Questions about the true budget of One Punch Man Season 3 are being raised following concerns about the quality of the animation. Many people believe that budget is the problem, but the truth is: budget is not the problem. The budget is not low, but just at a normal level.
One Punch Man Season 3 is not facing financial difficulties, it is just within the general budget limits of top anime. However, the notion that “more money means better animation” is the most common mistake in anime history that we need to debunk.
Budget for One Punch Man part 3
You’d think a global blockbuster like One Punch Man would have a budget comparable to Hollywood. But that’s not the case. The budget for anime is intentionally fixed and limited. The majority of anime productions are in the $1-2 million per season range, regardless of the show’s popularity, these numbers barely change.
According to CG creator Masamune Sakaki, the cost of an average 13-episode anime series is around 250 million yen (or about $2 million), and the shocking thing is that most of them don’t even recoup that amount.
A few blockbusters (like Kimetsu no Yaiba, Jujutsu Kaisen, etc.) have almost taken over the entire anime industry. So, it can be said that for One Punch Man season 3, the team’s budget was almost the same as season 1, a total of about $2 million, with about $80,000 per episode. This isn’t a bad number, but it’s about average for the industry.
Here’s a quick look at the typical budget of an anime series and what the money is actually spent on:
So, even though One Punch Man seems like a big franchise, the budget is about the same as a regular seasonal anime. And after marketing, licensing, and corporate fees, animators have little left.
Even Chikashi Kubota, animation director of One Punch Man part 1, said this many years ago: “One-Punch Man is often said to have a huge budget, but in reality it is not like that at all, it is just average. It is the passion and dedication of the animators involved, along with the efforts of each film, that breathe life into One-Punch Man.”
So, One-Punch Man part 1 looks like a masterpiece not because it had a big budget, but because the creators put their heart and soul into it.
Who is really to blame for the failure of One Punch Man season 3 animation?
All attention is focused on JC Staff, the studio behind One Punch Man season 3, with many fans claiming that they are the reason the series was “ruined” from season two. However, the truth is that this studio did not intend to ruin the work, they were just trying to exist and operate within the limits of the industry.
Back in 2019 when the second season debuted, JC Staff was handling eight anime projects at the same time. That’s like asking a chef to cook for eight restaurants at once and then blaming them when your noodles don’t taste good.
In 2025, they have fewer projects (five), but the rules remain the same: deadlines, budgets, and creative constraints are all decided by the production committee. As One Piece animator Vincent Chansard explained in an interview: “Sometimes the problem is not with the animation studio, but with the production committees, the people who decide everything. JC Staff is just a studio trying to survive.”
So instead of blaming animators, let’s blame capitalism. The real villain here is not JC Staff, but the broken production committee system, where profits always take precedence over artistic value.
Even the most talented animators will be caught in a vicious cycle of tight schedules, administrative procedures, and corporate interference. So, aesthetically speaking, One Punch Man part 3 may not meet your standards. The problem is not just financial, but a complex combination of systemic inefficiencies, corporate control and creative burnout.
Unfortunately, this is a fight that even Saitama cannot defeat with just one punch.
