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elenasparks1305 · 2 years

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ONE PUNCH-MAN FANGIRLING THOUGHTS: AN ESSAY

It’s been such a long time since i even posted anything here. This is kind of like a summary to the vent session(s) I had with my friend about the latest chapters. She suggested I post it here so here goes.

First of all.

Loved it.

Loved that so much.

It was right down my alley.

I know some people didn’t like how some things were done, that’s fair, you can’t please everyone. I was kinda bummed by how things were wrapped up too to be honest. I’ll get to it later.

But the things they did with Saitama’s character? A masterpiece. The artwork? Godly.

I am a sucker for metaphors in art and the latest chapters were just chock full of them.

Of course the fight scenes were ungodly amazing too, don’t get me wrong. But the metaphors? *chefs kiss *

Let’s get to the rants.

Here’s a list of the beautiful symbolisms that I managed to glean from reading the final chapters in both English and Japanese.

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1. The fallout rain

It’s a natural phenomenon that has happened before in Japan during the world war. How they executed the phenomenon, though, was perfection.

(Absolutely loved this page)

Loved how they used the rain as a metaphor for the sadness that somebody important just died, but also since it’s in bnw, you can’t really tell if it’s blood, or some people had assumed it was oil from Genos, or if it was what it really was: the fallout rain.

But it fits all the symbolism in my opinion, since it was basically all of them. It symbolises the blood (or in Genos’s case; oil) that’s in Saitama’s hands. It symbolises the consequences to his action (or inaction).

Saitama decided to spare Garou and not deal the finishing blow to him when he had the chance. He was responsible for Garou being able to have contact with the god thing, and therefore become the cosmic horror. Saitama is indirectly responsible for the deaths, and most importantly, Genos’s death.

I also loved how Murata drew the streaks down his eyes, like he was crying. Quite sure that it’s intentional.

I loved Saitama’s expression. I can see the disbelief, the despair, and utter shock in his face. I believe that’s called a shell-shocked expression?

To me, his expression seems to cry out, “Why did everything end up becoming like this?”

It was genuinely heartbreaking to see that in his face. Murata is a true artist for portraying that so expertly. That expression of utter shock was incredibly fitting for someone like Saitama. I’ll explain why I think so.

All this time Saitama has never bothered to put his heart in any of his fights, cuz he’s basically invincible. He has no stakes in any fights and this one was no different. Unlike other heroes, he never had anything to lose in any fights cuz he’s always going to win. He knows that.

So it’s just so fitting because of his character’s portrayal; someone who’s lost touch with the real world and his emotions. He is basically invincible, and was so alone he really didn’t have anything to lose.

That is, until he did.

Up to this point we’ve been showed crumbs of how Saitama cares about Genos (pretending to be his teacher, running to his aid first thing after getting out of the MA lair, ignoring Garou, and let’s not forget the core touching scene lol).

All in all, we are shown bits and pieces how much Saitama cares about Genos, and I think Saitama does know that he cares about Genos (maybe not as aware as to how much he cares tho). Thing is, up to this point, I don’t think Saitama has ever seriously considered Genos actually dying. It’s fair since he always comes back even after getting brutally beat up like in the Seaking arc.

So in this instance I think it genuinely rattles Saitama to the core to realize that Genos can actually die.

And that he actually does have something to lose after all.

The usage of the fallout rain as a symbolism was perfect for this one. I absolutely love it.

2. The Face Swap

Let’s not forget this one.

The way Saitama has a black tone all over his face and Garou has a light colored one is a very deliberate symbolism.

I’ve seen a lot of people calling this one out too and I agree with what they call it.

Saitama is the hero in this story, but at this moment, he is the one who doesn’t give a fuck about anything and anyone else but the object of his revenge, which, if I recall correctly, is what we call a villain.

Meanwhile we have Garou, the guy who calls himself the villain, yet at his heart of hearts, is actually not evil.

Some people have mentioned that Saitama is the hero with villainous tendencies and Garou is the villain with heroic tendencies. I do agree with that.

Some people argue that Saitama did not intend to destroy the earth and while for some reason I do believe destroying the earth itself wasn’t the intention, the lack of caring of what’s going to happen in the aftermath of that serious punch is undeniable.

We have seen the devastation of what a serious punch can cause during the early days of one punch man series, when Saitama sparred against Genos. Imagine that kind of devastation inflicted upon the already broken down area. It would’ve been atrocious. If the other heroes there weren’t already dying, they’d surely be dead if they got caught in the aftermath of that punch. Especially because if I recall their positioning correctly:

Yup. Directly behind Garou and Blast.

And I doubt Blast could tank the aftermath of a serious punch enough to protect everyone else, sorry Blast.

Had Garou not return the serious punch, the destruction of the whole area would still be imminent.

And Saitama did not care.

So yeah, villain. A hero with villainous tendencies sounds about right.

While Garou was his opposite; the villain with heroic tendencies. Polar opposite fists sounds about right. That, couples with how ONE had once mentioned that Garou is the anti-Saitama? I do believe that explains everything quite well.

3. Jupiter

The Jupiter scene is incredible. Period.

This whole scene depicts just how far behind Garou is compared to Saitama. Jupiter behind Saitama seems to symbolise just how massive the storm in Saitama’s heart is, and plus it depicts what an ominous presence Saitama currently was. Compare that to how small Garou is in the lower part of the screen. The result of this fight has been clear from the start.

Saitama is drawn at the top is already symbolic of how far above of Garou he is. And Jupiter’s surface behind him is drawn like an eye, which I’m pretty sure is symbolic too about how he stands as the eye of the storm.

Which as we all know, is the calmest part of the storm.

He did look calm didn’t he?

At least on the outside he did.

The storm behind him symbolises the storm brewing inside, waiting to release its fury on Garou.

4. The Core holding scene (not that one)

I have not seen anybody talk about this one yet. This one is a bit less obvious and I only caught on because I read the Japanese version. So I’m gonna be posting the picture in Japanese.

Here Saitama was talking shit to Garou, which was already rare coming from Saitama. But what he said in Japanese made me realize why this picture was made in that composition.

Here Saitama said “そのためなんだろ？” which was translated to “isn’t that the whole point of this?” In the english version. It’s not wrong. But in my opinion it fails to capture the nuance of why the picture was drawn like that.

What Saitama said could also be roughly translated as: “what you did was for this right?” Which, when we look at the way they put emphasis on Genos’s core in that picture, seems to want to say “you killed him for this, right?”

It hurt me when I realised that but also

That’s how you do composition in storytelling. Honestly I’m kinda sad more people didn’t catch on. Some animators even made awesome fan animations and I saw a few failed to include Genos’s core in that scene, which saddens me even more cuz the animations were great otherwise.

To be fair it’s a very nuanced thing, which sometimes get lost in translation. I get that.

So here I am trying to explain away one of my favourite pages lol.

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And while we’re on the topic of translations, let’s talk Japanese. And by that I mean let’s talk about the original Japanese dialogue. This is gonna be me nerding out about the original Japanese phrases in the manga so be warned.

Let’s start from the top.

This page is really heartbreaking.

Basically here, what Saitama said was actually closer to: “I really do not have what they called a hero’s instinct at all huh……”

He’s not questioning whether or not he has a hero’s instinct. He’s admitting that he does not in fact have a hero’s instinct, at all.

It hurts for me to read that because that’s a very defeated phrase to say for someone who already, in the previous chapters, stated the doubts he had of his own heroism. It shows just how hurt he was at this scene. It kinda justified how he basically threw all caution to the wind and went for the overpowered punch right after that…

Let’s take a break from the sad.

This one is, in fact, very correct. The English translation has Garou say “later then lol”.

It is in fact what he says.

He did say “w”, which is the abbreviation for “wara”, which in Japanese is 「笑」. It means “laugh”. It is the Japanese word for ‘lol’. It’s usually a chat thing though, not a spoken word but it’s super common even my bosses at work uses it regularly.

So this one is, in fact, not a mistranslation. They got it 100% correct on this one.

Let’s go for another sad.

The clinging word here is pretty accurate in my opinion. However the word they used for this in Japanese was 縋る (sugaru). I went to the dictionary for more context and I got it. Let’s see if I can convey the whole meaning in English. It be difficult this one.

This word is very emotional, as it has the meaning of “to clutch really strongly on to something or someone, that is the sole dependable/trustworthy figure in times of pain or hardship”.

The dictionary mentions that this word is closely related to 頼る(tayoru) which means to lean on someone for support. But the former put a far stronger emphasis on the dependence and trust placed in the something or someone than the latter.

That one hurt me.

To realize that Genos and Tareo were depicted as the sole emotional support to Saitama and Garou respectively that they trusted and depended on. It was almost enough to make me tear up.

If Garou was comparable to Saitama, Genos is comparable to Tareo in terms of what they are to each of their respective idols.

They even share the same bald spot <3

Let’s wrap this up with a sweet one.

This moment when Genos thought he needed to tell this story to the people who needed to know? The Japanese is admittedly a bit ambiguous. It is written 人間, which directly translates to human. However, this word is used pretty regularly in lots of different meaning (singular or plural both) depending on the context. Which led me to believe that, Genos is not trying to tell this to “the people” who needed to hear.

He meant he needed to tell just one person. And he did it immediately after that.

It wasn’t about any other people.

It was just about Saitama.

And that’s so like Genos.

Saitama was the person who needed to hear that yes, he actually did make it in time. Yes, he did manage to save everyone including Genos. Yes, he is a hero despite all his doubts.

I think it’s so sweet of him and so in character of Genos to be thinking of Saitama first. It makes sense too, because he made that promise to himself during the seaking arc that he wouldn’t interfere if Saitama chose to play the role of a bad guy but he’s gonna be there for his Sensei whenever he’s in a pinch.

It’s like a throwback to the aftermath of the meteor where he voiced his solid appreciation and devotion to his Sensei after that public lynching to support and make Saitama feel better.

It’s so like Genos to take it as part of his role as Saitama’s disciple to protect his Sensei and remind him that he is appreciated. Especially after thinking he’s just giving up the acknowledgment for the sake of other heroes again (he just doesn’t remember tho lol).

Protective Sensei is a force to be reckoned with.

Protective borg is a sweet borg.

Too bad Saitama doesn’t remember so he honestly doesn’t understand Genos was being sweet.

It’s ok Genos, we know.

Hopefully Saitama will too.

Anyways, I can go on and on about my take on their relationship but I’m running out if space for this one (I’m on phone) so I’m gonna wrap this one up.

Maybe I will write another one if I feel like it.

Cheers~

#opm #saitama #genos #onepunch man #one punch man #chapter 165-168 thoughts #japanese #english #translation by me #long post #darn i forgot to add the read more #oh well it is what it is

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