One Punch Man: Does Saitama have a true weakness? Explained

One Punch Man's Saitama is known for his limitless strength, speed, and stamina. He is seemingly invincible, capable of destroying one of Jupiter's moons merely through his sneeze.

With the form of devastation that could be possible with Saitama's hands or nose, in the above-mentioned situation, it is hard to acknowledge that Saitama may have a weakness.

In one of the most popular One Punch Man episodes, where Saitama is angry at a mosquito, we see him miss his aim over and over again. While this might look like a weakness that his enemies could exploit, it might merely be played off as comic relief.

Meanwhile, One Punch Man manga chapter 163 may just have revealed Saitama's biggest weakness. Let's take a closer look.

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Does One Punch Man's Saitama have a weakness?

Yes, Saitama does have a weakness, as he lacks proper fighting technique and combat training. In One Punch Man chapter 163, we saw Garou initiate a rampage of attacks against Saitama. Here, Saitama tries to fight back, however, Garou was able to counter all of Saitama's moves, making him miss a few of his punches. This aggravated Saitama and he asked Garou about his fighting technique.

Garou was quick to respond to this question, saying that it was his Ultimate Martial Arts Technique. Garou realized that Saitama was fast and had good speed to respond to his moves, however, he could see openings in Saitama's moves, which he could take advantage of.

Garou claimed that Saitama's lack of technique would be the reason he would certainly win the battle. He even went on to declare how Saitama's lack of technique allowed him to read all of his moves.

Garou's Great Power Attack (Image via VIZ Media)

After this, Garou, taking advantage of Saitama's weakness, hits him with two of his strong moves, God Slayer Ascending Attack and Great Power Attack. While these attacks cause no damage to Saitama, they prove that Saitama does have a weakness, allowing his opponents to find openings against him.

While this weakness does not ascertain his defeat, it does prove that Saitama could be in danger if he were to face a formidable foe, possibly one prophesized as the Greatest Catastrophe.

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What is the cause of Saitama's weakness?

One Punch Man's Saitama is truly a gag character as he acts as a parody of the many shounen anime with a strong protagonist. Due to this, Saitama has been given seemingly implausible powers through measly human methods of training.

Saitama's training regime was three years long, during which he did 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, and 100 squats every day, followed by a 10 km run to top it off. This is a very normal method of training for many real-life people, thus it is impossible to achieve the strength that Saitama possesses.

Saitama training to become a hero (Image via Madhouse)

However, Saitama's training itself is the cause of his weakness. Unlike other heroes of the Heroes Association who trained themselves in a particular martial arts form, Saitama, as he mentioned, only did basic training.

If Saitama were to train in some form of martial arts, he would become even more formidable. Right now, he is fighting purely based on his strength, speed, and instincts. However, doing some combat training would help Saitama gain some fighting sense, thus completely eliminating his weakness.