October 1st, Friday, 9:00 PM.
Yahiko was still arguing with Shirogane's haters on the forum.
Fame attracts trouble.
Shirogane was only eighteen years old, earned tens of millions annually, was famous throughout Japan's manga industry, and, most importantly, he was quite handsome and had been accepted into a mid level university.
This kind of self-made success naturally made many internet trolls feel inferior. Although Shirogane was merely a manga artist who had never provoked them, these people simply enjoyed arguing with Shirogane's fans, people like Yahiko, and slandering Shirogane online.
"Honestly, Teacher Shirogane's One-Punch Man inexplicably gained traction online, creating a confrontational public opinion against Burning Sin Season 4. It feels like these haters deliberately started this trend, right?"
Yahiko let out a long sigh.
He shut down his computer, hurried into the living room, turned on the television, and switched to Capital Television Station.
Today was the first day of October. More than ninety anime were confirmed to air this quarter. Although the total number was slightly lower than usual, there were still many strong works debuting this season.
Thirty-one were manga adaptations. Twenty-seven were light novel adaptations.
Seven were game adaptations. The rest were original anime.
Among them were eleven sequels to popular series. The most anticipated was naturally Burning Sin Season 4. Even before airing, anime fans across Japan had already labeled it the dominant title of the season.
These thoughts passed through Yahiko's mind.
His expression gradually grew distant.
Although he had argued fiercely with Burning Sin fans online for an entire week, with neither side backing down, Yahiko knew deep down that he was just being stubborn.
For an original anime like One-Punch Man to surpass such a giant was almost impossible.
How could popularity accumulated over three to five years of manga serialization be overtaken by an original anime in a single season?
As Yahiko pondered these thoughts, time quietly passed.
9:30 PM arrived.
The television screen paused briefly.
Then a man's passionate roar burst from the speakers.
The explosive sound of an electric guitar followed.
Yahiko jolted and looked up, only to see a red, overwhelmingly oppressive fist belonging to a bald man in a yellow jumpsuit filling the entire screen.
The opening theme of One-Punch Man had begun.
Immediately afterward, the production credits appeared.
The first line of text was highlighted in red.
[This work was independently scripted by Teacher Shirogane]
As the opening continued, the credits flashed by.
Theme Song: Shirogane.
Character Design: Shirogane
Color Design: Shirogane
Yahiko even saw Shirogane listed under Direction.
As both an investor and a manga artist, Shirogane had no need to pad his résumé with meaningless credits.
The fact that his name appeared so many times could only mean one thing.
He had personally participated in a large number of production processes for this anime.
Was he even human?
After the passionate opening theme ended, the scene shifted to a street rendered in subdued colors, stained with traces of blood.
A man in a sharp suit, still with a full head of hair, was walking when a red Crab Monster suddenly appeared in front of him.
Yahiko blinked, confirming he had not misread the scene.
The anime had been running for barely ten seconds, and a monster over two meters tall, resembling a red crab with massive claws and human legs, had already appeared.
The man showed no panic.
He merely glanced at the monster with lifeless eyes and continued walking.
During their brief exchange, he learned that the monster was searching for a small boy with a butt-shaped chin, intending to brutally murder him.
The monster, uninterested in a man who showed no fear, let him go.
The man continued down the street and soon encountered the small boy with the butt-shaped chin.
At that very moment, the Crab Monster appeared again.
The man, who had earlier said he did not want to get involved, stepped in at the critical moment and saved the boy just as he was about to be killed by the Crab Monster, thoroughly enraging it.
The opening plot quickly drew Yahiko in.
This anime… although it was clearly a fighting genre, why did it feel…
Yahiko smiled slightly.
"Why is it kind of funny?"
[Wait just a minute. How can you be allowed to murder a child in this day and age?]
The man in the suit stood in front of the Crab Monster.
[That's right. I dreamed of being a hero ever since I was a kid. Not some office worker.]
[But a hero who can defeat scum like you with a single punch. I'm not looking for a job anymore, you bastard.]
Yahiko stared at the man's resolute gaze on the screen and froze for a moment.
Hadn't his own childhood dream also been to become a hero who saved the world?
When had his life goal changed into getting promoted, raising his salary, buying a house and a car, getting married, having children, and eventually dying and being hung on a wall?
Yahiko continued watching.
The Crab Monster attacked viciously. After seriously injuring the man in the suit, it thought the fight was over.
But the man leapt back up.
He counterattacked and defeated it.
He smashed out its crab eyes and destroyed its internal organs.
Although Yahiko had no idea why the man in the suit had suddenly turned the tables and killed the Crab Monster, one thing was certain.
This felt unbelievably satisfying.
After the Crab Monster was defeated, the anime began introducing the man's information.
Saitama.
Gender: Male.
Three years had passed since he defeated the Crab Monster.
Through training, Saitama had become "the strongest."
He had grown stronger.
But he had also gone bald.
He began to feel a hollow emptiness in his life.
Wearing his yellow jumpsuit, he wandered through the city, casually eliminating monsters that appeared.
Then, with a loud boom, the supermarket where Saitama was shopping suddenly collapsed.
As the camera pulled back, a gigantic footprint, stretching several hundred meters, appeared in the center of the city.
A giant, thousands of meters tall, stood above the skyline.
"Huh?" Yahiko's eyes widened.
The plot explained that the super-giant had mutated after injecting a biochemical drug provided by his brother. His mind had become unstable, making him extremely stupid and obedient only to his brother's commands.
The anime's visual impact peaked here.
With a casual wave of the giant's hand, multiple skyscrapers were sent flying.
In the following scene, Saitama rose from the rubble and leapt onto the giant's shoulder, reaching the brother controlling it.
The idiot giant accidentally crushed his own brother.
Enraged, it turned its fury on Saitama.
What followed was an intensely expressive, fast-paced fight sequence.
Saitama was slammed into the ground, destroying nearly half the city.
Moments later, he floated back up effortlessly, appearing before the giant.
One punch.
Just one punch.
The colossal giant, towering thousands of meters high, was reduced to dust and minced flesh.
Yahiko's eyes were wide, his expression stunned.
The animation quality of this battle was insane.
Was Illumination really capable of something like this?
The story continued.
Because Saitama was too strong, repeatedly defeating the strongest surface monsters with a single punch, he felt an unbearable emptiness.
He could no longer find anyone to fight seriously.
Then came the classic scene.
Saitama woke up one morning to discover that Subterraneans had invaded the surface from deep underground.
Powerful Subterraneans attacked him one after another.
A long-shot sequence showed Saitama fighting wave after wave of them.
Accompanied by the music, a cool and explosive battle scene unfolded.
One that Yahiko knew he would never forget.
Saitama fought desperately against the Subterraneans.
Even his dead-fish eyes began to shine.
[The world… I will protect it.]
Passionate music. Explosive visuals. Perfectly choreographed combat.
And Saitama's excitement and smile as he fought.
When the Subterranean King appeared, the tension of a king-versus-king showdown filled Yahiko's chest.
Just as the duel was about to begin;
His alarm clock rang. The camera pulled back.
Morning.
Saitama woke up from his dream.
"Pfft…"
Yahiko's expression twisted.
So it was all a dream?
Unable to find a worthy opponent in reality, Saitama could only search for one in his dreams.
But then, after waking, he realized something.
The Subterraneans were actually invading in real life.
The shouting outside his window had seeped into his dream, creating the Subterranean King.
And when the real Subterranean King appeared…
It was instantly obliterated by Saitama's excited single punch.
The episode ended on a single line.
[I've become too strong.]
As the ending song played, the smile slowly vanished from Yahiko's face.
?
It's over already? He hadn't even watched for five minutes.
How did the first episode end just like that? How could they cut it off here?
...
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