Yes he has.

For starters let's talk about the term gags.

A term that is misunderstood by many, if not the majority of people who are involved in fiction.

When it comes to this word, most go by this definition:

A lot of people use this definition without actually knowing what it means. Look how it says “rarely used" and “shows no personality”.

What they're referring to are these kind of gags:

Gags that are rarely used and have no personality whatsoever. They never are brought up again and are only used to execute one joke. These are the comic strips they are referring to.

And within shows like Family Guy, The Simpsons, and American Dad there are characters that only appear in one episode or two and never appear again (rarely) and show no personality except for the joke they suppose to execute.

A few examples are:

Greased-up Deaf Guy

Olivia Fuller

And Lois's Brother.

These characters barely show within the series and only appear for one or two episodes executing a joke at the same time.

So for people who show this:

Clearly don't KNOW what this means and only read this part of the website ignoring the rest.

Now as for part two of explaining gags they show this:

Once again they are explaining in the beginning on how gags appear in a single panel and do not follow any main character continuatium.

And as you can see there are some examples here as shown:

The Far Side:

Bizarro:

Speed Bump:

All of these follow the criteria of:

• Single paneling
• No main character continuatium
• Only use for one joke (rarely used)
• No personality

And due to their short lives they have no significance and only show little to no personality while executing one joke (a joke).

Now it even states that usually gag characters on television appear for one episode just like the Greased-up Deaf Guy but notice how they said usually.

A word that is used to say “in general” and certainly isn't used to say ALL THE TIME but most of the time:

It also talks about secondary characters which can be used for characters like:

Lois's Dad:

Or Roberta's Boyfriend (Cleveland Brown):

Next it says However there are special cases where a gag character can be the main character 😉 of a particular show or series that reoccurs to one joke or two that is unique to that main character.

Here are some examples:

Bugs Bunny:

Daffy Duck:

Arale:

Tom and Jerry:

Including Garfield, Mickey Mouse, Rocko's Modern Life and Popeye.

All of these characters are main characters, have their series one way or another, and follow a reoccurring joke but it's important to know that it isn't always one joke and can be many jokes. And that also show personality.

Shows like this express this:

This one express problems that adults and teenagers have in real life along with some wacky kiddy jokes all in one. (Highly recommend)😁

It has serious moments as well but overall it's on a joking matter.

These are what you call modern day gags or just gags in general.

So what does ONE say about Saitama being a gag? Well for starters he says this:

One Punch man is the opposite; it's a manga in which we observe what happens when a nonsensically strong guy— whose existence is a kind of a joke- get thrown into a dark, serious world, where monsters are attacking humans.

So basically here ONE says that Saitama is a gaga character, a gag character that is thrown in a serious, dark world where monsters attack humans.

This also explains why the series OPM, is labeled as a gag and battle manga:

Saitama gives that gag element along with other characters that also have a gag side or an addition to them.

Now most people are going to argue that ONE said joke instead of the word gag but thankfully we have a video interview of ONE himself:

Timestamp: 54:19 — 54:42

Here he says the word Gyagu ギャグ.

And ONE never says Joke/Jodan.

ONE says his existence is kind of a joke and as most people say he only says “kind of", but when you leave the “a" it changes that whole sentence.

Example:

“A fruit is kind of an orange”

“A fruit is a kind of blueberry"

Or

“A blueberry is a kind of fruit”

“An apple is a kind of fruit”

ONE saying “a kind" proves that Saiy is a fully gag-like character.

The term gag isn't define as only one type as there are many types of gags and not all gags use toonforce.

An example:

ONE has even specified on how he wanted to be a gag manga artist:

Since he was a college freshman he has been experimenting this exact topic. So ONE isn't merely wanting to be a gag manga artist as a kid or whenever but to ACTUALLY BECOME ONE as he done a couple of times.

People get confused on what Saitama represents.

He represents this exact line: Too Strong

Something Bugs Bunny and Spongebob do not represent (granted there are more ways to be Boundless as in a “true joke" with no limitations as shown with SpongeBob and Bugs Bunny).

Not all gags are boundless or have toonforce:

• The Simpsons
• Family Guy
• American Dad
• Cleveland Brown
• Bob's Burgers

What things have Saitama done to be a gag character?

• Gained nonsensically strong power illogically and is too strong for doing a weak training regiment most can do easily:

• Scratched by a weak cat but can tank hits stronger than said cat:

• Gets tired for running but can walks perfectly fine afterwards with no signs of tiredness as the whole joke presented was how there weren't any villains left:

• Saitama calling himself the OPM while others do not:

• This:

• Saitama having this face when he fights either after or during meaning the opponent had no significance to oppose him and get him excited in any way:

As presented Saitama is a gag and not just your average gag as people say this a lot:

Just because he's a gag doesn't mean he's boundless and he isn't, he's only a parody.

If I see this I'm going to give you this look with a automatic block in hand:

Another conclusion on this take is how many people say he's only driven by plot armor when he's not simply because Saitama is a hax himself with him being able to do the illogical, the nonsensical, and the unthinkable thing through a weak training regiment:

Is something that proves Saitama isn't just plot driven it's as similar as Spongebob making a sand tank that is able to have all properties of a real tank itself:

Along with this:

All illogically done by the main characters themselves and not plot driven AKA plot armor.

S_A_I_T_A_M_A-ONE-PUNCHMAN