip! Nice boxer shorts. When did Suiryu grab Saitama's belt?

Suiryu just learned a good lesson about what power means.

Back to Genos, who thinks it's unprecedented that he was defeated. What anime has he been watching?

Goketsu, mentioned by Gyoro-gyoro, heads to Super Fight.

Next time, Watchdog Man stops acting like a statue.