by Ben Ayuko
{image from the anime}
One of the deepest, most underrated characters in Anime…in my opinion. I mean, i’m not exactly an anime junkie, but i’ve seen my fair share and this man is one of the characters that stood out. And why is that?
Well, to understand this we have to think about the universe that he comes from, i.e. One Punch Man. One Punch Man is a story about the strongest man that ever existed. He was assaulted by monsters (as in, literal monsters) one day and the resultant epiphany he had led him to adopt an arduous training regimen aimed at making him stronger than any monster he would ever encounter. In his exuberant enthusiasm, he overdid it, and not only did he become stronger than any monster he would ever encounter, but he also only ever needed one punch to completely annihilate his opponent (hence the name). This became a problem.
Now this is a world where monsters emerged from the underground to roam free in the streets with the people. They will see you. They will grab you. They will eat you. They are impossible to fight. It would be an incredibly hopeless ordeal to find yourself unfortunate enough to be caught in one’s eyeline.
This is where the Hero Association comes in. A tax-funded government operation that deploys heroes in every town/ city/ suburb to protect the people from such occurrences. Naturally, these people all possess some sort of ability, i.e. telekinesis, superfast, superstrong, flight, invulnerability, etc., which enables them to fight on power with the monsters and even overpower them. To become a hero, you need to possess peak physical condition as well as display competent aptitude. Once testing is done, you will be sorted into S, A, B or C class hero, S-Class being the highest.
Mumen Rider is ranked number 1 among the C-Class heroes. Try as he may, he just doesn’t seem to possess the strength required to graduate into the higher tiers. And while this does break his heart, it doesn’t break his spirit. In fact, he just might have the most unbreakable spirit among all the heroes. His power level is relatively low, meaning he can only be assigned to run of the mill gigs, e.g. help an old lady cross the road or “Help, my cat is stuck up a tree!“, that kind of thing. But he is always ready to run into action provided there is a civilian in need of help.
Even when A/B-Class heroes would rather run away from the danger for fear of being decapitated, it is the Mumen Rider who always stands his ground. It can, honestly, be heartbreaking to watch at times. He would ride up to a monster on his Bicycle and unleash his ultimate, most devastating attack: The Justice Crash, where he would hop off his bike and use the momentum to launch it into his opponent. Because of its impenetrable skin, the monster would barely feel the tyres and pedals scratch at its skin. Feeling around the impact area as if trying to determine whether something had actually brushed it, or it was just imagining things. Only to wheel around and see Mumen Rider charging at it at full speed. It would swat him away like an annoying little pest and you would watch as he rag-dolled over to the side having broken a few bones. Just as it was turning away to continue spreading terror, Mumen Rider hops back to his feet and beelines toward it again. He would surely die from a second blow.
But, for some reason, it doesn’t seem to register. Or at least, it does register but he chooses to ignore it. How can one ignore survival instinct? Even the other heroes ran away. And they were stronger than he is. But that doesn’t seem to matter in the slightest. Mumen Rider’s resolve is unshakable. Because, in his words, being a hero isn’t about winning or losing, it’s about facing down the opponent, “Right Here, Right Now“. This is, by no means, the ideal way to live. I would advise anybody to run in the opposite direction of where death dwells. But it is admirable. To have such control over your own emotions that you can elect to stand your ground knowing only unimaginable agony awaits. And to do it by choice as well.
I don’t know, it seemed as though there was a lesson to be learned in there somewhere.
Anyway, if you looking to get into anime, try One Punch Man. It’s worth the watch.