Smile Man

Name: Smile Man

Gender: Male

Hero Association Rank: A-Class, Rank 27

Age: 26

Affiliation: Hero Association

Occupation: Professional Hero

Smile Man is a mid-ranking A-Class hero who fights using an oversized kendama as his main weapon.

Despite his bright costume and name, he is stoic to the point of appearing almost expressionless.

He becomes more serious about monster extermination after realizing that popularity as a hero is strongly linked to combat strength.

His calm judgment and surprising durability in battle suggest that he is significantly stronger than his rank might initially imply.

Smile Man wears a full-body red tights-style suit that covers him from neck to ankles.

On his chest is a large yellow smiley-face emblem, which serves as the main visual motif of his costume.

He also wears yellow gloves, yellow boots, and yellow trunks over the suit, completing a bold red-and-yellow color scheme.

Around his eyes he has a simple black mask or black eye paint, giving him a basic but striking superhero look.

His overall design and colors strongly resemble a certain famous “national hero” parody archetype from Western media.

Overseas, some readers have also noted a resemblance to the Mexican comedy hero character El Chapulín Colorado.

The ball of his massive kendama is decorated with the same yellow smiley-face mark.

The contrast between his cheerful costume and his flat expression is one of his most memorable visual quirks.

Smile Man’s defining trait is his lack of visible emotion, even in tense or dangerous situations.

His catchphrase is “I can’t smile,” which he repeats despite being wrapped in smile-themed imagery.

In battle he remains cool-headed and analytical, even after taking heavy damage.

After tanking a blow from a Demon-level boxing-type monster, he stands back up without changing his expression.

He has a practical and realistic mindset that often clashes with his upbeat hero name.

When dealing with dangerous foes like Garou, he openly questions orders that prioritize capture over safety.

He shows a strong sense of responsibility toward civilians and fellow heroes.

Even when he is rendered combat incapable in a side story, he worries more about the next potential victims than about his own predicament.

Smile Man is also relatively cooperative by Hero Association standards.

He is willing to team up with other heroes and is good at correctly gauging an enemy’s strength and his allies’ capabilities.

He naturally tries to coordinate even with S-Class heroes such as Bang and Flashy Flash.

However, in those instances, his offers of cooperation are ignored due to circumstances, not because of any hostility toward him.

Around Terrible Tornado, he drops his usual composure and shows rare signs of agitation.

When she nearly gets into a fight with Flashy Flash, Smile Man desperately attempts to calm things down and prevent an all-out clash.

Overall, he is a serious, grounded hero whose personality is almost the exact opposite of what his heroic branding suggests.

This mismatch between his name, costume, and demeanor is played both for humor and for character depth.

Smile Man is a power-based fighter who uses a giant kendama as a multipurpose weapon.

He can fight at close range by swinging it like a heavy club, or at mid-range by launching the ball on its string.

The ball appears to grow larger or at least present a far bigger impact area when he fires it at enemies.

It has enough force to easily smash or hurl a human-sized opponent.

Despite carrying one of the largest weapons among heroes, Smile Man has impressive mobility and stamina.

He can run across cityscapes and leap to significant heights while lugging the enormous kendama around.

His physical resilience is also noteworthy for an A-Class hero.

He endures a direct hit from a Demon-level boxing fiend and still manages to stand, which implies considerable durability and toughness.

Signature Techniques

Earth-Destroying Spin

Smile Man winds up his kendama with a powerful rotational motion before launching the ball forward.

The spin greatly increases the impact power, turning the ball into a high-speed, high-mass projectile.

Rampaging World Tour

Smile Man hugs the kendama with both arms and continuously swings it, causing the ball to bounce around his surroundings in rapid succession.

This creates an area-denial attack, where the ball hits multiple targets or objects in the vicinity.

During a battle with a Dragon-level monster capable of generating huge ice masses, this technique is strong enough to shatter large chunks of ice.

However, the monster then freezes the ball itself, temporarily disabling his main weapon.

Early Appearances and Background

Smile Man initially appears more as a “witness hero” than as a frontline fighter.

He shows up at the aftermath of Kombu Infinity’s battle and witnesses the overwhelming power of stronger heroes such as Bang and Flashy Flash.

These encounters help shape his understanding that raw strength is the main driver of fan support and reputation.

This realization is important when viewed against his earlier, less-successful days with his brothers.

Confrontation with Garou

In the remake continuity, Smile Man joins a group of heroes tasked with confronting Garou.

He uses his kendama to fight at mid-range, trying to support his allies and keep some distance from Garou’s deadly hand-to-hand skills.

However, Garou quickly adapts to his weapon.

He cuts the kendama’s string and turns the detached ball against Smile Man, using it as a tool for counterattacks.

Smile Man remains composed and offers clear-headed tactical suggestions, including arguing against the insistence on capturing Garou alive when the risk becomes too high.

His warnings highlight his careful assessment of threat levels and his refusal to let pride or protocol endanger lives unnecessarily.

Garou ultimately tricks and provokes the spear-wielding hero Stinger into attacking recklessly.

Garou then exploits that opening, and Smile Man is caught by Garou’s follow-up assault and knocked out of the fight.

Later, he is rescued by Bang and other heroes who arrive at the scene.

Although badly beaten, he survives the encounter thanks to their intervention.

Side Story: Battle Against the Emaciated Bean Sprout

In a Young Jump side story, Smile Man appears alongside his two younger brothers.

The three of them successfully defeat a Demon-level monster together, showcasing strong teamwork and improved combat ability.

Shortly after their victory, a new monster appears: the so-called Emaciated Bean Sprout.

It had been reported to the Hero Association as a Wolf-level threat, but in reality its power far exceeds that rating and it is actually of Dragon level.

The creature instantly kills Smile Man’s two brothers, Crying Man and Angry Man.

Smile Man manages to dodge several of its attacks and lands a counterstrike or two, but is ultimately overwhelmed and defeated.

Just before he is killed, an unnamed hero arrives and annihilates the Dragon-level foe in an instant, saving Smile Man’s life.

Later, when he regains consciousness, Smile Man reports what happened to the Hero Association.

Smile Man demands that the Association improve the accuracy and reliability of its disaster-level assessments.

However, his requests are dismissed or downplayed, citing reasons like the small number of witnesses, concerns about disrupting internal power balance, and the risk of undermining faith in their existing data.

This side story quietly exposes to the reader that the Association’s disaster-level classifications are often unreliable.

Disguises, monster acting, and the presence of certain “balance-breaking” heroes who can warp data by ending fights instantly all contribute to muddled assessments.

Smile Man himself becomes suspicious about the identity of the hero who saved him.

From context and the Association’s evasiveness, he begins to realize that there is at least one hero whose power is far beyond normal parameters, essentially a walking balance-breaker.

Brothers: Crying Man and Angry Man

Smile Man has two younger brothers who are also professional heroes.

Crying Man is ranked 69th in B-Class, and Angry Man is ranked 255th in C-Class.

Like Smile Man, both brothers are stoic, seldom showing visible emotion.

Their weapons are similarly oversized toys, fitting the playful-but-deadly aesthetic of the trio.

When they debuted, the three of them were known collectively as the “Unsociable Brothers.”

They wore matching costumes, but this shared branding did little to raise their popularity.

Fan support remained low, likely because their combat performance did not stand out.

Realizing that charisma and costumes alone could not carry them, they concluded that power is what truly attracts public attention.

This realization motivated them to train seriously and focus on monster extermination.

Smile Man’s later feats suggest that this training paid off, at least in terms of his personal strength and durability.

The side story in which his brothers are killed by the Emaciated Bean Sprout is a tragic turning point.

It underscores the harshness of the hero profession and the consequences of inaccurate hazard ratings.

Smile Man may not be S-Class, but his toughness and combat sense place him among the more reliable A-Class heroes.

He can withstand Demon-level hits, shatter large ice masses, and maintain composure in chaotic battles.

His greatest strengths are his durability, mid-range control with the kendama, and his tactical awareness.

He is quick to recognize when capture orders are unrealistic and when escalation to lethal force is necessary for survival.

However, his reliance on the kendama makes the string a potential weak point, as shown in his fight with Garou.

Once the string is cut or the ball is disabled, his combat options decrease sharply.

Still, for an A-Class Rank 27 hero, his feats indicate upper-mid-tier power within that class.

He may never be the flashiest fighter, but as a steady, sensible partner in combat, he is quite dependable.

Smile Man receives comparatively generous panel time among A-Class heroes in the remake (Murata) version of the story.

By contrast, in the original webcomic version, his presence is much smaller and less detailed.

In the first episode of the anime adaptation, he is briefly shown fighting Vaccine Man alongside the hero Lightning Max.

Both are instantly defeated, emphasizing the sheer threat level of that villain.

His entire design is built on a visual gag: a hero named “Smile Man” who never smiles, dressed head-to-toe in cheerful symbols.

This ironic contrast helps him stand out in a world full of over-the-top heroes and monsters.