Hello? Yes, this is he.

What exactly are you looking for here? Are you an inquisitive prospective client? My fruit of an ex? ...God? God, can you hear me? Please rid me of my hemorrhoid.

For now, this page is quite bare. Inclusions remain open to revision on the basis of reflection and new experiences. For all it gnaws toward oblivion, time may yet grant the boon of perspective.

SPOILERS BELOW

The Indomitable Will of Man

"I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery."

-Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), The Matrix

In progress.

Top Actors Whose Characters I'd Trust to Watch my Children

A Loving Critique of One Punch: S2

Disclaimer: To be clear, my assertions are based on the anime, and my own opinions. The writer’s choices reign supreme in terms of canon, but the basis of, “because I said so” is not one I inherently respect, or at least hold in as high a regard as simple logic. I love the series overall, and it's because I've seen its highs that I come here to expel my grievances.

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Audio

To get it out of the way - being one of the simpler issues - the audio mixing/balancing is awful. Combat noises - especially blows landing - are uncomfortably loud. I recognize I tend to have sensitive hearing, but if I crank the volume to be able to enjoy the opening, the fight scenes legitimately hurt to listen to. Even if the opening were boosted, the balancing would still be a serious issue. One of the best examples is the martial arts contest - particularly the finals. The sound design was incredible in S1, so it's disappointing to see S2 not receive the same care.

Writing

The largest issue is the writing. I wrote this without knowing where the story went after S2, and while my view has softened somewhat, I still stand behind my points. Season 2 regularly endangers Garou – often mortally – then keeps him alive through nonsensical resiliency and/or extreme luck. This repetition of extreme peril without consequence makes the Garou portion of the story incredibly frustrating to follow. Garou has 9 encounters worth examining in this vein. Beyond the first two, these encounters see Garou unreasonably spared from death or capture.

Golden Ball and Spring Mustachio

Garou only narrowly dodges a lethal shot from Golden ball at the beginning of the match. How Garou manages this, I do not know, since he fails at dodging a subsequent, singular shot he can see coming. At this point, his leg is injured, which should affect his mobility. Cementing the absurd inconsistency of the underlying writing, Garou then manages to perfectly dodge a drastically more intense version of the attack that just hit him, which sees several shots fired at once, instead of one. Should he have been killed? Probably not. He should, however, have been injured further. At this point, Golden Ball’s colleague, Spring Mustachio, appears to assist. Garou is hit by his grand attack, but takes it through the palm as he descends to pummel Mustachio at close range. This doesn’t bother me in itself, but it raises my eyebrow overall. A rapier through the palm is a meaningful injury for a martial artist relying heavily on hand techniques, and the fact he couldn’t dodge the attack – from an A-class hero – suggests his assertion of being a world-ending threat is laughable.

Tank Top Master

Tank Top Master is straddling the line, for me. It's believable that Garou would be capable of outmaneuvering him, and leveraging martial arts techniques to avoid major damage. What bothers me, and is pretty ridiculous, is that Mumen Rider would interrupt Tank Top Master in the middle of a fight, specifically to defend a violent criminal. There's unwavering heroism, and then blatant stupidity coupled with jarringly poor situational awareness. Fortunately, Tank Top Master's inability to win the fight serves not only to help pique Saitama's interest in martial arts, but to illustrate the danger of poor match-ups. For these reasons, it's tolerable that he lost, but the manner in which he lost was frustrating.

Metal Bat

Metal Bat, already busy with a fight, is interrupted by Garou. Metal Bat sustains some severe damage, but his speed and power prove a challenge for our resident cocky man-child. In a hilarious (not at all, actually quite aggravating) fashion, as Metal Bat is about to deal a brutal blow, his younger sister appears to demand an end to the fight. Garou agrees…for some reason. Why not?

Watchdog Man

Watchdog man is the first fight where Garou is undeniably outclassed, and should logically have been killed or captured. Garou is outfought to the point of fleeing for his life, though it’s not explained how he was able to escape…from somebody demonstrably faster than him, with a presumed ability to detect scents. Truly, what the hell? You don't even have to read between the lines here, because he openly states that Watchdog Man was too fast to handle.

Hero hit squad: Death Gatling, Stinger, Smile Man, and More

The heroes above corner an already unwell Garou in his hideout. Beyond his physical injuries, Garou is running a fever, and is in the midst of sleeping/resting to recover his strength. Despite this, he doesn’t flee, instead electing to fight, but not before poking peepholes in his wall and looking up the surrounding heroes in his borrowed hero almanac. The heroes very kindly wait for him to be ready to come out and fight, somehow oblivious both to the holes poked in the wall they’re staring at, and the value of the element of surprise. The ensuing fight proves more than Garou can handle, and he’s impaled by several poisoned arrows, which further weaken him, pushing him toward unconsciousness. Naturally, it is at this point that Garou turns the fight around, fighting better than before, because fuck you, that’s why. It’s worth noting that an iteration of this – i.e. the fighting spirit used by Metal Bat – would be palatable. What’s problematic is that this isn’t Garou getting hurt and becoming stronger, it’s him being injured, getting progressively weaker in a manner that’s clearly persistent – as opposed to Metal Bat’s fleeting state of being hurt, at least until the end of the fight – then becoming strong again. Anyway, the heroes are beaten, with Stinger stupidly taking Garou’s bait to fight alone, for some reason, and a seriously injured Garou dodging Death Gatling’s shots, despite being hit by Golden Ball’s significantly slower projectile while in perfect physical health. Brilliant.

Genos

Called in far too late as backup, Genos arrives to fight Garou. It’s not even worth writing this one out in detail; Garou survives to fight his old master. While Genos was up to the task of putting Garou down, weaseling Garou out of death for the sake of a more dramatic final fight is actually a solid decision. I still take issue with an injured Garou persisting to this point, but Bang needed to get some smashing-face-time.

Bang/Silverfang

When Bang appears, it seems - not for the first time - like curtains for Garou. Indeed, the ensuing fight proves Garou is the technically inferior fighter, as he is rapidly reduced to being a helpless punching bag. Through his inner monologue, we are fed two absurd and frustrating pieces of dialogue. The first remarks with sincere surprise that Bang in whaling on him with clearly murderous intent. Sir, you've been waltzing around town, committing acts of hospitalization-worthy violence against ostensibly good people - including Bang's former disciple - professing to be a hunter of heroes, and you're surprised he's not going easy on you? The second piece of inner dialogue states rather plainly that he's passing out, about to die. As part of the emergent thread of shooting a middle finger to the audience, he suddenly decides not to die, and thus manages to survive. Nice.

Saitama

S2 sees Garou have 2 combat interactions with Saitama that he survives, as Saitama is pulling his punches. Saitama may be ditzy/stupid, but not recognizing or becoming suspicious of Garou strains credulity – especially after the second incident. Practically teasing the viewer, Saitama verbally acknowledges the rumor of a hero hunter mere moments after repelling Garou’s second attack.

Garou Sucks, by the Way

Garou is both an asshole and an idiot, which makes his continued survival and success profusely frustrating, especially when compounded with the fact he should’ve been killed ~three times. His motivations are childish and absurd; he’s reduced his life to a violent campaign against heroes, simply because of a seemingly short stretch of childhood bullying enacted by hero-worshiping peers. Sometime after developing ambitions of power, he seeks out Bang’s dojo, where he is seemingly nurtured and given a sense of purpose. Ignoring that Bang’s influence presumably would’ve been enough to expunge or seriously weaken the darkness of Garou’s impressionable mind, his anger was with his bullies, and not the heroes themselves. In fact, his anger wasn’t even with heroes, but fictional representations of heroes. The mental gymnastics required to make this crusade make sense are truly impressive, especially after years of ostensibly positive companionship, education in mindfulness, general brain development, and separation from his bullies. You know what would've been a lot more palatable? What if Garou had purely been out to kill his bullies, and revealed that accomplishing that goal ignited a thirst for blood in his heart? BOOM, passionate and grounded.

Garou’s stated goal – to hunt down and kill heroes – stands in glaring contrast with his actual behaviour, which makes his entire S2 arc perplexingly stupid. Garou seems to kill not a single hero, despite more than ample opportunity. This would be annoying enough, but he also cockily and enthusiastically declares aloud how he’s “hunting”, or going to “kill”, “murder”, etc.

Conclusion

I assume – hope – I’m missing something that will present itself later: details that will bring Garou’s behaviour even slightly into the realm of making any degree of sense. Perhaps Garou wants to kill, but is holding back because he knows he’s in the wrong, and has a grand plan. Perhaps Garou has backstory we’ve yet to see that adds exacerbating circumstances to his outlook on heroes. Perhaps Garou has a literal guardian angel protecting him. If some grand narrative lifeline isn't thrown in by later storytelling, season 2 will stand as one long, torturous exercise in suspending disbelief. Woof.

The night raid on Arrakeen (Dune (2021) 01:18:44-01:22:07)

Levi Squad vs. Female Titan (Attack on Titan, S1: Ep. 21: Crushing Blow: The 57th Exterior Scouting Mission, Part 5)

Humanity and Devilmen vs. Satan (Devilman Crybaby, Ep. 10: Crybaby)

Lightning Max, Puri-Puri Prisoner vs. Deep Sea King (One Punch, S1: Ep. 8)

I submit, for your consideration, the following quotes:

"I do not stand by in the presence of evil."

-Alita (Rosa Salazar), Alita: Battle Angel

Every day is a reminder of how fucked we are, if you have the eyes to see it. Look around you. Look at the evil that assails the world. Look at the squabbling masses, impossibly mired in differences they will never reconcile. Look at the demagogues, the performers, the elite, and drop your gaze to the loathsome people kissing their feet and suckling at their shadows. Look at the innocent, if violent, natural world that withers under our spiraling occupation. Anybody who isn't regularly in emotional distress at the state of the world is at least one of: stupid beyond the point of respect, uncaring beyond the point of respect, extremely busy, or phenomenal at compartmentalizing.

So, do we all give up? Kill ourselves? Preferably not. Just because you're likely doomed to lose, that doesn't mean you give up. After all, the human spirit is forged in the heat of suffering and challenge, and our existence here, now - provided you don't believe in the direct creation of Earth by a divine force - is the expression of an unfathomably great victory against immeasurably long odds. Still, how does one so attuned to or made forcefully aware of the horrors of the world fold and reform, rather than break entirely? The answer of late - for me, at least - lies in art.

We arrive at the point of this piece: the indomitable will of man. When outward is a sea of uncertainty and foes, one may be able only to reach inward for a source of strength, however fleeting, however fractional against the whole of encroaching evil. The ability to do so, however directly purposeless it may be, telegraphs...propagates the idea of courage - the inclination to get up, stand your ground, or move forward, despite a permeating realization that the universe itself is closing upon you.

The sequences below beautifully capture what I'm referring to: humanity, simultaneously at its best and worst. The harrowing intersection of valiance, suffering, and righteous hatred. The gut-wrenching disgust of watching a good person shattered by harsh reality. The moving spectacle of somebody doomed to suffer, and liable to lose, making a defiant stand against evil.

As someone who views most days as uphill battles, destined to result in further days of battling uphill, with little hope that things will fundamentally improve, the spectacle of someone charging defiantly into a terrifying foe is deeply moving to me. It encapsulates what I struggle to be and do, and so it encourages and saddens me to see it personified. It is a microcosm of the human condition: pain and hope intertwined. In these characters and moments, I see a version of myself that I aspire to realize. I want to be able to overcome, or die trying. I don’t want to lie down and accept defeat.