The 3rd season of the anime One-Punch Man is falling short for many fans. Now, an animator is defending it and threatens that if viewers continue their criticism, there may soon be no more animators left.
What is the problem? The director of season 3 has already announced that the quality of this season will not match that of season 1. Season 2 was already criticized for the same reason.
However, the animations are said to be even worse than feared. Many fans reported that they would quit the anime starting from episode 5. Episode 6 has become a real low point: On IMDb, the episode is rated only 1.4 out of 10 stars. There are several examples on Reddit explaining why:
- A character’s hairstyle appears to have been directly taken from the manga panel, where the hair was cut off at the top edge (see Reddit).
- Mizuki has 6 fingers in one scene, which was also pointed out on Reddit.
Specifically for this episode, more than twice the number of ratings were submitted compared to any other episode. For comparison: Episode 5 received ratings from 7,272 people, while episode 6 had 18,511.
Now, one of the animators is speaking out on BlueSky. He threatens that this immense criticism could have consequences.
Fans are watching illegally and animators are leaving the industry
How does the animator defend himself? Takashi Hashimoto is a legendary animator. He has worked on animes such as Attack on Titan, Bleach, and Ghost in the Shell, but also on One-Punch Man. He defends the team’s work as follows:
One-Punch Man, well, the criticism from overseas viewers who watch illegally is absolutely overwhelming. The production team must feel terribly hurt. We all share the sentiment that we do not try to produce subpar work, yet we are criticized for minor issues. Where should our motivation go? Let me clarify: In the coming weeks, something will be broadcast that we have poured our whole souls into. If it is called trash or paper theater, then so be it. But we have pushed ourselves to our absolute limits, so please think of the people behind the scenes. We are not doing this for nothing; it’s the work of all of us. The more you harass us, the more staff will disappear. That is certain.
On one hand, the animator accuses fans outside Japan of streaming the anime illegally. On the other hand, he threatens that many animators would leave the industry if such harsh criticism continues.
User mrstaffman is trying to calm the situation. He says that personal attacks are out of place, but valid criticism is necessary. The audience has invested time and money into the series and therefore has every right to express their dissatisfaction. That is no different than criticism of actors or video games.
He adds that you cannot silence criticism by putting the feelings of the creators in the foreground. However, the user also sees the fault with the top leadership and not with the animators.
Furthermore, the assumption that fans overseas are watching illegally is incorrect. Many viewers are now using legal streaming services, and it is problematic to ignore them.
A similar problem occurred with The Beginning After The End. For fans, the anime felt like a slideshow, as many still images were used. You can read the other criticism here: Fans hope that an anime adaptation will be as strong as Solo Leveling, viewers are already complaining: “I don’t want to watch a slideshow”
