Will One-Punch Man’s Delay Lead to Better Animation for the Next Episode?

One-Punch Man fans were outraged this week when they learned on Monday night that, because of the broadcast of the ongoing 2019 French Open tennis tournament, the latest episode of One-Punch Man would not be airing in Japan nor would it be uploaded to Hulu for fans in the United States. The episode, titled “The Strongest Trouble” (or “The Trouble of the Strongest” as its listed on Hulu), will instead air a week later on June 11. One of the main stories going on with the production of the second season has been the switch in animation studios from Madhouse to J.C. Staff. At times the animation change has surprised fans with how well the show has maintained its quality.

But there have been plenty of other moments where fans have outright bashed the show for subpar animation frames. But with an extra week in between episodes, one question will likely pop up — since animators have more time to work on the episode, will its animation look better?

Simply put, no. Based on animation studio scheduling, its almost an absolute certainty that the episode is already finished and ready to roll. Would the episode benefit from having an extra week where animators can spend more time on certain sequences? Probably, but in all likelihood J.C. Staff has already moved on to the remaining episodes of the season (of which there are only three left after next week’s episode).

One-Punch Man Season Two is streaming on Hulu. The season is directed by Chikara Sakurai for new production studio J.C. Staff. The new season is described as follows, “Saitama is a hero who only became a hero for fun. After three years of “special training,” he’s become so strong that he’s practically invincible. In fact, he’s too strong—even his mightiest opponents are taken out with a single punch. Now, the great seer Madame Shibabawa’s prediction about the Earth being doomed seems to be coming true as the frequency of monster incidents escalates. Alongside Genos, his faithful disciple, Saitama begins his official hero duties as a member of the Hero Association, while Garou, a man utterly fascinated by monsters, makes his appearance.”