Ahead of the release of the anticipated season three of One-Punch Man set for this year, fans of the series have grown concerned if the adaptation will do justice to the series. These reservations come as J.C. Staff has yet to make an official announcement of the complete staff for season 3, which has fans wondering if it’s possible for the original director, Shingo Natsume, to come back. Nonetheless, Natsume has already shared his experience and the reasons why he didn’t return for One-Punch Man season 2.

One-Punch Man was the most popular anime of 2015, which raised viewers’ expectations, who anticipated an equally detailed adaptation for its sequel. Yet, the second season was controversial due to its drop in animation quality. However, despite many fans believing that the original director chose to leave the project, Shingo Natsume has revealed that the decision to work on the sequel wasn't up to him.

One-Punch Man Season 1 Director Reveals Why He Didn’t Return to the Project

The Sequel Faced Production Problems Following the Change of Studio

After working on the acclaimed anime Space Dandy, Shingo Natsume did an exceptional job directing the first season of One-Punch Man produced by Madhouse, even suring the standard quality of previous works by the studio. However, following the switch of the studio to J.C. Staff, Natsume was replaced by Chikara Sakurai as director. Regarding this change in an interview during the Anime Festa of 2019, when asked why he didn’t direct One-Punch Man Season 2, Shingo Natsume replied that he wanted to continue with the project, but the change was a decision of J.C. Staff.

“I personally, of course, wanted to do it. But that could not be done despite myself. I can’t do everything I wanted to do. But I wish J.C. Staff did way more with the show.” - Shingo Natsume.

Shingo Natsume is a freelance director—who later went on to create one of the best isekai animes ever, Sonny Boy—and given that most of the original staff did return to work with J.C. Staff, besides him, it confirms that J.C. Staff mostly uses their official employees for major roles. Also, although the studio is known for hiring outsourcing companies to mass-produce multiple projects annually, Shingo Natsume's presence attracted many high-class animators for One-Punch Man Season 1. Even the manga artist Murata stated in a post that he heard that among the people working on One-Punch Man, Natsume was the most talented one.

Both One-Punch Man and Space ☆ Dandy featured the work of many talented animators, but I often heard from people on set that Director Natsume was in fact the most talented of them all. - Yusuke Murata.

Because of this, the lack of an adequate scheduled production time and the change of director are believed to be the reasons behind One-Punch Man Season 2's inconsistent animation and character design. These problems with the sequel were acknowledged by Natsume, who said that he wishes J.C. Staff had done a better job with the adaptation.

One Punch Man’s Season 3 Still Hasn’t Announced Its Director

J.C. Staff Has Yet to Reveal Many Details About the New Season

Although the circumstances surrounding Shingo Natsume’s exit crush any hopes of fans of him taking charge of One-Punch Man Season 3, it is still concerning that despite the anime being slated to release this year, J.C. Staff has yet to make an official announcement about the director of this installment. Along with the release of the official teaser for the third season almost one year ago, J.C. Staff studio only revealed the return of Tomohiro Suzuki in the series composition and Chikashi Kubota as character designer, who will be working now with Shinjirou Kuroda and Ryousuke Shirokawa.

This means that the art directors from the previous installments, Shigemi Ikeda and Yukiko Maruyama, won't be returning this season. Moreover, besides the important role of the director being undisclosed, there are other positions also being kept secret, like the sound and photography director, with the latter having been criticized in the second season due to the odd texture of Geno’s metal parts. This secrecy and the lack of a trailer for season 3 without recycled scenes despite its impending release could darken fans' hope for the quality of the anime, especially in such a heavily action-focused arc like the Monster Association.

What Fans Should Expect of One-Punch Season 3

One Punch Man’s Staff Member Hints at Possible Production Problems

As One-Punch Man season 3 was announced in 2022, this may have resulted in a more loosely scheduled time for production. So far, the production team has been releasing new visuals every month of One-Punch Man’s characters, which teases a makeover for some heroes, who look more similar to their original designs in the manga by Yusuke Murata. However, One-Punch Man’s character designer, Chikashi Kubota, has revealed that there might be some problems in the production of this season.

The working conditions of animators are an industry-wide concern, especially after the recent long-awaited animes that suffered obvious production problems, like Blue Lock Season 2 and Uzumaki. However, as nothing is certain for One-Punch Man Season 3 since the studio could be trying to generate anticipation in the viewers, fans should still wait to see if this new installment will present an improved animation.

Source: Anime Festa 2019 interview shared on X, Yusuke Murata X .