Saitama is a superhero dealing with the troubling problem of his own absurd power. He has no difficulty defeating his enemies, which you'd think would make a dull, predictable book, but the reader invariably goes through the story thinking "is this the one?" It never is, but there's a general pattern of confrontation in which Saitama appears concerned in the face of an enemy's increasing bluster or dramatic monologue, before realizing Saitama is wondering inwardly if this new opponent might pose a challenge or isn't paying attention at all, only to end it all in a single, anticlimactic and effortless blow of such preposterous power that the heretofore mighty opponent is reduced to a shower of innards.



Equally absurd is how staggeringly undervalued Saitama is as a superhero. Perhaps the one thing that could make his ridiculous skill more hilarious is that no one recognizes it--with exception to his apprentice, Genos, who consistently ranks far above him in the Hero Rankings (in future books).

Saitama is utterly innocuous and uninteresting. Apart from his feats, he's not distinct. His thoughts and observations are hilariously domestic, even his anger and alarm are misdirections and don't concern the battle in which he's engaged (later in the series an enemy mistakenly believes it has the upper hand only to realize Saitama's worries are connected not to the fight but a supermarket sale that he missed). He treats being a superhero as a routine no more engaging than office work. He listens patiently and unruffled to screaming manifestos and ultimatums, wears his costume to the supermarket, completely unrecognized and oblivious to stares, and thinks about the pointlessness of training to become so powerful (which we later learn is a completely normal exercise routine that inexplicably grants him incredible strength) if it removes any sense of challenge or difficulty.

Saitama is bored because he doesn't find anything challenging. Had Saitama been around 200 years earlier, Dostoevsky would have made him a central character in Notes from the Underground.


Motivation: (ironically) fun.
Appearance: slim; bald.
Back story: uneventful.

Amazingly, the story never loses its impetus or freshness. Opponents need to steadily increase in power to maintain the possibility that Saitama will find a worthy enemy, but his malaise continues unabated and unchallenged (with exception to a hilariously anticlimactic dream about mole people).

Incredibly, I discovered this series at the middle of its success. It began as a web comic, was redone as a manga, and then released as an anime, where I stumbled across it on Netflix and now he lives on my bookshelf.