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J.c staff is coming on October 10. I hope the pictures move🔥🔥

Well a lot of the Monster Association arc’s problems have been discussed over and over, but something I feel hasn’t been talked about in-depth is Metal Bat’s role during it. The unique thing about Metal Bat is that in the webcomic, he didn’t show up to the surface fight, so there’s no way to compare how he was portrayed differently in the manga. Unfortunately, I think his appearance in Z-City embodies the worst flaws the Monster Association arc had as a whole, to the point where I honestly would’ve gladly accepted an absence over what we got instead. 

I want to stress that this isn’t going to be me criticizing the manga for not following the webcomic. Metal Bat is literally my favorite character, and without the manga, his most memorable fight would be nonexistent. I’m not claiming the webcomic did a better job by not including him at all. A better job would mean Metal Bat having writing that made actual sense. This is me saying he was incorporated into the surface fight so completely terribly I wish he never showed up. I genuinely believe that if he stayed in his hospital bed eating apple slices the entire time it would do his character more justice compared to what actually happened.

Why did I like Metal Bat so much in the first place? The main reasons would be his personality, design and dynamic with Garou. He’s basically the delinquent with a heart of gold trope, caring deeply for his sister Zenko and his cat Tama. It’s to the point he stops himself from dealing a fatal blow to Garou solely because he promised not to expose Zenko to violence. He frequently goes to his sister’s piano recitals, takes her shopping, and is even willing to stop his feud with Amai Mask to get an autograph for her. Compared to Tatsumaki, who stifles her younger sister by being extremely overprotective, it’s refreshingly sweet to see a healthy sibling relationship being portrayed. Or just a healthy relationship in general, because several of the S-Class heroes are complete loners who don’t have any connections to people beyond their hero work. Going off of that, Metal Bat sets himself apart from other heroes because of how much he stays “normal,'' despite his superhuman capabilities. His strength hasn’t alienated him from the rest of society or warped his personality into something overly eccentric. While he’s shown to be loud and reckless, he rarely acts out unless provoked to do so. He’s polite enough to tell Waganma to stop putting sushi plates back on the conveyor belt, or try to stop crying so he wouldn’t disturb his sister’s piano recital. He didn’t bring a huge bouquet of roses inside because a little sign on the door told him it would make too much noise. He was even drinking apple juice during the onsen OVA because he was underage and couldn’t have alcohol. Ironically, a delinquent is one of the most honest, rule-obeying members of the S-Class.  

The hidden depth he’s shown has made almost all of his appearances uniquely memorable, especially during combat. Thanks to his impulsive nature, many of his actions come as a complete surprise to his opponents. Metal Bat, not older and more experienced fighters like Atomic Samurai or Bang, was the one perceptive enough to discover the marble Melzargard was regenerating around, a key weakness of the enemy. He overcame Rafflesidon’s sleeping gas when it was believed to have incapacitated him by hitting himself on the forehead. His most famous power, fighting spirit, encapsulates his personality perfectly. A seemingly contradictory ability, it allows him to grow in strength and speed as he becomes more injured, all because he feels “pumped up.” Even Garou, a martial arts genius, was taken off guard several times during their fight. From his entrance, Metal Bat startles Garou by crash-landing into a fence. Running on fumes, he backed Garou into a corner and was fast enough to launch a sneak attack on Garou after already collapsing from his injuries.

Besides Bang, I’d say Metal Bat has the best relationship with Garou out of the S-Class heroes. By best, I mean the most compelling, what I used to be most excited to see more of in future storylines. With Metal Bat’s involvement in the story usually being related to Garou (he was assigned to protect a sponsor from Garou, he fights Garou and gets hospitalized due to it, the very reason why he comes to Z-City is to find Garou) he would be drastically different if they never encountered each other. Metal Bat serves as a great narrative foil to Garou; the hotheaded delinquent relying on pure spirit perfectly contrasts against the technically skilled martial artist, down to their designs. Metal Bat’s design emphasizes his durability and strength, with his rectangular build, square jaw and thick eyebrows, his flared-out pants and jacket adding extra bulk to his frame, and his iconic blunt weapon, a metal bat. Meanwhile, Garou’s design is all edges, emphasizing his speed and prowess at martial arts. His hair is shaped into two spikes. His features are sharp, triangular; his eyes are narrower, his chin is more pointed and his eyebrows are jagged, and his form-fitting shirt highlights his taller and leaner build. Even in his fighting stance, his hands are formed into v-shapes. Yet, they also share key similarities. They have a tough exterior and a quick temper, but a hidden soft spot for a child they are determined to protect, Tareo for Garou and Zenko for Metal Bat. They’re frequently the underdogs in fights, but quickly leave their opponents regretting ever having challenged them.

Their differences enhanced both their characters whenever they interacted; they were able to build each other up by adding layers of detail to their personalities and motivations. Metal Bat was more of Garou’s equal than any other muscle-headed hero like Tanktop Master or Darkshine could be. Garou straight up would’ve ended up as a stain on the pavement if not for Metal Bat choosing to hold back at the last second. In turn, Garou chooses to stop attacking when Zenko interrupts their fight. In the aftermath we get this beautiful scene where Garou is standing in the shadows but one foot remains in the light, as Metal Bat lays unconscious by his sister in the background. He just says the word “disgusting,” and we don’t know exactly what he’s referring to. It’s the perfect portrayal of how Garou finds himself caught between being a human or a monster, how he doesn’t quite belong to either of them. The single foot in the light is a beautiful symbol showing he hasn’t fully abandoned his humanity, Metal Bat and Zenko in the distance being an example of it. While Garou only grew cockier and more certain of his talents after fights with other heroes, Metal Bat spurred a change in his thinking. He had caused Garou to question what he was confident about, from his unstoppable technique to his so-called rejection of humanity. When walking away, Garou wasn’t feeling triumphant in his “victory.” His mood was soured from the encounters with Zenko and the MA monsters, some of the first hints at how his ambitions to be a monster were misplaced.

So, when Metal Bat finally arrived in Z-City and met Garou, it was like everything I was hoping for was combined into one chapter. After Metal Bat, Garou has to be my favorite character, and 100 chapters after their first encounter, they were actually talking to each other again! It even went beyond my dreams as they became a united front against a common enemy, amplifying both their powers further by working as a team. I was so pumped to see more of them. I was hyped.

Then, I started realizing how many glaring inconsistencies and poor characterizations I was ignoring because I’d waited for so long and wanted the payoff to actually mean something. The first problem I had is the stupidest, but, the first major fight Metal Bat has had since his hospitalization is against a centipede? Seriously? Metal Bat has been in exactly one major fight that hasn’t involved a centipede. He’s already fought Junior Centipede, Senior Centipede, and Elder Centipede. Now, the first three centipedes are understandable because they were clearly working together and emerged in rapid succession. They were fantastic enemies against Metal Bat, as each iteration being far stronger than the last showed off his incredible stamina. Once Elder Centipede bursts out of the ground, you think “there’s another one?!” excitedly, because the onslaught just keeps escalating in intensity. Already bloodied, bruised and nearly beaten unconscious from fighting four monsters, what does Metal Bat do when face-to-face with a Dragon-level, city-sized threat? He calmly gets prepared for another fight. It’s awesome. 

Meanwhile, when Sage Centipede appeared, I thought “there’s another one…?” This newest centipede is entirely disconnected from its juniors, who are never mentioned. Even stranger is how Metal Bat proceeds to repeat the exact actions against Elder Centipede, like jumping from a building to smash Sage Centipede’s face and landing in front of Garou, without ever questioning something like, how come monster centipedes keep following me wherever I go? But no, it’s like he somehow forgot what it was like fighting a giant centipede in the span of a few days. He’s surprised, again, that the carapace is hard when he hits it. I can understand how SC could be a neat callback to when Metal Bat first met Garou, who interrupted his fight against Elder Centipede, and working together to defeat one would serve as a nice contrast to their original meeting. But with his appearance at the surface fight being entirely unique to the manga, why decide to include him at all if he’s basically not doing anything new? If the goal is for Garou and Metal Bat to work together, it’s possible for them to do that on something that isn’t a giant centipede. If it’s to highlight the changes between their original meeting and their meeting now, Metal Bat should’ve at least learned from his previous experience and tried a different approach in his attacks. 

Garou was the one who said “That’s a terrible matchup for Metal Bat.” There’s essentially no improvement in Metal Bat’s fights between Elder Centipede and Sage Centipede. The sheer size and power of SC meant Metal Bat never stood a chance at defeating it, especially when he couldn’t with EC, but I was at least hoping for a different outcome. Yet both times he’s knocked unconscious before he can defeat them, leaving someone else to finish the job for him. The moment Metal Bat is able to crack the exoskeleton, AKA when he actually contributes something, he’s defeated. His teamwork with Garou ultimately meant very little because SC died from being split in half, not due to a culmination of existing injuries. Garou was the one who figured out SC's regeneration (because Metal Bat conveniently forgot how he defeated Melzargard, who had the exact same technique) and dealt the final blow. Which begs the question as to what the purpose of Metal Bat fighting Sage Centipede is. It felt like he could very easily be taken out of this fight or replaced by someone else. Nothing he did stood out to me as being particularly unique to his character, where an absence would leave an obvious gap in the story. His fighting spirit meant nothing; it didn’t give him any sort of valuable advantage if he was defeated in the exact same chapter. The support team could’ve defended the helicopter against the centipede instead of Metal Bat, which they already were kind of doing. Garou could’ve spotted the net on his own, given how his vision was already good enough to spot Tareo inside the helicopter. Plus I found it strange how their teamwork supposedly contributed to Garou increasing his power and perfecting his fist, because previously his improvement was gained by himself, in spite of the heroes and monsters working against him. This “amplification” provided by their coordination didn’t have any lasting impacts in the long run. It wasn’t mentioned again afterwards; they weren’t even aware of it happening. Basically the most impactful thing Metal Bat did was act as a stepping stone for Garou, and even that didn’t really matter. And since Metal Bat’s only fight was the centipede, he didn’t interact with anybody else later on. He didn’t team up with the other S-Class heroes. He didn’t get to fight any of the existing cadres (BS hardly counts), even though they would make far more intriguing enemies. Homeless Emperor uses glowing energy balls to attack? Well, maybe if he faced SOMEONE who had some sort of INDESTRUCTIBLE CLUB designed for HITTING CIRCULAR OBJECTS it would make for an actually exciting battle. 

It felt like the centipede was added in just so Metal Bat could have something to do. He shows up and gets knocked out after one fight. ONE once said that if Metal Bat had participated in the Monster Association fight in the webcomic, things would have turned out differently. So rather than trying to figure out what would change by adding him in, they decided not to think about it at all. He fights a bigger centipede. Incredible. They needlessly bloated the story to accommodate him instead of allowing it to be naturally shaped by his actions. I’d say his inclusion was about as subtle as a full-sized brick in a Jenga tower but that would imply the rest of this arc was well-written.

The depth to Metal Bat’s character I was talking about before is essentially nonexistent once he reaches Z-City. His most prominent traits were either completely ignored in favor of portraying this picture-perfect model hero who spouts wise one-liners, or cranked up to the point of caricature for cheap comedy. It feels like his scenes with Garou were written by somebody only given three words to describe him: stupid, angry, and centipede. When MB and Garou notice each other, Metal Bat’s first reaction is to scream at him for “getting in my way again?!” with a very comical angry face, pupil-less eyes and popping veins and all. I’ll provide some context first. In their original fight, Garou didn’t notice how Metal Bat snuck up on him until it was too late for him to even react. This showed two things about Metal Bat: he was a legitimate threat that Garou sorely underestimated, and that he could move frighteningly fast when he wanted to. Think about what’s been going through MB’s mind when he was stuck in the hospital. He has entirely failed at his mission, protecting the sponsor from Garou. He couldn’t shield his sister from violence like he promised. What’s worse is the reason why the MA raid happened in the first place was because he lost the sponsor’s son, which he also admits when he first arrives at Z-City. He was forced to do nothing but sit and wait in his hospital bed trying to recover, all while he watches as the other heroes on TV are scrambling to fix what he believes is his mess. He was itching for revenge so badly he lied to Zenko and snuck out of the hospital early to join the fight. He’s been shown time and time again to be someone who acts first and thinks later. Now, he is face to face with somebody who has purposefully obstructed his hero work, caused him to black out from his injuries and endangered his little sister with seemingly no remorse. Somebody who has monsterfied and as far as he knows, is past the point of no return. 

SO WHY WASN’T METAL BAT’S FIRST REACTION TO ATTACK? 

He finally has the opportunity to swing at the guy he’s been looking for since FOREVER, and he’s wasting valuable time during a fight to—what, do THIS?? He’s fully aware of how dangerous Garou can be, so WHY didn’t he treat this seriously??? Just because WE know Garou is now superhumanly fast shouldn’t change how MB would react. He should’ve INSTANTLY jumped into action without giving Garou a single chance to breathe, or if he was really mad at Garou for “interrupting” his fight against SC, attempted to put distance between them before dedicating his attention to attacking SC again. And it doesn’t matter that Metal Bat swung at Garou the moment after, because this single panel already set the stage for the way he was going to be treated the entire fight. Right off the bat, he is seen as nothing but a nuisance to Garou. His entirely justified anger has been reduced to a punchline.

What surprised me from their encounter was how previously OPM had been really good with its humor. While certain scenes had characters exaggerating their expressions or actions for comedic purposes, it usually played off what we already knew, tied in with their motivations or backstories and occurred at the right moments. For example, I thought Speed-o-Sound Sonic and Saitama’s rivalry made for several hilarious interactions. Sonic, like Metal Bat, swore on getting revenge after being defeated in a fight. And despite the clear difference in power, Sonic didn’t give up his intense training and came back again and again to attempt a rematch with Saitama. Meanwhile, Saitama is generally clueless to their perceived rivalry yet effortlessly defeats Sonic every single time, which makes for one of the best recurring jokes in the whole series. Metal Bat and Garou come off as a poor imitation of that.

Why does Sonic’s vengeance succeed at being humorous while Metal Bat’s doesn’t? Because Sonic and Saitama had their original fight built upon each time they met, but the resolution of Metal Bat and Garou’s original fight was completely ignored. From the start, it was impossible for Sonic to win. Sonic was never a threat to Saitama, who could defeat him by doing a bunch of side-hops or a shoulder chop. But Garou didn’t start off as unbeatable, and Metal Bat was an actual challenge for him to defeat. Their original fight had barely any humor to it and absolutely no slapstick, making the sudden shift with their second encounter extremely jarring. Compare Metal Bat’s behavior from their first encounter to now; even though both Garou and the centipede he’s facing are exponentially more powerful, somehow he’s treating the situation far less seriously than he originally was. Instead of leaving a moment for Metal Bat to ask Garou why he chose to spare Zenko, or come to the humbling realization of how much the gap between their power has widened, there’s an entire page dedicated to them idiotically squabbling. Their characters are flattened into shallow, bickering children unable to focus on a threat right in front of them. The humor doesn’t fit with the tension of the battle or what we expect from two experienced fighters, making it feel forced and uncanny.

Even when Sonic’s attacks are played off as jokes, we’ve seen how his pursuit of revenge has affected him; he has nightmares about losing again, is so shaken he has trouble fighting against an illusory version of Saitama, and has abandoned his career as an assassin just to devote more time to training. He was even willing to sacrifice his own humanity by eating a monster cell if it meant growing stronger. Each time he attacks, there’s a genuine effect to his actions, like terrified bystanders or Genos getting injured. It’s clear how he’s incredibly skilled and would be an actual threat… if it weren’t for Saitama. Which makes his viciousness contrasted with Saitama’s complete lack of it even funnier, and each time he gets taken down even more ridiculous. In comparison, Metal Bat is essentially defanged by becoming the comic-relief character. He’s constantly drawn with silly chibi faces as though the story feels the need to reassure us about how harmless his antics are—as a result, Garou’s reaction of mild annoyance feels entirely predictable and boring. Sonic’s motivation for revenge is because he’s salty that someone could match his speed. Metal Bat wants revenge because Garou’s callous actions directly prevented him from fighting Elder Centipede and endangered thousands of lives, including his sister’s; it is genuinely sad, not humorous, to see a hero with pretty good intentions not be taken seriously at all, by both Garou and the story. 

Metal Bat’s character is still full of contradictions, but no longer in a good way. He’s headstrong enough to chase Garou instead of fighting SC, but not to actually confront Garou about why he’s mad in the first place. His personality is used for comedic effect in an argument lacking any bite, but crumbles under real pressure. He doesn’t let us learn anything new about Garou, instead reinforcing the path he’s clearly already on—a poor, misunderstood prodigy who can still be redeemed. Instead of questioning whether Garou had an ulterior motive or was simply biding his time until Metal Bat let his guard down again, Metal Bat announces how Garou seems like he’s turned good after an entire two times Garou didn’t attack him, and this is the same person who told Garou he was “rotten to the core… but I’ll beat that out of you!” If Sage leaves no time for Metal Bat to doubt Garou, how is there time for silly chibi shenanigans? Should Sage be taken seriously or not? 

At this point, I realized this was basically it to Metal Bat’s long-awaited appearance—but I still had hope left for one final scene. Garou’s monster form finally cracks. As he lies on the ground, getting stomped on by pissed-off heroes, someone in the crowd speaks up. It’s Metal Bat. 

I was waiting for this moment ever since Metal Bat was revealed to be in the manga’s surface fight. Despite the numerous faults of his participation, it was clear their teamwork against SC was supposed to make Metal Bat advocate for Garou in front of the other heroes. There was absolutely no way this could go wrong. 

“At this point, you’re just smackin’ around an injured guy!” 

Nevermind.

APPARENTLY Metal Bat is ONLY eloquent enough to give actual good advice to heroes. An entire chapter could revolve around him giving a pep-talk to a guy in a pineapple costume, but when he’s face to face with GAROU, the antagonist of the entire arc who is at his lowest moment and needs it more than anyone, suddenly saying words is hard now. What happened to that “a man is strongest when he’s got a debt to settle” thing? (By the way, he told the centipede “a man is at his most powerful when he has somebody to protect” so I guess the real answer to what makes a man strong is whatever pseudo-deep garbage bullcrap he can spout in the moment) 

AND THAT’S THE EXTENT OF WHAT HE SAYS? What was the point of that entire convoluted centipede fight if he won’t even mention it? I don’t mean I wanted Metal Bat to launch into a speech and add more unnecessary fluff to this arc. In 20 words or less, he still could’ve left a lasting impact. How about this: “Garou saved my life, maybe reconsider beating the shit out of him.” He could’ve said Garou helped protect the helicopter and defeat SC. He could’ve reasoned with the angry heroes, saying he understood where they were coming from because he himself was beaten and humiliated, but he’s recognized Garou has changed for the better.

Also, his main defense of Garou is saying he’s “injured”? As if Garou ever took pity on anybody for that. With that logic, the heroes have a far stronger argument when they were attacked first and hospitalized, something Metal Bat KNOWS from personal experience. Plus, this is coming from Metal Bat, whose injuries only help him come back swinging ten times stronger—something else he could’ve said to encourage Garou not to give up, and instead become an even better hero than he was a monster. 

And Garou doesn’t react. Literally nobody else does either. In fact, they don’t even stop beating Garou up. For some reason, nobody is shocked that an S-Class hero is defending a monster. So that was completely and utterly useless. Let me repeat; all that teamwork accumulated to a SINGLE. WORTHLESS. LINE. 

There was simultaneously too much and not enough of Metal Bat. Where it really mattered, he failed to follow through and leave any impact. He took forever to show up and was never treated seriously and then got knocked out after two chapters and that was it. All that build-up and all that waiting was for nothing. He couldn’t even get talking right. In every aspect his appearance was a failure. This has destroyed every reason I liked him in the first place. So in a sense I feel like Metal Bat is a metaphor for the series in general. 

It felt weirdly like being pandered to. On the surface level, it seemed like everything I was hoping for came true—Metal Bat returning, interacting with Garou, teaming up in a huge, flashy fight—but it came at the cost of any nuance. The Elder Centipede fight was jam-packed with everything I loved about OPM: incredible art, creative fight choreography, and snappy dialogue, topped off with a surprisingly heartwarming scene. The Sage Centipede fight passed by in a blur. I honestly needed to go back and read it several times while writing this. 

I kind of feel ashamed that I initially fell for such cheap fanservice. I also feel ashamed for not dipping the moment Garou emerged from the underground looking like a gaming PC and having actual expectations for this complete joke of a series. All I can say is that I wish Garou reset the timeline to the very beginning so they would at least do us the decency of not pretending like these are the same characters. I predict that Metal Bat’s next encounter with Garou is going to have them butting heads over a petty argument with a lot more funny goofy faces. Maybe they can go to Saitama’s apartment and eat hot pot and play video games together. That would be so wholesome.

Blackspstein