#ryumon

Ryumon is a good guy, trust. It is only through his actions in the recent webcomics that we see that he actually wants to do good deeds and has a heroic heart beneath his rough exterior.

Meanwhile, the manga has already started building on Metal Bat influencing Ryumon with his outlook and heroism that culminates in Ryumon eventually joining the heroes' cause in the webcomic, something that baffles both A and Fake Fuzzy, an assassin expert in human psychology and sophisticated AI. You could say ONE is intentionally laying the groundwork here for the future.

When in universe characters are confused about someone's belief system, you know they've done a complete character turnover.

(Webcomic chapter 152)

To Ryumon, Hero gambling only presented an opportunity to earn some cash and have a competition between Hero association and Neo heroes. He does not yet respect heroes in the manga as seems to do far, far later in the webcomic and this is Metal Bat's influence which I am certain they will flesh out more on in the manga. By saying it's wrong we're basically not giving Murata-sensei or ONE benefit of the doubt and not letting them cook.

(Chapter 224 - New blood 2)

("Thanks for losing in front of so many people" fits very nicely with Hero gambling rigging they're doing btw.)

Ryumon was introduced in the webcomic 5 years ago and may not have been as fleshed out as a character as he is in current day, which is where the manga comes to play by entangling him as the baddie in the scene with Hero gambling ring.

But who's to say he won't begin to regret such and his actions later down the line when he sees Metal Bat's heroism and gains respect for the actual heroes who risk their lives despite not having battle suits, so his journey to his own heroism will be more organic when he decides to take the mantle of risking his own life.

If anything, Ryumon is an ambiguous character than just straight up good or bad guy, with many layers as per ONE characters and the robot uprising offended his sensibilities by targeting civilians.

(Webcomic chapter 152)

--*--

Another thing Yusuke Murata has been criticized in recent memory is changing the Hero names victim association scene, where Saitama hangs back behind people instead of boldly proclaiming he will crush the entire organization, a fairly humorous scene which the manga lacks. Both western and japanese fans are up in arms about this scene lacking in particular.

(Chapter 226 - Fury)

Now, I don't proclaim to understand completely why change has been made because I'm not an esper of any kind, but it has been made and I'd like to maybe shed some light as to why has ONE specifically chosen to write it as such.

First of all, this change seems to be in tune with the more recent chapter in WC where HNVA kinda just hangs back during robot invasion after asking Saitama how they can help, but proclaiming it is impossible because Saitama is on a different level, even after Saitama just asks them to cover his rear like Genos has done in the past.

It seems to me that manga Saitama is more reserved around these folks because he does not yet trust their strenght as comrades in arms and he's proven right in the webcomic where they just kinda leave him high and dry.

(Webcomic chapter 156)

In the manga, it is a deliberate change to make the HNVA protest well out of hearing range outside of Headquarters instead of right below the windows. It is to sow seeds of doubt in the competency of the organization early on as something Saitama cannot rely on, unlike how he relies on Genos and King. HNVA would need to make an actual petition and take it to the executives in order to be heard, because shouting in middle of the road in middle of nowhere isn't going to cut it.

(Chapter 226 - Fury)

Manga Saitama also relies a lot on his intuition about people, something that bit him in the ass during ominous future when God started to influence Garou, because he thought Garou was a hero at heart and would not deliberately kill anyone. So after a chapter of introduction with the HNVA going the same in manga and wc, he seems initially dubious about their style of approach the next time we see them.

(Chapter 226 - Fury)

To me, manga Saitama is also showing a bit more maturity by hanging back instead of going all in, brashly shouting at the top of his lungs that "apologize to us or we will crush the whole organization." But who's to say whether this may come to pass in the future in the manga as well, Saitama just needed to get to know the people of HNVA better in order to commit to it 100%. That kind of change would seem more organic too, maybe HNVA will endear themselves to him in some fashion. We just need to wait and see and let. them. cook. Though I am personally fine with either.

(Webcomic chapter 128)

Better yet, what if somebody at the headquarters had heard him say this thing and Saitama would face disciplinary measures after A-rank hero threathens the whole Hero association? It's not exactly an idle threat when it comes to Saitama, with all that power at his fingertips and maybe that's why ONE decided to change the scene.

We have Exma in the manga who would love to do some disciplining.

(Chapter 127: Big promotion / Vol 26 extra)

So ONE may not want Saitama to be too entrenched in the group so he can separate himself from the HNVA if or when the situation needs it. Saitama values heroism and courage, so HNVA proving themselves as probable cowards and weaklings do not exactly endear themselves to Saitama in the webcomic.

Anyhoo, the change does tell me that ONE deliberately changed the narrative to suit his purposes to be more in line with the recent webcomic chapters, not something Murata-sensei apparently has a hand on doing on his own without ONE's knowledge or permission. If we lost one (or two) humorous scene in the manga, tough, but there's always a reason for the changes.

Meta: ...is owning a pudding factory cheating?

Sweet indeed are the uses of the adversity of your enemy

The Neo Heroes have truly debuted. They've been saturating online searches for weeks, buying ad space wherever they can, planting stories in the media, and looking to play up the shortcomings of the Hero Association while promising heaven to any prospective recruits. This is where the rubber meets the road, and, boy are they rolling! If Amai Mask's implosion was an opportunity for them to lobby for the power to operate with the same freedoms as the Hero Association, this festival of monsters has been a bonanza for them. In several media formats -- found footage, webcasts, TV reportage -- they've appeared shortly after monsters have and shown themselves to be well-organised, flashy, and very competent. Even Webigaza, who is weeping inside at having lost her chance to challenge Sweet Mask head-to-head, has pulled together and put on a show. In contrast, most of the pro-heroes on site have appeared shabby, isolated, and ill-prepared.

As Ryumon gloats, being seen to succeed where pro-heroes have failed has been the point of this exercise. Since the person he says this to is only a lone pro-hero, the secret of what's really happening is safe from early discovery. It just looks like an unfortunate series of events.

Yes, this is a set up. But who are you going to tell and who'd do anything useful about it? No one, that's who.

Inexcusable

You know, this is *not* the first time the world has seen a coordinated attack by monsters. The Monster Association did just that a few weeks ago at the most. And the Hero Association, far from learning from the experience, has so far resisted making changes to how it organises and deploys its heroes, going so far as to ignore the findings and recommendations made by Child Emperor. Worse, with their giant HQ, they've been actively pulling in A- and S-Class heroes to serve as unpaid bodyguards (cast your minds back to chapter 172), meaning that most cities only have C- and B-Class heroes able to patrol. They say never attribute to malfeasance what can be explained by incompetence. There's certainly plenty of complacency and incompetence to go round... HOWEVER, making operational changes is McCoy's responsibility. And there's a bit of a conflict of interest here, to put it politely. We've seen that he's been selling monsters on the side for personal profit and working with Ryumon to organise hero gambling in which monsters are planted to play odds with heroes and bring the HA's name into disrepute. Beyond that, we've also sat in on enough meetings to see that McCoy has gained an outsized voice in being able to stifle any initiatives he doesn't like.

The Hero Association may not be the most nimble of organisations, and it came to life when monster attacks were relatively rare. It was always going to struggle to understand and change its modus operandi in the face of a rapidly-worsening monster situation. But it's being actively sabotaged from within as well -- and almost nobody knows it yet.

The HA is no brain trust, but with a guy like this actively sabotaging efforts to improve, they're in real trouble.

There is a real question of whether Sekingar will be able to return in time to expose and oust McCoy before the HA crumbles.

Designs matter

I was looking at Zaedats's battle suit and thinking that it reminded me strongly of something. Then it came to me: Armored Gorilla! That combination of bulky, stiff plates and flexible cabling is very similar.

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle...

Sabotage aside, if you asked Dr. Kuseno about such a design, he'd tell you for free that this combination is a bad idea for fighting monsters. It's quite appropriate that chapter 224 has Genos showing off his newest body on the cover: when you look back through earlier iterations of his bodies, the plates-and-cabling design was one he used to sport and found through very bitter experience that it just Did. Not. Work. Successive bodies have had more armour, and since Gouketsu crushed the last one with external cabling, Genos's bodies have been exclusively armoured. (1) For a guy who lives 24/7 in armour and won't carry extra parts around with him (remember, he tried with a suitcase but just didn't take to it), the need to be as light and flexible as possible without compromising power and safety is a permanent issue and chapter by chapter, we see that Murata has represented the struggle of development very well. [Important aside for any fan artists thinking of fretting about the way they draw Genos: Murata is a crazy-good draughtsman with a keen interest in machines who is paid to sell three million copies of OPM manga a year(2); it's his business to worry about these things. Yours is to just have fun!]

Genos's earliest body that we have a good view of (left) vs. the current iteration (right). The product of multiple generations of experimentation and ruthless field-testing. The value of these experiences is something no one else working with machines has in their world.

Even without the question of sabotage, without the benefit of brutal field testing, anyone designing a battle suit to go toe-to-toe with strong monsters was dicing with danger. Not that people like Zaedats would have listened: I remember with glee that the webcomic equivalent of this chapter came out in 2020, three years before the OceanGate Titan imploded IRL because an arrogant billionaire just had to go adventuring. OPM may be fantastical, but its read on human nature is pretty solid.

When untested designs + overconfidence meet real opposition, the result is messy.

Core matters just as much

Touching on the case of Genos again, one of the big things he had to learn -- and this learning process is very painstakingly detailed in the manga -- was that parts were not enough. If he wanted to become strong, if he wanted to grow, he had to learn what to pay attention to, how to fight beyond just spamming blows, how to dig deep and find the determination to keep going when things go wrong, and how to face an enemy superior to oneself in at least one aspect and find a way to win anyway. Genos acknowledging the truth of what Dr Kuseno told him about needing to stop coming back crying for upgrades every time he got frustrated in a fight was a real inflection point in the character's growth:

Accepting the truth is the foundation on which greatness is built. It sucks, though.

Great Philosopher and Raiden both put their finger on what's operationally troubling about the body suits. The first, most of the wearers are inexperienced fighters. On their bodies, yes, they're very strong and can pack a punch, but there's so much more to fighting successfully than that that it's worrying to think of what they can do if they face a monster that's not immediately able to be put down. The second, and the thing that worries Raiden further, is that with the immediate boost in strength and ability, they might not see the need to develop true skill and strength.

Normally, I'd call that narrow-mindedness but the total lack of training and overconfidence of most of the Neo Hero recruits is real cause for concern.

Apart from the suits, it's been interesting to see how the calibre of Neo Leaders really comes out. Those who are accustomed to leading, like Raiden, Axel, and Ryumon, have no problem commanding coherent action from their troops. Those who are more egoistic, like Webigaza, Infelsinave, and Zaedats, have followers who mostly watch rather than act alongside them. And the odious A hasn't been given anyone. Good, no one deserves such a punishment.

Coincidence? Only if you want to buy a bridge in Brooklyn

Sure, there's a good chance that Zaedats was just unlucky. However, looking at Infelsinave's body, all I can think is that looks like a hit job. Monsters are never that neat. How many hundreds (literally hundreds -- I've counted) of monsters have we seen? Ever seen one that just makes one neat hole center-of-mass and leaves? Without so much as glancing at anyone else? No, that doesn't sound like a monster at all. You don't need to be a seer to suspect that public perception isn't the only thing that's being manipulated here.

A most un-monsterlike monstering. Hmm...

Causes? Smells Cultish To Me

Something else that made me go 'hmmm' was Axel mentioning a 'great cause'. Now, it's true that a hero needs something to believe in to act. However, to hear Axel talking about a 'great cause' speaks to more than mere do-gooding and to a bigger vision that the Neo Hero Organization wants to see enacted.

It's interesting that the Hero Association doesn't bind its heroes to any particular belief: as long as they do the right thing, why they do it, and what they do it for is up to them. There's no central mission binding them all together into a coherent whole. Which is a good thing, in that it enables mavericks like Saitama, Okama Itachi, and many other heroes who'd be stifled by a system, to find their niche and thrive. And is also a bad thing in that it means that there's no long-term unity and cooperation. Yes, heroes come together in times of crisis but there's none of that long-range thinking and action that can really make a big difference -- there's a reason Amai Mask still wanted to see the S-Class disbanded (3).

If we have a 'cause', then we'll have graduations in commitment and 'outsideness'. What do we know so far, then? People who are committed to a Neo Hero ideology, whatever it turns out to be, are Blue, who founded it, and Axel. People who are definitely outsiders are the recently-arrived pro-heroes and Suiryu. Everyone else is kinda in the middle, and we'll see who they are with time.

No, no, don't! Argh, he can't hear us!

Strained but not Broken

One of the big differences between the webcomic and the manga is that many major relationships in the manga are merely very strained rather than completely broken. Fubuki and Tatsumaki had little to do with each other because the latter was just too toxic while they had a challenging relationship in the manga that was worth fighting for. Likewise, in the manga, Isamu may no longer be Bofoi's assistant, but we've seen him remonstrating with him to join the then-impending MA raid. And while the old man didn't come to the shooting match, he did come through in a way that only he could, saving the heroes from dying of radiation poisoning and remediating the nuclear fallout. So Isamu has a reason to give Bofoi the benefit of the doubt in a way his webcomic equivalent just didn't.

For him, this is one more piece of the puzzle of the Neo-Heroes that he and Sekingar set out to solve. He's in an interesting pickle: he's helping Sekingar investigate the Neo Heroes with the aim of finding out whether they're a threat or treasure and in bringing down McCoy, but so far, everything he's found is worrying and Webigaza appears to be onto him. She could blow his cover whenever. And now, he's got to worry about whether Bofoi is also in on this, *but*, crucially, he isn't immediately jumping to the conclusion that it must be because Bofoi wants to rule the world and is open to the idea that there may be another reason for the old scientist's involvement. Excellent use of intelligence, Isamu!

Good question -- suspicious but not making closed-off assumptions.

I know that I'm steaming to see when the manga-specific plot points break out, but it's all actually building slowly but nicely.

PS

(1) Yes, if you ask, I'll happily make an entire post about that.

(2) I hear someone ask, 'What do you mean three million copies? I thought they only sold a fifth of that, and sales were going down issue by issue?' Listen, the sales figures you see are nonsense -- they represent physical issues sold and those are quite literally the tip of the iceberg. See here: https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePunchFans/comments/1n9hhri/so_how_well_does_onepunch_man_sell/