Quick Summary
In One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 11 (a.k.a., episode 23), “The Varieties of Pride,” Death Gatling and several of his hand-picked buddies surrounded Garou. The villain was wounded; poison coursed through his veins. He was barely able to stand. Yet, he remained defiant — especially after Death Gatling and his A class heroes gave Garou a clue to a weakness of theirs — a weakness he can exploit… Meanwhile, King tried to teach Saitama the finer points of video gaming, but Saitama’s gaming skills seem inversely proportional to his hero skills. Finally, Genos received a powerful upgrade and got back into action. Will his upgrades be equal to his aspirations? Or will he end up back in the shop?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Best Moment in the Show
Garou’s reaction to Death Gatling was just perfect. Capture from the Hulu stream.
Have you gotten to the point in your life where you suddenly realize everything you thought you knew about the world just isn’t true? Maybe you trusted your, thinking it really did want to help everyone become better — only to learn the leadership was covering up sex crimes? Maybe you really thought your government was all about freedom and protecting its citizens — only to find out it used to (and probably still does) fund unethical medical experiments without informed consent? Or you really thought your government was all about international law and spreading democracy, only to find out they intentionally destroyed the democratically elected prime minister of Iran in 1953 — thus setting the stage for the crisis after crisis we see in the Middle East?
You probably get the point, but darn, that felt cathartic…
After a certain point in your life, you realize you can’t trust institutions. You have to figure out, person by person, who you can trust. It’s the most terrifying and the most liberating lesson I’ve ever learned.
And One Punch Man Season 2 just crossed into that space.
How many of us haven’t been to this place after playing a video game for too long without a victory? Capture from the Hulu stream
We’ve had hints all season. Garou was a Hero Hunter, but he sounded a lot like Stain from My Hero Academia. He’s a “monster,” but his personal code of ethics is distractingly laudable. Is he really a villain? In this episode, most of the class A heroes following Death Gatling (but not all of them — and that’s important) didn’t follow him because they wanted to be more effective detergents against monsters. No, they did it because they were sick of the S-class heroes getting all of the glory. He rails about the ranking systems being unfair as he remembers watching the Tornado of Terror obliterate a monster he couldn’t touch. Finally, he raged against Garou for getting so much attention for beating down S-class heroes. “That makes you the perfect target for proving my point,” he said (1:34).
And Garou looked at him with an expression that said, simply, WTF (1:39).
I know that expression. I’ve worn that expression.
It’s the expression of someone who thought they were discussing the origins of the universe, only to learn that the other party was stuck at the “no, you’re the poopy head” level.
Are they really heroes?
I’ll give Garou credit: he laughed it off. I’m still trying to adjust to my realizations! I guess that’s why he earned my favorite moment of this episode.
Other Posts about This Series
Other Anime Sites
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 01 – Best In Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 02 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 03 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 04 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 05 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 06 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 07 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 08 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 09 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 10 – Best in Show
- Review: One Punch Man Season 2 Episode 12 – Best in Show
