Crunchyroll’s Solo Leveling Replacement Is Getting the Treatment One-Punch Man Deserved

October 26, 2026, 6:02pm

Crunchyroll‘s Solo Leveling replacement for Fall 2026 is emerging as one of the standout anime of the season, and it is also getting the treatment that fans hoped to see for One-Punch Man. The anime’s debut in 2015 stunned fans with its hilarious and intriguing narrative, accompanied by some of the best animation of its time. Madhouse delivered the best animation anyone could have hoped for, naturally raising fans’ expectations for the second season. However, with the change in studios, the animation quality dropped severely.

Videos by ComicBook.com

J.C. Staff’s adaptation of One-Punch Man‘s second season not only failed to live up to expectations but also continued to disappoint fans with the third season. Fans demanded a studio change, but J.C. Staff continued to handle the adaptation, and the third season became what many called a horror show. Now, J.C. Staff is set to continue Season 3 with a second part, which will be released soon. While fans wait to see what this new installment has to offer, they have always wanted a decent adaptation of a beloved franchise. It’s not that J.C. Staff is bad at its job, as the studio is also producing Overgeared, an anime dubbed Solo Leveling‘s replacement this season, and delivering the kind of decent adaptation that every One-Punch Man fan hoped to see.

J.C. Staff’s New Anime Is Getting the Quality One-Punch Man Fans Deserved

Overgeared is based on a Korean webtoon with elements similar to Solo Leveling, making it a perfect replacement for the series this fall, with a hilarious twist that fans never knew they wanted. What makes this adaptation intriguing is that it is being handled by J.C. Staff, a studio whose reputation for One-Punch Man left fans skeptical about the anime’s quality. However, so far, Overgeared has proven to be one of the best-looking anime of the season, showing that J.C. Staff knows how to adapt a series and cares about its production. What further solidifies the studio’s commitment to Overgeared is how it brings the series’ central concept to life.

Overgeared revolves around crafting, as its protagonist is a blacksmith, and one of the recent episodes features an epic crafting sequence. J.C. Staff didn’t hold back on this brief moment, giving it the best possible treatment. While the animation isn’t breathtaking, it elevates the sequence to a level that makes it evident that the studio genuinely cares about the production. This is precisely what the last two seasons of One-Punch Man lacked. When the second part of the anime’s third season was announced alongside a new poster, it turned out to be the same poster with slight edits, further suggesting that J.C. Staff wasn’t putting much effort into the adaptation.

The reason J.C. Staff never seemed to care about One-Punch Man was never brought to light, but the anime’s fate was sealed when Madhouse dropped it, and not many other studios showed any interest in the project. Madhouse’s exceptional work set the bar so high that other studios may have been hesitant to take it on, and had J.C. Staff truly cared about the series, it might not have taken on the project either. However, at this point, any new One-Punch Man anime installment is a big deal, and fans can only hope the quality improves in the upcoming season. If it receives even half the treatment that Crunchyroll’s Solo Leveling replacement, Overgeared, is getting, the new season could be more than satisfactory and might even reignite interest in the One-Punch Man anime.