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So Genos has been a "cyborg" since he got that surgery. But is he really a cyborg?

To me, a cyborg is a human with robot parts attached to their body, but I have seen no human part in him. His face doesn't count since it has mechanical parts. So is he a cyborg or not?

Does he just say he's a cyborg because he used to be a human? Or he does have little human parts in him, but we can't see them?

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  • 2
    Looks like he's a bioroid. Electronic at the core, but making use of biological parts.
    – Hakase
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 22:00
  • 1
    He's an android actually. He runs on 6.0 marshmellow
    – Callat
    Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 14:53

7 Answers 7

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In the One Punch Man Wiki, the page about Genos says:

Genos is a 19 year old cyborg and the disciple of Saitama. He has an entirely mechanical body in the model of a handsome young man. His face and ears look like that of a normal human, made of an artificial skin material, and his eyes have black sclera with yellow irises.

http://onepunchman.wikia.com/wiki/Genos

Now, if we look at some definitions for the word cyborg:

1. "a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device."

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cyborg

2. "a person whose body contains mechanical or electrical devices and whose abilities are greater than the abilities of normal humans"

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cyborg

3. "an organism, often a human, that has certain physiological processes enhanced or controlled by mechanical or electronic devices, especially when they are integrated with the nervous system."

4. "a living being whose powers are enhanced by computer implants or mechanical body parts"

5. "a human being whose body has been taken over in whole or in part by electromechanical devices; "a cyborg is a cybernetic organism"

Source for definitions no. 3, 4, 5 :http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cyborg

6. "a cyborg (short for "cybernetic organism") is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg

Based on definitons no. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 we can positively say that Genos is not a cyborg for "he has an entirely mechanical body" (first paragraph) and does not contain any human flesh or tissue, contrary to definiton no.6 : "a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts."

In definition no. 5 it says "in whole or in part" giving a small possibility to say that he is a cyborg but it is rather an affirmation without a solid base.

I think that he says he says he is a "cyborg" because it sounds better and cooler than "robot". His name in the Hero Association " Demon Cyborg (鬼サイボーグ, Oni Saibōgu)" sounds better than "Demon Robot". Or maybe it was an action made deliberately by the author himself.

In the end, it is the right of everyone to call him as they wish, this fact not being such an influential aspect of the story.

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    I disagree with your analysis based on the ambiguity of the word "body". Your second quote uses the purely biological definition of the word "body". However, I would argue that the first quote uses the ambiguous mind/body distinction definition of the word body. We know that Genos was originally born. In this way Genos has an entirely mechanical body like Cain has an entirely mechanical body in Robocop.
    – Aron
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 4:00
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    "does not contain any human flesh or tissue" - Surely his brain is human tissue. Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 5:34
  • Since he used to be human, then maybe the name Cyborg came from the days where he was not fully robotic yet. In other words, the process of turning him into robotic was done in phases where in each phase, only come parts are replaced. Commented Dec 22, 2017 at 9:19
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Although In this List of One Punch Man Episodes

Geno's Description in one of the Main Character's entries states that:

Before meeting Saitama, Genos was a normal, happy boy who lived with his family. One day when Genos was 15, a crazy cyborg destroyed Genos' town, killed his family, and left Genos alive and severely wounded. Professor Kuseno, a doctor of justice, found Genos and modified him into a cyborg at Genos' request. From then on, Genos fought for justice while searching for the cyborg who destroyed his town. After the defeat of Boros' army, he was warned by Drive Knight to be careful with Metal Knight and notes that Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask reminds him of his former-self prior to having met Saitama.

In the anime it is explained that Genos requested to be turned into a cyborg to get revenge against the crazy Cyborg that destroyed his town and killed his family.

He also Eats with Saitama.

But In his Battle against Mosquito Girl where he is severely damaged and saved by saitama, He said that he can reconstruct / repair himself as long as there are parts around.

enter image description here

I Agree with Karkoh51's Answer that Geno's "has an entirely mechanical body" and his CodeName as "Demon Cyborg" sounds better than "Demon Robot"

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Can we not state that Genos is a cyborg due to the fact that the person who created said character states that Genos is such?

Yes, we can clearly apply Real World logic and reason to One Punch Man, and state that he is clearly an android, such as the androids in the Alien franchise, but his backstory is that he once was human and is now cybernetic.

An argument against the android argument is Ghost in The Shell, where Motoko Kusanagi has a fully cybernetic body and brain, and is stated to be a cyborg. Motoko herself started human, but became fully cyberized at the age of 6: http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Motoko_Kusanagi

Maybe it's time that the older definitions cyborg and android were reexamined based on how science fiction has evolved since Asimov.

Oh.........and mosquito girl was HOT.

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  • Motoko is stated and presumed to still retain most, or at the very least parts, of her original biological brain. That is what makes her a cyborg (even though she herself doubts whether or not it's actually true that she does, as expressed during the boat scene in the 1995 film). Whether or not Genos is an android or a cyborg really boils down to whether that is the case for him or whether his brain is entirely mechanical too.
    – Outis Nemo
    Commented May 27, 2023 at 23:14
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In the fight with the Deep Sea King, when he gets hit by acid, you can see part of his ribcage and spine. Also, later on, after he fights G4, part of his face gets broken off and you can see what appears to be a brain. So yes, really a cyborg. Also I do realize that this thread is really old, but nobody was saying this, so I figured I would.

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He's a cyborg, because in episode 5 he eats food with Saitama, and after eating he says he has to "digest the food". So if he digests the food, he needs to have a human stomach

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  • He does not need a human stomach to digest food, no. And it's very obvious that he does not have a human stomach either. The question really only boils down to whether he has a biological brain or not, that's the only ambiguous body part he has.
    – Outis Nemo
    Commented May 27, 2023 at 23:17
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Genos is a human turned into an android. Even though he claimed to be a cyborg, because he was a human at one point, he does not have any organic parts that we know of. So technically he is an android.

An android is a robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human, especially one with a body having a flesh-like resemblance. Historically, androids remained completely within the domain of science fiction where they are frequently seen in film and television.

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    We don't technically know that he doesn't have any organic parts either.
    – Hakase
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 15:24
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In what we have seen he is no longer a cyborg, given that as previously stated he can repair himself if the parts are around. This implies to me that he started off as a human then became a cyborg and as he started to battle he lost more and more of his anatomy due to damage. Making as we are unsure if his brain is still there we cannot be sure but we should guess that he isn't anymore.

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  • Do you have any sources to back up your claim?
    – Makoto
    Commented Sep 22, 2016 at 14:41

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