Now that we know One-Punch Man Season 3 will premiere in October of this year, J.C. Staff is back to releasing visuals for the anime. Following the multi-month long hero visual project, which saw hero character illustrations released monthly, J.C. Staff has now turned its attention to the monsters of the series.
This week, the studio kicked off its new "Monster" focused visual project. Two new monster visuals were shared on social media.
The first release was a visual of Monster King Orochi, illustrated by Season 3 character designer Ryosuke Shirakawa.
The second visual gives us a look at Gyoro-Gyoro. The original drawing is from fellow character designer Shinjiro Kuroda.
Comments were disabled on both posts, likely to avoid the backlash or negative response we're already seeing on Reddit. Most fans of the manga are disappointed with the look of Monster King Orochi, who is nowhere near as menacing-looking as he is in the source material.
Lackluster character visuals, a disappointing character-focused promo video, and the fact that we still haven't seen a proper trailer for Season 3 hasn't instilled much confidence for One-Punch Man fans. Many fans of the manga are understandably concerned that even with the extended production time between seasons two and three, the series will continue to suffer from the same issues.
The One-Punch Man TV anime first debuted back in 2015. Produced by Madhouse, the first season received critical acclaim. It was praised for its animation, humor, characters, and overall uniqueness.
With Season 2, production shifted to J.C. Staff. The second season, which was broadcast in 2019, received mixed reviews. Although the characters and story were still praised, there was a noticeable dip in the quality of animation as well as the overall direction and pacing. The drop in quality has been attributed to the incredibly rushed production schedule.
But it's been six years since the second season, and it seems that these same issues persist. Of course, we'll get a better idea of the animation quality once an actual trailer is released. And that's also a big problem right now; fans have not seen an actual trailer for One-Punch Man Season 3. Instead, we are getting static character visuals. Even the promo videos that have been released so far have barely been animated. The concern is at least a little warranted, no doubt.
Many of us were hoping to see a proper trailer at AnimeJapan last month, but unfortunately, there were no major announcements. So to recape, we still don't know exactly when One-Punch Man Season 3 will debut and we still don't know when we'll see an actual trailer.
Are you concerned about the quality of One-Punch Man Season 3 so far or are you reserving judgment until you see the first trailer?