There is no doubt that “One Punch Man” is one of the biggest names in action-comedy manga and anime. The work created by ONE takes many tropes from American superhero comics and Japanese kaiju films and bastardizes them. Thus, the franchise starring the invincible hero Saitama is very popular in all its media, especially anime.
The first season of the anime adaptation further catapulted the already enormous popularity that the franchise had since the manga, but this prestige definitely suffered a severe blow when the second season arrived. One of the biggest criticisms of this sequel was a notable drop in animation quality, but why did that happen?
The first season of the anime “One Punch Man” was directed by Shingo Natsume and animated by the studios madhousewith Chikashi Kubota as the animation director. Madhouse had already been responsible for successful adaptations such as “Black Lagoon”, “DEATH NOTE”, “Highschool of the Dead” and “HUNTER x HUNTER (2011)”, and his work with “One-Punch Man” was also exceptional, going far beyond the studio’s quality standards. A series like “One-Punch Man” can not only sustain itself with its comedy, but also had to offer action sequences that kept viewers on the edge of their seats, and Madhouse managed to do it with spectacular animation quality.
As a result, the first season of “One-Punch Man” had rave reviews. However, the second season would undergo more than one change, the main one being the animation studio. Chikara Sakurai replaced Shingo Natsume as director, while the studio moved from Madhouse to JCSTAFFwhich had also made successful series such as “Shokugeki no Soma” and “Toaru Kagaku no Railgun”, so it was expected that, at the very least, the quality would be maintained. The reason for this change was that Natsume was busy with other projects, and as many animators had joined the project not to work on “One-Punch Man” but to work alongside the renowned director, they decided to leave the production, leaving many positions. empty.
Thus, the second season of “One-Punch Man” continued to have adequate art and animation, but the crisp, fluid and vibrant animation of the first season was replaced by something much more stoic, bland and generic. The use of 3DCG, something never well received in the world of anime, was also extended in the second season, and there were even monster deaths and important fights that were left off-screen.
Ultimately, the less-than-stellar visuals were due to the rushed production of the second season. With the departure of Natsume and most of the animators who followed him, work began from scratch on a highly anticipated series. Even with veterans like JCSTAFF at the wheel, there wasn’t much that could be done in such a short time. That the animation was “acceptable” was rather an achievement for the studio.
The story of the second season was one of the best received elements, but despite this, many considered the changes in animation as a decrease in the quality of the series as a whole. This sparked the idea that “One-Punch Man” had gone into decline and fear that JCSTAFF would be back in charge for the third season. However, perhaps this time they have something they didn’t have before: enough time.
The third season of “One-Punch Man” was announced in 2022, with the studio and voice cast returning from the second season. Despite the criticism of JCSTAFF’s work, many were excited by the announcement of the continuation, especially considering that the manga had already advanced and was in one of its best story arcs. In the end, “One-Punch Man” was still dependent on the popularity of the manga, and it’s quite curious that news of the third season took so long to arrive considering the above.
So far, the first 85 chapters of the original “One-Punch Man” manga have been adapted into the anime, which is equivalent to about 16 volumes. The third season will cover the “Monster Association Arc,” with King Orochi taking on the antagonism again. The return of JCSTAFF also indicates that we may again have a season of only 12 episodes, in addition to possible inconsistencies in quality.
It is worth mentioning that Saitama loses a lot of prominence in this arc, but he will continue to be an important part of the story. The main concern is that the studio’s problems will return for this second season if JCSTAFF becomes full of projects in production again. We’ll get a hint of this when “One-Punch Man” announces a premiere date for its third season, so we still have to wait.
