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One Punch Man's Saitama is known to be pretty indifferent in any situation. Hence, many fans believe that the Caped Baldy is resistant to all forms of stimuli, making him emotionless. But does that mean that Saitama can retain his comedic lack of passion even if someone close to him were to die? Did Saitama care back when Genos died?
If fans remember, back in One Punch Man Chapter 166, i.e., during the Monster Association Arc, Demon Cyborg Genos died at the hands of Cosmic Garou. Right after Garou had acquired cosmic energy, he was set to unleash his powers against Blast. That's when Genos arrived to stop Garou. Unfortunately, his presence only ended up being a catalyst for Garou's plan.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the One Punch Man manga.
Did Saitama care when Genos died in One Punch Man?
Yes, Saitama cared for Genos as he had an upsurge of emotion when Genos died. After Garou acquired cosmic powers, even S-Class rank 1 hero Blast seemed too weak for him. Hence, Garou decided to bring out Saitama's full strength by triggering his emotions.
This plan saw Garou killing Genos by piercing his hand through Genos' body and ripping out his core. Saitama witnessed this happen but was too late to do anything. He even had a flashback from the time when Genos praised Saitama for always managing to be somewhere on time. This proved that Saitama cared about Genos and felt broken after witnessing his apprentice die at the hands of the villain.
Saitama was enraged by Garou's actions and immediately moved to attack him using his killer move - Serious Series. This meant that Saitama was serious about wanting to defeat Garou. Saitama had longed to fight someone strong for quite some time, however, when he was finally paired up against someone strong, he wasn't hyped up about it. At the time, he was sad due to Genos' death and enraged at Garou.
At the beginning of the fight, Garou was able to counter Saitama's moves by copying them. However, as the fight progressed, it became very evident that both fighters were becoming stronger. That said, Saitama's rate of growth was far superior to Garou's as his strength began to soar exponentially. Even the manga explained that Genos' death was causing an upsurge of emotions in Saitama.
A shonen protagonist having a power-up after the death of someone close is quite a common trope. The same was applied to Saitama after Genos' death. Given that Saitama was experiencing this for the first time, it can be stated with certainty that Saitama cared about Genos.
Moreover, during the fight, Saitama made sure not to drop Genos' core. He had previously kept the core within his hero costume. But after seeing that his clothes were beginning to tear away, Saitama decided to protect the core by holding it in his hand. Hence, even though Saitama was having a serious fight with Garou, he only fought with his right hand, while his left hand held onto Genos' core.
This suggests that Saitama hoped to resurrect Genos after the fight. Fortunately, the hero was able to travel back in time, canceling out Genos' death altogether.
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