After a six-year wait and middling second season, ​​One-Punch Man desperately needs to prove itself again

After a multi-year hiatus, the One Punch Man anime series is back for its third season, adapting the best-selling manga series by One. The story follows aspiring superhero Saitama, who has grown so absurdly powerful that he can fell even the mightiest monsters with just a single punch. This long-delayed season comes at a pivotal moment for the franchise, which was once one of the most popular anime titles worldwide during the initial broadcast of its first two seasons.

The loss of momentum also comes following the widespread perception that the second season of One-Punch Man was significantly weaker than its first, failing to live up to fan expectations. With all of that in mind, there is a lot riding on One-Punch Man season 3, both in terms of reigniting fan interest in a once-beloved anime property that’s been dormant for years, and to dispel any concerns about its quality. Here’s why One-Punch Man is in a precariously make-or-break position as it heads into season 3.

A sophomore slump

Though One-Punch Man might seem like a one-note action comedy premise, its first season found entertaining and hilarious ways to showcase Saitama’s overpowered gimmick that never seemed stale. Perhaps in an effort to keep things fresh, Saitama doesn’t figure as prominently in the second season, or at least figure as directly into its primary conflict. Instead, the biggest narrative thread running through the second season fell on the antagonistic Garou, a self-proclaimed hero hunter who wants to reject his human nature and become a monster.

Throughout the entire second season, Saitama was instead focused on seeing if he fit into the world of martial arts, only ever encountering Garou a handful of times and, even then, in passing as the butt of a joke. That meant the biggest action set pieces for the season primarily fell on Garou hunting various heroes, certainly bringing the villainous menace, but rarely the humor that One-Punch Man was known for. Simply put, Saitama’s decreased role was acutely felt by audiences, and that wasn’t something that sat particularly well with the fans.

This isn’t to say the Garou storyline was poorly conceived or executed, serving as a solid adaptation of the manga source material. But the whole season felt like it was spinning its wheels narratively, biding its time until the Hero Association uniting the world’s superheroes went to war against Garou and the Monster Association, inevitably drawing Saitama back into the fold. Worst still, that satisfying culmination was never provided by the second season, with the season ending with Saitama defeating the ancillary enemy Elder Centipede while Garou is taken to the Monster Association.

A prolonged absence

What makes that lack of meaningful conclusion all the more glaringly noticeable is the fact that One-Punch Man Season 3 comes over six years after its preceding season concluded. Multi-year gaps between television seasons are becoming an industry standard, for both animation and live-action, but a six-year gap is a particularly lengthy one, even after accounting for this. The primary reason attributed to this delay was a lack of manga material to adapt for a third season, given similar delays in the publication of new One-Punch Man manga chapters.

What a lot of other anime properties do to help fans deal with the wait between seasons and keep the franchises relatively fresh in the audience’s mind is to produce canonical anime movies. My Hero Academia has been employing this strategy successfully for years, while Demon Slayer has done this to record-breaking box office earnings with the release of 2025’s Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle. Outside of original shorts included with its home video release, One-Punch Man has not replicated this strategy.

This may seem obvious, but fans are hungry to see the next chapter in a beloved story, be it a new season or a full-on feature film. One-Punch Man runs the risk of keeping its audience on the hook too long for a conclusion, with plenty of other shows within similar genres filling the void it left behind for six years. Coming back after all this time, there’s a decent chance that One-Punch Man viewers have since moved on to more consistently released titles rather than holding out for Saitama’s return.

The most epic One-Punch Man yet

Fortunately, at least judging by the manga source material and trailers and promos released for it, One-Punch Man season 3 is shaping up to be its most ambitious season yet. The Hero Association finally goes to war against the Monster Association, with its most recognizable heroes putting each of their distinct powers and abilities to monster-slaying use. Most excitingly, Saitama is now fully aware of what Garou has been up to in targeting his colleagues and is annoyed that he was ignored by the hero hunter, setting out to confront Garou personally and stop him once and for all.

This setup delivers on the long-standing promise of Season 2, but one does fear if it’s all too little, too late. The anime industry has come a long way and introduced plenty of new fan-favorite titles since One-Punch Man is poised to make its big return to television. In coming back, One-Punch Man has to re-earn its relevance in an increasingly crowded anime landscape while dispelling any notions that the show was on the decline after its second season. But if there’s anyone who can effortlessly triumph over long odds, it’s Saitama – that’s his entire schtick. Here’s to hoping that distinction spreads to the anime show built around him.

One-Punch Man Season 3 premieres October 12 on Hulu in the United States and on Crunchyroll in the UK. For more, check out the hottest new anime heading your way for the rest of the year.