Title: “The Secret to Strength” (強さの秘訣/Tsuyosa
no Hiketsu)
Length: 24 pages
Adapts: Chapter 11 of the original web comic
(15 pages)
In Short: Saitama reveals the secret to his
incredible strength, and it’s unbelievable.
Literally unbelievable. Literally, literally
unbelievable.
Milestones: After seven chapters, the House of
Evolution story arc wraps up. For the
first time we learn the details of Saitama’s “harsh training”, which is just
about the only explanation for his matchless strength we’re going to get for
quite some time (not until Chapter 56 of the original webcomic will this thread
be picked back up).
Adaptation Notes: When entering “Carnage Mode”, in the
original webcomic Carnage Kabuto’s horn becomes crescent moon-shaped, making
him look a bit like he has devil horns when seen from head-on.
In the remake, it becomes completely vertical and comes to a single
point, like a rhinoceros horn, and in addition he grows a large spike on his
back. Overall Murata’s re-design of his
Carnage Mode horn makes him resemble Eva Unit-01 a bit, a resemblance the anime
adaptation takes and totally runs with.
Though the transformation seems to make him more muscular even in the
original webcomic, the remake makes this much more noticeable (and the anime
version plays this up even more, having him become flat-out gigantic).
Also, Murata draws “Carnage Mode” Carnage Kabuto with
bulging veins on his eyes. Is that
supposed to make him see better or something?
Translation Notes: Originally, Saitama says that during
the course of his training he first noticed a change after a year and a half
(namely, that he had gone bald but grown stronger). For some reason, probably just a simple
mistake, the Viz manga translation says “one year later” rather than a year and
a half. Viz’s anime subtitles correctly
say a year and a half. No biggie.
“Carnage
Mode” (阿修羅モード) is a fairly straightforward name:
“mode” is simply the actual English word for mode (モード/mōdo), while “carnage” is 阿修羅/Ashura,
meaning the warlike Asuras of Indian mythology and by extension bloodshed and
carnage, as we saw already when discussing Carnage Kabuto’s name.
In Japanese
they often use the English word “menu” (メニュー/menyū) to refer to training regimens or
courses of training. So in Japanese,
Saitama literally talks about his “training menu”, translated in Viz as
“training regimen”. I guess this is just
one of the ways the Japanese use English words in ways that don’t quite line up
with their original English meanings.
Unless people actually do use “menu” that way in English and I’ve just
never noticed. I don’t think I’ve ever
seen it, but I’m also no fitness expert.
Other Notes: OK, so over in the Dragon Ball franchise you’ve got Cell, a
super-powerful bug monster created by a mad scientist. In episode 157 of Dragon Ball Z, Cell is in the middle of getting knocked around by
Vegeta, who’s recently finished his latest training regimen and gotten vastly
stronger. He’s even taken to calling
himself “Super Vegeta”, the arrogant jerk.
In the Japanese version of the episode, Cell asks what “Super Vegeta” is
supposed to mean (he’s not exactly the sharpest crayon), and Vegeta tells him
that explaining would be a pain in the ass.
In FUNimation’s English dub of the episode however…Cell asks Vegeta how
he acquired such power, and Vegeta says that “I do a lot of push-ups and sit-ups.
And drink plenty of juice”.
Compare this
to Carnage Kabuto (a super-powerful bug monster created by a mad scientist)
asking Saitama how he acquired such power, and Saitama replying that he did
lots of push-ups/sit-ups/squats/running, and ate three square meals a day
(including a banana for breakfast).
Coincidence? Well, actually I
think probably yes. ONE seems to be a DB
fan (Murata definitely is), but even if we assume his English is good enough
for him to follow along with the English version of the show, there’s no
indication that he’s in the habit of doing so.
I suppose it’s possible, but
unless we hear from the man himself that this is an intentional reference, I’d
just chock it up to coincidence. Crazier
things have happened. Still, I had to
bring it up.
Characters
==Good(ish)
Guys==
Saitama: Firmly believes that human strength
lies in people’s ability to change themselves, so he doesn’t think much of this
whole “artificial evolution” business.
His training program to go from average joe to omnipotent in three
years: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, plus a 10 km run every day (always
eat three meals a day, and don’t use air conditioning). The key, he says, is to make sure you do this
every day, without fail. Though nobody
believes him, he maintains that this is the only training he ever did (still, we
see from Punch 39, the bonus chapter “Brushing Up”, and other stories touching
on this part of Saitama’s life that he constantly fought monsters during this
period, which clearly played a large part in him growing so strong). After a year and a half of this workout
routine, he had gone completely bald and “grown strong” (as strong as he is
right now? It’s not clear, though the bonus chapter “Summer” shows Saitama
defeating a Demon-level monster in one blow back when he still has a lot of hair
left). Learning that it’s actually
Saturday, he immediately becomes distracted with thoughts of how he’s missing
out on that supermarket bargain sale, and it takes him a few moments to get
around to defeating Carnage Kabuto (only an unemployed person like Saitama
could have so much trouble remembering that it’s currently Saturday rather than
Friday).
It must be
said: while it’s obviously absurd to think that a daily routine of 100
sit-ups/push-ups squats and a 10 km run can make you superhuman, the idea that
the key to success is consistent effort over time is actually fairly sound. There, your Public Service Announcement for
the day.
Genos: At first concerned at the thought of the
House of Evolution getting his hands on Saitama’s secret, he then becomes quite
upset when he thinks Saitama is joking around rather than revealing the
secret. He quiets down when Saitama
assures him that he’s telling the truth (but in Punch 17, Genos talks about how
even Saitama can’t explain the secret to his strength, so he never truly buys
Saitama’s story here).
==House of
Evolution==
Carnage Kabuto: Assumes Saitama is pulling his leg
with all his talk of “100 push-up” and whatnot (can you imagine Carnage Kabuto
doing push-ups and squats?). This makes
him so mad he resolves to simply kill Saitama, so he enters “Carnage Mode”, a
state where his fighting instincts are enhanced at the expense of his
reason. Once transformed, he will
rampage for an entire week, something which has apparently happened before (prior
to the transformation, Professor Genus tells him not to do it “again”). Entering Carnage Mode causes his muscles to
bulge and his veins to pop out all over his body, which is frankly a little
strange for someone who’s supposed to be a beetle (it’s never explicitly said
that this transformation makes him more powerful,
just that it increases his fighting instincts, but judging by all the extra
muscle mass it’s safe to assume he gets physically stronger). Though he knocks Saitama around a good deal,
none of his attacks do any damage, and in the end Saitama pulverizes his head
and a good chunk of his torso with a single uppercut.
Professor Genus: Had previously assumed that the secret
to Saitama’s strength was either surgical manipulation, genetic modification, or
some type of drug. He never doubts that
Carnage Kabuto is unstoppable, so seeing Saitama kill him in one blow is a bit
of a shock (according to the guide One-Punch Man: Hero Encyclopedia, Carnage Kabuto is a Dragon-level threat, so the number of heroes besides Saitama who could handle him should be fairly limited). He resolves to abandon his
research and change his ways (we see his new lease on life in Chapter 56 of the
original webcomic).
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