Wonder if the Saitama and Genos spar is the first time someone actually takes Saitama seriously, as a person with serious ability and as a person who can be legitimately threathening and a respectable fighter.
With Genos going all out and not underestimating or belittling Saitama's ability and instead calling him out on not fighting seriously enough because he was just avoding hits and not striking back, really won Genos quite a few points in Saitama's book. That Genos noticed it in the first place that Saitama was holding back and noticed it very fast to boot, spoke of keen intellectualism and analytical skills.
When he was stupendously shocked instead of idk, fainting after a Death punch, Genos showed he had actual guts to face death head on too and wasn't just all talk and no show and that's why Saitama chose to invite him out on dinner later. Genos was trying to impress Saitama, so Saitama tested him and chose to reveal his full ability in return and was happy with what he found since Genos didn't run away screaming.
He slaps genos forehead with a knowing smile and eye-brow raise to get him out of his shock; it's not every day a guy has to face death head on and lives to tell the tale.
It is something Saitama has faced himself multiple times when he was training to become stronger, so he would know the feeling quite well.
Having the composure to still be standing in the face of Saitama's Serious punch means Genos can practically face anything the world throws at him without flinching and still rise to the challenge and that's all the confirmation Saitama needs if he's to actually take Genos as disciple. Someone hanging around him would come face to face with world ending threats of far higher caliber than is the norm, of that he has no doubt. Just for the sake of their own protection, they'd have to rise to Saitama's level if they want to hang around with him because Saitama is a monster magnet.
And maybe after a Death punch, anything else is practically too tame to even induce a shock, so Genos would be better prepared to face destructive force like that and not freeze and be able to dodge.
The invitation for spontaneous late dinner seems to be just as much of an silent apology as it is an invitation that Saitama wanted to get to know Genos better. The guy impressed him enough to be quite interesting. Genos being legitimately interested in HIM and not deterred despite showing just how dangerous he could be, made him interesting.
(Saitama was going to pay for both since he invited Genos, he planned out the restaurant based on his low funds and based on that it had good Udon and the evening time gave it a more "romantic" overtone, so yea, it was "technically" a date too.)
I also highly doubt that Saitama looking back at Genos was just because of he was unsure if Genos liked udon, but more about second-guessing himself if he had actually went too far after all, because Genos still wasn't reacting and wondering if he had actually scared him too much or something. Saitama doesn't Death punch people for fun, so there could've always been an adverse reaction.
Saitama was also seemingly second-guessing himself in spontaneously asking Genos out for dinner in the first place. What if he was making some kind of social plunder here because Genos was just staring at him with a weird expression?
Fortunately, it wasn't a plunder for Saitama.
--
Unfortunately, Saitama probably also feels like he's just a wallflower compared to Genos and all the people vying for Genos' attention afterwards; Amai-mask the Handsome Kamen and all the fangirls, one who blatantly just asked Genos to shake her hand is a source of envy because he wasn't confident enough to do anything remotely the same. Genos is a show-stopper and Saitama definitely noticed this and so he doesn't want his new disciple to even work with him to steal the glory. Saitama's low self-worth does not do him any favours.
Instead of getting rookie-crushers trying to crush his hopes of succeeding, Genos even gets treated differently. People didn't seek out to test his ability as S-ranker, but seemingly sought him out for entirely different reasons, not interested in fighting skills...and the only connecting dot Saitama seems to figure out that Genos just looks far more handsome and he's popular because of his looks, so Genos already forges better connections immediately. Fangirls don't want to fight, far from it, they just want to know him.
The lower the rank, the less popular and uglier the hero is. The higher the rank, the more popular, better connected and good looking the hero seems to be.
Not unlike in multiple irl job circles where people who have the looks get more foot inside the door and the higher status you are, one often just looks the role.
It just perpetuates the poor self-image he has of himself when other C-rank heroes claim they are popular too (Tank toppers), so Saitama is just an exception to the rule of being unpopular C-ranker, so it must be something about himself that is wrong. That he's the only common denominator in being unpopular and it HAS to relate to how lame and plain he looks. Because he doesn't look like a buff Tank topper either, that must be one of the reasons he's not popular.
(Saitama's self-image is really quite awful innit? I'd need to do some serious research to see if it has gotten even a smidge better)
Genos is S-rank, he's C-rank. Genos looks pretty, he does not. Genos is amazing, he is lame. Genos is popular, he is unknown and disliked. Genos has nice hair, he does not and worse, he used to have hair but lost it and all that remains is a shiny bald head. There is a lot for Saitama to be envious about when he just tries to be himself, but nobody likes him when he tries to be just himself. Too plain to ever be noticed. Upward comparing himself to Genos doesn't do his self-esteem any favours and he plainly shoots down any kind of flattery.
It is no wonder if Saitama feels like he just can't compare to Genos and has taken this long to actually show any kind of affection and confidence to express his true feelings; his poor self-esteem just made him feel like he never had a chance anyway from the start and Genos is definitely out of his league, being everything he hoped he could be. And probably not actually really interested in him in that way despite titivating himself to Saitama, that was just an ulterior motive just like his empty flattery before meteor incident, plain to see through.
After is a different story, because Saitama did something heroic, so there was an actual reason behind it and Saitama can appreciate Genos being more honest and cheering him up and listening to him rant.
It does send up quite the mixed signals however, so it takes a long time to figure out his intentions just to be on the safe side.
Can't say for sure if Saitama has stopped comparing himself to Genos completely, but his looks and lack of popularity are no doubt still a sore spot, even if he has since learned to greatly appreciate Genos and how he complements him instead of highlighting the differences.
DI balik kesan glamor dan menyenangkan dari unggahan serta iklan di media sosial, banyak orang justru merasa tidak nyaman atau tidak puas se
DI balik kesan glamor dan menyenangkan dari unggahan serta iklan di media sosial, banyak orang justru merasa tidak nyaman atau tidak puas setelah melihat foto dan video teman maupun influencer. Mengapa hal ini terjadi?
Salah satu alasannya adalah karena kecenderungan orang membandingkan citra tubuh mereka dengan apa yang mereka lihat di media sosial. Penelitian menunjukkan bahwa paparan terhadap konten yang menampilkan penampilan ideal bisa berdampak negatif terhadap citra tubuh seseorang.
Ada beberapa cara orang membandingkan dirinya dengan gambar di media sosial, yang paling umum adalah upward social comparison—yaitu saat seseorang membandingkan diri dengan orang lain yang dianggap lebih menarik, lebih sukses, atau lebih baik.
Sementara itu, downward comparison terjadi ketika seseorang merasa lebih baik dibanding orang lain. Namun, studi menunjukkan bahwa kebanyakan orang cenderung melakukan upward comparison.
