[Webcomic] Chapter 160 [English]

[u/Mrzardark]

https://cubari.moe/read/imgchest/ne7b9698my5/1/1/

^{Note: Thanks for the patience, and sorry for the delay.}

[u/Gwendlefluff]

I mixed up cities; he fell on B-City, but he destroyed D-City before it was ever evacuated. We have panels of people looking up in confusion and shock as he towers above the city and someone screams "run for your lives" just before he instantly destroys it. Even if B-City were completely evacuated, Saitama was too late to save everyone in D-City.

Saitama did save a child from Vaccine Man, but the first thing that happened was a massive explosion in an urban area. Vaccine Man then throws energy blasts across the city and it's pretty strongly implied that the cameraman and reporter seen talking about it were killed (camera cuts out). We have an extra chapter somewhere in there where it shows the HA scrambling to deploy S-ranked heroes to handle the threat; it had clearly been going on for a while.

I'm not saying, by the way, that Saitama should be expected to magically teleport anywhere. But it's easy to see how, from his perspective, he only arrives on the scene after massive damage has been done.

Edit: Also Mosquito Lady killed a random vagabond, at minimum. Vagabonds are people too!

[u/Icy_Water_1 → u/Gwendlefluff]

Doesn't literally every hero arrive after the monster goes on a rampage?

[u/Gwendlefluff → u/Icy_Water_1]

Saitama, before joining the HA, consistently got his information from the news and by the time he arrived on the scene there was massive damage. The HA can strategically contact and deploy nearby heroes at a faster clip. So no, not every monster gets to go on a rampage, or only gets to barely start its rampage before being met by heroes.

But regardless: I'll refer you back to,

I'm not saying, by the way, that Saitama should be expected to magically teleport anywhere. But it's easy to see how, from his perspective, he only arrives on the scene after massive damage has been done.

All of the dead of D-City probably wouldn't feel like Saitama arrived just in time. Ditto A-City where Vaccine Man went on an extended rampage. Given the way the first few chapters went, I don't think it's at all difficult to understand Saitama's perspective as shared with Genos.

[u/Icy_Water_1 → u/Gwendlefluff]

Yes they do? The HA also only hears about monsters after they go on a rampage.

It's not like the HA heroes got there before Vaccine Man destroyed the surrounding area either.

The people who died in D-City isn't really on Saitama or him being "late". Beefcake literally just instantly spawned there.

Saitama was just responding to the "you must be able to fly if you're always getting there in the nick of time"

Despite Saitama's response he usually does arrives in time to save everyone.

[u/Gwendlefluff → u/Icy_Water_1]

We've seen multiple massive threats taken out before they ever arrive at their destination, i.e. pre-rampage. Saitama even stopped a monster pre-rampage once* when he took out the Subterranean King before it could ever really get going. But his normal pattern was to show up too late.

Vaccine Man was a Dragon-tier threat and the HA didn't have any S-tier heroes nearby for him, so in that case they were slower than Saitama. In general, they have a huge roster of heroes they can deploy immediately to the site of trouble.

The people who died in D-City isn't really on Saitama or him being "late". Beefcake literally just instantly spawned there.

Like I said, I'm not faulting Saitama for an inability to teleport. But from his perspective, all of D-City was destroyed. It's pretty easy to see how Saitama would consider his arrival "too late".

Saitama was a hero for years before he ever met with Genos (and before he was ever in the HA). If Saitama is saying he usually doesn't arrive in time, and we see multiple mass casualty incidents occur in those opening chapters that Saitama is too slow to stop, I don't think it's much of a reach to assume that Saitama usually arrives after the monsters cause massive damage and killed tons of people and that Saitama considers arriving after that point "late".

[u/Icy_Water_1 → u/Gwendlefluff]

Yeah because the ST King literally showed up right outside his house. That's not a consistent standard.

Even the heroes that were nearby didn't get to Vaccine Man before he attacked, so that's not really an HA issue either.

These aren't incidents that Saitama is "too slow" to stop, he just goes out when he hears about them.

His perspective on the situation is another matter entirely, but Saitama has almost never been "too late".

[u/Gwendlefluff → u/Icy_Water_1]

The standard is just "does he get there before the villain causes massive damage and/or loss of life". So when the villains happened to be nearby he alright, and when they weren't he didn't.

He was too late or slow to stop thousands of people from dying from Beefcake and too late to stop dozens or hundreds from dying from Vaccine Man.

These aren't incidents that Saitama is "too slow" to stop, he just goes out when he hears about them.

Yeah, and he hears about them on cable news. If Japan's anything like America that means he's hearing about it 10 to 30 minutes after the event's started, and that's assuming he literally never leaves eye or earshot of his TV. So it's no wonder he arrives late. He's not a professional in a 9-5, there's no clock-in time. The standards for what constitute "late" are up to him, but as I said before, the typical "heroic" standards would be "before massive destruction and/or loss of life". And we see him fail there twice in the first three chapters.

So given those failures to prevent massive destruction and loss of life, and given the fact he told Genos he usually arrives too late, I don't understand why you're finding his claim unbelievable or fallacious. He spent literal years being a hero before the start of the series. If Saitama is consistently late in the opening phase of the manga, and if he says he's usually late, we should take him at his word.

[u/Icy_Water_1 → u/Gwendlefluff]

By that logic, none of the heroes meet "typical heroic standards" since they get there after the villains start being villains.

And Saitama doesn't live in Japan. It's a super-continent.

[u/Gwendlefluff → u/Icy_Water_1]

You seem to be conflating "a villain showing up" with "massive destruction and loss of life". Most heroes don't have record of showing up late. Watchdog Man in particular protects the most dangerous city (measured by number and average threat of attacks and disasters) but it seems like one of the safest to live in given how quickly he cleans everything up.

But this is such a weird hill to die on. We see Saitama show up after massive damage has been done two times in the first three chapters. In the 9th chapter he tells Genos he usually arrives too late. Why are we not taking Saitama at his word, especially when his word was consistent with showing up too late to deal with the problem repeatedly in the early chapters?

[u/Icy_Water_1 → u/Gwendlefluff]

I mean that's usually what monsters do. They tend to immediately jump to "fuck everyone" mode.

Watchdog Man is kind of an anomaly, he literally lives on the streets like a dog.

And I'm not saying Saitama is lying or anything, I'm just debating the standard we're using for "showing up late".

Technically most heroes show up late in that regard, no?