Five minutes of opening footage were not enough to elevate a series into the realm of unquestionable masterpieces. Still, they were enough to do something almost as rare: make the audience's eyes light up.
In recent years, the superhero genre had already been squeezed dry by Hollywood. Otherwise, Marvel would not have stumbled so many times in succession. Yet, in just five short minutes, Alex managed to make viewers feel as though they were seeing something fresh again, as if a genre everyone thought had been exhausted still had unexplored ground beneath its surface.
And setting everything else aside, a protagonist whose entire attitude could be summed up as "fight if you're going to fight, stop running your mouth" was already enough to hook people.
After the opening theme ended, the screen slipped briefly into a flashback. It was the only part of the entire series where Alex's character still had hair.
The moment viewers saw him in a suit, carrying a briefcase like an ordinary office worker, countless fans of his looks nearly cried out in regret in front of their screens.
Wouldn't it have been perfectly fine to shoot the whole show with this image?
Why did they have to shave everything off?
Through a flashback lasting less than fifteen minutes, the story quickly and cleanly explained the reason Saitama had chosen to become a hero. There was no complicated tragedy, no grand vow sworn under blood and fire, no noble philosophy shouted toward the heavens. It had all started simply because he saved a brat who badly needed to be taught a lesson, and from that absurd little incident, the idea took root in him.
Then, step by step, he arrived at where he was now.
The camera shifted, returning once again to the main storyline.
"It's already been three years since then… After that day, I sacrificed my beautiful hair, became invincible, and finally fulfilled my dream of becoming a hero…"
As Saitama's inner monologue sounded, the camera slowly moved toward his smooth, shining scalp. In that instant, a powerful urge to roast the scene surged through the audience.
So that was it?
The legendary logic of "I went bald, but I also became stronger"?
The more they thought about it, the more annoyingly reasonable it seemed. After all, when people went to a hospital, if the doctor did not have a bright, polished forehead that seemed to radiate years of experience, they somehow felt less reliable.
Some medical students even joked that it was painfully realistic. Whenever a patient doubted their skill, all they had to do was lift their bangs and show a bit of forehead to regain some authority.
In the end, perhaps baldness really was the first step toward becoming powerful.
While fans were still joyfully tearing the scene apart in comment sections and online discussions, another monster made his grand entrance with the presence of a walking disaster.
It was the pair of brothers: the elder brother had developed a forbidden drug, and the younger brother had transformed into a gigantic monster after taking it. The creature stood close to a thousand meters tall. Each step he took crushed entire streets, reducing neighborhoods to rubble and burying thousands of lives beneath his feet as if they were dust.
Under the burning special effects, the collapsing buildings, the smoke, and the roaring flames, many viewers widened their eyes, wondering whether they were watching a television series or a blockbuster movie.
"I am the strongest… I am the strongest… I am the strongest…"
The younger brother, now a colossal monster, kept muttering those words, as though he were trying to convince the emptiness inside him. Standing on his shoulder, the older brother borrowed his sibling's terrifying power as his own arrogance and shouted with excitement:
"Well done, brother! Now let's sweep through the next city!"
Yet the moment he finished speaking, an unfamiliar voice suddenly came from the other side, appearing out of nowhere.
"How does it feel to become the strongest?"
When the older brother saw Saitama standing on the giant's opposite shoulder, without anyone knowing when he had appeared there, his expression changed violently. Panic took over, and he shouted almost by instinct:
"Brother! Hurry up and kill the man standing on your shoulder!"
Smack.
Hearing that, the giant raised his hand as casually as if he were swatting a mosquito and slapped it down on his right shoulder.
Right where his older brother was standing.
For a moment, the scene sank into an almost mystical silence.
And countless viewers spat all over their screens.
A few seconds later, the giant finally seemed to realize what he had done. He slowly opened the hand pressed against his shoulder, revealing only a smear of blood smaller than one of his fingernails, along with the remains of the clothes his brother had worn while alive.
Saitama froze for two seconds as well. Then, no matter how hard he tried, the corner of his mouth still lifted slightly.
It was the perfect expression of someone saying, "I'm a professional. I absolutely won't laugh… unless I really can't hold it in."
"Brother!!!"
With a reflex arc so slow it could qualify as geological movement, the giant finally released a roar like a landslide crashing into a tsunami. Then he grabbed Saitama from his other shoulder and hurled him viciously into the ground. His fists came down one after another, each blow so heavy that it felt as though the entire city would be hammered into the underworld at any second.
"You killed my brother! Taste the power of our bond!"
By this point, many viewers could no longer hold themselves together.
That blame-shifting was truly magnificent.
Boom!
After a wild barrage of punches, half the city sank into the earth. Dust spread like a storm, then gradually dispersed, revealing a massive crater so deep it seemed to have no bottom.
"Brother… I avenged you. I became the strongest…"
The giant stared at the "remains" of his brother in his palm, his inner voice carrying a childish sob.
"But why? Why do I feel so empty…?"
"Yeah."
At that very moment, Saitama, whom the giant had assumed had been reduced to dust along with half the city, suddenly leapt out of the crater and rushed toward his face at terrifying speed.
Bang!
A plain, almost careless right hook caved in the face of the giant who had just destroyed half a city. His head flew backward, dragging his enormous body along with it like a baseball struck cleanly by a bat.
"Being the strongest… really is boring."
Floating in midair, still holding his punching posture, Saitama wore an expression of sincere understanding, as if he had finally met someone who knew the loneliness he carried.
Yet in the very next second, the giant's body, its face completely smashed in by the punch, crashed directly onto the other half of the city.
"Huh?"
Saitama's expression froze.
Then the narration displayed a single line on the screen.
"City B: Destroyed."
At that moment, the audience burst into laughter.
He was clearly the hero, yet the collateral damage he caused seemed even more exaggerated than the villain's.
At the same time, everyone became certain of one thing: this hero named Saitama was truly unlike any superhero protagonist they had ever seen before.
That point became even clearer afterward, as Saitama defeated several minor monsters in a row and explained, through his own words, what he had become.
"Evil in this world never seems to disappear."
"Even after I became a hero for fun, the world didn't change at all. In other words, I don't think I've contributed much of anything to society. But I don't feel sad about that either."
"The problem is that when I fight monsters or strange creatures now, I feel less and less of that collision of souls."
"I only treat being a hero as a hobby. So… as long as I feel satisfied, that's enough."
Only a hobby?
Hearing those words, many superhero fans fell into a brief silence.
This character was completely different from the protagonists they were used to, the ones who either refused to kill under any circumstances or carried solemn beliefs like "with great power comes great responsibility." Saitama did not seem driven by guilt, trauma, sacred duty, or destiny. He was strange, blunt, almost hollow - and precisely because of that, he felt new.
No matter how the story developed from this point on, at least in its opening, the character had already given the audience more than enough freshness.
Still, at that moment, another thought began to emerge among the viewers.
Was the protagonist really going to remain invincible like this forever?
After all, no matter how different the premise felt, this was still an action series. If every enemy was solved with one punch, the first few times might feel refreshing, but over a longer run, fatigue would inevitably set in.
The story continued moving forward until it reached the closing stage of the first episode.
Then, with the sudden appearance of the subterranean race, Saitama finally showed an expression other than his usual blankness.
"The Earth… I will protect it!"
When Saitama, shirtless, his firm muscles and defined abs exposed, beat his chest and shouted those words, the audience felt their blood ignite.
Especially after growing used to Alex's deadpan expression throughout most of the episode. Now, with a blazing soundtrack, an over-the-top heroic line, and Alex's own passionate roar, fans ignored his bald head for the first time and realized something unexpected.
When that man became serious, he was absurdly handsome.
Immediately after that, the series finally delivered its first evenly matched fight. Every punch landed with weight. Every exchange felt physical. Every counterattack had rhythm. It was the kind of battle where the audience could almost feel the impact through the screen.
At last, the Subterranean King appeared.
"This crisis… this tension… That's right. This is exactly what I've been waiting for all this time…"
Covered in blood, Saitama broke into an excited smile. His eyes shone with an almost wild joy as he charged toward the Subterranean King, whose oppressive presence filled the entire screen.
The audience clenched their fists as well, swallowing unconsciously.
Of course.
How could Alex possibly allow the protagonist to keep defeating every opponent with a single punch forever?
Ring, ring, ring!
But just as tens of millions of viewers around the world believed an evenly matched, exhilarating battle was about to begin, the heroic soundtrack abruptly transformed into the sound of an alarm clock.
Smack!
On the bed, Saitama, who only moments ago had worn that excited, almost elegant expression reminiscent of Sosuke Aizen, returned to his usual empty face and smashed the ringing alarm clock on the nightstand with one slap.
Every viewer who had still been clenching their fists, waiting for a brutal hand-to-hand fight, went completely still.
Only when Saitama appeared on screen again, dressed in his yellow combat suit and heading out the door, did everyone gradually understand.
That entire thing had been a damn dream.
Immediately afterward, facing the monsters causing trouble throughout the surrounding streets, Saitama once again resolved everything with a single punch.
"I became too strong."
When Saitama said those words in a calm, almost emotionless tone, the episode finally came to an end.
As the ending theme slowly began to play, the title of the episode appeared on the screen.
"The Strongest Man."
Countless viewers slammed both hands onto their keyboards.
Only then did they fully realize what had happened.
They had been fooled by Alex again.
Back when Bleach and Death Note were at the height of their popularity, they had already been tossed around countless times by Alex's sudden plot twists, always caught off guard, always led by the nose through the direction of the story. Yet no one expected that, with his new series, he would play the same trick again.
Online discussions exploded.
Some cursed Alex with the familiarity of long-suffering fans, saying that, as expected, it was impossible to predict where his stories were going. Others said the protagonist was fascinating precisely because he defeated every enemy with one punch, surpassing even the most absurd power-fantasy characters.
Some joked that although the opening theme was already intense enough, the perfect theme song for this series should be something like "How Lonely It Is to Be Invincible." Others immediately agreed, saying that compared with any conventional romantic or heroic song, that kind of track would obviously fit the spirit of the show much better.
Even those who had not been optimistic about Alex's new series had to admit that, at least so far, it was far too entertaining.
Even so, concern still remained.
If Alex continued to maintain the concept of an invincible protagonist, the power scaling could collapse very quickly. This kind of premise demanded extreme control. Even giants of the genre had not always managed to handle overpowered protagonists properly, so many people doubted whether Alex could keep the structure from falling apart.
This series was undoubtedly a major test of his ability.
If it succeeded, he would ascend directly to the altar.
If it failed… well, that would be understandable too.
But then someone replied with a sentence that silenced much of the discussion.
Hadn't Alex already become a legend long ago?
Bleach alone was enough for him to brag about for the rest of his life.
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