One Punch Man Chapter 221 brings back Garou after a long wait

Garou as seen by Bang
Garou as seen by Bang (Image Source: J.C. Staff)

After being absent for two years, One Punch Man Chapter 221 has finally brought back the most complicated anti-hero. The manga's latest release pulls Garou out of obscurity, delivering the reunion many had given up hope of seeing.

Garou, once known as the 'Hero Hunter', is now just trying to redeem himself from all the evil he did while being a supervillain by working at a delivery service. But his attempts at changing his life will be interrupted once again when the newly formed Neo Heroes find out what he is doing (and how far he has gone down this road). The One Punch Man Chapter 221 sets up for Garou to have a one-on-one fight with Suiryu, one of the strongest fighters in the series so far.

Garou the Hero Hunter (Image Source: J.C. Staff)
Garou the Hero Hunter (Image Source: J.C. Staff)

In One Punch Man Chapter 221, Garou's past while he was missing from the series is explored. After he was defeated by Saitama during the Monster Association storyline, he became Bang's student again. After a series of negotiations with Hero Association executives, Bang has worked out a plan that will result in Garou becoming an S-Class Hero after being rehabilitated.

Garou gets hired as a driver due to a judge ordering him to go through rehabilitation. And, it looks like Garou is doing pretty normal stuff now that he has a real job and is working at becoming more than just the Hero Hunter. All of this represents a big change in Garou's character from when he used to be evil.


The Neo Heroes Make Their Move in One Punch Man Chapter 221

In One Punch Man Chapter 221, a big disagreement is starting to boil over between the various hero organizations. The Neo Heroes have found out about Garou's prior bad stuff and think that he has yet to truly pay for what he did, and they don’t believe Hero Association’s choice to hide it all is fair or right.

A recently recruited member of the Neo Heroes, Suiryu, is given his first big chore from the organization. He has been told to go and catch Garou to make him face the consequences of being the Hero Hunter. Even though Suiryu does not want to accept this responsibility, because of damaging a costly powered suit during his recruitment process, he now feels like he owes a debt to the Neo Heroes for the damage, which means he has to finish the job, or he will still be in debt.


A Dream Matchup on the Horizon

Garou vs. Suiryu in a VR game (Image Source: J.C. Staff)
Garou vs. Suiryu in a VR game (Image Source: J.C. Staff)

You can tell there is a lot of hype around this fight between Garou and Suiryu! They both have really high levels of martial arts skills, but their philosophies about fighting are very different. They had a small fight back in Season 2. However, their fight now will be even more intense than that.

It is hard to say when we will actually see this fight take place. It is likely not going to be in the very next chapter, but the anticipation for this fight has been built up tremendously throughout the series. When they finally do fight, it will be a fight that showcases how truly great these two fighters are at martial arts.


Training Sessions and Foreshadowing

Saitama’s training with Genos is the focus of the final section of One Punch Man Chapter 221, where we also get to see Dr. Kuseno establish a baseline for Saitama's powers via his sparring matches with Genos. Unfortunately, Saitama seems to be somewhat distracted from his matchup with Genos due to his thoughts about the Hero Name Victims Association and the impending changes he feels are coming to the hero industry.

The narratives that contain Garou's return are effectively developed in One Punch Man Chapter 221 by highlighting the new rival organization that has developed from Neo Heroes, causing conflict between Neo Heroes and Hero Association because they went after Garou instead of protecting the ex-villain.

Edited by Akihito Chakma