One Punch Man Season 3
“A Disastrous Fall From Glory”
Do you know the happiness that comes with finding out that one of your favorite Manga or Light Novel series is getting an Anime adaptation, and said work actually turns out to be good? Whether it surpasses the original material or not, getting that solid transition into the little screen feels excellent, and you can’t wait for me. When the anime receives a renewal for a second season, the fear of potential missteps lingers. Still, when the sequel is exceptional, you experience a sense of unwavering success. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all series, no matter how successful they were, and that is precisely why the fall hits so hard, especially when the source material keeps reaching newer heights…
“One Punch Man Season 3,” or simply “OPM 3,” is a 12-episode TV anime series that aired from the 12th of October until the 28th of December in Fall 2025. It was produced by TV Tokyo, Lantis, Magic Capsule, Good Smile Company, Shueisha, JR East Marketing & Communications, Bandai Spirits, ADK Marketing Solutions, Bandai Namco Filmworks, and Bandai Namco Music Live, and brought to life by the fairly reliable Studio J.C.Staff, who have done more than enough justice to beloved series like “Toradora!”, “Shokugeki no Souma,” “DanMachi,” “Kaichou wa Maid-sama!”, “Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan,” “KonoSuba,” and “Prison School” in the past. This time around, the main staff includes Matsui Chinatsu, Kawamura Takayuki, Fujishiro Atsushi, and Ooishi Junko as producers. OPM 3 targets the Seinen demographic and features the Action and Comedy genres, along with the themes of Adult Cast, Parody, and superpowers. It earned an R-17+ rating for its violence and profanity, is best suited for adult audiences, and has a runtime of 24 minutes.
The Anime is based on the original “One Punch-Man” Manga, which began publication on the 14th of June 2012, and is still ongoing. It is the work of genius author and artist Murata Yusuke and is serialized in Tonari no Young Jump. It is actually a remake of the original webcomic by ONE, and the Manga was nominated for the 7th annual Manga Taishou Award in 2024, landing 7th place in the final rankings. The direct prequel anime series "One Punch Man Season 2" was also produced by Studio J.C. The staff adapted chapters 38–84 of the manga, receiving positive feedback. Meanwhile, the first anime, "One Punch Man" by Studio Madhouse, which adapted the first seven volumes of the manga, was a huge success and set a high standard for its successors.
The story picks up from where Season 2 left off, with protagonist Saitama having unknowingly gathered several powerful and influential people to his side. Regardless, he remains the same airheaded MC, more concerned with everyday life’s tribulations than with the challenges of being a Hero in a world full of extraordinary battles. While his unmatched powers are only known to those close to him, the Monster Association continues to grow in the shadows while posing an unignorable threat to the Hero Association and the public in general. Meanwhile, the Monsters relentlessly attempt to transform the (human co-protagonist?) Garou into a Monster, subjecting him to bullying from both sides of the conflict. He honestly felt like the primary focus this season, as we saw his humanity shine in the toughest of situations, even though he reaped zero rewards. We also get to know many other Heroes pitted against a myriad of monsters, each offering a fresh perspective on what life is really like in this unorthodox and chaotic world.
One Punch Man became a beloved series for its awesome fights and character-centric stories. The overarching narrative is almost nonexistent in my eyes, where it’s more or less about the continued struggle between humans and monsters and the politics governing it all in this supernatural world. Meanwhile, the standalone mini-stories and background stories about most of the Heroes, a few monsters, and those in-between stood out to me as heartfelt works that reached depths worthy of praise in such a battle-oriented series. A fine example of this was Mumen Rider, a human with no special powers who stood up against evil even when he had no chance of winning. This hero wasn't concerned about politics and became a catalyst for meaningful change. This season’s equivalent would be Garou, a human “Hero Killer” who sympathized with the monsters, only to be thrown down a dangerous path despite bearing no ill will towards innocent humans. The narrative of this season revolved around Garou's continued descent into this hellscape, despite his inherent goodness, and the intense conflict between the Heroes and Monsters on the surface. However, both the story and the character arcs are undermined by poor execution and presentation, which is sufficient to ruin the entire season.
This season's only redeeming aspect is the deeper exploration of Heroes, previously only known by their titles. Characters like Atomic Samurai, Metal Knight, Zombieman, Flashy Flash, and Child Emperor got more screentime, and it was clear that each of them embodies very different powers, personalities, and principles even as they work towards a common goal. They all deserve their S-Rank status, and this season had some great fights from each of them, but sadly, the animation is nonexistent, so we’re just left with utter disappointment. Garou hogs most of the screentime, getting beaten up by heroes, monsters, and society alike; the poor guy cannot seem to catch a break as the mastermind behind the Monsters, Gyoro Gyoro, keeps pushing him to the brink to enhance his “monsterification.” Saitama's role was limited to delivering a few punches, while Genos' presence was merely incidental. Fubuki gets more screentime but accomplishes nothing, serving primarily as fan service.
Two kids made this season annoying for me, though: Waganma and Tareo. The Monster Association kidnaps the son of a Hero Association bigwig, initiating a series of events. He demonstrates his selfishness and arrogance, leading me to question why anyone would mobilize to save him. The attack on Garou drags the latter, a random kid fascinated by monsters, into the chaos. This individual at least functions as a conduit for Garou to demonstrate his humanity, yet he spends the entire season openly weeping and consistently obstructing others. The rest are not worth mentioning, with the females just there for fan service, and certain male characters follow suit.
The Art and Animation department singlehandedly destroys this entire season. OPM, at its core, is about incredible battles between bigger-than-life characters on a universal scale, and when you mess that aspect up, you’re ruining the whole show. They call this season “One Slide Man” for an excellent reason: there is barely any movement, and they keep coming up with new ways NOT to show us the fight. We are stuck looking at badly drawn still frames most of the time, and they won’t even bother to draw simple movements like walking, which is why we have the “Garou sliding” meme. The only time the artwork looks even serviceable is when they hyper-fixate on a non-moving female character for fanservice, exaggerating her assets.
The character designs are accurate to the manga but lack the original's detail, color, and charm. Everything from the line art to the coloring is lazy, with zero effort put into anything, almost like not even one person in the production team had a drop of passion for this entire project. The Monsters all look like unmoving ugly slop that’s irritating to the eye, set upon backgrounds of even lower effort. The visuals are so bad that you'll wonder how this season was approved.
The Sounds and Music department is mediocre at best; you won’t even notice it. The Opening theme, "Get No Satisfied!" by JAM Project feat.BABYMETAL is skippable after one viewing, and the visuals are just as awful. It tries to build a sense of danger and urgency, which is accurate for the source arc it represents, but the visuals and presentation ruin it all. The Ending theme is "Soko ni Aru Akari" by Makoto Furukawa, which is also so forgettable that I didn’t even bother to watch the whole sequence once. OSTs try to elevate the stakes and battles but achieve nothing with their ever-generic patterns, and frankly, I cannot remember a single one. Voice Acting is okay; there was nothing wrong with it in isolation, but everything else is working against it, and I felt bad for the cast as well.
Overall, “One Punch Man Season 3” is a complete and utter disappointing anime adaptation, which is an insult to the source material, which is full of epic fights and soul put into it by its sole creator. Did they genuinely believe that everyone would watch this season regardless and therefore chose to allocate minimal resources? This season is a waste of your time; reading the complete and masterful manga is a better option. My disappointment in Season 3 is immeasurable.
