The Long-Awaited Return of One Punch Man
Season three of One Punch Man is finally here. I’m going to watch it right now. But before that, I’ve discovered it’s not good. There’s a lot of abuse. They’ve put up steel frames and made a slideshow. One Frame Man. But looking at this thumbnail photo of Garo, it looks okay.
It’s available for free on YouTube, and then they’ve done the same with the release. First, they made us wait for 5, 6, 7, or who knows how many years. Then they announced October 4th. When the October 4th date came, they found out it was a recap episode. Wait another week.
I mean, they wanted us to wait as long as possible to show it to people. That’s not the case. I’m recording this before-and-after video so you know what I’ll be like before watching episode one of One Punch Man Season 3 and now that I’m about to watch it.
Before and After Watching Episode 1
I’ve watched the episode, and first of all, my hair in the intro looks fine. First of all, the first shot of the intro is so Satoma-esque. Addressing the elephant in the room, the only Saku moment in the entire episode where the animation flows so smoothly that you think, “Oh my god, what a masterpiece they’ve created!” is right at the beginning of this video.
The opening shot of the intro of the series, the one where Satama is pulling his hand like that. Seeing that, I thought, “Oh my god, have they gone all out this time?” Then I realised, for a second, something was wrong. Something was wrong. I went and investigated to find out what was wrong, and it was the exact same shot shown at the end of season two.
Satama pulls off a move to kill the Joint Centerpit, which I think was the only Saku shot in season two. They’ve used the same exact Satama animation again. With the colours changed and the compositing changed. That’s it. In the name of animation.
Animation Quality and Visuals
In the rest of the episodes, they’re mostly just still frames. They’re definitely not as bad as Blue Lock. But I’m watching a good, high-quality, well-made show. The bare minimum requirement for such an idea is that your characters should move slightly like real human beings, not cardboard cutouts. Something like that should be visible. Nothing like that was visible.
With that, ladies and gentlemen, report back to me. I’m a little happy that at least this time the lines and colours look good. Yes, a little. It’s oversaturated. If I were to show you just one frame, take a screenshot, you’d think, “Oh, it looks good.” But the point is, it’s just a single frame of animation.
Consequently, expectations for the upcoming episodes of Season 3 have been significantly lowered, which they already were. They won’t be able to do the manga justice. Absolutely 100% guaranteed, because the manga is outside of this frame.
Adapting the Manga: Missed Opportunities
But now you’re changing the medium. Moving from manga to animation, you have unique strengths that you can use to create a different experience. If you’d invested a lot of time and passion in making this, trying to capture the magic of Season 1, it could have been a truly special product.
But after watching the first episode, it doesn’t seem like we’ll go that far. Some people might say, “It’s just the first episode.” In this, most of the characters were talking. That’s why the still frames are used.
When the action comes, yes, I can say that it’s definitely possible that they saved their main animation budget for the action. It’s going to be very demanding, man. I’ve read the manga, and everything that’s going to happen in it is a huge disaster. They’ve been building from season two. The entire monster arc, and if they’ve smartly saved their animation budget there, they’ll get some payoff.
I just hope it’s good enough.
Comparing with Other Well-Made Shows
Because when it comes to the argument that still frames are inserted because people are just talking. So, if I were to give you an example of a very well-made show, say, Let’s Free Rain, you’ll notice that even if the characters are talking, the camera angles and their slight body movements make it seem like they exist in a real 3D space.
There’s no budget cut anywhere, so we can squeeze an entire dialogue into a single frame. No, it feels cinematic. I just rewatched the One Piece fanfic. It has this in it too. And that’s the difference.
Even if two characters are talking throughout the episode, this is what makes the difference: a very well-made, absolutely brilliant Anne and a person who was somehow removed.
Final Thoughts and Sign-Off
So, episode number one: Badal Yadav reporting live from the beach. As you can see, I came here to post about Ernagar. Yes. I’m going to attack.
But tell me if you’ve seen episode number one, and then let’s see. The story is amazing, brother. Can the animation hold up?
Shoutout to the members. Please like the blog. I’m working so hard. I have to make videos even during holidays. See you next time. Take care of your health. Bye-bye.