One Punch Man Season 3

Episode 9

Episode nine One Punch Man is the first wholly good episode of this third season. Nothing else so far from season three has even come close to the combination of animation, writing, and sheer creative joy displayed in this episode. Make no mistake, season three is still but an echo of what made the first season of the show one of the best works in the medium of animation, but it's still nice to see that One Punch Man has at least a little bit of magic left in it.

This episode focuses entirely on the fight between Child Emperor (whose name is a pun on the phrase “male virgin” in Japanese) and Phoenix Man, a man who used to work as a mascot on a children's show, only to become a monster by continuing to wear his costume after he was fired. I am so glad One Punch Man has all but completely ditched the idea of 'monster cells' being the mechanism through which people turn into monsters. Having obsession and malcontent be the driver of this change works so much better thematically. Not only does this mechanism fit into the show's overarching themes of trying to find meaning and fulfillment in a society designed to break people down, but it also creates a great contrast between the two principal combatants. Even if it's fairly surface-level, I appreciate that the show establishes this as a fight between a man robbed of even the meager amount of success he's earned in life, and a wunderkind who has never known failure.

The fight between Child Emperor and Phoenix Man is nothing short of the best one we've seen all season. Beyond being competently animated with several action scenes that are both extremely legible and genuinely convey a sense of scale and intensity, the writing and pacing of this fight are on point. A genuine sense of dread and uncertainty emerges from Child Emperor having to use his entire arsenal against an enemy that wasn't even on his radar. The timer associated with his final weapon — a robot he pilots that looks like an oversized model toy — also adds a terrific sense of tension. There's even a phenomenal reference to the very first episode of the series in this fight, with the Monster Association HQ apparently being the former home of the subterraneans that Saitama defeated, which of course proves to be more of a hindrance to Child Emperor than they ever were to the titular One Punch Man.

The resolution to the spectacle of a battle being a minuscule robot meant to tickle a foe into submission is also a hilarious conclusion that was set up by Phoenix Man talking endlessly about his powers coming from the suit he wears! Even Saitama gets a good gag in this episode, with him encountering the monster ninjas (who were revived by Phoenix Man's powers) from the previous episode and assuming that the two naked men are simply random streakers. While this episode is much more in line with a typical shonen action series than the iteration on the genre that made the franchise so acclaimed, this is still the most fun I've had watching One Punch Man all season.

Season three has spent too much time farting around for it ever to be “great,” but it's nice to watch a good episode of One Punch Man after all of these years.

Rating:

---

When he's not doing 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10k run every day, Lucas DeRuyter is penning some kind of media or social critique. You can get updates on his hero ranking by following his Bluesky account, and keep up with his heroic exploits by checking out his portfolio. When he isn't bargain hunting, you can find him contributing to ANN's This Week in Anime column.

One Punch Man Season 3 is currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+ in the U.S., and Netflix and Crunchyroll in other regions.