One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 3 Impressions

Three episodes into One Punch Man Season 3, I keep asking why a shonen anime is spending so much time treading water. The first season earned its reputation by trimming the bloat that weighed down a lot of its peers, stringing together one great fight after another with sharp comedy in between. This stretch is missing that energy.

In terms of actual story, not much happens. Garou takes another beating, and the bullied kid with the heavy eyebrows is kidnapped and ends up at the monsters’ base. Almost everything else plays like filler, which is not a great sign this early if the team is already stalling for time.

A few stretches stand out as padding. There is a fairly flat showdown between two monster ninjas who mostly hype themselves up, and a lot of time spent on the Dragon class monsters of the Monster Association. Zombieman’s visit to Dr. Genus and the remains of the House of Evolution is clearly meant to set up the looming Heroes versus Monsters clash and explain where both sides come from.

It is hard not to compare that to season one, where the same House of Evolution material was far livelier. Back then Saitama got jumped by a whole villainous group, knocked them out in the wrong order to great comic effect, and finished off a boss with a memorable Evangelion Unit 01 inspired design. Season three is doing less with more room and weaker execution, and Saitama himself feels a little flattened into a single note.

My other worry is the action. If the fights keep resembling Demon Slayer style spectacle with looped animation and a shaky sense of space, I am not sure I even want to see Saitama in the middle of it. Unless you are a die hard Garou fan, there is not much to grab onto this week, and I am quietly hoping the plot finally takes off next time. The season is streaming on Crunchyroll.

My take: I still believe in One Punch Man, but season three needs to remember what made it special. Give me momentum and a real joke or two, and I will happily come back around.