One Punch Man Chapter 178 review: Saitama gets Physical with Tatsumaki

So, this chapter opens up with the A-Class hero Air in the hospital with a new mechanical device on his throat. In chapter 171, Air was shot in the throat by Evil Natural Puddle, and we’re seeing that he was brought to the hospital and had his throat immediately repaired by these guys who say they’re “specialists” in cyborg medical science, and that the association requested them to come help them. They also mentioned that they can’t hold a candle to Buffoy, which is interesting.

But, in my opinion, at least, I think that this is setting up one of the big storylines going forward. What I’m going to say here isn’t a spoiler, but I really do think it’s very likely, and it’s that these guys are with the organization. But just using the panel that we have here, in my opinion, I think we have some evidence for this. Evidence that is definitely going to anger some people. But this guy’s bolo tie looks like the eye of the organization robots, or at least most of them that we’ve seen, so I think that’s kind of pointing to it.

If you guys think that’s a stretch, I understand, but regardless of the bolo tie, I do think that these guys were organization, and that’s where this storyline is headed. Like, I won’t really go any further than that, but I’ll just say that this storyline being set up here is gonna take some time to play out fully.

Thanks. Then after that, we have like this comedic sequence with Forte Butterfly DX, Chain, and Toad. And I’ve talked about this before, but like, I wonder where their storylines are headed and why One chose to focus on them so much in this portion of the series. Like, at this point, I assume One has some big grand purpose laid out for them, and I’m just really curious to see what it ultimately is, even though I know it’s probably going to take like 10 years for it to happen.

But then we’re coming to the main storyline here, with Saitama finally facing down Tatsumaki, grabbing her by the wrist and not letting go. We saw this happen in the previous chapter after Tatsumaki had defeated the Joker guy from Tsukuyomi, and it also contains Psychos. Tatsumaki also had like one of her episodes and almost straight up pseudo-killed the Fubuki group until Saitama stopped her.

And Saitama‘s whole motivation of coming here is because of Tatsumaki anyway, technically. She is responsible for destroying his apartment, so he has major beef with her over that, and also, you know, trying to defuse the situation that’s currently going on as well, but that’s just secondary to him and Tatsumaki. Like, psychically blasting Saitama, putting like a huge crater in the wall, but this, of course, does nothing to him. And Tatsumaki is shocked by this. This is kind of like the first time, I guess, that she’s experiencing the true power of Saitama, I suppose.

And she gives him like another test, I guess, but this time it’s so powerful that the crater winds up spanning like miles. And she keeps going at Saitama using what Fubuki says is her full power, and it’s kind of just as he says, making his muscles–and then Saitama yells to Fubuki, saying, ‘I’ll do something about Miss Stubborn, so you take everyone here and evacuate.’ She’s like, ‘Understood.’ And this like triggers Tatsumaki. She’s like, ‘Oh, you’re awfully familiar with my little sister, aren’t you? Why could that be? If you are in her underling, then what exactly are you to her?’

I really like this sequence because this is totally how Tatsumaki would react to somebody being cordial with Fubuki. Obviously, Tatsumaki is very possessive of Fubuki and jealous as well. And Saitama pretty much just says that he’s nothing to Fubuki except an acquaintance. It’s like crushing her by putting Fubuki in the acquaintance zone. And Tatsumaki’s like, ‘Oh, why would you get this desperate over just an acquaintance?’

One Punch Man Chapter 178 review: Saitama gets Physical with Tatsumaki

In my opinion, I think that this is setting up the inevitable relationship between Saitama and Fubuki. And I know it’s probably going to annoy some of you out there, but I really do think that’s inevitably what’s going to happen before the story’s over. It’s already kind of been set up when they first met, and I think moments like these are just more seeds being planted for that. I guess it’s the only kind of romance that this series is really gonna get, like the subtle background kind.

But then Tatsumaki is like, ‘Well, whatever the case may be, then I’ll test you to see if you deserve to be hanging over Fubuki like that.’ And she like ramps up her psychic power, and it causes shockwaves throughout the hero association to where even the rich people that just moved in can feel it.

And obviously, it’s angering them, and they’re blaming Metal Knight. But she’s using so much power that the basement is even twisting around them until Saitama is finally like, ‘Okay, you know if you’re gonna do this, then we gotta do it outside.’ And he grabs her and like shoots out of the hero association DBZ style, taking them to another location to fight, which is also very DBZ style in itself.

The chapter pretty much ends with Fubuki saying, ‘Saitama and Big Sis, it’s begun,’ which means their fight has begun. Like Saitama versus one of the strongest characters in the series. We also have like another comedic sequence after this with Tongue Stretcher, a character we haven’t seen since his quote-unquote battle with King.

I hope that one doesn’t kill him off, but it seems like we’re going to get Saitama versus Tatsumaki in the next chapter, which is going to be insane because I really don’t think One and Murata are gonna hold back on this one, just like they didn’t hold back with Saitama versus Garo. So even if you’ve already read the webcomic, I would still expect a much grander spectacle than what we already got between the two of them.

But as for what is exactly going to happen between them, well, you know, Tatsumaki realistically can’t really do anything to Saitama substantial.

One Punch Man Chapter 178 review: Saitama gets Physical with Tatsumaki

I mean, maybe at like her full 110 percent, maybe she could do something that could kind of impress Saitama, you know, the way that Boros kind of impressed him maybe, but don’t expect her to push him anywhere remotely close to that. Cosmic for Garo did. Also, I talked about this in the previous review, but in my opinion, I don’t think Saitama is as strong as he was when he was fighting Cosmic Fear Garo in space because if he was, then I think the sequence that happened in this chapter with the test of strength would have played out differently, right?

I mean, my reasoning at least is that when the past Saitama merged with the future Saitama, his quote-unquote power level got reset, kind of like how his memories did, and I think that would be a good way to up the stakes going forward in the series, right? Because if he’s so powerful that he just sneezed Jupiter away, then even the notion of somebody on the level of Boros means absolutely nothing at this point, which before it was at least a novelty.

But hey, maybe she’ll throw Saitama into space. I don’t know why, but for some reason, I feel like she’s going to do that. But yeah, that’s pretty much it for the blog today, guys. Let me know what you think is going to happen in the next chapter between these two, and do you think Saitama is going to wind up with Fubuki? Let me know, and if you like the blog, please give it a like. Have a great day, and I’ll see you next one.