One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5: Garou's beatdown by Monster King Orochi

This week, One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5 acted like a sledgehammer, but not in the way fans were hoping for. The episode places Garou into an unending gauntlet of underground fights; he is really going up against various monstrous threats in the first episode.

The episode follows Garou's losses as he tries to survive in the depths of the Monster Association, fighting Overgrown Rover to the manipulative psychic Gyoro Gyoro, and even the hulking Monster King Orochi. One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5 finally delivers movement and action after four episodes of still conversations.

Garou's Evolution Through Violence

The best part of One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5 is how it digs deeper into Garou's transformation mechanics. Gyoro Gyoro explains how the mechanics for creating apex-level monsters work; repeated close encounters with death accelerate their growth process. Orochi subsequently developed in the same brutal way, with many experiments to end with him as the Monster Association leader.

Garou is a walking example of this principle throughout the runtime. He is injured from the Royal Ripper attack earlier, and he is pushing through it like a stubborn kid. In comparison to Garou's evolved form, most of the demon-level monsters really don't challenge him at all in this episode. These fights serve to establish where Garou's power level is and to set up larger threats to come.

For me, the action picks up with Overgrown Rover. This dragon-level cadre dispatches demon-class enemies with blasts of heat that burn them down to ash. When One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5 shows Garou taking these blasts head-on, it establishes Garou's durability at a level we would expect for a being engineered for destruction.

The Orochi Showdown in One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5

The reveal of Monster King Orochi should have been epic. He is not just some random monster who happens to be the leader of the Monster Association; he is the result of countless experiments, and he rightfully sits above every other being we’ve encountered with sheer power alone. His multi-stage transformations and fire attacks are a clear sign that he is, without question, the most powerful being we’ve set eyes on.

One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5 tries to show Orochi’s superiority through the fact that he can instantly adapt to the Water Stream technique Garou used against him. When Garou finally engages in his final attempt to defeat Orochi using the style of Water Stream, Orochi mimicked Garou perfectly without even hesitating while Garou was mid-attack with it.

Ultimately, Garou’s defeat is inescapable. Not only did Orochi completely hold back against an opponent easily several tiers below him, but he was even making Garou’s situation worse on purpose. Gyoro Gyoro, of course, is still right on track with his plan: Keep Garou alive and keep pushing Garou into and close to death scenarios until Garou can overcome Orochi’s strength entirely.

Saitama's Oblivious Entry

So, while Garou's out there suffering in our hellish underground, Saitama's just living his regular life. One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5 shows the bald hero reading his manga collection with no clue what's going down under Z City. He walks down the street, swinging his fist with flair this way and that, giving random monsters the one-two punch combo, never once looking up.

At the very end of the episode, Saitama walks into a manhole entrance. The explosions from Rover's rampage underground finally piqued his interest, so a world-ending amount of investigation commenced. Even when finding what looks to be the Monster Association's access point, he remains coolly nonchalant. That, too, will lead to a world-ending amount of destruction inside.

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We still have seven episodes left in the season, so will production quality improve as we progress to major future battles? The Hero Association's assault on the Monster Association headquarters promises to be such a lengthy and epic struggle between S-Class heroes and executive-ranked monsters.

One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5 sets up the stakes for these encounters. But again shows the series is still struggling to successfully convey manga excellence into an animated series.

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