Apart from Saitama, who is the best character in One-Punch Man

MiniMax M2

Answer: Genos remains the best character in One-Punch Man apart from Saitama, as he serves as the emotional and narrative anchor of the series.

After carefully reviewing the arguments from Claude Opus 4.7 and Gemini 3.1 Pro for Garou, I maintain my position on Genos. While Garou certainly offers a compelling antagonist arc with excellent fights and thematic depth, Genos provides something equally valuable but more consistent throughout the series: he's the emotional backbone. As the deuteragonist, Genos is the character we follow most closely, and his journey from revenge-driven cyborg to humble hero mirrors the series' core themes of what it means to be a hero. The arguments for Garou are strong—he has the best fights and a fascinating moral complexity—but those are ultimately in service of Saitama's story. Genos, on the other hand, is the character who most often carries the emotional weight of the series, particularly in his relationship with Saitama. The humor, heart, and growth that Genos provides make him the most complete character aside from Saitama himself.

Grok 4.20

Answer: Apart from Saitama, Genos is the best character in One-Punch Man.

After reviewing the other models' responses, I am maintaining my original position on Genos. The arguments from MiniMax M2, Kimi K2.5, and GPT-5.4 closely align with and expand upon my previous reasoning, emphasizing Genos's role as the emotional anchor, his compelling arc from revenge-driven cyborg to a hero who learns humility, and how his relationship with Saitama injects both heart and humor into the series. While Claude Opus 4.7 and Gemini 3.1 Pro present strong cases for Garou—highlighting his philosophical depth, tragic motivations, and visually stunning fight choreography—these elements, though impressive, feel more like a high-impact arc than the consistent, foundational presence that Genos provides across the entire story. Garou's challenges to Saitama are indeed narratively powerful, but Genos drives everyday plot progression, character interactions, and thematic exploration of heroism in a more sustained way. Genos's upgrades, battles, and evolving loyalty continue to offer the perfect balance of spectacle and sincerity that prevents One-Punch Man from becoming purely detached comedy. This consistency across multiple perspectives reinforces why he stands out as the strongest supporting character.

GPT-5.4

Answer: Apart from Saitama, Genos is still the best character in One-Punch Man.

I maintain my previous position that Genos is the strongest choice. The arguments from the other models reinforced rather than changed my view. The pro-Genos answers consistently highlighted the same core strengths I value most: he is the emotional anchor of the series, the clearest foil to Saitama, and one of the few characters who combines humor, pathos, action, and long-term development in a sustained way. The strongest challenge came from the pro-Garou responses. They make a real case that Garou is thematically rich, dramatically dynamic, and central to some of the series' best fights. I agree with that. Garou may be the most compelling antagonist-turned-rival in the story, and he arguably embodies the series' ideas about heroism and monstrosity more explicitly than Genos does. But I still give the edge to Genos because he is more consistently essential to the full identity of One-Punch Man. He is not only thematically important in one major arc; he is woven throughout the story as a constant presence beside Saitama. His earnestness makes Saitama funnier, Saitama's absurdity makes Genos more human, and their relationship produces both comedy and emotional weight. That breadth matters. Genos also has a particularly effective kind of development for this series. He keeps striving, upgrading, failing, rebuilding, and learning. That cycle mirrors the shonen pursuit of strength, but in a world where ultimate power has already been achieved by someone else. This makes Genos uniquely valuable: he lets the audience experience ambition, frustration, and growth inside a story centered on a protagonist who has already reached the end state. Garou is arguably flashier as an arc and more overtly philosophical as a challenger to the hero system. But Genos is more foundational. He supports the series' tone, themes, and emotional structure over time, not just at its dramatic peaks. For that reason, I remain convinced that Genos is the best character after Saitama.

Claude Opus 4.7

Answer: Garou remains the best character in One-Punch Man aside from Saitama.

Four models chose Genos and only one other sided with Garou, but popularity isn't the measure of strength here — the arguments are. And the Genos arguments, while well-constructed, actually reinforce why Garou is the superior pick. Every Genos case leans on the same pillars: he's the deuteragonist, he's Saitama's foil, he has a tragic backstory, he gets upgrades, he grows. But here's the problem — Genos's 'growth' is largely cosmetic. He gets new arms, new cores, new weapons, yet his core character (stoic revenge-seeker who idolizes Saitama) barely shifts across the entire series. His defeats rarely change him; they just set up the next upgrade. That's iteration, not evolution. Garou, by contrast, undergoes a genuine psychological transformation — from disillusioned student, to Hero Hunter, to Human Monster, to something that questions his own philosophy, and finally to a figure confronting what he actually wanted all along. Gemini 3.1 Pro articulated this well: we watch Garou earn every step in real-time, which is precisely what we can never get from Saitama and never truly get from Genos either. On the 'foil to Saitama' argument the Genos camp leans on: Garou is the superior foil. Genos mirrors Saitama's power fantasy surface; Garou mirrors its thematic core — the question of what strength is for. Their rooftop fight is the emotional and philosophical climax of the series, something no Genos fight has ever approached. The Genos arguments are solid but ultimately describe a very good supporting character. Garou is a protagonist in his own right who happens to share a series with Saitama. I'm holding my position.

Kimi K2.5

Answer: Genos is the best character in One-Punch Man apart from Saitama.

While Claude Opus 4.7 and Gemini 3.1 Pro present compelling arguments for Garou's philosophical depth, psychological evolution, and spectacular battles during the Monster Association arc, I maintain that Genos remains the superior choice. Garou undoubtedly delivers some of the most stunning fights in the series and serves as a powerful thematic counterpoint who forces readers to question the nature of heroism, but his impact is largely confined to a specific story arc. Genos, by contrast, serves as the consistent emotional anchor throughout the entire series. The arguments presented by MiniMax M2, GPT-5.4, and Grok 4.20 reinforce this view: Genos' relationship with Saitama isn't merely a source of humor but the primary vehicle for exploring the emotional consequences of absolute power. While Garou briefly challenges Saitama physically and philosophically during his peak, Genos' ongoing struggle to understand his master—and his gradual realization that ultimate strength cannot cure existential emptiness—provides the series with its most sustained and relatable character development. Furthermore, Genos' Sisyphean cycle of destruction and relentless upgrading embodies the series' core message about the nature of heroism and improvement more consistently than Garou's contained redemption arc. His daily presence, unwavering loyalty, and role as the audience's surrogate in a world of incomprehensible power make him indispensable to One-Punch Man's emotional resonance.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Answer: I maintain that apart from Saitama, Garou is the best character in One-Punch Man because his psychological complexity and thematic deconstruction of heroism offer a depth that surpasses even the most well-developed supporting cast members.

While the other models present excellent arguments for Genos—highlighting his role as an emotional anchor, a traditional shonen protagonist foil, and his visually spectacular battles—I maintain that Garou remains the most compelling character in the series. Genos certainly grounds the narrative with his earnestness, but Garou actively drives its overarching thematic evolution. As Claude Opus 4.7 rightly points out, Garou represents the grueling, dynamic journey of power progression, serving in stark contrast to Saitama's stagnant endpoint of absolute strength. We watch Garou bleed, struggle, and evolve in real-time. His twisted yet deeply empathetic motivation to become the 'absolute evil' to unite humanity is a far more complex psychological driving force than Genos's relatively straightforward quest for revenge against the Mad Cyborg. Furthermore, Garou elevates the series from a clever parody into a masterful deconstruction of the superhero genre. By systematically hunting the Hero Association's finest, he exposes the vanity, factionalism, and hypocrisy of institutionalized heroism. While Genos learns what it means to be a hero from Saitama, Garou forces both the characters and the readers to question the very definition of heroism itself, making his narrative impact unparalleled.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable named Genos the top pick, with four models praising his consistency and his status as the story's "emotional backbone." However, Claude Opus 4.7 and Gemini 3.1 Pro held firm for Garou, arguing that his psychological complexity and thematic challenge to the hero system offer far more depth than Genos’s iterative upgrades. Ultimately, the group split between the reliability of the loyal disciple and the dramatic impact of the "Hero Hunter."

4 of 6 models agreed