‘One-Punch Man’ Reveals How Garou’s Power Level Compares to Saitama

One-Punch Man season 2 episode 3 is titled “The Hunt Begins”, which makes reference to bloody campaign of violence that new villain Garou embarks on. After committing wholesale slaughter at the Hero Association’s villain recruitment drive, Garou takes to the streets to hunt down and beat up the top heroes and prove himself as one of the most fearsome “monsters” around.

Much of the episode follows Garou as he fights major top-ranked heroes like Tank Top, Mumen Rider, Golden Ball, and Spring Mustachio. However, the very end of the episode offers viewers a taste of what One-Punch Man season 2 has been really leading up to: the showdown between Saitama and Garou!

The fight between Saitama and Garou is hilariously brief.

Like (just about) every other conflict in One-Punch Man that Saitama is a part of, Garou proves incapable of making the slightest dent in the aloof hero. In fact, it’s after Garou has smacked around a pimp on the street that the villain is casually strolling along and enjoying his evening. Along the way, he runs into Saitama, who is out buying wig to impersonate Charanko, a former pupil of the hero Bang, who allows Saitama to take his place in a martial arts tournament. Garou mistakes Saitama’s musings about martial arts as a sign that the “noboby” hero wants to fight him, which aggravates Garou uses his secret martial arts technique to deliver a crushing karate chop to Saitama’s neck. However, the blow has no effect on at all – in fact, it goes hilariously the other way: after taking the blow, Saitama mistakes Garou (the villain the entire Hero Association is looking for) as a common mugger attempting to rob him. Annoyed by the distraction to his wig shopping, Saitama scolds “the mugger” and delivers his own karate chop in response. That blow knocks Garou clean out in one hit!

Again, fans of One-Punch Man already know that this is the blessing and curse that has defined Saitama since the series began: he’s too powerful to ever find an interesting opponent to fight. This interaction demonstrates that Garou – for all the power of his “Fist of Flowing Water” martial arts technique – is still ridiculously outpowered by Saitama!

However, fans should be wary: this decisive interaction between Garou and Saitama is sure to be a game-changer moment. For one thing, Garou is now fully aware that Saitama exists, and is *the* hero beat. If you go back to episode 2 of this season, Garou also foreshadowed that his power level during the slaughter at the Hero Association meeting was just a starting point: he proclaimed he would return in six months more powerful than ever, ready to take down the entire H.A. Now that Garou has the measure of the power he needs to gain, the next fight between him and Saitama might not be a “one-punch” exchange at all.

One-Punch Man Season 2 is now streaming on Hulu, and on Crunchyroll outside of the United States. The season is directed by Chikara Sakurai (Naruto Shippuden episode director), with new production studio J.C. Staff taking over for Madhouse. Yoshikazu Iwanami serves as sound director, and Chikashi Kubota contributes new character designs.

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