His strength? Unequaled. His accomplishments? Unparalleled. His name? Good question! Saitama's grueling training regimen (100 PUSH-UPS, 100 SIT-UPS, 100 SQUATS, AND 10 KM RUNNING EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!) turned him into an unstoppable force of good and justice. (For fun!) Yet after three years of heroing, Saitama must now face his first real challenge: getting people to realize he exists!

Yes, this is a world where people can turn into monsters from eating too much crab meat and evil organizations pop up like mushrooms that have goons where their spores should be. So enter the Hero Association: an organization that dispatches heroes (ranked C, B, A and S) to deal with every type of threat. And, as a very annoyed Saitama learned last volume, he'll need to join to get recognition as a capital-H Hero and not just some guy with a goofy costume who saves people.

The enrollment process, however, isn't all candy and kittens. Saitama (being Saitama) has never met a physical challenge he couldn't overcome. Yet the Association has an image to keep, and Saitama's lacking some very basic life skills: manners, essay-writing and standard testing come to mind, among others. He might be able to break all of the Association's physical aptitude records in his sleep, but he still makes Rank C by the thinnest of margins.

Chilly welcomes aside, I enjoyed seeing Saitama in contrast to some other heroes. The few that we've seen so far have existed only to give the latest threat some butts to beat, so this context adds a lot. Because (in case my SUPER SUBTLE hints made it over your head) the Heroes Association falls a wee bit short of the Justice League when it comes to the actual heroics. Don't get me wrong, Saitama may cut some fights short because he wants to make it to a sale instead of, say, because he's worried about where this rampaging monster might rampage next. Still, helping people is never far from his mind.

For now, though, Saitama and Genos are official heroes. Genos isn't done though and decides to begin his discipleship proper. Their budding kinda-Master-kinda-Apprentice friendship is pretty hilarious—Genos can't figure out how Saitama's invincibility ties in with his training regimen while Saitama can't figure out how to be a good teacher. At least Genos hangs on his every word, so Saitama can bluff his way through when things get hairy.

Speaking of hairy, we get another appearance by Sonic. The guy's starting to grow on me. There's just something so sincere about his sheer refusal to accept defeat that makes me (kinda sorta) wish he'd win. Or maybe it's that he'd be a credible threat in almost any other manga and that there's something downright sad about his inability to stand up to Saitama's might. The fights only add to Saitama's charm, though—he's invincible, so he just doesn't have to deal with the hurdles most shonen heroes face.

And when you come right down to it, Saitama's unquestioned invincibility is One-Punch Man's key strength. There's all the campy fun of the superhero genre combined with classic shonen tropes, but often that's just garnish to the problems our hero faces off the battlefield. Saitama himself admits that there's more to life than power. There's also fame! And eating well on a regular basis! And strength training, so until the next volume comes out, you get on with those push-ups!

You can keep up with Saitama's attempts to become a recognized hero by picking up the graphic novels available here! 

by Chris Turner