Season three of “One Punch Man” has been something fans have been waiting for since 2019. I recently rewatched the last two seasons to prepare myself for the upcoming season.

I noticed right away how different the animation was. The coloring, shadowing, and the details were way more different. 

The animation’s coloring definitely has a brighter filter than last season. Season two seemed darker and way less eye-popping than the new season. 

Though the animation was supposed to be an improvement, there is nothing that enhances the flow of the fight scenes. There have been complaints about how the animation seems boring and is nothing compared to last season.

“This season was already dry. I was planning to watch a few selected anime this season,” said user The__Daydream on a Reddit post, “But after watching just 1 episode of OPM, I was so disappointed that I had paused watching all the seasonal titles.”

Seasons one and two of “One Punch Man” were great, making it one of the top-watched anime, next to “One Piece,” “Attack on Titan” and more. It had high expectations from fans and manga readers, but when the episodes came out, it wasn’t as mind-blowing as they expected. 

The storyline can only be one piece of the puzzle to making an anime great. The animation is what brings the whole anime alive. So, everyone can see why fans have been in debate about whether the season was good or not. 

As a “One Punch Man” viewer, I agree that this season was not as great as last season. The last seasons blew my mind and made me want to know what happens next. I was in it for the storyline, yes, but the animation of the fights and the emotion also lured me in.

Many fans who’ve read the manga know that season three was supposed to be animating one of the best arcs of the whole anime. This season was supposed to be the best of the “One Punch Man” series, but instead it went down the drain, especially in the scene where the main villain, Garou, fights against Orochi. 

Their fight was supposed to be way more entertaining and epic, according to how it is drawn in the manga. The animation for the scene was supposed to showcase the mind-blowing combat. Though when I watched it myself, I couldn’t help but feel like the mind-blowing part was missing. 

“I couldn’t help but laugh when Garou started parrying Orochi’s attacks; it was such an epic scene in the manga and the animation for it was comically bad,” said user Atiaxra in a comment on a Reddit post.

These comments and the new season itself shows that the change of animation hasn’t been as successful as the animators thought it would be. Fans have been wanting a change in animation since season two ended, yet they only got color and detail improvements. 

“One Punch Man” was supposed to be in the top with many other popular anime. Now that season three came out, it seems it won’t be as popular as it used to be. The storyline itself is still great and all, except the lack of animation in the characters’ facial expressions or fights.

At this point, they’d be better off going back to the old animation style that made “One Punch Man” enjoyable to watch.