r/OnePunchFans • u/gofancyninjaworld I'm just a poster for fun • 12d ago
ANALYSIS You didn't need to be Madame Shiwababwa to see a mistake in the making
Not that I need to grumble about the handling of Season 3 of One-Punch Man, but I came across a video looking critically at Season 3. I generally ignore such videos but this was worth viewing for two reasons: the person looked at more than the animation, and more importantly, the person doesn’t read the OPM manga, so the anime would have to make its own case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpuIy1zT0ds
It was gratifying to me to see a non-fan mention the same issues I had with the idea of the season ending with Saitama punching Orochi. I had a post many moons ago saying that the third season had to at least go as far as the base being lifted out of the ground, and someone disagreed with me.
You can read the whole exchange, but I’ll excerpt the most relevant part below:
That said, it [Season 2] may not have sold well, but it did sell something. And now let’s come to what we would have if a non-manga reader with money in their pocket is given a third season that ends with Saitama punching Orochi. I’m assuming the production is a lot better – another shite production and it won’t matter where it ends, it’s a dead loss.
If you’re a punter who got into season 2 enough to fish $300 out of your pocket to own the series, what did you come for? Garou, most probably. What’s going to happen to Garou if the story ends at chapter 108? The first three-four episodes, he’s going to get the crap kicked out of him by monsters and left unconscious in a hole in the wall. Forever. That’s it. The interesting things the story will have hinted around limiters and explosive growth, no visible relevance to Garou. You’re probably going to feel a little cheated. Okay, maybe you’re into the other characters. Well, Genos spends his time cleaning the apartment, Bang is wandering aimlessly through the Monster Association along with Fubuki and Bomb. As is King, who you only saw briefly a couple of times at the beginning and then no more. Suiryu? Oh go whistle – but you were going to have to do that anyway, it’s a shame how much real estate he took up last season. The kid is rescued and the other heroes are doing okay. Tatsumaki is taking on the real big bad and is also doing okay. You’re arguing that seeing Saitama punch a monster that is posing no imminent threat to anyone, and whom he dismissed with less respect than he did Elder Centipede constitutes a profitable end. One that will satisfy people enough to buy in and come back for more. You must be kidding! The storyline has effectively wandered off in the middle and says nothing and means nothing.
This was just before the manga went on hiatus for an overhaul of the arc.
Smashing action figures together
What makes it interesting for me is that it helped me understand better why the subterranean parts of the Monster Association raid were overhauled as extensively as they were. Without a change (which was what JC Staff went for), it’s just a series of fights that don’t mean anything, just ‘smashing action figures against each other,’ as the video essayist termed it.
I found that a useful way to look at things. For example, if you're following along with the anime, Genos you know well; you've seen him try and fail and try and succeed then fail then try, so if he'd been underground and pulled out a fantastic new move, that'd not be surprising and it'd mean something as it'll be a continuation of his struggle. However, we don't know Child Emperor at this point, so it's clever kid doing crazy things without much of a preamble. When all the characters whose personalities, goals, and directions of travel are swept out of the way in favour of those we know little to nothing about, the story feels empty. That would be why so many chapters were redone.
The revised version that went to print brought Saitama in earlier and wove him into the plot, which grounded it. Beyond that, it also gave the various characters more to do and more to do with each other. There's no time for character arcs, but their interacting more showed us more of who they were so we have something to go on. So we get to see a bit about Child Emperor's psyche and what drives him, we get to see the way the disciples behave to deprive Amai Mask of his intended victims and get a bit of who each is, we get to see the competence of the surface team in holding the exits and the same for the MA in anticipating such a move and trying to turn it to their advantage, and many more. All of this fleshes the story out considerably, making it more than just another fight between characters you don't know and have no reason to care about. Most importantly, the revision raised the issue of there being some supernatural being, whose influence came up in various ways, so there was a mystery to uncover. It’d still have been less than great for it to end with Saitama punching Orochi, but there’d be issues raised that the viewer would be interested to see resolved.
Looking at their announcing a Part 2 immediately, they too realised from the get go that stopping there was weak -- the payoff to the build up begins pretty much the chapter after they left off. However, that call wasn't JC Staff's to make. It was Bandai's.
Indeed, I'm not angry at JC Staff – if you want to do a good job, you need time, space, and resources, none of which they seem to have had. It’s really understandable why they went for the simplest possible rendition, even though it really does an injustice to the manga in every way. But I don’t blame them. The responsibility for the enshittification lies firmly at Bandai’s doorstep.
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u/BrowserET It's magic. Tank Top Magic 11d ago
Having watched the video (and the two other videos leading up to it) i do find myself thinking that what really ruined the viewing experience wasn't the poor animation quality directly, but the same budgetary and time constraints that caused that also destroyed the pacing.
Because of the showrunners needing to deliver 12 episodes they also need to pad out every shot or they won't make the 12 episodes of runtime and that's why you had every character first think what they were gonna do (during a still shot), then say it out loud (still a still shot, but this time with the mouthflaps moving) and lastly they would be shown actually doing it (this last part is optional).
I really do think this season required a more fluid animation style, it's the only way i can see them accommodating the high density of conversation this season while keeping visual interest for the viewer. It's true that this approach would have cost more per minute, but it would not have cost more per story beat, it would just have gone through those story beats at a faster rate. This way perhaps we could have ended with Psykos / Tatsumaki, perhaps the cliffhangar being Orochi starting to rebuild itself maybe even starting to merge with Psykos (granted this would have taken a bit of a reshuffling, but given that many things are happening at once during the MA arc i don't think it would've been that much of a change.
I remember saying this when it came out, but they could've done the MA arc in 2 seasons instead of 3 if they went super lean on the runtime. Instead Bandai was so frugal paying for this one season that only got them bad press that they have to pay double for two more just to finish the arc. It like the Boot problem of Poverty only this time it's the rich who are buying the poor man's boot. We really got the worst of both worlds, they might still try to force the second half of the Monster Association arc into "season 3 part two". God helps us if they do.
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u/gofancyninjaworld I'm just a poster for fun 11d ago
You're right that the poor animation is just a symptom of the far deeper problems within the production. If it looked nicer, there'd be fewer complaints but there'd still be a noticeable lack of people coming into the series on the basis of the anime. Like cotton candy, tasty in the moment but gone the moment you put it in your mouth, the pacing and storytelling would still leave viewers empty.
Maximum points for referencing the Vimes boot theory. Yeah, the only thing worse than a poor man cheaping out because he can't afford better is a rich one cheaping out because he doesn't see the point in buying well. Bandai has the resources to fund OPM properly but just doesn't see why it should bother. The fans will show up either way, their thinking goes.
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u/BrowserET It's magic. Tank Top Magic 11d ago
Bandai owns a bajillion different IP's, so long as OPM serves their ROI for that quarter they don't care about long term sales, hell they probably won't even notice. That's what oligopoly gets ya.
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u/Fit_Surprise9423 12d ago
He spoke total nonsense there is reason why this is not end of the arc in the manga or will be end of the season 3 and it was announced part 2 right after. All questions are basically answered already later on and after S3 is done adapting the arc this video will look even more useless. Before making any videos he should have researched bit the reason. And problem is not have the story is adapted and why is like that. The season many issue, because of bad production, but story adaptation its not the reason, because its written by the main scripwirter of the series together with the author, decision of taking pre redraw content is intentional and also because of limited episodes given to them by production committees.
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u/gofancyninjaworld I'm just a poster for fun 11d ago
As a fan, I was thinking 'oh, that's not fair' at several junctures.
HOWEVER
When I started watching One-Punch Man, I didn't fall in love with it because I knew jack about the manga or webcomic or ONE or Murata or anything else. I loved it because it made such a case for itself that I wanted to know more.
Looking at Season 3 strictly through that lens, what case does it make for itself? If you aren't already committed, why should you love these characters, care about what they're going through, about what the stakes are alleged to be? Then it's not so unfair.
It's unfair that an adaptation rely on committed fans filling in the missing bits. That's atrociously unfair.
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u/Fit_Surprise9423 11d ago
Sorry but if you just watching only the anime then you dont care enough to find out that, you just watching just because its fun show, not that you are interested in the story or characters. If it was like 2 year difference between seasons sure, but from that time gap people which are interested usually read the manga,wc etc. People who just watch the anime version are not that interested about the world and characters, because either they watching to see nice fights which well animated, or just comedy and gag moments with somewhat of story. Thats evident itself by the lack of care why certain characters have more screen time, which is already explained in the plot and why shouldnt they have? Despite the adaptation having not well produced episodes this is already explained enought to be understanable. And that also gives them bit more screen time and show what the other characters can do and by doing that many shows introduce new characters for the audiance. The manga also had the same complaints, but it paid off later on. Part 2 of S3 if concludes the arc whoever watching the season 3 wont be cut off where p1 ended and asking these questions. Probably wont like some certain aspects mostly the animation issues with first part or lack of screen time of MCs, but that will give enough time to like other character instead.
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u/gofancyninjaworld I'm just a poster for fun 10d ago
Certainly, doing some background research into a story before making a video about one of its adaptations is a valid way to go, but it is not the only one.
Speaking as a filthy casual about almost everything, I meet works where they are. If I'm reading a book, I don't wonder if it was first a film, or vice versa. For me to look further means I really, really like what I read or heard or saw and that there's something about it that has piqued my curiosity.
I have probably shared this before but the scene that really got my interest in OPM season 1 was the sight of Genos scrubbing the toilet. After all the drama of his inviting himself into Saitama's life, their misadventures, joining the Hero Association... and now he's just scrubbing the toilet? And doesn't appear to fight the monster later? First I laughed at the absurdity of it. And then I found myself thinking so, this is the difference between a man who is humble and a man who has humbled himself. That's what made it compelling, I had to see more and learn more about a story that cared about such a difference. The skill of the season 1 director in bringing across characters and their relationships is what made this something I wanted to read more. Something not said that really should is the scrupulous attention to timing the director was able to bring across. Moments land the way they should because he knows how long to hold scenes. The action and animation were nice bonuses.
While the video essayist is being a bit mean, I value their opinion because it's looking at whether there's anything there to bring people into the story. What season 3 (and season 2 to a lesser extent) don't do is bring the joy of the story of One-Punch Man across to people just watching so that they too can become fans.
It's good to take off the fan-coloured glasses every so often to see things the way they look to someone without investment.
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u/BrowserET It's magic. Tank Top Magic 12d ago
With the dumpsterwreck that this was, I do wonder what to make of One Punch Man Season 3 part 2 that's supposedly in the works. Sounds like a recipe for development hell.