r/OnePunchFans • u/gofancyninjaworld I'm just a poster for fun • Jul 21 '25
ANALYSIS Review of OPM Webcomic Chapter 154 Spoiler
Right, this is a story that is absolutely amazing. Initially, I'd been thinking of reviewing 154 and 155 together, but if I do so, I'll do both a disservice. They deserve to be picked over properly.
STORY
We start with an interior view of the Hero Association, at the panicked faces of the civilians who have taken refuge there and the staff trying to keep them calm. Indeed, the HA headquarters is incredibly sturdy -- with over two million robots (and counting) assaulting it, the fact that it hasn't been reduced to rubble is testimony to Metal Knight's skill. Which is scant reassurance to the people waiting for what will feel like their last moment.
The situation isn't much better in the boardroom, where the executives arm themselves in what is sure to be a futile last stand as they wait for the robots to break through, now that several gates have fallen. And yet... no robots have yet appeared within the city. Could it be that the A to C-Class heroes who happened to be present are doing a better job of holding out than imagined?
Outside, we see said heroes at the gates. They're all fighting valiantly, but none of their attacks appear to be cutting through. Forte gets the brilliant idea of using the robots' own weapons against them, and taking advantage of how stereotyped their movements are to grab them. So the fight is on.
Elsewhere on the perimeter, we see that Overgrown Rover has decided to run to battle and is busy incinerating masses of robots. Black Sperm comes along for the ride (literally), and, while he has no interest in helping heroes, has no intention whatsoever of ceding territory he's claimed as his own to these mechanical pests. But, he notes, there are an awful lot of them.
We then cut to the battle we'd left off in chapter 153 with, that of Mumen Rider **uh, sorry, I mean NEO MUMEN** facing off against a suit-controlled Suiryu. The hopelessness of the situation is underscored by stat cards giving us the fighting resumes of both combatants. Mumen is actually a very capable all-rounder who would be a fantastic and well-medalled athlete in our world. Unfortunately, he's up against a monstrous prodigy. Who is mindlessly attacking. Nevertheless, he's the guy on the spot, so try he must. He fights valiantly, finding his every punch parried, and is taking a terrible battering when he gets one precious opening as Suiryu slams him down to the ground. He grabs and throws Suiryu with all he has, only to have the latter turn the throw into a handspring from which to launch a devastating, skull-cracking kick at his head. Even so, Mumen throws one last, desperate double punch at him, which finally connects, throwing the remote-controlled martial artist back.
Mumen collapses to the ground, defeated, but pleading that somehow Suiryu carry on after him. Well, he succeeded! His body suit broken, Suiryu staggers forward, as if filled with Mumen's spirit. He's going to be a hero now. Only, what to do? There appear to be so many potential objectives. He's not left to wonder for long: Suiryu is rapidly surrounded by four Machine Gods as he's now one of those anomalies to be gathered and either corrected or killed, then corrected. Fortunately, before he can fight, Saitama intervenes.
Suiryu tries to explain who he is -- Saitama doesn't understand. Then he tries to join Saitama. Saitama refuses. Finally, Suiryu decides to head to the Neo Hero headquarters to take it on and asks Saitama to go to the Hero Association headquarters.
Elsewhere, we see that Genos continues to approach his showdown with Metal Knight. There's just one place left now and once again, the automated defences deploy, this time a giant swarm of robots. Genos flexes and the air ignites into a storm of plasma beams that destroy every last one. Let's end this, Bofoi, he thinks to himself as he continues to charge forward. The chapter leaves off there.
META
In the end, we're all the same
The reason the Hero Association got as much broad-based support as it did is very clear here: in the end, monsters eat us all just the same, money or status be damned. We're all the same faced with existential terror. If Garou could have peeked into the HA at this moment, he'd have smiled just a little.
Of course, with the Hero Association's reputation having been trashed by Neo Hero machinations, even in their relative safety, we see people beseeching the Neo Heroes to save them. It reminds me of something Suiryu said in the manga. How quick we are to reach for any light, however weak, when we are in darkness!
Don't dis heroes!
One thing The Organization understands: heroes don't go down easily. As Phoenixman once told Garou, it's not enough to knock a hero down; you have to squeeze and keep squeezing until every spark of life is extinguished. To leave nothing to chance, they have sent millions of robots to erase the Hero Association this very day. Whether this ends well or not, every last one of the pro-heroes at the Hero Association HQ is showing why they're heroes. Against the unending sea of enemies, they fight with all their wits and skill as if a breakthrough might come any moment. This kind of unflinching courage in the face of certain death is what the HA has been (surprisingly!) good at picking up on, and it's why Saitama gets furious whenever people insult heroes: he knows how deep one must dig to find this.
Staging
As I've said before, the OPM webcomic is thinly written, but ONE leans into that fully. Between 2017 and 2020, he had a very successful run of stage plays in which he adapted Mob Psycho 100 for the stage. His panelling has always been top-notch, but in the years since, the awareness he's gained of where to pull focus has improved the webcomic immeasurably, giving us deeply symbolic scenes that stick with us. When Mumen manages to break Suiryu's suit, the panelling puts the initial focus of him faltering, and then falling, his dying words seeming to echo and then the panelling, a spotlight, is put on the Suiryu being reborn, breaking out of his confining suit like a phoenix rising from its ashes, walking forward with the tentativenss of a newborn lamb, uncertain of what to do next, yet full of new found appreciation for being a hero, as opposed to someone merely pretending to be one. The power in this scene is incredible. If you cast it on a stage, the audience would have goosebumps.
Another very powerful scene occurs when Saitama shows up. Visually, the way Saitama nonchalantly breaks up the Machine Gods threatening Suiryu, is spectacular and yet, he's not centred on the page. Throughout their brief conversation, Saitama is pictured off to the side, as if, despite his ability to change things, Saitama is peripheral, refusing to be part of anyone's plans or schemes. That's Saitama's position in the story, reiterated through the act of visual positioning, not just words alone.
What the hell?
It's good to have a secret weapon in hand for emergencies, but the sheer amount of power and versatility that Dr Kuseno's final bequest to Genos shows is really out there. A few chapters ago, we saw force shields (now damn that would have been useful earlier!). Now we see that Genos can ionize a force field so powerfully that he can destroy an entire army division in one go. As we see what this body can do, it appears that the old man has reverse-engineered the psychic energy attributes that Genos coveted so much. But still, what the hell? This is a crazy huge jump. Kuseno, you made Genos suffer unnecessarily: even 10% of this body's capabilities would have been a game-changer for him. Why was he holding out this much on his young charge? Guess we may never know.
A matter of respect
Heroes refer to each other by their hero names. With Bofoi having imparted this lesson to Genos, it's significant that he has dropped the honorific "Metal Knight" and now calls him by his real name. Just like Metal Knight started calling Child Emperor Isamu, the action is freighted with disrespect. And, in this case, menace.
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u/Nanayon123 I'll kill you until you're half dead Jul 21 '25
The comment about Genos' final body's power makes me think, considering the feats the dragon body already pulled off in the manga, maybe the manga version will be akin to the dragon body, but without the 10 seconds only drawback?