#writing development

A crack forms...

The manga has been breaking with that, slowly but surely. There have been hints here and there but the big break in characters being portrayed in set roles to being the heroes of their own stories with things they want to achieve in their lives and conflicts/challenges that they need to overcome for themselves comes in chapter 84.

We see Bang not just as the stern teacher disciplining Garou. We also get to see him as the hero he is and, interestingly, it builds on the indecisive, muddling along nature that we first saw in the giant meteor incident. More on that later.

Mr Revenge, Mr Try-Hard we see think and decide on a bigger long-term life goal for himself. One that has nothing to do with what anyone else expects of him. Just like that, Genos has the epiphany that defeating the Mad Cyborg can be a waypoint rather than an ultimate destination for him.

...and widens

After this, we've only see them grow bigger. It's not just a flash in the pan. In two different ways.

Via character revelation

That Bang is concerned for his student we already know. But the manga gives something else. We finally get to see Bang as a character in his own right, a man who used his great talent to be a very selfish person and who has been struggling to do better.

How he's grown, how he relates to his brother, how he's struggled, how he continues to struggle are all things that aren't necessary for a character merely playing a role. Indeed, here's the entirety of Bang's backstory in the webcomic. Two panels, that's it.

He has his own story now. We realise we've been shown things about how his not being present for his students has had a profoundly negative effect on *all* his students, not just Garou and now we can tie the little oddities we've seen about Bang into a coherent whole.

Despite everything, Bang has complex and layered reasons for his current course of action. He wants to show his brother what he's made of the fresh start Bomb gave him. He loves his disciple and wants to give Garou the same fresh start as he was given. And yes, he's had to acknowledge that he can't be everything to everyone and has chosen to stop muddling through as both a hero and a teacher and be there for his students.

With a much fuller picture of Bang, now he's not just a character we don't mind seeing more of. He's a character we could legitimately have a whole story about without feeling that 'hmm, when's Saitama going to show up?'

Via character development

You can't accuse Genos of muddling along. When he makes up his mind to do something, he doesn't waste any time putting it into action!

How to say this compactly? I could talk about all the incredible things that Genos has been doing this Monster Association show down, but the fundamental change he made to his approach in his quest to become the eventual has been to open up. It's something Dr Kuseno noticed very quickly when he made his house call.

The openness hasn't meant sweetness and light. He's empowered himself to contradict Kuseno, much to the latter's shock. He's empowered himself to specify exactly what he needs from Kuseno, even as he's aware that it's troubled the doctor. He has shouted back at Tatsumaki, so the latter has given him the space to help her. The S-Class heroes he said he'd never work with, he goes and tasks them with coming to help, politely but so firmly they find themselves doing just that.

Brutal as this battlefield has been to Genos, the rate at which he's been learning and growing from every experience is quite something. She may have had to save his life first, but the empathy and compassion he extended to Fubuki was completely sincere. We even see him start to develop his own personal philosophy of what proper action should be. Not just the easy bit of helping those who are weaker than oneself, but truly anybody. Because everyone deserves a helping hand.

Even when there seems to be nothing to hope for, Genos still doesn't crumple in despair the way he once would have. This is not the Try-Hard. This is a guy who has Someone to become and somewhere to be and is going for it. Even if cheap and easy triumph isn't immediately forthcoming, the work he's doing to become a greater person is not going to go to waste. With that kind of initiative, Genos has his own story that's going to be satisfying in its own right rather than just being Saitama's foil.

Of course, they're not the only two who are pushing away from the webcomic roles and showing themselves to be dynamic and three-dimensional characters. Not to mention that characters interact with each other in more varied and interesting ways. But we've been following these two longest and to see how they come to life has been fantastic.

ONE's vision for pushing One-Punch Man beyond a simple narrative continues to grow.