#sicchi

Summary

Let's start with a flashback. A little bit earlier in the day, when the Neo Heroes debuted, Suiryu made an unscheduled stop to try to help out a hero in trouble, only to see a certain speedy baldy slay the monsters as he hurried to some appointment. That was chapter 224.

Saitama had arrived somewhere outside the Hero Association headquarters to meet up with the rest of his new group, and had been handed something.

Right. It's now chapter 226 and we get to find out what that is. It's a protest! The grand idea is to hold a sit in and protest until the executives give in and let them pick new names. Maybe give them compensation too.

Two problems with that. First, what's the guarantee that the Hero Association executives will listen? Saitama wonders if he won't just end up called The Bald Complainer instead. Second, they are rather far away from the gates of the building. How are they actually going to be heard? Just as they get started, the monster alarm goes off, drowning out any sound they might have made. Ah, well, I guess that's three problems then.

Just ahead of the sirens going off, we see the inside of the Hero Association board, with most of the executives in attendance. They too have been watching the Neo Leader debut and it has filled them with despair. It's like their heroes are chopped liver: the media is all Neo, Neo, Neo! Jinzuren points out that notwithstanding the Neo Hero coverage, pro heroes are actually doing very well -- they're holding their own against the increasing horde of monsters. The problem is that when it comes to presenting an image of competence, the Neo Heroes are just too good at it.

Their methods aren't all for show either: rather than toss single heroes out into the field to fend for themselves as best they can, they have grouped their members into multi-talented teams and then headed them with excellent leaders. Added to that, they actively support their heroes with good equipment, training, transportation and logistics. Of course the results are better. They can't not be.

The worst of it is that not only has the Hero Association not taken any interest in developing leaders among the heroes enrolled, but when a few heroes, such as Sweet Mask and Child Emperor, have tried to suggest improvements to their organisation, they've ignored them.

Walrus Moustache (one day he'll have a name) asks if they don't have someone like that in the Hero Association, a rough diamond that can be polished up. Sicchi, recalling how dismissive they were of Sweet Mask's suggestions, thinks that it's a bit late to be asking that question. Proceedings are cut short by the emergency broadcast of multiple dragon-level monsters simultaneously showing up in five different cities.

McCoy doesn't lose his head; in the midst of the mass consternation around the room, he wastes no time in demanding that they get in touch with Neo Hero HQ to request back up. The heroes might not win this and there's no point in putting pride before human life.

He has a point: dragon-level threats are a lot worse than the varied demon-level threats the Neo Leaders had been flexing on. If these aren't stopped quickly, the death tolls will be horrifying. So, where are the monsters? And who is fighting them? Well, the first we saw that Blue has already hared off to tackle.

The second is being faced by Tank Top Master in City N. Heavy Smoker couldn't be more of an antithesis to the clean-living hero, the veritable symbol of a filthy life ill-lived. The smoke is toxic and is poisoning the life out of the city. Nevertheless, he shoulder barges the monster, only to find that it breaks up into clumps before reforming and punching him. He's nearly at his last gasp already.

In City D, Tatsumaki faces the most disgusting mass of bugs she's ever seen. They swirl into an aptly named Aggregation, and as she watches, they go charging off in all directions.

Looks like distributed threats are in fashion. In City T, Genos has a horde of monsters of his own to deal with. The Extended Family of Darkness may sound like your least-liked neighbours are holding a cookout but no dragon-level monster is ever a joke.

Undaunted by the prospect of being on their menu, Genos backflips into their midst, and as they come charging in, activates his scorching core.

And the fifth? Never ask for whom the bell tolls: it's the Hero Association headquarters itself. Machine God Mirror has an important assignment and wants King, stat.

Suiko takes it upon herself to attack the robot, jumping down through the hole it made to drop kick it.

Fight's on!

Meta

One more time and this guy is going to feel he's been personally cursed

What are the chances that monsters send you flying, not once but twice, in the supposedly safest place in the world? Poor rich boy.

Astute webcomic readers have noticed that Machine God Mirror is no longer at a random city (aka I can't be arsed to look it up but it's nowhere important) but has come to a stragetically vital location, somewhere King is very likely to either be, or be rapidly summoned to. Nice!

Saitama may be fast, but Wisdom is a persistence hunter

It gladdened my heart to see Saitama not plunge mindlessly into another thing that catches his attention but think a bit for once on whether the method makes sense. He's finally learning.

Sadly, it won't take too much annoyance to tip Saitama into committing full-heartedly. And given the way things he forsees end up coming to pass, we could be looking at the preview of his new hero name.

The best lies are half truths, the best traitors are the apparently resonable

What McCoy says sounds reasonable. Indeed, in the webcomic, his call for the Neo Heroes was initially written for Sicchi. However, coming out of his mouth and in combination with his knowing little smirk, we realise that this monster irruption is no accident, but most likely an attempt to undermine the crediblity of the pro-heroes.

When we look at which heroes have been sent to deal with the monsters, and how utterly unsupported each of them is, we must shake our heads. They're all going to struggle with the match ups. Which brings me to something else...

The Culture Clash

There is a genuine culture clash between the pro-heroes and the neo heroes. Through no fault of the Hero Association's, the landscape of monsters has changed. Back when the HA was established, the idea of a hero as someone you could reliably pay and support to protect people from the random attacks of monsters was an untested idea, they pioneered and proved that system to great effect. And when monsters were few, far between, and generally weak, rigourously vetting hero candidates for their morals, then letting individual heroes make up their minds about how to tackle disasters made a lot of sense.

It's always been a brutal system if one wasn't already a very strong hero, or lucky enough to work with a strong one and now, with monsters more common than ever and strong ones no longer rare, it's a system that's been in desperate need of change.

The system proposed by the Neo Heroes, which doesn't depend on one strong person but systematically trains, equips, and organises groups of heroes to fight monsters makes sense. It's very professional and isn't one that can be dismissed out of hand.

Whether the two systems can co-exist remains to be seen.

Yes, we continue! Original on left, changes on the right. Not translated as of 26 Feb 2022. With several dialogue changes for this one, look for an update.

I will never hate Waganma for being less of an asshole, particularly as Food Battler has actually been cut this time

Of course, the super-dramatic fashion in which they're swept up sees no change

Food Battler is bandaged up as well, no miraculous escape from injury this time!

Cast your mind back to the Monster Association. You know how in the webcomic, it was purely by chance that the heroes stumbled upon the monsters in their hideout, and equally by chance that the 'wrong' heroes happened on the cadres able to counter them? In the manga, the Monster Association was so well-organised that it launched a pre-emptive attack on various cities and had a plan of which hero was going to be funnelled to meet which cadre. That was wonderfully evil, and it nearly worked too -- damn that Caped Baldy.

If you want to draw your enemies into a trap, forcing their hand is the best way.

Anyway, coming to the present crisis. The webcomic just had the various S-Class heroes stumble upon the various dragon-level threats, like they just happened to be the nearest hero. Here, it's clear that individual heroes have been dispatched to deal with the threats. And one can't help but think, they really could have done better.

Sending Tank Top Master to deal with a monster emitting tons of toxic smoke is cruelty. It's guaranteeing he's going to be poisoned and hoping he'll not die before killing the monster.

As if taking notes from Black Sperm, a group of individually-strong monsters working in coordination is not the situation Genos would favour. Guess the doctor still hasn't given Genos back his multi-targetting beams.

Now a group of monsters is nothing for Tatsumaki. Doubly nothing when we've seen her fight Psykos-Orochi. However, she's grossed out by the bugs -- does she have a phobia? In any case, she's been wasting precious time being paralyzed with horror while the bugs scatter, presumably to cause havoc.

Who would know these things about the heroes? McCoy. As vice Chief of Operations, he legitimately has access to individual heroes' characteristics, and can direct who is to be dispatched where.

Just in case you need the reminder: McCoy is where the buck stops when it comes to hero deployments.

McCoy would know that if he sent Tatsumaki to deal with The Extended Family of Darkness, she'd destroy them without breaking a sweat, and that Genos absolutely *excels* at pouring pain onto a single point -- Heavy Smoker would be dead in an instant and the toxic smoke could be rendered considerably less toxic by extreme heat, something Genos is uniquely placed to do. With some back up, Tank Top Master would have a field day bug-swatting -- his aim is crazy-good. Instead, McCoy has had those three dispatched to bad situations, each with a city full of people as hostages.

It's almost as if he doesn't want them to succeed. At least, not easily.

Reasonable on its face but what a conflict of interest!

And if convincing the public that the Hero Association cannot protect them is a goal, then having a monster tear through the re-reinforced HQ like a starving kid through a cake will definitely do that!

I can feel the sponsorship funds evaporating like that wall.

And to think that just a few minutes' earlier, he'd been talking to Blue. This double-dealing McCoy is nearly surgical in the precision with which he undermines the Hero Association.

We need Sekingar, Badd, and Isamu to make some kind of breakthrough fast! This guy is too good and too dangerous to be left to run free for much longer.

Something Sicchi could do, other than looking concerned, would be to 'accidentally' pull the live feed. It will not do morale good to see TTM gasping like a fish, Tats failing to save lives and peoperty as she fights her revulsion, nor Genos getting damaged.

No need to guess whether the HA's live feed is being used dor underground betting. I bet McCoy and Ryumon will do nicely today if no one spikes their bets.

Yo, it's been a minute! Damn. being old and busy sucks. Ah well, let's get on with reviewing the third (and hopefully final) version of the 'Ninja' arc.

SUMMARY

?!???

Yeah, yeah, I said I liked skipping those but with so many versions, a quick recap is worthwhile.

As you know, the Obstreperous Flash[1] barged into Saitama's gaming session, wouldn't take go away for an answer, challenged him to a fight that saw his life flash before his eyes, got saved by the bell (um, I mean reports of a monster attack), tagged along, met Sonic, Saitama saved Manako on his own, and they all went to Sicchi to try to arrange a meeting with Blast only to find him conveniently there.

So, what happened this time? Well, Blast came, not to see if monsterization can be undone (more thoughts on that later), but because of his evil ex-partner, Void. It was handy that Flash was here as that meant he could warn him that That Man was back and out for his blood. Also, to leave it to Blast to deal with the dude -- for reasons he couldn't disclose. Saitama, finding out that Flash too was a ninja understands why Flash is so like Sonic, being a clingy, violent-addicted pervert. This upsets Flash and he's determined to set the record straight.

Said record-straightening comes in the form of a lengthy glob of backstory on the Village culminating in Flash's triumphant slaughter of nearly everyone in said place, for which Flash commandeers Saitama's flat. As appreciation, Genos comes through the wall to thunk a mug of hot tea onto Flashy's head, along with a preroration on letting Sonic live. Anyway... Flash leaves after that, and Blast and Sicchi take their leave too, after a very pleased Genos (at last! he must have thought, they're taking what I said seriously! [2]) tells Blast to consult Saitama if he runs into any issues. Flashy gets a letter of challenge from Sonic and goes off to meet him. In the meantime, Blast and Sicchi discuss where and how to lay hands on Void, as the latter is of vital strategic importance in the fight against God (no ID). Turns out Blast has Sonic's hideout bugged, so he knows about the trap set for Flash.

Unfortunately for Blast's plans, Sonic did challenge Flash and so the two of them are in a random forest somewhere having a scrap for old times' sake and other ninja nonsense. Contemporaneously, Saitama declares that he's off to Sonic's hideout to help the dude and give him and the other ne'er-do-well ninjas a drubbing and theorises that they're acting this way because they have nothing better to do with their lives. He then says that perhaps it's not good to be alone [3] and scurries off quickly before Genos can ask any awkward questions about what he meant.

Anyway, back to the scuffle. Sonic tries some fancy moves only to see Flashy Flash bat away all his techinques before sending him flying with some fancy kicking of his own. The Tenninto show up in their variously-weaponed glory (oh, did I forget to introduce them earlier? Never mind! We know who they are) and try to execute Flashy Flash. Sonic reappears, tells them to get lost, and then it's the two ninja frenemies against the Tenninto. Just as Flash and Sonic are about to turn the other ninjas into very poor quality sashimi, Blast shows up out of nowhere to stop the fight. He's fed up with the fratricidal tendencies of ninjas and there's no longer any point to this fight. The Tenninto try to jump him and all get punched down. Voilent Force then declares that their master, That Man, being a serial killer without equal, will totally take care of Blast, even if they couldn't. To which Blast says he's got something to show them.

That something is the exterior of Sonic's hideout, where there's Saitama sitting on the pavement watching a man-shaped hole in the ground. Saitama might not have fancypants portal technology but he can still beat Blast to the punch. Even loaned him his dog as compensation, so he could go find the other ninjas. The Tenninto naturally don't believe that Saitama really beat their master, but they start to change their minds as the baldie lays them all out.

Proceedings are interrupted by the sky opening up and some chimeric beasts coming through. Overgrown Pochi spits fire at them and they return the favour, after which it's a very good thing that a) no one lives there any longer because it's all been turned to ash and b) that Blast has a handy-dandy shield or the ninjas would be toast. Saitama goes to teach the beasties manners but before he can do so, the hole in the ground starts to smoke and Void explodes out of it to slice and dice said critters, and Blast punches them mightly to send them back whence they came and shuts the dimensional rift after them. Saitama decides it's nothing to do with him after all and makes to head home...

...only he lingers a bit. Looks like Empty Void is indeed back to his senses, Saitama's punch having driven God's influence out of him (Blast wonders what the hell Saitama is). Sonic and Flash try attacking Void, who dodges them easily and Blast stops them. With some very fast talking, Blast insists that Void's actions weren't truly his fault, being rather undermined by Void himself as the latter says he remembers what he did perfectly well -- it was just that being under the influence made the worst of him easier to access. Anyway, he had things to do now, so would his ex-victim ninjas please get along and not make trouble? Bye! And the pair are gone, though not before Blast tells Saitama that he'll be back for him when he really needs his help.

The Tenninto have a bit of a think before deciding that the best thing to do would be to follow Saitama around as their new leader, much to Saitama's dismay. Flashy Flash confesses to Sonic about poisoning him, which Sonic brushes off, saying he was more disappointed than angry. Besides, they have more training to do. The arc closes out a few days later with Saitama beseiged by ninjas. The Tenninto want him to lead them, Flash wants to train him, Sonic wants to challenge him, and Gale Wind and Hellfire Flame want to fight Flash. It's all very chaotic. Genos remarks that well, looks like Saitama's not alone any longer, to which Saitama protests that that wasn't what he meant!

Poor Saitama, he can't win for winning.

Baldie keeps attracting the wrong kind of attention.

Meta below the cut.

Remember Flashy Flash musing that his long-shot investigation might just turn something up about God that changes everything? Yeah, let's admire his pretty face for a second:

Isn't he pretty? He was right, too.

This arc has plenty to explore about 'God' and his minions and ninjas and more, but I'm getting a funny feeling, a wee tingly bit of a hunch, that we're about to find something paradigm-shifting about cyborgs too.

Consider this meta for Chapter 201.

I half joke that only the joke predictions come to pass.

I was looking through my old Tumblr posts (can't remember what I was looking for, something about Saitama and cats) and found one in which I was commenting on the change of emphasis between original and redraw. The chapter in question was chapter 120, 'The Only Thing is Strength', and in the published version, Genos was less explicitly inspirational than he'd originally been portrayed. Back then, I'd quipped that with all that he would go ont to do (the redraw came after chapter 155 was out), he'd otherwise be like a cyborg John the Baptist to Saitama's Bald Jesus [Link].

How little I knew!

When Genos said that he needed to let the people who needed to know know about Saitama, I'd thought he meant to remind Saitama of what the latter had actually done. Oh no, he wasn't joking!

Hoo boy, when it comes to preparing the way for his master, Genos did not slack off!

He spoke to the secret gathering that Sitch convened to discuss the looking God (no ID) problem, and while they publicly doubted him, they did ponder on his words.

Now, now, no need to be cross: you have kept them for four hours so it's natural they're a little sarky. They did listen, promise!

Normally, stories in which a character proposes a sensible action with the potential to greatly hasten a story's resolution (like Genos's proposal that Saitama be called if Blast appeared), never see that suggestion come to fruition. But here we are, with Blast not only meeting Saitama, but doubling back to consult with him, just as Genos suggested he do.

To be fair to Blast, he did tell Genos that he'd consider consulting Saitama. He's just very honest (also totally out of leads as to where Sonic might be).

The latest chapter makes it clear that Blast is legitimately a very busy man who cannot afford to be away from his post long. He and Sitch must have been at least a little curious about Saitama to spend so much precious time visiting Saitama's apartment. I know Flash would like to think that it's because his origin story is that fascinating, but Blast knows all about ninjas and their fratricidal ways. He is, in fact, sick of ninjas and their schemes.

As good a pretext as any to see what this bald guy is like.

Well, now Blast has met Saitama. He has seen the latter apprehend Void with ease, and keep the Tenninto in check. Now, he's in prime position to see what Saitama does about rude, fire-breathing pets.

I'm here for an epic str-- oh, never mind.

The horse has well and truly been led to the water. Will it have the nous to drink? That's the question we have regarding what Blast will make of Saitama.

RIght, they do say that third time's the charm! I'm hoping that ONE and Murata are happy with how this falls on the page this time.

I am SKIPPING any summary: we've seen this enough times. Let's go straight to Meta, shall we?

Meta

Hard stop

So, in a Youtube video I can no longer find, some wag called Saitama a guy suffering from Premature Eradication Syndrome. It's pretty accurate -- he doesn't so much have fights as he has encounters that end when he decides to stick his fist out. The suddenness with which fights can end in OPM is something that really got me into the story. While Saitama is the guy who most often does this, it happens elsewhere, like with the unfortunate Sky King.

Rest in pieces. I'm sure you were a tough monster but, unfortunately, you were just in the way.

And alternatively, fights that you think will end quickly don't and turn into horrifying prolonged struggles that sap combatants' very will to live. So it goes!

This is why you see readers who have been raised on the choreography of shonen and action movies flipping out, alternatively ranting about how a certain 'monster' was 'wasted' and decrying fights that go on for longer than expected. Sorry! Life-and-death struggles aren't portrayed here as action pieces. [1]

I'm always down for some Premature Eradication Syndrome. I was personally delighted to see that right as Flashy Flash was about to shiskabob himself some Tenninto, Blast comes in and stops the whole fight, beating down the Tenninto himself when they try attacking him.

Now this is another definition of 'sudden death'.

The beliefs that enslave

With this, I see that the initial idea ONE had of the Tenninto surviving has come back, albeit in a different way. I'll start with another idea that has returned: the question of what freedom is. Initially, we had Flashy sparing them, first to gloat, second to show off his superior understanding of what the true purpose of the Ninja Village had been, and thirdly, out of a sense of pity for them having had their lives stolen. Which amused them greatly, as they saw freedom as lying in serving a master faithfully.

Gosh, that was so CREEPY.

This time around, as we see Flash turning over Sonic's words in his mind and wondering whether the idea of freedom was an illusion, the narration lets us know that despite being free of the Ninja Village, none of the fighting parties had the slightest idea of what freedom actually meant due to how restricted their upbringings had been: it's a much sadder affair, one of ninjas unable to escape the cruel fates they've been shaped to accept. In a way, it shouldn't surprise us that they fight: we've seen that each and every ninja is convinced that he alone is the best and is prepared to die proving that to be the case, no matter how hopeless it is. It's just lucky for Sonic that Saitama is as tolerant as he is strong.

Freedom is a lot more than merely not being in captivity.

A few chapters ago, we'd seen Blast musing on how ninjas seem fated to kill each other in a struggle for power, only to replicate the same cruel conditions that make more ninjas, and have the cycle repeat anew. Looks like he has decided to step in and try to break this particular cycle. Whether he will succeed is something we'll just have to see.

Fame, power, influence. Kill your way to the top and make more minions fit only for death. That appears to be the real ninja way.

I have many more thoughts on cages, but I'll have to leave it here.

Ohhh, it all starts to add up

ONE's simple observations are really freaking obvious, and yet surprisingly frequently overlooked. One of them is that for someone to share information with you, they need two things: first, to know what it is that you want to know, and second, a reason to share it with you. We were initially treated to the hilarious scenario of Genos popping out of Saitama's wall to smack Flash on the head with a cup of hot tea, having eavesdropped on the proceedings next door, and then the slightly cringe scene of him delightedly inviting Blast to come back to consult Saitama whenever he liked. Ah Genos, you are so crazy, like a cybernetic Oscar The Grouch.

Genos is so much like a proud mother sometimes. He thinks it's because he told the HA to call Saitama if they heard from Blast. Let us not disabuse him just yet.

But not so fast...

Blast knows where Sonic's hideout is: he has it bugged. However, some time after Saitama left, Blast came back to Saitama's, apparently in the hopes of finding a lead on where Sonic's current whereabouts might be. He did not see Flashy Flash get a challenge letter, and was in conference with Sicchi when the former left, so has no idea of where the ninja could have gone to even think of following him. Sonic has definitely not sent Blast a challenge letter as he didn't even know that the guy was around.

ONE has been diligent in not creating a plot hole of leaving Sonic possibly aware of Blast's presence.

Genos sure as hell doesn't know where Sonic might be. However, he knows a few things. One: that Saitama has a stash of challenge letters from Sonic. Two: where Saitama would have put those letters. Three: they have a freakish dog that just might be able to pick up Sonic's scent. And, most important of all, four: he really likes that Blast *has* come back to consult Saitama and so wants to help.

All of this is how Blast ends up presenting one of those letters to Overgrown Rover, sweat beading on his face as he thinks what an incredibly stupid idea this is, and how desperate he has to be even to be considering it.

if it's stupid but it works...

And how, despite its stupidity, it works: the monstrous scenting ability of the dog does lead him to the correct place.

...it's not stupid.

So, who's minding the shop?

This time around, Blast has not told Flashy Flash or Saitama anything about That Man; not his real name (Empty Void), not his relationship to him (former partner), and certainly not his strategic importance. It's clear that Void is still extremely important to some plan that Blast and Sicchi have, and that it is primary importance that Void is wrest from 'God's' clutches, no matter what he's done in the past and no matter the cost.

Ah yes, Void, former partner, ex-brother-in-law, serial child abuser, slave trader, assassin, and now avatar of an evil eldrich being. Totally the guy you want to stick your neck out for.

All Saitama knows about this guy is that he was an exceptionally cruel ninja, buying boys and brutalising them into being either killers to be sold onto criminals or turning them into minions to serve an evil entity called 'God'. He knows that Sonic is being menaced by this cruel ninja and a bunch of ne'er-do-wells, and he's gone specifically to save Sonic. [2]

Saitama...actually taking the initiative to reach out to someone out of empathy... well, I did NOT have this in my bingo list.

Currently, he's alone in Sonic's former hideout, where Void is going to be showing up sooner rather than later. And Blast isn't there to intercede.

Hmmm, I don't know about you, but I have a feeling this isn't going to end well for Void or Blast. I have some popcorn I'm dying to pop and munch on as I read the way this goes down.

Asides

[1] That said, when ONE is writing shonen, he knows the formula well and executes it beautifully: the fights Mob gets into and the sprawling battles of Versus are testimony to that.