This episode opens to a bald man
spouting Communist rhetoric. No, Saitama hasn’t fallen under the sway of Marx.
This is a new villain, Hammerhead, and his legion of followers The Paradisers.
Worst. Team Name. EVER. Basically, they’re a group of 20-30 somethings that can’t
find jobs, and now want everyone to give them junk for free. Not nearly as “enlightened”
a thought process when put that way, now is it? Despite his shiny head and
oddly advanced looking battle armor, Hammerhead is ignored so hard it hurts.
Not to be deterred, Hammerhead leads his legion to the penthouse of Zeniru, the
wealthiest man in their generic city of City F. They start knocking down skyscrapers
using their battlesuits, mostly because the keep mistaking other buildings for
Zeniru’s. Did nobody bring a smartphone with GPS?
We get a quick shot of a bicyclist
getting a kid’s balloon out of a tree. Remember him, He’ll be important later.
We then return to our hero, lurching up from sleep, shouting about a nightmare involving
a game of Rock Paper Scissors with a guy who had boogers on his hand. What a
strange dream to have. Saitama learns about the Paradiser rampage on the news,
and is pretty uninterested at first. But then, he learns that the Paradiser’s
all have shaved heads. Infuriated that they’d dare try to steal HIS look, Saitama rushes to beat the
snot out of them. He’s starting to act like Darkwing Duck. A Disney cartoon
from the 90s? Is that too obscure a reference now? Whatever, back on task.
 |
| Once again, barely any effort put into the punch. Do I still love it? You bet I do. |
We quick cut back to the
Paradisers, whom are challenged by local hero Mumen Rider, that bicyclist from
a few minutes ago. Just going to say it, no superhero should ride into battle
on a ten-speed. Least of all one that has a little basket on the front. It’s
like the least heroic method of transportation ever. The Paradisers seem to
agree with me, and knock him out pretty easily. We then jump to Zeniru, who
sends his best body guard to handle the situation. Speed of Sound, Sonic, a
superfast ninja with a rather redundant nickname. He meets the Paradisers, and
decapitates everyone but Hammerhead in about fifteen seconds. He's efficient, I'll give him that. Meanwhile,
Saitama is accused of being a Paradiser by the local populace. Is that racial
profiling? Er…appearance profiling? Literally the only thing he had in common
was the bald head, so…yeah, appearance profiling.
Hammerhead and Sonic face off,
Sonic winning easily despite Hammerhead’s battlesuit. He throws a kunai (ninja throwing
knife) at the base of Hammerhead’s head, supposedly killing him. Hammerhead is
actually okay, though, because he has a really thick skull. He runs off while
Sonic is distracted, but runs into Saitama. Saitama states his intentions in
the most deadpan of manners “For personal reasons, I’m here to smash your head
in.” Hammerhead gets two shots, a normal punch, and then a supercharged
spinning punch, both do nothing, before Saitama retaliates. He shatters Hammerhead’s
suit, and then lets him get away. It took four episodes, but we finally have a
villain that doesn’t die from one punch. Hooray for hollow victories.
Sonic catches up to Saitama, and
also believes our bald hero is a Paradiser. Really stupid, just saying. They
have an all-out brawl, that ends decisively. Sonic runs off but declares
Saitama to be his rival first. Later that day, Saitama and Genos have tea and
discuss a weird thing they’ve been noticing. Namely, no one knows who the heck
they are. Saitama is particularly annoyed by this given his laundry list of
monsters and baddies he’s defeated since starting his hero training. He’s
really starting to remind me of Darkwing Duck, just saying. They then learn
that there is a “Hero Association,” that pretty much monopolizes superheroing.
Basically, if you’re not a member, any and all heroic deeds you do either don’t
get reported or are passed off to someone else. Mumen Rider got credit for the
Paradiser thing. How the Hero Associated silenced the hundred witnesses that
saw him get knocked out, I’ll never know Saitama and Genos decide to register
together. Meanwhile, Hammerhead, still naked, is attacked by a couple of scary
looking monsters. They try to kill him for stealing the battlesuits he and the Paradisers
used from the Villain Association. Once again, Hammerhead is saved by his
unusually thick skull, and swears to find a real job.
This was an interesting episode. Hammerhead
and his group are a stupid but entertaining group of villains. It’s like if any
generic lazy prick got a battlesuit and started making half-baked evil plans.
They even make a joke out of them constantly flattening the wrong buildings,
which is fine because it’s a learning experience. I don’t get it either. And, while the idea that he literally has a thick skull and that saves his life twice is stupid, it's also pretty darn funny to see it work twice. An expert assassin, and two really evil looking bad guys, tricked by an idiot playing possum. How silly. Saitama is still hilarious in this one, especially in his “fights” with
Hammerhead and Sonic. I use quotations because a Fight implies both sides have
an equal chance of winning. Which, by now, we know is not the case when Saitama
is involved. And, the realization that there is an organization of Super People
does help with world building. And explain why someone like Saitama can be so
unknown, despite regularly killing giant monsters. Because a powerful group is deliberately
ignoring him. Saitama just can’t catch a break, now can he? Next time, episode
5.
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/onepunchman/images/c/c7/ArmorDestroyed.png/revision/latest?cb=20151129184257
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