One Punch Man Season 3 Will Fail Unless It Learns From Sakamoto Days
Very few anime have managed to get back up after witnessing a downfall as triumphantly as Sakamoto Days. The makers served one of the most disappointing first cours, which received a huge backlash from ardent fans for messing up a good shonen franchise with a bright future. However, instead of ignoring the criticisms, TMS Entertainment responded with an even better second part, where things significantly improved.
This is an example that One-Punch Man should follow and try their best to reform the bad reputation they have gathered from their second season. The makers of Season 3 should understand the hype surrounding the release of a new season after such a long time and present a product that does justice to the legacy of One-Punch Man. They must change their ways, as it is the only way to save the upcoming anime, especially since the promotional material does not inspire much confidence.
Sakamoto Days Had a Bad Start, But an Even Better Recovery
When the first cour of Sakamoto Days aired in January 2025, it came with lots of expectations from fans who had high hopes for the very popular franchise. The manga has every element that can hook the audience, from featuring funny gags to introducing intense action set pieces. Its premise is also very unique, where the retirement days of an ex-assassin, Taro Sakamoto, are explored. He now wishes to live a peaceful life with his family, but his past colleagues refuse to let him be. Even after having all these ingredients for a successful anime, the first cour failed to impress many.
There were some visible issues with the adaptation, and that resulted in a lackluster end product. The source material of Sakamoto Days has a brilliant art style that depicts high-octane action sequences masterfully, but in anime, that fluidity or quality did not materialize. Here, the fights were not sharp enough, and the movements felt stiff, as not many panels were being used for the animation. But that was not all — the visuals themselves were not great as a whole.
The animators used a color palette that made the entire animation look outdated and washed out. It also came with a grainy filter, which did not match the overall modern setup and made everything look shabby. For a promising shonen anime, this was definitely not the right step to take, and TMS Entertainment rectified this to a great extent in the second cour.
There were also major pacing issues in the first cour where comedy received more importance than the action, and that element gets corrected in the next cour. Even the animation of Sakamoto Days witnessed improvement, and Episode 17, where Shin and Mafuyu fight, proves just that. This is a great lesson for One-Punch Man to learn from because it, too, is in a slump right now due to its messy production situation.
There Is Much Mystery & Concern Regarding One-Punch Man Season 3
Fans are genuinely worried about the third season of One-Punch Man, and there are grounds for this. There have been very limited promotional activities from the studio of this upcoming anime, even though the first episode is supposed to air on Oct. 12, 2025. This is concerning because it showcases that the makers might not be confident enough in their craft to go all-out on their publicity.
Till now, the only things released are a bunch of basic visuals of multiple characters presented against solid, flat backgrounds. Apart from these, the makers have also dropped a trailer and some promotional videos for season three, but fans have largely found them underwhelming. The trailer looks good, but it has very little actual movement, with mostly static shots, which makes it hard to be confident about how the series will ultimately turn out.
One-Punch Man already stumbled once when its second season lost quality following the studio change from Madhouse to J.C.Staff. This time, a new director, Nagai Shinpei, will handle the direction, but he has little experience with action anime. While this obviously does not mean that the adaptation will be bad, and only time will tell how things will go, the uncertainty remains in the air. The makers must avoid repeating the mistakes of Season 2, and Season 3 needs to prove it can rise above low expectations by at least providing a decent viewing experience.
One-Punch Man Season 3 will showcase one of the best arcs of the franchise, where Saitama will face off against Garou, a moment everyone has been waiting for. This part of the story is gloriously drawn, and it needs the production team’s full attention, who must aim for nothing less than matching the manga’s brilliance. It is not an impossible task, and fans are not asking for much. Sakamoto Days has already shown that a comeback is possible after a rough start, and One-Punch Man can do the same.
