Without the Joker, Batman has no purpose. One-Punch Man’s Season 2 story will establish a real series villain and raise the stakes (and hopes) for Saitama, but how is it building on the themes so important to series creator ONE? Well, there was no way for One-Punch Man to continue as it was, with a new monster being slain each week. How Will One Punch Man Evolve in Season 2 After learning that Garo is a martial artist who prizes technique over sheer force, Saitama wonders what there is to gain by learning actual fighting skills and so enters a martial arts tournament to find out. Saitama wants fun above all other things, and it’s the only thing he can never feel due to his immense strength. As Garo continues with his hero hunt, Saitama sees the opportunity for what he’s been waiting years for: a real, challenging fight. Where does Saitama come in? In true shonen fashion, this season must have an obligatory tournament arc, but being One-Punch Man, it won’t play out in the formulaic fashion we’ve come to expect. Garo’s predatory hunt for all the top heroes will form the backbone of Season 2, as he takes down hero after hero and fear of him begins to grow. This is the crux of Season 2 – strength vs skill.
In the recent trailer for Season 2, we hear Garo talk about how he moved from martial arts dojo to dojo, gaining something far more important than brute strength: skills. Garo believes that big tough heroes are boring, that they should be frightened and challenged, and that monsters and villains should have their chance at winning. As a child, he thought that villains (the underdogs) always having to lose to heroes (already beloved by everyone) was a tragedy. Garo is the ex-top pupil of S-class hero Silverfang’s martial arts dojo. Season 2 brings us Garo, the man who will change that in some interesting ways. In Season 1 the joke was that no challenge could be found for Saitama to be excited by. One-Punch Man is heavily built on a core theme: challenge is exciting. The Joker to Saitama’s Batman will be defined, as will a rogue’s gallery of more concrete monster baddies.
Judging by the manga, Season 2 will be all about the villains. The joke was very much that their motivations and actions didn’t matter if they didn’t stand a chance against Saitama, but that can’t continue ad infinitum. One-Punch Man season 1 was more of a monster-of-the-week affair, with fantastically designed monsters being quickly established and even more quickly dismissed with a punch. What it didn’t establish was a true villain. Season 1 established Saitama and a selection of supporting heroes, the most pivotal being Saitama’s “pupil,” the cyborg Genos.
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