Headscratchers / One-Punch Man

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Sneck vs Saitama

• How did "Snake Fist" Sneck survive being punched by Saitama? He has no super powers other than Charles Atlas Superpower.
  • Saitama held back, same thing that happened with Sonic when he was hit in the crotch.
    • Two problems with this: (1) Saitama didn't say he was trying to hold back, he said he was trying not to hit him at all; and (2) When Saitama flicked Genos in the head during their training match, the sheer force alone destroyed the mountain behind Genos... and that was a flick.
    • You are pretty wrong. That flick didn't destroy the mountain behind Genos. Saitama's stronger-than-normal-weaker-than-serious punch did it.
    • Keep in mind, he didn't kill Froggy or Slugerus either, just buried them up in the ground, like Sneck. It was actually Jungle King that killed them with his wild attack. Secondly, Saitama flicked Genos with his other hand, unlike the actual punch he aimed over Genos' head, which is what destroyed the mountain.
    • Well, that. The thing Saitama has a problem with isn't that he can't deliver weak hits, because he can (if he couldn't, he'd destroy the whole planet just by walking). It's that if he chooses not to hold back nigh-all of his power, there is nothing that can really fight on his level of power, and that makes things boring because he just wants a good full-out fight (even his fight against Boros wasn't a full-out one, and it was clear from the beginning that Saitama would win).
    • So, how comes Saitama complains about his enemies being too weak, then? Why doesn't he use the minimum amount of power to enjoy a fight, while still being able to win? At the very least, it should be more enjoyable than 'one punch'.
    • Remember Subterranean dream fight? He still one punches them but he enjoys it because he gets hurt. He just wanted to get hurt to feel that he's alive.
    • Because Saitama doesn't just want to fight, he wants an actual challenging opponent that he can go all out against and push him to his limits. If he has to hold back tremendously just so an enemy can take a few blows then he knows that he can hold a little less and instantly defeat them at anytime and thus he would get no challenge from the fight. Also keep in mind that Saitama generally doesn't kill human opponents and even when he holds back he still knocks them out in one hit.
    • Saitama obviously isn't going to straight-up murder Sneck for being a dick...
    • Maybe Saitama just held his fist out and let Sneck punch himself on it?
    • Saitama holds back massively all the time. We only see him go full power a couple of times in the series and that’s normally accompanied by a “serious” whatever

Licenseless Rider vs Sea King

• On a similar note to the above, how did Licenseless Rider survive his fight with the Sea King? I can see Saitama holding back against Sneck (after all, he doesn't want to kill the guy), but Sea King is a heartless monster who outright stated his intention to kill every human in that shelter. When Genos, an S-Class hero got in the way, well, look where that got him. Why didn't Sea King just kill him with one punch and get it over with?
  • Well do keep in mind that Licenseless Rider's shtick is to get beaten up while the innocent by-standers run away, since he's too weak to fight normally, so it could be reasoned that his armor/body is simply strong enough to mitigate a lot of damage so he can survive. Not to mention, Sea King was basically treated him as a gnat and likely wasn't hitting anywhere near full-force until his final swing (which Saitama saved him from), as opposed to Genos who was a genuine threat.

Saitama Injured

• Saitama can take massive-destruction level attack and go out without any scratch. How can one mere mosquito bite him, and a normal cat wounded him?
  • When you get punched in the face, you don't get a cut. But when you prick your finger, you do. Why? Simple: The fist has much greater surface area. When you get punched in the face, a lot of force is being distributed more evenly, but when you get stabbed, all that power gets forced into a tiny point, creating enough pressure to pierce the skin. ONE got the physics right for once.
  • Who said the mosquito bit him? We saw it land on him 5+ times, but never once did Saitama say he'd been bitten. As for the cat, Rule of Funny.
    • Actually we can see in a later page he is scratching a spot, meaning he got bitten. The truth is Saitaman CAN be hurt, just not by energy/blunt attacks. You can notice that every time someone with a bladed weapon attacks Saitama, he dodges or catches the weapon, but the swords and knifes never hit Saitama, meaning he can be cut/bitten/scratched etc.
    • Actually, the saliva mosquito spit out is the cause of the itch. Beside, his face would have been rip to piece from running in the air at hyperspeed if that was true.
    • And also, remember when Sonic tried to slice his head off with a blade? Saitama bit it clean off and it shattered to pieces, but Saitama was unharmed.
    • The spot he was scratching was also the one he smacked so hard he left a handprint, so it could have been more for his own self-inflicted damage.

Hero Ranking

• How is the hero-ranking system supposed to work? The top hero in each rank has the option to go to the next rank. If they do so, then someone else becomes top-ranked in their old rank, and could immediately rank-up. The only way the system can avoid immediately making everyone Rank S is if powerful heroes refuse to rank-up (which is what happened with Fubuki in Rank B, Licenseless Rider in Rank C, and presumably Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask in Rank A.) But as soon as one of those heroes dies or decides to rank up, won't there be a huge flood of heroes into the rank above until another person who doesn't want it ends up at the top of the rank?
  • Actually we do see that they have a system in place for checking if people should move on when Saitama leaves Rank C. At least in the redraw they evaluate him and consider his mental stability and combat abilities before consulting Sweet Mask on if he should be allowed to move up. There is also that the system naturally lends itself to people "protecting their spot" anyone who is not allowed to rank up but has achieved the 1st spot will eventually be surpassed by someone else, and someone more capable will eventually come in and plug the flow because they do not want to rank up.
  • Another issue is what happens if someone particularly powerful and/or skilled decides they don't want to advance to the next rank. If the top hero in B-Class could easily make it up to S but wants to stay in B, no one would be able to advance to A until they change their mind or they somehow lose their top rank. Though it's possible they'd just be automatically dropped down in rank after a while to avoid that problem.

Mosquito Girl's strength

• Given how strong she was, couldn't Mosquito Girl have just kicked down each door in Z-City, and then sent her mosquito swarm in?
  • It's implied that the residents of Z-City had evacuated to a shelter that was outside of the city. Moreover, that sort of activity is far less efficient than taking blood from the unprotected animals in the forests.

Saitama's endurance

• How did Saitama survive for 3 years, on at least 3 meals a day (even if one was a banana), if he'd given up job-hunting and didn't know he could get paid to do the hero thing?
  • He worked as a bouncer, security guard or body guard. As seen in his origin story, he had apparently a considerable amount of strength and knowledge of the martial arts even before he acquired his insane super-strength through training alone.
    • Was that info in the thus-far untranslated Data book?
    • Nope, that was just my idle speculation.
  • He lived extremely frugally (never using the AC or heating) due to his training, lived in places where the rent was dirt cheap (as seen in the OVA), and did the occasional odd job (the authors confirmed).

Genos is a cyborg, how can he get stronger?

• If Genos has a mechanical body, exactly how does he plan to become stronger using Saitama as an example?
  • Observe Saitama strength, then use data to build better parts?
  • The above, and also, at this point Genos already knows that Saitama didn't do anything special with his body to make it that strong. He probably assumes it's a matter of spiritual condition or life philosophy, so he accompanies Saitama in order to learn it.

Hero Association testing

• Why Does the Heroes Association base 50% of its score on a written test? Considering 99% of the work heroes do is physically fight, it seems far-fetched someone like Saitama who broke every record in existence by a huge margin is granted only a C-rank.
  • Perhaps they want their heroes to be capable of thought, so that they don't keep repeating mistakes? I mean, during the battle against Boros' invasion, dumber heroes might have gone purely on "keep fighting until it remains dead", whereas currently their heroes managed to figure out the weakspot and use it against the creature.
  • There are a lot of heroes who are physically frail but mentally extremely apt, such as Metal Knight (who uses mechs to fight) and Tornado (esper). If there wasn't an even split for the mental and physical portions they would probably never have become registered heroes in the first place.
  • The written test is probably an essay, "explain why you want to be a hero". It doesn't mean much if a hero is physically strong if they don't have the proper motivation for heroing. Saitama's "to have fun" is probably utterly average (25 out of 50), lower scores might suggest that there is a danger of the person becoming a villain. License-less Rider, being a perfect paragon willing to endanger himself to save others, probably got full points on the written test, allowing him to pull a C grade despite being physically unremarkable.
  • It's obviously meant to be inherently stupid, otherwise they wouldn't completely misclassify Saitama. The HA management is generally portrayed as inept and stupid, and most of their S-Class didn't even take the test — they got recognised for their power and requested to become a hero. Too bad Saitama's feats got assigned to King...

Saitama's friends as secret keepers

• Why exactly do Saitama and his friends keep his true strength a secret? Bang's reason is because he doesn't want to see him get corrupted by the Hero Association, but what about the other's reasons?
  • In a word, they don't, or at least not purposefully. Fubuki isn't the sort to go around and tell others of Saitama's strength. King just does not talk very much. Initially, Genos tries but it's possible that everyone else presumes he's biased or just being gracious towards a friendly lower-ranked hero. After the Sea King fight, he just states he'll respect the path his master wants to take but will aid him if it ever backs him into a corner.

Saitama's heroism unnoticed?

• Credit to Saitama, who not only managed to convince an entire city that he is just taking advantage of the work of the other heroes in his confrontation with the Sea King. There is somewhat reasonable logic there. But why do thousands of people not notice he literally punches the rain out of the sky in the same swing he killed said big bad in? Surely that is not something someone who only takes credit for getting the last hit in could do.
  • He was far away from the crowd. They probably just didn't notice something that small when they were watching a fight from the far side of the square.
  • People being stupid and easily swayed to irrational conclusions was the point.

Genos has rent

• Where did Genos get so much rent money?
  • If Dr. Stench can turn Genos into a cyborg and periodically replace all his tech parts, usually with new, more powerful ones, he probably has quite a bit of money going around. Since he's now some kind of paternal figure for Genos, maybe he gives him a (big) allowance, or just gives him money whenever he needs it (Genos doesn't seem like he asks for money often, so if once he goes to the old guy and asks for a lot of rent money so he could become the apprentice of a guy who might help him with his revenge goal... why would Dr. Stench deny him that). Or, for a more simple and perhaps likely answer, Geno's family is dead, he inherited all their money and hadn't used it for anything (Dr. Stench already gives him whatever he needs to stay healthy and strong) until he met Saitama.
  • It's stated in the manga that Genos gets so much money because he is an S-Class hero, while Saitama gets very little because, at the time he was only a C-Class hero.

Lazy art

• I get why Saitama is drawn "lazily" on occasion, he's so lazy that it extends to his own art. However, why is Tatsumaki drawn in that same style as well sometimes?
  • From my understanding, it is done to highlight how much of a brat she can be, as she is usually drawn in that style when she is acting her most childish, so she is drawn more in line to what a child could do.

Monster Garou turning back to human

• What exactly happened to Garou after Saitama beat him? Did he revert back to being human? Was he never truly a monster in first place? Or is he just a really human-looking monster, with his power being to create the thick, rocky armor for himself?
  • Garou was always a human, and never actually became a monster. The translation I read said that he used a bunch of surrounding materials, like cloth and rubble, to create his monstrous appearance. Following the physical and mental beatdown he received from Saitama, Garou fled the battlefield. His current whereabouts and activities are unknown.
    • So that means he actually broke his limiter? SOMETHING happened to him, because before he became a "monster", he had his entirely ribcage shattered by Superalloy Darkshine, plus he could barely move.
    • I believe he had a genuine transformation into a monster, from what every version I've read and seen says/shows. Nobody knows where he currently is.

Genos sitting on a hill

• Why was Genos doing literally nothing for the last two episodes straight? (And by extension, that other Class S who seemed rather meek in comparison to the others). Genos is fairly competent and probably could have helped in the ground battle but he just stood on a hill for the entire thing? Why?
  • The ground battle was already being handled by four very capable heroes and those who weren't involved in it were working on ways to bring down the aliens' ship. Tatsumaki was adamant that she could do it herself and Genos already concluded that if Saitama was taking care of the aliens then there was nothing to worry about. Basically he figured no one needed his help so he was just waiting for Saitama to get the job done so they could go home.
  • In the Special mini-series it was said that the S class heroes that weren't shown were busy watching other sectors to make sure the evacuation went smoothly. Genos and other heroes were forming an active reserve in case more forces came down. It was a smart strategic move, and would have been necessary if Saitama didn't handle the rest of the army by himself.

Mumen Rider's just as dedicated as Saitama

• Why hasn't Mumen Rider powered up in the same way as Saitama? He has the same level of commitment and the same reckless disregard for his own safety.
  • He probably just doesn't know to do 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and run 10km a day while eating all three meals and leaving the AC off in the summer and the heat off in the winter. That stuff takes know-how, and he's too busy saving civilians from monsters.
  • And on that note, how the fuck is he ranked number one in Class C when he's no stronger than the average human barring his Super-Toughness?
    • That one's easy — participation points. The Hero Organization will give rank ups just for showing up at the scene of an incident, and Mumen Rider shows up even when he really shouldn't.
  • Mumen Rider also didn't start from the same place Saitama did — remember, as a bored, unemployed office drone, Saitama was still able to rip the guts out of a crab monster before doing any of his exercises. He was already something special even before he lost his hair from training.
    • Saitama got his strength by repeatedly breaking his limits over and over again. Mumen Rider didn’t do that

Genos' speech

• Does Genos just naturally speak like that or is it just because he's a cyborg?

Saitama's heroism unnoticed

• How can most other heroes remain clueless as to Saitama's true strength? This is most apparent on two occasions particularly: His fight against the Sea-King and his subsequent banter might've fooled the average citizen, but shouldn't professional heroes know better? The guy had taken down half a dozen A-Class heroes and and an S-Class and was still going strong until it met Saitama, so that should speak volumes as to his strength (Not to mention the atmospheric bomb punch). The second one, and the most blatant, is his fight against Boros: Just how do the other heroes not notice the FIGHT OF THE GODS happening on top of the airships with all the pyrotechnics, physics-bending and atmosphere-rending. Did they just chalk it up to alien weirdness?
  • This is literally the series' punchline. I feel a lot of these headscratchers pointing out such inherent series features are missing the point — the stupidity and exceptionally poor luck is the joke, overexplaining it stops it from being funny.
  • If you do want to chalk it up to in-universe explanations, then to answer the first question, the only heroes who were awake long enough to personally witness Saitama taking on the Sea King were Mumen Rider and Genos. Genos has a personal bias, and even if the other heroes didn’t take that into account, Genos ultimately decided to trust in Saitama and not correct the survivors in the shelter by telling them he is the real deal, and Mumen Rider isn’t high enough in ranking to have any real influence over the Association and public. So, for all everyone else knew, the Sea King really was getting worn down enough by all the other heroes so that some low ranking C-Class could take him out in a single hit, and his death was what dispersed the rain, rather than the sheer energy and force generated by Saitama hitting him.
    • As for the second, it’s important to remember that there was a giant ship hovering above all their heads, so even the heroes who could see a good portion of the sky and the split waves of the energy beam fired by Boros would most likely chalk it up to one of the ships weapons misfiring and causing an explosion. Or that Tatsumaki caused enough damage to the ship that something ruptured and exploded. Either way, it would have been chalked up to any of the other myriad of possibilities before the other S-Class heroes (aside from Bang and Genos) would even consider it to be Saitama’s doing.

Saitama's training

• Does Saitama do his workout (not counting the 10km run) in sets (roughly 33 per set) or does he do 100 pushups in a row?
  • Wouldn't doing it in sets imply that he's giving himself a break? If yes, then it would be the latter.

Saitama having Genos as a roommate

• If Word Of God says that Saitama doesn't use the money Genos gives him for staying at his place, then why did he allow him to stay as soon as Genos made that offer when prior to that, he outright refused him to stay?
  • Because, on some level, he does realize that having someone around to talk to is better than having none. He is the lone inhabitant in a ghost town after all who has to leave the district just to get food. With Genos around, he gets something worth far more than mere money: actual companionship with another living being. Also, Genos does help him give his hobby a meaning in the long run, compared to how it was before that, where Saitama was just a "weirdo in pajamas" earning no recognition whatsoever. After Genos came around, people at least stopped calling Saitama a "weirdo" for the time being.
  • Alternate take: Saitama agreed for the sake of the money, fully planning to use it, but afterwards his feeling like he's "scamming" Genos means that whenever he thinks of spending that money, he feels uncomfortable about it, and just can't do it. He still thinks of the money as a safety cushion he has "just in case," but will exhaust all other options before he touches it.

Saitama refusing hair transplants

• If Saitama is so annoyed by his baldness, to the point that it's somewhat of a Berserk Button for him whenever someone brings it up, why does he always refuse Genos' offer to let Dr. Stench help him with hair transplants and such? What is he afraid of? Is he maybe distrustful of science, having met (and/or defeated) all manners of mad scientists around him?
  • Because he doesn't want to try and hide his flaws like that as by doing so, he would admit it in the open that it's a flaw? He just wants people to stop pointing out that he's bald like it's some kind of joke and treat him with respect.

Dead Subterrian Men?

• During his fight with Child Emperor, Phoenix Man resurrected several Subterranean Men to fight him as zombies. Except those creatures gave up after Saitama killed their king (and he was the first one Saitama hit). So, how did they die? Did Saitama really chase and kill creatures who surrendered and were fleeing?
  • It's possible they had a bit of a civil war trying to decide who would be the new king.
  • They likely died offscreen, it’s not like they’re immortal

House of Evolution cyborgs

• why do they exist? the house of evolution is suppose to facilitate humans you know, evolution, not just make monsters, so surely they should only be focusing on genetics as you cant pass cybernetics down to the next generation, yet they clearly invested a lot of time into them for Armored Gorilla to be as strong as he is
  • There are plenty of people who firmly believe that transhumanism is the next step in our evolution, using technology to go beyond the limits of the flesh. Dr. Genus while clearly a firm believer of advancing evolution through gene splicing, also explored tech based transhumanism as an option or a supplement.

Why doesent Genos learn martial arts?

he claimed his reason for turning down Bang was that he wanted pure destructive power not self defense, but this is a martial arts style that the mastery of has allowed Bang, with an entirely ordinary(and in fact well past his prime) human body and no special abilities, to become the worlds third ranked hero in the world, with Genos' cybernetic body he would likely far surpass Bang, especially once the Doctor could design new parts specifically to compliment the fighting style.

• Characters in OPM obtain superhuman stats simply from strength training, Bang would still be superhuman even without martial arts. Genos is a skilled fighter already, he wouldn’t need to learn a martial art that doesn’t fit his fighting style

Can Saitama nullify all attacks?

• This is a legitimate question. He seems to be able to punch spirits, punch his way out of dimensions and well, tank anything his universe throws at him. At this point it seems like nullifying beings is his power, although that could be more WMG than a headscratcher. If this were the case then him being able to shrug off regeneration and stuff would make a lot more sense. Also, note: this is a question regarding if attack nullification is part of his powerset, like the mc from Toaru.

One Punch Man chapter 186, Genos acts weird

• Genos becomes frustrated because he still didn't get near Saitama's strength and starts wondering if he's having any progress. How does this make any sense? He knows that Saitama blew away Jupiter with a sneeze, he should know that there's zero shame in being weaker than Saitama, and if he stops to think about it, maybe he never will come close to being able to sneeze away planets, and he did punch away the air just like Saitama did in season one, isn't that good progress? You can't explain that away with "it's just the comedy of the manga", the scene is played seriously, and I doubt anyone laughed at that. This isn't funny, it's just weird.
  • He just wants to know if he gotten any stronger at all since he first began studying under Saitama. Sure, he knows that his progress could be measured in inches compared to his "mentor" but he at least wants to have moved one inch forward in his progress rather than none at all.

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