Book Review: One-Punch Man Vols. 9 & 10 by One et al.

One-Punch Man Volume 9 story by One and art by Yusuke Murata

A new, ambitious villain shows up. His name is Garo and he has admired villains since he was a little kid. He thought it was unfair that heroes always win so he decides to become the first triumphant villain. The best way to triumph is to beat good guys, right? Meanwhile, Rank 1 of Class B, Hellish Blizzard, has shown up at Saitama's apartment to recruit him as part of her group of heroes. He's not interested in a partnership. She finds that annoying and fights him. Speed-O'-Sound Sonic has also shown up and is fighting with Genos because he wants revenge against Saitama. 

This book has a lot of action, some of it serious like when the Tank-Top corps goes up against Garo with bad results. The conflict with Blizzard is much more comedic. The story is still interesting enough to keep me reading.

Mildly recommended.

One-Punch Man Volume 10 story by One and art by Yusuke Murata

Garo continues his campaign against the heroes, taking out lower level guys and gals as he preps to take on the Class-S set. Meanwhile, the clueless Saitama prepares to enter a martial-arts contest incognito, resulting in an incidental run-in with Garo. Nothing comes of that. While he's at the contest, some gigantic intelligent centipede-monsters show up and make trouble for Metal Bat, another mid-level hero who shows his character as he fights tougher and tougher multipedes. The book ends with a couple of bonus manga that are more humorous than plot-driven.

The story developments are a bit random (a martial arts contest?) and the storytelling is starting to slip into standard manga stuff (the battles are getting crazier, the depiction of women is moving toward objectionable) but it still is interesting overall.

Mildly recommended.