What Season 3 of One Punch Man Can Do To Win Back Fans

In recent online discussions about the upcoming season 3 of One Punch Man, there seems to be a large portion of fans who are down on the show before it even comes out. Initial negative reactors to the teasers criticized the animation style and character design choices. The footage shown so far was also disliked for not having many moments of sakuga, or exceptionally impressive animation frames. Fans also complained that the trailers have heavily featured still frames, which gave them the impression that there isn’t going to be many detailed animation moments in the new One Punch Man season.

Given that many fans have negative first thoughts going into Season 3, what can the show do to overcome this impression and win these fans back over? Often, it can be hard to combat an initial conclusion someone has reached because they then often don’t go into it with an open mind. Let’s take a look at a few things the show could have up its sleeve to reverse the negative expectations.

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Mixed Reaction to Season 2

A Continuing Trend for One Punch Man

Before getting into what this new season might want to do differently, it’s worth looking at the trajectory of audience expectations so far. After a highly successful Season 1, many fans of the show found themselves disappointed when Season 2 was announced to be animated by a different studio.

This initial disappointment seemed to be confirmed in the minds of many fans when the new art style and animation departed from the beloved scenes present in Season 1. Season 2 also lacked a sakuga-inducing epic showdown like Season 1 had with the fight between Saitama and Boros. Instead, Saitama fights a giant centipede monster who puts up much less of a challenge against him.

The art style also turned some fans away from the show, and Season 2 started the perception that the series was declining in quality. This perception was amplified because of the high expectations and how long fans had waited between seasons to see more of Saitama’s adventures.

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Goals For the New Season

What the Show Can Do To Turn Perception Around

Given that many fans have already been conditioned to have a negative impression of the new season, the show will have to work harder to reverse audience cynicism. The most obvious way to do this would be to give fans a little more of what they saw in Season 1. Emulating the animation success of the first season, even just stylistically, would some fans something to hold onto. This should be easier to do with Season 3 than Season 2, since there is much more potential for hype fights. Season 2 was mostly a setup for the monster association arc, while Season 3 will likely contain much of the payoff.

Focus on the Story

In the event that the animation can not live up to what fans want, the next best thing would be for the show to put more emphasis on the story. This might be difficult to accomplish since many fans are impatient to see many of the most hype One Punch Man fights adapted to the screen. In the manga, the monster association arc is exceedingly long, likely making it difficult to adapt it to an anime format with a quick enough pace for a satisfying conclusion.

With these things being the case, it will be critical to nail the story beats to create a solid foundation for future seasons. Fans of One Punch Man were drawn in by its quirky premise, but as the show has developed, Saitama’s antics have taken a backseat to its more interesting characters. In the manga, there are long stretches of other characters doing things completely seriously before Saitama even gets involved.

The show should lean into its strengths, focusing on a few characters’ stories to raise the emotional and dramatic stakes of the dangerous monster association arc.

Hopefully, the animation studio J.C. Staff’s second attempt at One Punch Man will show them adapting from previous road bumps to deliver a product that fans will be excited to finally get their hands on when it releases in October of this year.

One Punch Man can be streamed on Crunchyroll.