One-Punch Man Might Be Making A Major Change To Its Story, And It’s Brilliant

As One-Punch Man season 3 heads toward its finale, it’s hard not to see it as anything other than a failure. Not only has the story slowed to a bit of a crawl with Saitama and Garo’s absence, but its few good story beats are undermined by its infamously terrible animation that, unfortunately, can only ever look average at best.

One-Punch Man season 3, episode #9, did see a notable improvement in art and animation, even if it still fell short in some parts, but what was especially notable about episode #9 was its writing; episode #9 went in a direction that even veteran fans of the series didn’t expect, and the implications of it are great to think about.

How One-Punch Man’s Anime Completely Changed The Manga

One notable element of the One-Punch Man manga is that the series artist, Yusuke Murata, will occasionally completely redraw chapters and entire arcs to either improve the art or move the story in a different direction. That leads to many chapters having two or three versions, and sure enough, it’s often a point of confusion and frustration among fans.

The reason One-Punch Man’s redraws are important is in how they relate to the latest episode. Season 3, episode #9 adapted the fight between Child Emperor and Phoenix Man, and in the original manga, it was one of the first fights to go through extensive redraws, with the new version focused more on fleshing out their respective characters.

The updated version of Child Emperor and Phoenix Man’s fight is supposed to be the canon version, but surprisingly, the anime decided not to adapt it and instead adapted the original version of the fight, which was focused far more on over-the-top spectacle and, due to how redrawn chapters take precedence, can’t even be read by legal means anymore.

The fact that the One-Punch Man anime adapted a non-canon version of the manga was completely unexpected, and assuming that wasn’t a one-off thing, then it means that the anime might be picking and choosing whether it adapts the current version of certain chapters or the original, something no one thought was even an option for the anime.

Why One-Punch Man’s New Direction Is Secretly Brilliant

While most of the One-Punch Man redraws are only disliked for how long they take, others are hated for either taking away story beats people enjoyed or adding new content that adds little to the overarching narrative, and the Phoenix Man fight is a prime example of that, even if the redraws did give Child Emperor some much-needed character development.

However, if One-Punch Man season 3, episode #9 is anything to go by, then the anime is free to adapt whatever version of the story they want, and that means they can choose to adapt things based on what works better narratively and not simply based on what’s canon to the original manga.

Naturally, that isn’t good for anyone fine with the manga’s canon story, and episode #9 has seen plenty of criticism over that decision and the context it lost. Ideally, though, the redraws won’t be completely ignored in the anime, and when they are, it will be when the original version of a chapter has more to offer than the redraw.

Something else to note is that not only does this process leave room for original content, but it also opens up the possibility of adapting directly from the One-Punch Man webcomic, which many fans consider far superior to the manga. All of that is hypothetical, but with how much good could come of it, it’s great to think about.

Does One-Punch Man’s New Direction Redeem The Anime?

One-Punch Man’s new direction is plenty exciting, but that begs the question of what it means for the anime’s reputation. As it stands, the One-Punch Man anime is still an absolute visual mess, and even if the anime mixes up the story, it probably won’t be able to fix the larger problems with the Monster Association arc as a whole.

That being said, with how much of a mess the One-Punch Man anime has been since J.C.Staff took over, anything that makes it even remotely worth watching outside of occasionally good bits of animation is plenty warranted, and if taking the story in a new direction gets that result, then that’s probably the best way to do it.

It’s unclear how many story changes people can expect from the One-Punch Man anime going forward, but if the latest episode is anything to go by, they will only ever be to the story’s benefit for arguably improving the overall narrative, and hopefully, any future examples will be just as great to watch play out.

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