One-Punch Man's Saitama Finally Found His Strength's Match (Literally)

One-Punch Man’s Garou is proving to be a match for Saitama because his latest absurd power-up allows him to mirror Saitama's own devastating power.

Warning: Contains spoilers for One-Punch Man chapter 165

The impossible finally happened in One-Punch Man: Saitama, the series' overpowered protagonist whose defining trait is to be stronger than anyone and anything, finally found his equal. The "Hero Hunter" Garou is proving to be a match for Saitama, not just due to his latest absurd power-up, but also because he can mirror Saitama's own devastating power.

One-Punch Man is the hit manga written by One and drawn by Yusuke Murata. The appeal of the story is that it flips many of the shonen genre's well-established tropes, making its protagonist completely overpowered from the beginning. Contrary to most other similar manga, where the main characters have to repeatedly train and get better to overcome bigger and bigger obstacles, Saitama has no real challenges due to his jaw-dropping strength. This allows One-Punch Man to dance on the thin line between parody, comedy, and actual action shonen, while at the same time making fans constantly wonder if and when Saitama will find the worthy opponent that he craves. The best candidate to give Saitama a good fight seemed to be Garou, a martial artist who despises "heroes" and wants to build a world based on his own version of justice, based on "absolute evil". Garou is actually very similar to classic shonen characters, in the sense that he had to struggle and overcome challenges to reach higher levels of power until he broke his "limit" and transformed into a half-monster.

Unfortunately even this, however, seemed useless against Saitama, but chapter #165 turned things around. In a major change from the One-Punch Man webcomic, Garou received a further power-up after making a deal with the mysterious creature known as God, and he is now a match for Saitama. Even better, Garou is able to use his martial arts skills together with his new powers to "copy" Saitama, not just imitating his moves but borrowing his power too.

"Mode: Saitama" allows Garou to turn the hero's power against him, which could be Saitama's one weakness. They are equally matched in the following exchange of blows, which is a first-ever occurrence for Saitama. It's possible that Garou is able to do this because the new powers granted by God give him knowledge of the flow and behavior of all energy in the universe. This allowed Garou to reproduce nuclear explosions, gamma bursts, and perhaps even Saitama's own power, which could be the scariest thing of them all. In the original One-Punch Man webcomic, Garou did not get this upgrade and his fight against Saitama was really one-sided, leaving readers with a bitter taste in the end. The new version of One-Punch Man's story seems to be moving further away from the webcomic original, which opens the way for new, unexpected developments.

It remains to be seen if Garou and Saitama are actually equally matched or if the latter will emerge from his enemy's last devastating attack unscathed and unfazed as usual. For now, One-Punch Man is shaking its formula in a very unexpected but satisfying way, giving its fans a reason to believe that Saitama has finally found his equal.

Next: One-Punch Man's New Name for Saitama Hints at the Origin of His Strength

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