One Punch Man (2022)

[ワンパンマン]

Volume 27

Author: ONE
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Psychos merges with Orochi to challenge Tatsumaki, but Orochi proves to be more than the convenient puppet she thinks he is.

Story/Characters:
We open with Tatsumaki fending off the wall of meat thrown at her while Psychos merges with Orochi. There's a catch, though. It turns out that Orochi has evolved beyond Psychos' expectations and a battle of wills ensues. I'm honestly not sure who won out. We're made to think that Psychos took control, but what follows leads me to think otherwise (particularly "her" vowing to get revenge on a certain bald man). We debut this giant naked (but still wearing glasses) version of Psychos as part of the fused form that first uses gravity manipulation against Tatsumaki and when she raises a barrier to defend herself, Psychos is able to manipulate that barrier so that Tatsumaki is forced to choose between tearing herself apart within the barrier or getting crushed by the gravity manipulation if she lowers it. And for the first time, we see Tatsumaki in a corner. However, as Orochi is still trying to assimilate anything he can get his meat tendrils on, this goes poorly when he touches a certain bald individual who takes offense and hits back. The blow connects all the way to the core, breaking Psychos' concentration and her hold on Tatsumaki. At the same time, King is trying to make his way to the surface with Tareo and he lets Tatsumaki know. Knowing that the hostage is being evacuated, Tatsumaki understands that she doesn't need to hold back any more.

We cut back to Garou vs. Kurobikari. As we've thoroughly established by this point, Garou only gets stronger the more he fights, so the scales are starting to tip against Kurobikari. We then get to see Kurobikari's backstory, a frail child who trained himself up to his current peak. He was always looking for a proper match for his strength, but this fight isn't it. It's not a sportsmanlike contest pitting strength against strength but a real brawl where the loser isn't going to walk away in one piece, and Kurobikari is afraid. As his fear gets the better of him, Garou realizes that he's no longer proving himself but simply looking like a bully. He probably would've just walked away at this point, but then the area starts collapsing and Kurobikari is enveloped in a psychic barrier courtesy of Tatsumaki. Kurobikari calls on Garou, who hasn't been afforded the same protection, to escape and as the barrier takes him away, he's left to reflect on how he lost to his fear. We then see the other Heroes being saved in a similar manner. However, when Iaian sees that the mercs weren't included, he breaks through the barrier to rescue them, even if the odds are against him. You know, Hero and all. (Bushidrill and Okamaitachi are unconscious, or else I'm sure they would've joined him.) For poor Zombieman, because Tatsumaki was using signal from the Heroes' transmitters to locate them, she ends up just carrying off a stray bit of Zombieman's clothes with the transmitter, much to the confusion of the Homeless Emperor. I do like that Atomic Samurai gets a parting shot (or parting cut in this case) on Black Sperm before he's carried away.

Tatsumaki then thrusts the core of the Monster Association HQ to the surface. Poor King is left momentarily baffled how he suddenly went from deep underground to a few hundred meters up, and then the daggone elevator fails. He tries hitting the brakes, but it's more Orochi meat in the elevator shaft acting as a cushion that saves him and Tareo. When he emerges, Genos is there and they are immediately set upon by bits of Orochi. While this is going on, Psychos-Orochi bursts out of the giant pillar that's been raised to finish things with Tatsumaki.

Back at the hospital, Metal Bat slips away from his sister to get back in the fight. Mumen Rider and Tanktop Master have the same idea. Rider knows he can't fight against the monsters, but he can at least help the evacuating civilians. Tanktop Master approves of his resolve and they tandem ride off to the scene. The other Tanktoppers, with the aid of an explanation by Tanktop Professor, follow not long after, prompting the Fubuki Group to do the same. This leaves the martial artists, who are debating whether they should go out as well. Suiryuu shows up to tell them they're not ready but that he does want to become a Hero someday.

We cut to Saitama and Pink Mike Wazowski post-cave-in. PMW figures his usefulness has come to an end now that the way to Orochi has been closed off and fears getting offed, so he thinks to take advantage of the darkness and bash Saitama with a rock (not realizing what a bad idea this is). However, the rock he picks up reveals Flash, who's buried under the rubble. He asks Saitama to help him out, leading to a game of rubble Jenga where rocks keep falling on Saitama's head. We also learn PMW's name is Manako and when Saitama teases him about having a girl's name, we learn that "he" actually is a girl. And, no, I'm not going back to correct pronouns. (I actually thought she was being sarcastic when I first read it.)

Back to Tatsumaki vs. Psychos, Psychos taunts Tatsumaki, asking if she brought the HQ to the surface to show off her power... before showing off her own power by cutting off a slice of the entire frickin' planet. Psychos then proceeds to boast about having surpassed Tatsumaki and monologues about her plan to merge with the Earth itself. She calls this her divine purpose, spurred by what she saw when she was trying to subdue Orochi. His brain was structuring itself to look like Jupiter with a power and grandeur that filled her with fear and awe... and the aforementioned sense of purpose. Tatsumaki scorns this grand vision, telling her that after growing her power like that, she'll just end up alone. Psychos doesn't take kindly to Tatsumaki rejecting her (and alludes to previously having been rejected by Fubuki as part of a later-to-be-revealed backstory). Cue the psychic beam-o-war. Not only the main giant Psychos but also a bunch of hydra heads (no doubt referencing the mythological Orochi) join in, and if that wasn't enough, a tsunami from that chunk of the planet Psychos hacked off is rolling in. Tatsumaki starts tearing up the planet as well, yanking out huge chunks to make a sort of trench to act as a sink for the tsunami. Tatsumaki then starts chucking those bits of the planet at Psychos and it starts to look like the frickin' apocalypse. Tatsumaki manages a fake-out so that she can get inside giant Psychos and starts tearing things up, only for what I'll just call the sword form to impales her hands to stop her. Then Genos enters the fray, showing off his latest upgrades. Tatsumaki isn't keen on the intervention, but he insists that buying time for his master is exactly what a disciple should do. Said master is still futzing around with rocks and grumbling about being hungry. Manako suggests tightening his belt to ward off the hunger pains, all while Flash is glad no one else is there to see him in his current predicament.

Art:
Murata's ability to draw beautiful women has been well-established by this point and most of this volume is giant naked Psychos vs. Tatsumaki with progressive clothing damage, so the fanservice factor is rather high. Fanservice aside, we see some impressive high-level psychic battling, with the two-page spread of that slice of the earth getting split off being especially dramatic. Also, it's rather striking to see Tatsumaki face an actual challenge (and how her confidence keeps bouncing back because she's such a champ). On an unrelated note, a lot of Western critics of this series complain about Kurobikari being an offensive caricature of black people. Only this volume shows that he's not black at all, just a thick-lipped, presumably Japanese person who got very bald and very bronzed after bulking up. (Now I suppose those same critics'll decry the loss of representation. *rolleyes*)

Conclusion:
The Psychos-Orochi fusions does a fine job of raising the stakes (even if we know Saitama will trivialize it whenever he's done playing Rubble Jenga with Manako) and while Tatsumaki finds herself properly challenged, she's no less impressive in this massive clash of raw power. We also have Garou continuing his rise, building anticipation for his inevitable rematch with Saitama (which, at the rate he's going, may actually take two punches to resolve). There's lots to love in this volume and it's well worth a place in your collection.

Rating:
Own It