Episode 3: "The Obsessive Scientist"

The Obsessive Scientist

執念の科学者/Shūnen no Kagaku-sha

• This episode covered three chapters, 9 through 11.  A slight step down from the first two episodes, which both covered four apiece, but still quite a bit.

• The cold open is Professor Genus’ origin, as narrated by Armored Gorilla.  It’s a slightly shorted version, since part of it is moved to the second half of the episode (the “he considered all other humans to be dumb animals” bit), where it becomes part of Professor Genus’ internal monologue.  Anyway, Saitama interrupts Armored Gorilla’s story, saying it’s too long, and Armored Gorilla apologizes.  Cue opening.

• During the cold opening’s flashback, we see that Genus’ laboratory has a sign out front that simply reads “Genus’s laboratory”, as if he were Professor Oak or someone.

• By the way, why did anyone (or anyONE) think it was a good idea to introduce a character named “Genos” and another named “Genus” in the same story arc?

• In the manga, Professor Genus rattles off all the names of the “elite squad” Saitama and Genos defeated last episode, but the anime leaves this out.  As a result, in the anime we never learn that Slugrus is named “Slugrus”.  Does anyone care?  Probably not.

• When one of Professor Genus’ clones opens fire on Carnage Kabuto and gets punched wide open for his trouble, the manga has a somewhat gruesome panel depicting his ribs and organs splattering against the wall.  The anime doesn’t show his death in nearly as much detail.  By the way, this entire mini-scene was added for Murata’s remake, and isn’t in the original webcomic.

• Nice little detail: when Professor Genus tells Carnage Kabuto that “he lacks refinement”, in the anime Kabuto scratches his butt.  Also, the tongue.  The tongue is beyond words.

• When Saitama and Genos enter the underground bunker, in the manga Genos (using the scanner function of his cybernetic eyes) notes that there are many “life signals” up ahead, some of which are identical and therefore presumably clones.  Then he notes that two signals are heading their way (cue Kabuto and Genus-Prime’s entrance).  The anime leaves out the bit about the various identical life signals and just has Genos note the two life signals heading their way.  Main takeaway: in the manga we know at least a few of Professor Genus’ clones are still alive (even though Kabuto kills a bunch), while in the anime they could all be dead.

• After the eye-catch, as Professor Genus walks to the room where Saitama and Kabuto are going to battle, he has an internal monologue largely based on things that in the manga were originally part of Armored Gorilla’s explanation of the professor’s backstory, with some anime-original lines added in to boot.  It’s all fairly standard “mad scientist” stuff.

• In the anime we get a better look at Carnage Kabuto’s back than we ever really do in the manga, so we can clearly see his wings, which even open up at some points.  “Kabuto” is short for kabuto-mushi, meaning “rhinoceros beetle” (think of Kabuterimon in Digimon, if that helps any), but something about the anime’s color scheme for him makes him look like a cockroach whenever his wings are visible.

• During Saitama’s flashback to his “intense” training regime, the anime shows him exercising in a park, as others nonchalantly go about their day.  A nice touch.

• Later in the flashback, to illustrate how Saitama grew strong, there’s a still shot of him punching a monster straight through a building, leaving a monster-shaped hole in the building, Looney Tunes-style.  This is adapted from a bonus image from volume 2 (featured underneath the dust jacket in the Japanese release, and in a page near the back in Viz’s English release).

• When Carnage Kabuto goes into “Carnage Mode”, the anime shows doors closing throughout the bunker, as if to seal Saitama in.  The anime color scheme for Carnage Mode is purple with touches of bright green, making him look rather Evangelion-esque.

• The anime version of Carnage Mode Kabuto beating on Saitama (as Saitama is distracted by thoughts of his precious supermarket sale) has him knocking Saitama around the walls and ceiling of the room in a somewhat surreal manner.

• After Saitama finally snaps and pulverizes Carnage Kabuto (shouting that today’s the day of the sale after all), in the manga it just goes straight to Professor Genus’ dumbfounded reaction, with his glasses sliding down his face as he thinks he should give up his research.  Meanwhile, Saitama yells about how he blew it, while Genos runs towards him saying “master!”  That’s the end of the chapter.  The anime expands on this a little, with Genos explaining to Professor Genus about Saitama’s concern for the supermarket sale, after which Genos consoles Saitama by saying they’ve still got time to reach the sale if they hurry.  Then we get Professor Genus’ line about how he should give up his research, while Saitama punches a big hole in the wall so that they can leave.  This hole seems to go straight to the outside (you can see what looks like a sunset), even though they’re supposed to be underground…

• Next Episode Preview: people from the Hero Association are investigating a trail of destruction left by a "young cyborg (the remains of the House of Evolution?).  Carnage Kabuto narrates, trying to explain about his name and saying “that man” will be making an appearance next episode.  Episode title: “The Modern Ninja” (今時の忍者/Imadoki no Ninja). 

• Over on ONE's twitter account, he's had a running series of short cartoons showing how the cast of One-Punch Man are doing leading up to the broadcast of each episode.  The cartoon for this episode focus on solely on Genos:

About 40 hours until episode 3 airs

 Genos: "What!? A state of emergency?  You say that a demon sealed away in ancient times is going to soon return to life...?  And there's only a limited amount of time to prepare for battle?  Do you know the exact time and place? ...I see...roughly 50 hours from now...OK...Good, no problem then."