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One-Punch Man season 3 is finally here after a six-year wait, but some fans are not impressed with the first episode. The long-awaited new season premiered yesterday on Crunchyroll, and the reactions so far have been surprisingly divisive, with some fans complaining about the animation quality and lack of "fluidity" in the action.
"For an episode that had almost 0 breathing space... It was mostly still frames. I'm scared how they'll handle the fights," wrote one Reddit user in a discussion thread for episode 1, which evidenced the disparity in opinions so far.
"Here is to hoping they are saving here to invest heavily into the fights," replied a fan, with another adding that, "even if that were the case", there is "still no excuse with the wait time of six years" for the new season. "It feels like Blue Lock all over again. Very nice drawings, designs, coloring, but the actual animation just isn't there," said another user.
Not all reactions have been negative, however, with some viewers saying that the new episode already seems like an improvement from the previous season. "I think the best part so far is the visuals themselves, by that I mean drawings, lighting, color and general art. It's better than season 2 so far, let's hope the action is good later," commented a Reddit user.
Another argued that the first episode doesn't look bad at all, and it serves its purpose as an introduction to the new season.
"The frames did look really good. The colors, style, and small animations were good. And honestly there wasn't a whole lot this episode that need animating. Lots of exposition and lore dump, which makes sense since this is set right after the end of S2. I'm also happy with the voice acting, and the music was good too. If they put their time towards the fights, and keep the none fight stills up to par I think I'll be happy with this season," the fan wrote.
As we can infer from these first comments from fans, One-Punch Man desperately needs to prove itself after such a long wait and a middling second season. Will the rest of the season manage to impress audiences?
For more, check out our One-Punch Man season 3 release schedule to know when new episodes drop, and see our list for all the upcoming new anime in 2025, including Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End season 2.
