“Production Companies Choose the Studio” — Vincent Chansard on the One Punch Man Season 3 Controversy

One Punch Man Season 3 has brought back the debatable topic of anime production quality and expectations of the fans worldwide. First animated by Madhouse in 2015 as a franchise, it established an exceptionally high standard of fluid action and comic accuracy. But its third season, directed by J.C. Staff, has been heavily criticized due to inconsistent animation and dubious timing. The controversy went viral, and the fans accused J.C. Staff of what they saw as a radical drop in quality. It is into this storm that animator Vincent Chansard has entered, the one who has recently written on the controversy, to provide an insider's explanation of what the truth is behind anime production.

Essentially, Chansard claims that the weaknesses of One Punch Man Season 3 cannot be attributed entirely to the animation studio. He says that the actual decision-making is usually done by production committees, not individual studios, in terms of budgets, staffing, schedules, and even creative control. That is, the studio, such as J.C. Staff, does not dictate how production is done but rather provides orders to production companies. His remarks have redefined the story and placed it outside the accusation and more on the structural problems of the industry, causing such results.

Inside the Production Realities of One Punch Man Season 3

Vincent Chansard, who is the dynamic director on Jujutsu Kaisen 0 and One Piece, recently discussed One Punch Man Season 3 in an online streaming broadcast. It is not always the studio that is to blame, he said, pointing out that studio decisions on production schedules and workload are often informed by committees of several corporate sponsors of the anime. In some cases, the production committee picks out the studio and determines the parameters. The studio simply works with what they are provided.

This fact coincides with what industry observers and magazines like IGN India and Anime News Network have noted, which is that committees control the supply of the purse and which studio is assigned a specific project. J.C. Staff, which has titles such as Toradora! and Food Wars!, was reportedly chosen to make the production cost-effectively and deliver on time. Nevertheless, the workload of the studio, which was working on various projects that were running at the same time, must have compromised its resources, impairing the visual consistency of One Punch Man Season 3.

The backlash was swift. The fans went to X (previously Twitter) and Reddit to lament what they termed as stiff animation, unnatural transitions, and inconsistent fight choreography. However, Chansard warned against such direct criticism by stating that animators are often limited by unrealistic schedules. Reportedly, One Punch Man Season 3 was in late-stage outsourced on some of its key sequences, which is why the quality of certain episodes significantly declined.

To make matters worse, a number of the staff were allegedly harassed online due to the quality of the season. One Punch Man Season 3 director Shinpei Nagai deleted his social media profiles after the hostility toward him in the fanbase. Chansard also tackled the same, denouncing the harassment and the necessity to treat the artists with more respect, as they have to meet strict deadlines and industry pressures.

Historically, One Punch Man has been characterized by its amazing fight scenes, especially in Season 1 under Madhouse and director Shingo Natsume. That production enjoyed a loose schedule, a small yet elite animation team, and greater creative freedom. In comparison, One Punch Man Season 3 was created with less favorable circumstances, with much less lead time, which can be attributed to the wider industry trends in favor of speed over quality.

The comments made by Chansard point to one major issue that the fans tend to blame the quality of a particular show on the studio, but the true responsibility of it is further along the chain. The committee production system, in which a group of companies has a common financial and creative control, often leads to a divided decision-making process. Consequently, a good studio such as J.C. Staff can still produce uneven work with impossibly tight deadlines or budget constraints.

The scandal has brought about a debate on the sustainability of the current anime industry model. Burnout and unrealistic deadlines have been discussed in recent years by many animators, including at MAPPA and CloverWorks. One Punch Man Season 3 is, therefore, an excellent profile of these systematic problems that persist.

Although the animation standards of One Punch Man Season 3 might not match the quality of the animation in its second season, the remarks of Chansard make it clear that it is not a mere instance of a bad studio. Rather, it is an outcome of a highly disturbed production system in which quantity is given precedence in the production system. The necessity of sustainable production models and the necessity of the audience to realize the process become more and more urgent as the global demand for anime rises.

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To conclude, the One Punch Man Season 3 scandal does not display the hardships of ensuring visual quality only; it is the weakness of the contemporary anime making itself. Vincent Chansard was not only defending J.C. Staff, but also the whole industry in its effort to strike a balance between artistic vision and corporate reality. It might be that fans are still clamoring to see the bombastic splendor of Season 1, but, as Chansard reminds us, the real story behind the screen is of hardship, compromise, and systemic tension, an unpleasant fact that grows way beyond one season or studio.

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