Friday, October 7th.
Among the eighty to ninety anime series that premiered during Japan's autumn season, the vast majority had already aired their first episodes.
The anime with the highest viewership ratings was burning sin Season Four.
The anime with the best critical reception was one-punch man.
Although one-punch man ranked only fourth in viewership, everyone understood the reason: it had premiered the previous week with very limited promotion and minimal buzz.
This week, however, the situation was very likely to change.
At nine o'clock in the evening, the second episode of one-punch man aired as scheduled.
Unlike the first episode, which focused on introducing the world and the protagonist, the second episode formally began depicting the protagonist's daily environment and introduced a crucial supporting character, the mechanical cyborg Genos.
This character held a pivotal position in the story. He was capable of overwhelming most opponents in combat, yet always ended up losing due to various unfortunate circumstances.
As Saitama's first and most devoted disciple, Genos's appearance delivered an overwhelming impact to anime fans across Japan.
In Rei's previous life, Genos's fight scenes in one-punch man were famously animated with noticeably higher production quality than most others, he was the true "budget warrior" of the series.
In this Japan, Rei fully carried forward this tradition. Whenever Genos entered battle, the animation quality was pushed to its limits.
Moreover, viewers familiar with Rei's previous-life experience could easily recognize references to other iconic works throughout the series.
For example, Genos clearly drew inspiration from Iron Man.
The Vaccine Man who appeared at the beginning of the series, if recolored green, strongly resembled Piccolo from Dragon Ball.
Likewise, it was difficult to deny that the Giant Brothers from the first episode bore similarities to the Colossal Titan from Attack on Titan.
In Rei's previous life, anime fans already found Genos incredibly cool due to these familiar reference points.
For Japanese anime fans, who lacked the same Marvel framework, the impact was even stronger.
After Genos's debut and the first full display of his high-budget battle scenes, the mechanical fervor burning in viewers' hearts practically overflowed.
Of course, no matter how spectacular Genos's battles were, he still had to lose when the story demanded it.
Otherwise, how could Saitama's perfectly timed arrival and overwhelming strength be emphasized?
The battle against Mosquito Girl at the start of the second episode was immensely satisfying for viewers.
The latter half of the episode introduced the concept of the House of Evolution.
The Gorilla monster, ranked third within the organization, was defeated by Genos.
The second-ranked Beast King, however, was instantly annihilated by a single punch from Saitama.
The episode ended with Saitama casually strolling down the street, carrying the Beast King's eyeball.
The overall impression the second episode left on viewers could be summed up in one word: Cool.
The character designs were cool.
The battles were cool.
Even the narrative flow was cool.
"How is Shirogane's brain even wired? Genos is insanely cool. How can a mechanical cyborg fit my tastes this perfectly?"
"The House of Evolution feels terrifyingly strong."
"Come on, these monsters aren't on the same level as Vaccine Man or the Giant Brothers from episode one. I bet the Giant Brothers could take down ten Beast Kings easily, and Vaccine Man could probably wipe out the Giant Brothers without effort."
"Teacher Shirogane, please release a Genos figure. I'm begging you."
"Seriously, did all the strongest monsters appear in the first episode? Vaccine Man and the Giant Brothers still feel like the most intimidating enemies so far. The later monsters feel weaker, but the story is still amazing."
"I'm really looking forward to Saitama and Genos taking on the House of Evolution next week."
"That was unbelievably satisfying. The most exhilarating battle anime I've watched this year. No protagonist torture, no convoluted villain schemes, just the pure joy of crushing everything with one punch."
"In the face of absolute power, everything else feels insignificant."
"I hope Teacher Shirogane gives Genos even more fight scenes later. It's thrilling. I want more."
"The Beast King was intimidating too, but even he was obliterated instantly by Teacher Saitama. I really want to see what it looks like when Saitama fights without holding back."
"Don't forget to rate it on OpinionHub after watching. Don't let one-punch man's score drop."
Compared to the first episode, the second episode of one-punch man clearly ignited an even stronger response.
Both its popularity and critical reception surged, and audience approval surpassed that of the premiere.
After the second episode aired this week, the number of discussion threads about one-punch man on major forums and websites across the internet exploded.
In just one night, the already astonishing anime score climbed again, rising from 9.2 to 9.3.
At the same time, the anime's average viewership rating this week surged to 4.96%, a massive leap compared to the previous week.
At this point, even casual anime viewers in Japan finally realized something was off.
Something was very wrong.
The title of "seasonal hegemon" that burning sin had been confidently wearing no longer seemed secure.
What kind of outrageous popularity curve was this for one-punch man?
Was this even normal?
Now, the fans of burning sin genuinely began to feel pressure.
This anime, one-punch man, had already posted an absurdly high rating in its first week, and instead of stabilizing, it soared again in the second week.
If this trend continued, how long could burning sin realistically maintain its grip on the top spot in seasonal viewership rankings?
During the first week, Rei's fans had merely watched and waited.
By the second week, there was no need for restraint.
They went all out.
Their true colors emerged.
Previously, it had been burning sin fans swaggering into Rei's discussion boards.
Now, the situation was completely reversed.
Old posts mocking Shirogane, claiming that this so-called manga genius only ruled Dream Comic and wouldn't even crack the top ten on Monogatari Comic, were all dug up and mercilessly ridiculed.
Naturally, despite all this, the performance of burning sin Season Four, Episode Two, which aired that same evening, was still impressive.
Its average viewership rating reached 5.21%, a slight increase over the previous week.
However, its score dropped marginally, settling at 8.9.
This, unfortunately, was a familiar issue across the anime industry.
The first episode usually receives the highest investment and delivers explosive production quality.
By the second episode, the quality often slips, sometimes dramatically, with some studios even resorting to still-frame combat scenes that look like PowerPoint slides.
A classic bait-and-switch.
Burning sin wasn't quite that extreme, but it was still obvious that the production quality of Season Four, Episode Two had dipped compared to its premiere.
Even so, this did not affect the overall situation.
In the second week of the autumn anime season, burning sin still held the throne as the viewership champion.
However, the anime ranked second in viewership changed.
Last week, that position had belonged to the isekai anime Flame Dragon's Breath.
This week, it was one-punch man.
As for the other anime that had premiered, their ratings remained largely unchanged.
Except for one-punch man.
Of course, the people most shocked by one-punch man's performance were not the fans of burning sin.
They were the staff of Illumination.
When everyone had been working tirelessly on this anime, their most optimistic expectation had been merely securing a top-ten ranking for the season.
But now…
In the office, Himari stared at the detailed post-broadcast data for one-punch man.
She compared it again and again with the premiere data for burning sin.
"It wouldn't really…" she muttered, "top both viewership ratings and critical scores, would it?"
As that thought formed, Himari felt her limbs go slightly numb, a mix of nervousness and exhilaration surging through her.
Rei had been saying from the very beginning that the goal for this anime was number one in viewership.
At the time, everyone had treated those words as the unrealistic ambition of a young man who had yet to experience the real world.
But now…
That ambition no longer sounded like a fantasy.
It had become a very real possibility.
...
Read 50+ chapters ahead @[email protected]/Ashnoir