When we think about the word “hero,” we usually picture a stereotypical image of a tall, handsome, fair, and strong archetypal figure. But not this one. Saitama from One Punch Man is anything but a stereotype. He isn’t the run-of-the-mill heartthrob but he, for sure, is in a league of his own.
One-Punch Man is an action-comedy manga written by Tomohiro, who is also known by his pseudonym ONE in 2009. Apart from this series , ONE has published several mangas such as Mob Psycho 100, Reigen, and Versus.
On top of that, ONE bagged the Sugoi Japan Award under the category of manga in 2016 for this series. However, he is often enquired about the hero’s character design and, most specifically, his baldness. Needless to say, he revealed the true reason behind the hero’s appearance.
One Punch Man : Bald and Beautiful
Saitama is the unusual protagonist of One-Punch Man known for defeating his foes through his resilience and strength. He is the unconventional bald hero that one would not think of as a hero given his appearance. To add to that, his character design doesn’t seem to align with the archetype of a traditional hero so to speak.
However, bald he may be, but he sure has a strength of character that attributes to a certain sense of beauty. With persistence, resilience, and hard work, he managed to be an indomitable fighter. Needless to say, the author also validated this claim in an interview with Weekly Shonen Jump :
The world is full of cool looking heroes, so I didn’t think that was something I wanted to write about. Plus, I believe that heroes coolness comes from their spirit and not their looks. I don’t think how a hero looks is that important.
In addition to resilience, persistence, and strength, what makes him different from traditional heroes is that he is more relatable and is made to stand out. Some Reddit users also validated the claim that the hero looked plain and average.
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byu/saitamacalvito from discussion
inOnePunchMan
Although he may be a hero and may not look the part, the hero overcompensated for the lack of looks through his merit, determination, and strength. To add to that, viewers pointing out his qualities and inner character is truly refreshing.
His appearance provides comic relief most of the time yet he is also shown to be grave and serious when he is determined. All in all, these attributes make him more familiar and easy to relate to.
One Punch Man’s hair backstory
Saitama’s character design is said to be inspired by various canonical works. And while the author revealed the reason behind the hero’s character design, there’s an interesting backstory to it. To add to that, this is revealed by the protagonist himself.
In the third episode of season one, the hero reveals his training regimen where a flashback scene shows him with full hair and as he trains relentlessly, his hair falls out. Besides, this observation was made by this reader on Reddit who also pointed out that the training regime could be the possible reason for the hero’s baldness.
I just realised why Saitama is bald…
byu/babimos inOnePunchMan
To add to that, there was an additional “hair” reference in the 2015 movie One-Punch Man: Road to Hero where we see the protagonist with fuller hair. Furthermore, it’s a prequel that offers a peek into his early days as a salaryman and his journey to be an indomitable hero.
To say the least, the bald hero has managed to prove his worth as a resilient, hard-working, and meritorious character in a world full of spiky-haired brats.
One-Punch Man can be streamed on platforms like Crunchyroll, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
