Garou (One Punch Man)

"The popular will win, the hated will lose, it's such a tragedy. Then I won't lose to anyone. I will become the strongest monster ever and change this scenario."

- Garou

Garou (in Japanese: 餓狼) is a major antagonist in the One-Punch Man series, serving as the main antagonist of the Hero Hunt Arc and the Monster Association arc. He was the discipline of Bang, then was later kicked out from his dojo for massacring many of the students.

After that event, The Hero Association viewed him as an enemy called "Human Monster". Garou is an antithesis charcter to Saitama in a sense that if Saitama can be labeled 'a hero who hides his good heart' Garou is 'a villain who hides his good heart.'

He is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa in the Japanese version of the anime.

Personality
Garou is initially presented as a sinister villain, obsessed with becoming a monster and beating up heroes. He can come off being quite brutal as he is willing to attack those that are weaker than him and demonstrate painful techniques such as twisting their arms and muscles. He can also be very prideful of his strength and skill, which in turn leads him to his eventual downfall.

Because of his past, Garou despises popularity, believing that those that are popular will always win. In addition to this, he dislikes how villains are always forced to be the ones to lose, while the heroes are the ones that always wins.

Despite his ruthless nature, Garou does actually have a sense of morality in him. He does not actually aim to kill heroes or even attack civilians. Instead, he simply wishes to beat up heroes in a punishing state. He has also shown to be quite protective for others, despite being in denial about it. This is noticeably shown in his relationship with Tareo, who looks up to him as a guardian.

Biography
When he was a child he was unpopular and can be seen reading a book, one day he played heroes with a popular kid named Tacchan and impersonated the role of the monster, when he was kicked in the face by Tacchan he called the teacher but other children defended Tacchan by saying to her that that's how the game worked.

He later watched an episode of  the Justice Man TV and was extremely irritated by the fact of all the monsters losing to him, he asked to his father when there would be a villain that could defeat Justice Man but he was denied by saying to him that all the monsters in the end will die because they are monsters.

Unable to accept the fact he decided to become the strongest monster and never lose, and to change the scenario.

He is later seen as an adult training with Bang, but when the training was complete he disabled many of the students, including Sour Face, leading Bang to beat him and expelling him from the dojo.

He reappeared talking with a defeated martial artist asking him who he was, responding that he's "The Villain".

The Truth
Garou at one point lost the faith he had in heroes: although he desired to be a hero he wasn't sure what it takes and needs to be one. Additionally he was not sure if he becomes a hero he could own up to his status. Due to his problematic childhood, Garou had come to believe that might is the justice.

Garou saw a world fraught with injustices, heroes are impure and corrupted that drives mankind to evilness. To make the world a fair place Garou sought to become the 'ultimate villain' he thought the world needs. He believes what the world needs is not a hero committed to partial and falsified peace that eventually drives mankind to evil path, but an ultimate villain who destroys equally.

After causing great deal of rampage and sent many of heroes crippled and hospitalized, Garou finally met with Saitama... Only to be defeated by him easily. After hearing some lectures from Saitama, doing some quick soul searching and testimonies from a child whom Garou saved from harm during his fight against heroes Garou rediscovered what he had truly wanted to become: a hero. Realizing this Garou fled the scene, leaving everyone but Saitama to wonder where Garou had gone to.

Trivia

 * Garou in the Japanese language means 'hungry wolf'.
 * Ironically, Garou posed himself as "the Wolfman" in the Super Fight Tournament where he wore a wolf mask.
 * Garou is one of the two villains to survive long in a battle against Saitama, giving him a rather challenging battle. The other being Boros.
 * Although the Hero Association suggests that Garou is a Dragon level threat, he claims to be a God level threat. If this is true, then this would make him the first God level threat shown in the series.
 * When asked whether Boros or Garou would win in a fight against each other, ONE stated that Garou would lose in his human form, but in his Awakened form, it would be "one hell of a battle". He also added that Garou is stronger when it comes to close combat.
 * Garou is a complete foil to Saitama in any way:
 * When he was a kid, Saitama wanted to become a hero due to admire superheroes from tv shows and movies. Garou on the other hand, wanted to become a villain out of frustation because of the heroes always defeating and ruining the villain's plan, no matter how hard they tried to defeat the hero.
 * Garou is not above the average power on One Punch Man's world, but make up for it with being a highly skilled and proficient martial artist with the ability to predict and adapt to his enemy's abilities. Saitama is an ordinary person with no skill on martial arts whatsoever and who's techniques are basic and improvised fighting moves, but possess the highiest physical prowess of the universe, therefore making him invincible just by pure power alone.
 * Notably, Saitama contrast with the typical shonen Protagonist in many senses (like not having pointy hair or supermodes) whereas Garou plays straigth the most notorious shonen traits, like having martial arts prowess, high apetite, sharp hair and possessing multiple transformations.
 * Saitama's main strategy is punch his enemy until is death/defeated, whereas Garou is a highly tactical and analytical martial artist who can predict and adapt to his enemy's skills and fighting style.
 * Saitama never had formal training and had to self-train himself with his workout routine in order to become stronger, which granted him unparalleled power. Garou was ruthlessly trained in martial arts by Bang for years before deciding to start fighting heroes, and this didn't granted him immense power but rather amazing fighting skills.
 * While Saitama is "a hero who destroys monsters", Garou can be considered a "monster who destroys heroes".