Prediction for the One Punch Man manga
Given how hot and heavy the One Punch Man community has been lately, I'll state clearly:
- I'm going to write an article only after the current manga arc;
- I've read the webcomic.
The manga has been pretty weird lately, but, what with Garou finally meeting Saitama, it seems that events may be clearing up a bit.
Here is my guess for what will happen:
It seems too obvious that Garou is going to end up as the main villain of the manga's Monster Association Arc, and it seems that ONE is daring us to think that. (Or whoever is writing the manga.)
Also, the stuff that happened with the Monster Association was very, very anticlimactic, with the heroes more-or-less being equal to the Monster Association. There is no Golden Sperm-level threat here; all of our heroes are pretty much fine and dandy (except our good old friend Tanktop; sorry about your elbows sir).
I don't think ONE is going to have Garou singlehandedly beat up the S-class heroes when they are all sort-of at the peak of their health.
So I think some other monster is going to come.
I mean, what the hell happened with Psykos and Orochi? And Orochi's whole sacrificial backstory? And what's up with the whole thing with the Centipedes?
One of the major differences between the webcomic and the manga is the monsters involved. Orochi and Sage Centipede aren't weird monsters, in comparison to Fuhrer Ugly or Homeless Emperor; they seem to come from one source. (In fact, the webcomic did not have the monsterization cells at all.)
Furthermore, as someone mentioned in the One Punch Man reddit, the heroes are way, way more organized and way, way more heroic than in the manga.
So I'm thinking rather than the webcomic's reversal of our notions of good versus bad there is going to be a straight version of good versus bad in the form of some final threat.
I just wanted to have my prediction archived somewhere so I can told-you-so if I'm right. The blog usually doesn't indulge in half-baked analyses like these unless it serves my ego.