Why One-Punch Man's Animation Changed Between Season 1 & 2 (2024)

Easily one of the biggest names in action-comedy anime and manga is One-Punch Man. The anime and manga smash hit, created by the fittingly-named mangaka ONE, takes many of the tropes of Western superhero comics and Japanese kaiju movies and turns them completely on their heads. Featuring an overpowered hero named Saitama, the franchise is very popular in all of its forms, namely its anime.

The show's first season catapulted the franchise's already huge popularity even further, but it definitely took a hit in its second season. One of the biggest criticisms of the less well-received second season was the noticeable decline in animation quality. Here's a look at why the show had a change in studios and how it made the show's animation drastically worse.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on April 17, 2024: One-Punch Man is one of the most popular manga and anime franchises at the moment, with the series famous for lampooning superhero and battle shonen tropes. The anime is finally having more of its upcoming third season revealed, exciting many fans who've been waiting patiently for it. Of course, there was a lot of criticism due to the One-Punch Man animation studio change in between the show's first two seasons. This saw a dramatic impact and decline in the series' animation quality, which rubbed several viewers the wrong way. The One-Punch Man studio from the second studio is back for the third, however, so these issues may continue to plague the series.

One-Punch Man's Studio Change Between Seasons 1 & 2

The show's first season was directed by Shingo Natsume and animated at Madhouse, with Chikashi Kubota as the chief animator. Madhouse has been responsible for several notable and prestigious anime series such as Paranoia Agent, Black Lagoon, Death Note, Highschool of the Dead, and the Hunter x Hunter adaptation. Its work on One-Punch Man was exceptional even by the studio's generally high standards. With a premise so reliant on the top-notch execution of a few jokes, the artistry of the Season 1 team did wonders selling all the comedy and action with gusto.

As a result, the first season of One-Punch Man was very well-received. The highly anticipated Season 2, however, wouldn't come without changes, however. The One-Punch Man Season 2 animation studio was one of many changes made to the show. Chikara Sakurai replaced Natsume as the director, while the production studio switched from Madhouse to J.C. Staff. J.C. Staff has also made some hit series in the past, such as Food Wars! and Bakuman, so it was expected that the quality would at the very least be maintained. The reason behind this change was that Natsume was busy on other projects, and since so many had joined the series to work with him, a complete animation overhaul was necessary to fill the gap.

One-Punch Man's Animation Dipped In Quality In Season 2

Season 2 of One-Punch Man still has perfectly adequate art and animation, but the crisp, fluid, vibrant animation of the first season is replaced with something far more stoic, bland, and generic. The use of 3D computer-generated animation, something that is almost never well-received in anime, was also far more widespread. The still frames were also unfavorably compared to Flash animation. Monster deaths and key fight sequences were done off-screen.

Ultimately, the less-than-stellar visuals were due to the season's rushed production. With Natsume and most of those who wanted to work under him leaving, work started essentially from the ground up on a hotly anticipated series. Even with anime veterans like J.C. Staff at the helm, there was only so much that could be achieved in the truncated timeframe. That the animation is as serviceable as it is and not substantially worse is a testament to the quality behind it.

Season 2's actual story elements were more warmly received than its animation, but despite this, many viewed the show's animation changes as a dip in the series' quality as a whole. This caused fans to see the quality of One-Punch Man as declining. Many have hoped that with a less rushed and beleaguered production, Season 3 will return to the exciting, well-animated heights that the anime was once known for. That may or may not be the case, given the release date of the series.

When Will One-Punch Man Season 3 Premiere?

The third season of One-Punch Man was announced in 2022, with the One-Punch Man Season 2 studio and cast returning to bring more of the story to the small screen. Despite criticisms over the OPM Season 2 animation, many fans were excited to see the series continue, especially given how popular it had become. After all, the manga remake of the original webcomic has become one of the best-selling manga of all time, selling over 30 million copies since 2020. Given this success and that of the anime adaptation, the fact that news concerning Season 3 took so long to come out is very surprising. The only news was rumors about Season 3 that turned out to be untrue, though they certainly disheartened fans.

In January 2024, Kaito Ishikawa, who voices the character Genos in One-Punch Man, noted that Season 3 of the anime was one of the many projects that he was going to be involved with by the year's end. This information came in a somewhat random manner through social media, which was strange given that it was the first bit of news on the show's next season in several months. Despite the change in the One-Punch Man animation studio, fans still eagerly anticipated every morsel of new information about when the series would continue. There was some bad news, such as the lack of involvement from franchise artist Yusuke Murata. Thankfully, good news finally came about in February 2024, with the first look at One-Punch Man Season 3 being revealed.

One-Punch Man Seasons 1 and 2 covered the first 85 chapters of the series' manga source material, which amounted to about 16 volumes of the manga. The third season will adapt the Monster Association story arc, with King Orochi remaining a major threat. Likewise, J.C. Staff, the One-Punch Man animation studio that took over the series in Season 2, will be returning for the next entry in the anime adaptation. This likely means that it will be the same length as the second season, but this could also mean that many of the issues seen in that season pertaining to its animation quality will still be present.

One-Punch Man Season 3 is also going to focus more on the S-Class heroes who are more revered throughout the series' world. These include Blast, the highest-ranking hero who makes it his mission to recover fragments of a cube in order to communicate with "God." If the manga is anything to go by, this mysterious deity will also be a key part of the storyline and actually become a pivotal threat in the world of One-Punch Man.

The overpowered Saitama himself will be somewhat less focused on in the story due to the placement of the monsters' lair underneath his house, but he'll still be a major part of the story. The main concern from fans is that the animation issues of the One-Punch Man Season 2 studio will rear their ugly head again, making Season 3 just as displeasing and as much of a visual downgrade. It's expected to finally fly onto the small screen and on streaming services in Fall/Late 2024, so fans will have to wait until then to see more of what it looks like.

One-Punch Man (2015)

TV-PG

Anime

Action

Comedy

The story of Saitama, a hero that does it just for fun & can defeat his enemies with a single punch.

Release Date

October 5, 2015

Cast

Makoto Furukawa , Kaito Ishikawa , Max Mittelman , Zach Aguilar , Hiromichi Tezuka , Robbie Daymond , Kyle Hebert , Shôta Yamamoto

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

2