The following contains spoilers for One-Punch Man Chapter 184, “Turning Point” by One, Yusuke Murata, John Werry and James Gaubatz, available in English through MangaMonster.
Genos has become a beloved character in One-Punch Man, especially with his dedication to becoming stronger. He puts all his effort into improving himself, even begging Saitama to take him under his wing and teach him his ways. While Saitama barely teaches the cyborg anything, especially when it comes to fighting, Genos has still come a long way since he first met his master. Unfortunately, there is one problem. No matter how hard Genos tries, he is still far from Saitama’s level. And he may never reach that level. That’s because he is being limited by the cyborg body he is very proud of.
Genos’ backstory isn’t a happy one. He used to be a normal teenage boy when a runaway cyborg razed his entire village into the ground. He was the only survivor, and fate allowed him to meet with Dr. Kuseno, who had been tracking the said runaway cyborg. The dilapidated Genos asked the doctor to help him. Dr. Kuseno modified him and turned him into what he is today. Genos wanted to repay the good doctor’s efforts and intentions by dedicating his life to tracking the cyborg that ruined his life — that’s also the reason why he is so adamant about getting stronger.
Genos Greatly Relies On His Weapons
In the world of One-Punch Man, the heroes are mostly humans with certain gimmicks. Other than the Psychic Sisters, the heroes prove themselves through mastery of martial arts, weapons, or even pure dedication. Genos is not an exemption to that list. He may have reached the S-Class — and he definitely deserves it, too — but his fighting style mostly depends on the use of his arsenal. He uses various beams and firepower installed in his body. He even resorts to self-destructing when the situation calls for it, though he fortunately gets stopped in the nick of time every time.
Of course, Genos can be faulted for how he fights. He is, after all, mostly made out of mechanical parts. If not for his core, he wouldn’t even manage to recall his experiences. It can even be argued that his core and human memories are the only human parts remaining in him. Nonetheless, his weapons and machine body have efficiently boosted his fighting ability in a short period of time. Unlike Bang, who spent his life mastering his craft, Genos could easily become stronger in the span of a few days. He simply has to get better weapons and parts every time, and his firepower is boosted by several levels. And that is all possible with the help of the good Dr. Kuseno.
Genos’ Strengthening Is Reliant On Dr. Kuseno’s Genius
Dr. Kuseno is the good doctor who had taken Genos under his wing. He is the one taking the almost-broken Genos and giving him a brand-new body almost after every fight. And every time he does so, he doesn’t just rebuild Geno’s gears — he provides Genos with a more powerful body with a ton of improved weapons. Sometimes, Genos’ upgrades include having new abilities. Given that Genos almost always gets wrecked in his fights, he often receives these upgrades. That continues to happen even after the Hero Association’s fight against the Monster Association.
The fight between the two associations is cruel, to say the least. Both sides have suffered grave casualties, with the Monster Association even being almost eradicated. However, the Hero Association has also seen severe injuries, including its top heroes. Genos even almost met his demise back then. And just like before, Genos manages to bounce back. He is now strong enough to handle Threat Level: Dragon monsters without breaking a sweat. In addition, Genos is now strong enough to emulate what Saitama did the first time they spar. However, the cyborg is still far from being able to pose a threat to Saitama. He is, at most, just bright enough to make Saitama wince.
Genos Need To Change His Approach
Genos’ new upgrades have undeniably helped his battle abilities to improve by leaps and bounds. He is, after all, one of the few characters in One-Punch Man who can improve at such an alarming rate. However, his means of getting stronger isn’t necessarily without any downsides to it. Because his weapons have been providing him with immense firepower — enough to deal with most of his opponents — Genos has been reliant on them, and perhaps a bit too much.
Even though Dr. Kuseno’s weaponry is top of the line, they still have certain limits. They only offer an increase in firepower, so these weapons still have a limited amount of distractibility. As long as Genos mainly relies on his weapons, his fighting ability will be capped by his weapons’ output. And as he is at present, he will only attempt to self-destruct once he reaches that point. The cycle will then begin once more as Dr. Kuseno provides him with a new-and-improved body, only for it to once again reach its limits and get destroyed. Although his upgrades always give him a power-up, it won’t be enough for him to match those who are truly powerful, like Garo, Saitama, and Terrible Tornado.
What Genos may truly be lacking is technique. The cyborg already commands one of the strongest explosive power in One-Punch Man. However, he mostly uses them as is. He simply throws his weapons at his enemies, which is mostly enough to eradicate the weaker ones. Unlike Garo, Genos cannot improve on the fly. If Genos can learn from his enemies and allies alike, then he mixes his weapons’ distractibility with certain physical moves, allowing him to maximize his weapons’ firepower. Better yet, he may no longer even need his weapons to eliminate monsters. Even if that is not possible due to his mechanical body, then Genos should at least learn to use his weapons in other ways, similar to how Midoriya of My Hero Academia utilized the various Quirks One For All grants.
Leave a Reply