One-Punch Man - S1E3 - The Obsessive Scientist

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Previously on One-Punch Man, “The Lone Cyborg”

One-Punch Man is steadily rising up the list of shows in my summer rotation. I would definitely still be watching these episodes again even if I wasn’t writing about them. I guess I’m a bit of a pessimist, waiting for this show to let me down, or stumble, but so far Saitama and crew haven’t let me down. This week, One-Punch and Genos go after the House of Evolution, and Saitama reveals the secret to his power before finishing the job.

Headed To The House

Many years ago, a young brilliant, and highly decorated, scientist named Genus became disillusioned with the scientific community. They would never support any of his theories and ideas about advancing humanity through artificial evolution, so he decides to do it himself. At 70, Genus had breakthroughs leading to regaining his physical prime, cloning a think tank of himself, and renaming his lab “The House of Evolution.” As the story shifts to the human experiments, Saitama and Genos  yell at our narrator, limbless Armored Guerrilla, to get to the point.

He sums it up as Dr Genus being interested in One-Punch Man’s body, which gets a quick “I’m not into dudes” back. Saitama and Genos decide to hit The House of Evolution, before they can hit them, and set out. Genos thought they would rest first, but OPM wants to get this over with so he can hit the supermarket sale the next day. The guerrilla is almost caught reporting back when Genos returns for 20 questions about cyborgs.

At The House of Evolution, Genus and his clones now have the rumors confirmed by Armored Guerrilla. Dr. Genus can’t lose everything, so he decides to use their trump card as a last resort, Carnage Kabuto. The clones are even more freaked out by that idea, but they pin their hopes on the eight floors of traps beating One-Punch Man and Genos. Outside, Genos and Saitama run up because Saitama can’t fly, he’s only human. Genos decides to take the efficient route and blow up all 8 floors, however OPM doesn’t appreciate it. He wanted to see what Dr. Genus had planned for them. The area is demolished, making it easy for Saitama to see the basement door leading to the real lab.

The Brown Beetle

Keeping with the animal motif, The House of Evolution’s strongest creation, Carnage Kabuto, is a towering horned beetle. It’s just Dr. Genus and Carnage Kabuto after Kabuto murders the clones in the room. Carnage Kabuto believes he is the “new human” that the doc was working for, and he has the strength and intelligence to back it up. Carnage thinks he should be running things, and Dr. Genus agrees with it all except for the fact that Kabuto has no humanity. He just killed a group of clones for no reason, with no remorse, but still isn’t satisfied. That’s the exact reason he has been imprisoned, but the situation is dire, so Genus risks his life just to ask Carnage Kabuto to bring him One-Punch Man for experiments.

Saitama is getting excited about how big the hallway is when Genos alerts him about two life forms approaching. Carnage Kabuto is running full speed, holding Dr. Genus’s head in one hand, to identify his target as he crashes through glass barriers.

Since Genos isn’t his target, Kabuto puts his head into the wall to get him out of the way quickly. Because of that, Saitama accepts Carnage’s invitation to a fight in the combat experimentation room. In the room, the fight is cut off before it can begin by a hobbled Genos. He gathers himself, throwing a flurry of kicks and flame blasts before unleashing his “Machine Gun Blows” that gets him slapped from the air and bouncing into Saitama’s arms. One-Punch advises the cyborg to bow out due to his cracked face and other damage, but Genos unleashes one last desperate blast that gets blown back at them. Genos insists he’s fine, but Saitama can’t get over his new Justin Timberlake styled perm.

Badder Than The Deep Blue Sea

Dr. Genus is badly banged up, but he limps his way to see the fight. He’s too excited for the fight to miss it, and after seeing Carnage Kabuto in action, One-Punch Man is also. Again, as with the other fights in this revenge tour for his apartment, Saitama’s face switches from the goofy, aloof drawing style, to the hardened anime action hero. Carnage is almost instantly behind OPM, but instead of laying into him, he freezes in terror and flies back as far as he can. Saitama has left himself wide open, but Kabuto’s instincts about him scream danger. He knows One-Punch Man would have killed him. Shaking in sweaty fear, Carnage Kabuto demands to know how Saitama became so strong, and surprisingly, Saitama agrees to tell him and Genos. Dr. Genus butts in to hear also, but One-Punch doesn’t care long enough to figure out who he is.

One-Punch Man again puts on his serious face to explain that his secret is actually a training regimen. He stresses that the training regimen must be followed every day, no matter the costs. People like him and Genos will always be stronger this way, rather than through experiments and enhancements, because they have the will and ability to change themselves. The mere fact Saitama is so strong without these drops all three of their jaws, but they are ready when One-Punch begins with the regimen. Every day he did 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10K run. He ate 3 meals a day (bananas for breakfast are fine but try not to make eye contact with anyone.) And last but certainly not least, he saved money. No matter the weather, Saitama strengthened his mind by never using the a/c or heater. All three are in disbelief, but it’s Genos who is first to call One-Punch’s story crap. He didn’t become Saitama’s disciple to be jerked around, but OPM looks genuinely hurt insisting it’s the truth.

D’oh

Carnage Kabuto has heard enough. Furious, he powers up into Carnage Mode, complete with a redesign and new color scheme. Because he’s a powerful villain using his top form, of course he has to explain what comes with it. In this case, he’s not only physically enhanced, but mentally, for a week, he will be in a berserk state of blood lust that he promises will stretch into the city. A look of shock and horror grips Saitama’s face before Carnage Kabuto uppercuts it through the room.

As Saitama takes an insane superpowered beating from Kabuto, he realizes that Kabuto mentioned his rampage ending next Saturday, making today Saturday, the day of his supermarket sale. Now mixed with anger and grief, Saitama snaps out of his stream of consciousness to explode Carnage Kabuto with an uppercut of his own, through Carnage’s finishing blow yelling “Bargain day at the supermarket!”

While One-Punch Man wails about his screw-up at the feet of Kabuto’s corpse, Dr. Genus is as much in awe of his power as he is puzzled about his wailing. Genos fills him in with the supermarket ad before pointing out to OPM that they could still make it in the four hours left. They make a multi-storied hole in the wall and leave the doctor deciding to make a change. Post credits, an investigation is being carried out on the surface of heavily torched area. Like their other cases, the flames were particularly intense. They already suspect the “young cyborg” and marvel over his destructive power as the camera pans out, showing they on the surface of The House of Evolution.