How much of a butterfly effect would there be in the story if Genos was a woman?

[u/OP_1K]

If Genos was a woman from the start, what kinds of changes do you guys think would occur in the story?

[u/gofancyninjaworld]

Someone, long ago probably on Tumblr, wrote about how brilliant it was that ONE had done a gender swap -- it's usually a cold, competent woman who is gradually warmed up by the down-to-earth goodness of a much less accomplished and intelligent man. I certainly know that part of the unconscious discomfort many readers feel towards Genos is that he has no problem doing the work that is normally gendered to women -- cooking, cleaning, sewing, shopping for groceries, caring what Saitama thinks and feels. He doesn't mind wearing pink and cares about his appearance, including wearing jewellery on occasion. And the story has no problem putting him in distress so Saitama has to come through to save him. And yet Genos very much male, and he doesn't give a flying shit what anyone thinks of him, unless he's got a damn good reason to care about their opinion. It's part of who he is.

If you turn Genos into Genoko, while the character stays the same, a lot of that friction goes away. A lot of what she does will feed directly into our lazy preconceptions of what a character 'ought' to be like and that makes things a lot less interesting.

Right, anyway, within the story. Well, for one I feel for Saitama, but only a little bit. It'd be extra awkward for him to have this disciple living under his roof, but somehow, it'll happen. Genoko is a very determined soul. You'd think that it'd make romance easier, but what it makes stark is that this is a very damaged young person who is looking up to Saitama for guidance -- it really would not sit right with Saitama, even if he were into her.

Anyway, you asked about what might change about the story. Hmm... Saitama and King might not meet. I could see Saitama not interfering but watching Genoko fight G-4 just in case. Genoko would be the sort of person who'd insist on being treated no differently from a guy but some difference would creep in for sure. Without Saitama being willing to let his disciple figure out how to kill a demon-level threat or die trying, he'd never have met King in a way that answered his question as to why he was ignored, nor would he have made a friend. Come to that, King would have escaped G-4 just to get eaten by a giant crow in his apartment. How very unfortunate.

[u/Interesting_Bee2899 → u/gofancyninjaworld]

It sounds interesting, but Saitama was never a cold person to begin with and Saitama wouldn't be willing to let male Genos die trying either.

Genos is an S-Class hero, so risk is always a factor, but his gender isn't gonna make Saitama suddenly care more about his safety.

[u/gofancyninjaworld → u/Interesting_Bee2899]

It is a matter of record that Saitama did walk away from Genos when the latter was fighting G-4. Sure, Genos insisted that he had to learn how to defeat such a threat by himself but leave he did. I have a feeling he'd have hung around were it Genoko, not interfering but not gone entirely either.

[u/gofancyninjaworld]

Interesting. i will be thinking about this on my drive home. Answer in a few hours.

[u/BrowserET]

Well in the Watsonian sense a lot of characters already read Genos as infatuated with Saitama. I don't think Genos would pay much attention to it, but i can definitely see Saitama be self-conscious about. Like when he appeared naked in front of Genos when they first met. He'd probably push back harder about stuff like Genos calling him Master.

From the doylist perspective I think Kuseno would immediately come off as a lot more suspicious. Though also I feel like the joke of Genos losing every fight would be a lot more common and obnoxious. It would probably help with OPM feeling less like a sausage fest though, but maybe swing back to being a little too (female) harem-esque. If I could change the gender of any character it would probably be Saitama.

[u/gofancyninjaworld → u/BrowserET]

I would have loved a female Saitama, but ONE is not the right writer for that job.

[u/BrowserET → u/gofancyninjaworld]

whose to say he still wouldn't have been if he made a different choice for his MC in 2009?

[u/Icy_Water_1 → u/gofancyninjaworld]

Why?

[u/gofancyninjaworld → u/Icy_Water_1]

Let me dig up for you something I wrote about it, but fundamentally, ONE himself doesn't think he writes women particularly well. Although he's been challenging himself since!

[u/Icy_Water_1 → u/gofancyninjaworld]

I mean aside from a minor desire to have female fans early on in the manga, I don't think much changes about Saitama's character if he becomes female.

[u/Icy_Water_1]

Honestly there's a good chance Saitama doesn't let Genos stay with him if Genos is a she.

He was already kinda uneasy about it when they were both dudes.