One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 9 Recap: Is Child Emperor Alive?

As we approach the final phase of the third season of “One Punch Man”, it increasingly feels like the makers deliberately skimped on the animation budget for the first half of the season to save up and do justice to the following action heavy storyline. While that can’t be an excuse to put single, static frames in episodes, it’s good to see the fan favourite anime slowly getting its mojo back in the end. The last episode showcased Flashy Flash’s thrilling fight with Tempest Wind and Hellfire Flame. On the other hand, Child Emperor, aka Isamu, was able to reach deeper into the subterranean lair and rescue Waganma, only to get confronted by Machine God G5, a high threat level monster, while escaping the catacombs. The latest episode, “Brave Child” focuses on Isamu’s heroics, as he makes it clear why a mere kid like him gets to be in the topmost echelon of Hero Association.

Spoilers Ahead

Keeping the cyborg monster G5 distracted, Isamu tries to find an exit when they come across the carcass of Phoenix Man, the bird costume wearing monster Isamu took down in the previous episode. Waganma recognizes the monster’s appearance to be similar to Donkan Bird, mascot of a popular kid’s tv show, “Animal Empire”. In the show, Donkan Bird, a thickheaded character, dies in every episode only to get resurrected each time. Isamu wonders whether the man portraying the role of the mascot eventually turned into the monster; proving his suspicions to be true, and justifying his name, Phoenix Man comes back to life in an extremely strong, empowered new form with threat level elevated to Dragon class. Later, it is revealed through interspersed flashback scenes and Phoenix Man’s monologues, that playing the character of Donkan Bird time and again, the person inside the mascot costume lost sense of his own identity as a human being. Even after getting fired from his job, Donkan Bird never left him, and the negative emotions of hate, regret, helplessness simmering inside him resulted in him growing into a monstrous being. Securing Waganma in a protective shield entrapment, Isamu launches an assault on Phoenix Man, which the monster easily deflects, and destroys Isamu’s defense with relative ease. 

Believing himself to be the strongest monster, Phoenix Man starts gloating, when Isamu reveals his trump card which he had kept hidden underground in anticipation of a worst-case scenario. The genius young inventor summons mechanical extensions which assemble together to form Brave Giant, an enormous mecha robot which Isamu pilots from within. The ensuing battle is an homage to iconic mecha robot/battlesuit anime. Isamu initially gains some advantage thanks to the battlesuit, but Phoenix Man figures out that Isamu must be on a time limit within which he needs to finish the battle before the suit is rendered immobile due to lack of power. Phoenix Man decides to drag the battle long enough to surpass the time limit, and the battle rages on as Isamu uses a multitude of attack variations while chasing him. 

Phoenix Man launches an attack on Waganma to keep Isamu on his toes but gets shackled by the EMP trap Child Emperor had set for him. Isamu delivers a devastating blow on the trapped monster, nearly obliterating him in the process. Isamu notices Flashy Flash’s communicator signal moving in the lower level, and not knowing that the speedster hero has lost his communicator, he decides to shift the battle arena to tag team against Phoenix Man. However, Isamu is surprised to find Flash’s communicator in the lower level, and to make matters even worse, Phoenix Man gets resurrected once again—this time in his ultimate, most powerful form—Brilliant Eagle Mode. This version of the monster is so powerful that he is able to resurrect fallen monsters as well and set them on Isamu, and takes Waganma with him. As time keeps running out, Child Emperor is pushed to a corner while taking on a horde of undead monsters and the urgency to rescue Waganma once again. 

The battle reaches its peak in the final half of the episode, as ignoring power output limits and sustained damage, Child Emperor utilizes new modifications and enhancements on his mecha suit to stop Phoenix Man from escaping with Waganma and launches a Kamehameha-inspired energy beam attack on the monster. Overconfident about his strength, Phoenix Man decides to tank the attack, which is so freakishly strong and flashy that its impact reaches directly into the stratosphere by breaking through all the subterranean levels. Unfortunately, the attack depletes all the strength of Isamu’s suit, and still the monster survives in a grievously injured state. Isamu makes a last-ditch attempt to bluff his way out and stop the monster, to no avail, as Phoenix Man destroys his mech suit. 

Something unexpected happens as Phoenix Man approaches Isamu to end the fight, a tickle bug drone previously deployed by the young inventor makes its way inside the monster’s costume – subjecting him to a horrible itching sensation. Phoenix Man tears up his own costume in agony, giving Child Emperor the perfect opportunity to use his deadly apparatus to launch a barrage of fierce attacks and take down Phoenix Man once and for all. As the battle ends, Isamu relays a message to the rest of the S-class heroes that he has rescued Waganma and issues a warning so that they don’t make the mistake of underestimating their opponents. Zombieman’s response makes it seem that he is in a difficult situation, which will be highlighted in the upcoming episode. While making their way to the surface, Isamu asks Waganma whether there were any other hostages imprisoned with him, and the brat lies, not mentioning that Tareo was held captive along with him as well. 

The episode briefly shifts to Saitama during its final phase, showing his funny interaction with the monster duo Wind and Flame, who were previously killed by Flashy Flash. The ninja monsters have come back to life once again thanks to Phoenix Man’s powers, and are confused as to why they are in naked condition. Saitama on the other hand is confused thinking what business naked perverts might have had underground.