Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: One Punch Man Season 3
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malvarez1
Posts: 3042 |
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I’m just gonna paste my comment from the Fall Preview comment section:
Reading through the One-Punch Man reviews, I’m reminded that one of the things that hurts the series the most is its reputation for being a parody, something that hasn’t been true in the manga for years. I suppose this may be less obvious to anime onlys, but the manga does pretty much become the thing it was parodying with this arc. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty of humor (and usually funny) but the series itself is playing it straight from now on. Unfortunately, Saitama will continue to avoid the plot for the rest of the arc until the climax (with one or two quick exceptions). He really doesn’t feel like the main character in this arc. I am curious if you also thought the manga fell off (it seems to me you have a problem with the story) or if the amazing arc elevated this content? The comparison to Demon Slayer’s animation seemed unwarranted. IMO, the effect work isn’t that similar. |
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Gina Szanboti
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Wow, this is the first time I've seen anyone criticize Demon Slayer's animation. I've seen it called overdone, I've seen complaints of all-style, no-substance in the story, but the animation itself has always been said to be amazing, before leading into such critiques. Animation is almost never a make or break thing for me, so I don't care either way, I'm just surprised. 
This is ok for me so far. Yeah, I'd like more Saitama, but Garou is shaping up to be more interesting than he was in S2. |
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WatcherZer
Posts: 530 |
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I did feel it was a bit slow and did definitely notice the change in production house. Part of the issue is the previous season ended in the middle of a manga arc during a lull in action and we are picking up again in that lull. Its also not helping people remember what was going on when they refer to events such as a heroes defection happening off screen.
The whole bill thing is kind of an example of why Saitama can be hard to root for, he just totally ignored her, ordered the chips so that she would have to split the bill then immediately bailed. He wasn't just being his usual dumb self like he was when the heroes were chilling in his apartment, he was actively being a jerk. His disinterest in the plot and events going on around him erodes the reader/viewers interest as well. |
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The Scream Man
 Posts: 313 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Episode 2 was funny enough to convince me to hang around for Episode 3, but the show is on very thin ice. Remember when Season 1 was the New Hotness?
Those were the days... |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20109 |
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Welcome back One Frame Man!
In all seriousness though despite the quality I'm still engaged in the Hero Association vs Monster Association fight, Saitama leaving Fubuki with the bill, the continue build up to Garou and his bad luck with Saitama, and Garou PNG sliding. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2725 |
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They might have given up on the animation, but I want to see them complete Garou's arc. It was my biggest disappointment from season 2 since as soon as Garou's scenes started filling commentary about bullied children, the anime downright ended. Not sure if he is gonna face Saitama again but I just want to see Garou's arc reaching its end.
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OdnetninAges
Posts: 24 |
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"One Punch Man Season 3 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll."
This is not true, at least not in North America. If you follow the link provided in the article, it takes you to a show page, but it says "Videos Aren’t Available" and "While this show can’t be viewed, we do have others like it." The top of the page also says "Unfortunately, this show’s videos aren’t available." The show is currently streaming on Hulu in North America, and that is where I have been watching it. |
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Fluwm
Moderator
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Something to keep in mind first and foremost is that OPM isn't *just* an anime and a manga, it's an anime and a manga that are both adaptations of a third thing -- the original webcomic. Which was always a parody of the shounen action/fighting genre. It's kind of weird to frame it as merely having a "reputation" as a parody when that is, 100%, exactly what OPM was -- in all three of its incarnations -- up until the Murata began adapting and expanding the Monster Association arc, which pretty abruptly transformed OPM into precisely the kind of story it'd spend so long satirizing. Remember when Genos was first introduced, and he tried to deliver his long and tragic backstory? And Saitama cuts him off and demands he summarize it in ten words or less (or something to that effect)? That was a great gag -- and it kept the story focused on what we were all there for. The Monster Associate arc is basically taking that cut-off monolog and expanding it to a truly epic saga, just in terms of sheer length: it's been dragging on for dozens of volumes over years.
Murata's art is fantastic, but yes, the manga also "fell off," as you say. It went from being a great comedy series focused on a consistently amusing and entertaining protagonist, into a bloated parade of fights between secondary characters with little to them beyond their character designs, in a completely unironic mimicry of the worst shounen tropes out there. Like when the protagnoist of a story doesn't actually do anything, and barely even shows up, in a manga narrative for 10 or more volumes... I'd say that's a pretty fundamental and irreparable narrative problem. There's really no word for it but tedious. Shounen manga, in general, tends to have a problem with bloated casts and poor pacing, but it hurts so much more to see those problems crop up in OPM because OPM used to be, very specifically, about avoiding those tropes while poking fun at them. All the MA arc has going for it, really is the art, but the thing is... OPM was never appealing because of the art -- seriously, check out the webcomic, the art was terrible. The appeal was always with the characters and the humor and those elements are almost entirely absent from the Monster Association guff. All of that said, there is an interesting discussion to be had here about genre-shifting. Can it work? Absolutely. Is it easy to do? Absolutely not. Or about adaptation and the liberties that adaptation may. But at the end of the day all I can really say is this: OPM went from being a series I would consistently enjoy to one that I began to dread, because every few months I'd buy another new volume and there'd just be nothing in it to even remind me of what originally drew me to it. Again and again and again. I don't begrudge fans of the more conventional shounen fare, but the thing is, they have surfeit of other options to choose from -- more than enough to satiate any glutton. But when it comes to really good shounen parodies? We're starving over here. |
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malvarez1
Posts: 3042 |
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I genuinely hadn’t considered the webcomic, my bad, I’ll concede that point, but in my defense, it really feels like a majority of the American OPM fanbase don’t read the original.
I technically agree with you that the art isn’t the only reason to read OPM…but I’m forever convinced it was the first season that convinced Murata and One that that was the case. How many people praised the animation over everything else, and how many people dropped the anime the second the animation quality dropped? |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 5308 |
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I'm not familiar with either the manga or original webcomic, but I'm in full agreement with this. OPM is at its absolute best when it's lampooning the very society that it establishes. The byzantine structure and rules of the Hero Association. Almost all of the top heroes turning out to be complete headcases. The noblest, purest hero of all being...some dude riding a bicycle. Saitama reacting to all of it with perfect and total ennui, even Genos's absolute devotion to him. That's what the series does so well and what I'm here for. I remember thinking early on that Saitama felt like my spirit animal. If someone dropped these unimaginable cosmic powers into my lap, I'm pretty sure my reaction would also be, "Cool. Wonder what's on sale at the supermarket this week?" If the manga really pivots away from that and towards a bunch of random characters endlessly fighting each other, then that's immensely disappointing, because I've seen more than enough crappy shounen do the same. It sounds like the creative team doesn't entirely understand what drew people to the series in the first place. And like, if I want to watch a story that actually delves into the mechanics and ethics of a society of superpowered heroes, MHA already has that covered. All I need from OPM is to watch Saitama eviscerate some hulking eldritch abominations without even trying, and then try to snag a good deal on stew beef. Throw in some Best Boy Mumen Rider occasionally, and I'm set.
The spectacular animation was certainly a huge part of the first season's appeal, but I think it was more than that. The first season did a brilliant job of using that animation in conjunction with the parody to highlight the absurdity of it all. Think about that sparring match between Saitama and Genos, this whole insane action setpiece that's mostly used to set up Saitama completely outmaneuvering Genos and tapping him on the shoulder to say hi. Or any of the times Saitama accidentally obliterates a giant enemy in a lavish shower of limbs and guts and is disappointed afterwards because it was too easy. About the only no-holds-barred played-straight fight in the entire season was the finale, one of the greatest animated fights I have ever seen, and that was more of a proper capstone reward than anything else. For my money the biggest problem with season 2 was that it didn't have either aspect of the series working right. Yes, the animation and visuals looked like ass compared to season 1, but just as bad was the fact that Saitama felt sidelined for a good chunk of the season in favor of other characters that weren't nearly as interesting. Like I'm sorry, but I didn't find Garou to be remotely compelling as a character, and it felt like we spent way too much time with him and not nearly enough engaging in Saitama shenanigans. And it sounds like this balance gets even worse going forward. |
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malvarez1
Posts: 3042 |
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It doesn’t bother me as much as it does in Kaiju No. 8, but I do absolutely think that knowing that Saitama could end all of this if he just bothered to do anything does hurt tension, but I think this was always going to be the inevitable result.
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Greed1914
 Posts: 5381 |
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I'd say that comment in the review of episode 3 about something in 2025 moving so slowly is the result of the series becoming the thing it was parodying. You can only stretch a joke centered around knowing the MC is going to win so far, and the options then are to end it or inject some stakes by trying to make you care about the other characters. Of course, that can come up as slow and dull because it's happening kind of out of order, and there is still the core joke of, "Saitama is just going to show up and win."
Now, I think OPM is stuck in an awkward state where it wobbles between two lanes of being a comedy about shonen tropes and self-serious story that uses those tropes. |
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tintor2
Posts: 2725 |
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There is a strange atmosphere in the series when we have Saitama and pals joking about the restaurant and then we suddenly move to two imprisoned children who have nothing to do other than be afraid. The animation had notable issues especially the Big white hakama of a ninja when kicking which feels weird for a cour
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tintor2
Posts: 2725 |
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Is Saitama really the main character? He is ridiculously inactive while none other than Garou stole the show by saving the kid from the monsters
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smurky turkey
Posts: 5127 |
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The problem/feature is that Saitama can solve every situation with a single punch, thus there being more focus on the fights that the other heroes are experiencing.
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