One Punch Man Season 3 following Danmachi Season 5's schedule could be key to adapting Saitama's most hyped moment

Modified Dec 26, 2024 11:41 GMT

One Punch Man season 3 following Danmachi season 5 — Saitama and Garou as seen in One Punch Man anime (Image via J.C. Staff)

While it has been a really long time since One Punch Man Season 3 anime was announced, the series has finally unveiled a release window. With its 2025 premiere not so far away, fans have already deduced what they could see in the anime's third season.

The anime's first two seasons released 24 episodes, covering around 85 chapters from the manga. This meant that the anime's second season ended right after it began adapting the Monster Association Arc. With that, the anime essentially set itself up to adapt the remainder of the arc for its third season.

The issue is that fans aren't sure if J.C. Staff will be able to cover the entire story arc in the same anime season. However, the only viable solution might be for the anime to follow Danmachi Season 5's schedule.

Disclaimer: This article may contain spoilers from the One Punch Man manga.

J.C. Staff may take the Danmachi Season 5 route for One Punch Man Season 3

Saitama as seen in One Punch Man anime (Image via J.C. Staff)

As One Punch Man manga readers would know, the Monster Association Arc is a long story arc, with 93 chapters. Out of the 93 chapters, J.C. Staff has only animated the first eight chapters as part of the anime's second season. Hence, if the animation studio plans to adapt the entire story arc in the third season, they must adapt 85 manga chapters.

However, as anime fans would know, a single 11-13 episode anime only adapts about 35 to 50 chapters of manga content depending on how many chapters are adapted in each anime episode. Therefore, it is nearly impossible for J.C. Staff to adapt the entire Monster Association Arc without cutting a bunch of content. The only other viable options could be to split the story arcs into two different anime or increase the number of episodes.

Garou as seen in One Punch Man anime (Image via J.C. Staff)

As announced by Danmachi Season 5, another J.C. Staff anime, it is set to feature 15 episodes. Thus, despite premiering in October 2024, it is set to release some episodes in the Winter 2025 anime season as well. Therefore, the animation studio should likely follow the same plan for One Punch Man and increase the number of episodes in the season.

Such a move could either see One Punch Man Season 3 end up with an untypical number of episodes or two cours of anime. Regardless, one of these methods is the only way that fans will get to see Saitama go up against Garou in the third season.

Saitama as seen in One Punch Man Season 3 anime (Image via J.C. Staff)

That said, it is much more likely that J.C. Staff will hold onto the big fight for a possible fourth season. However, this leaves fans questioning why the promotional visual and video have all been marketed towards the big fight. With no further information unveiled, fans will need to wait and find out what the upcoming One Punch Man Season 3 will entail.