The wait is finally over: The 3rd season of the One Punch Man anime will return soon. Since 2015, a lot has changed — and although the world has moved on, Saitama have continued to await the return of the most powerful bald hero in anime.
The new season is scheduled to premiere in 2025, marking ten years since the original release and six years after the controversial second season. The series, which became a global sensation with memes and GIFs of the iconic "OK," returns with confirmed streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu .
Why the delay in releasing One Punch Man?
Firstly, the success of One Punch Man was not easy to replicate. Shingo Natsume, the director in charge, assembled a team of high-level freelance animators from projects like Space Dandy . However, since this team was never officially part of Madhouse studio, it disappeared along with Natsume when he left for other productions.
Therefore, the change of studio to JC Staff in the 2nd season was the beginning of the problems. Although the studio delivered good titles like Toradora , it failed to maintain the technical level of One Punch Man, especially in the fights. The animation became stiffer, the sound effects lost their impact, and the fans, consequently, reacted with harsh criticism.
Natsume still wants to return to the franchise
As revealed at events, Natsume expressed interest in directing the 3rd season of One Punch Man, but was not called upon. Meanwhile, JC Staff is trying to recover after the unsuccessful 2nd season of the anime, facing an increasingly demanding audience and demotivated animators. In 2024, a promotional video made by a single artist generated even more outrage, being dubbed a "PowerPoint presentation".
Manga also suffers from perfectionism
In addition to the challenges in the anime, the manga is facing another drama: artist Yusuke Murata is constantly redrawing chapters. He even announced another hiatus until July 2025, claiming he needs to revise the Ninja Village arc for the third time. This creates instability and affects the anime's production, which depends on this content as a basis.
In short, the future of One Punch Man is still uncertain. However, fans remain hopeful of seeing a worthy return of the work that revolutionized the superhero genre.
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