A Single Rough JJK Episode Ignites an All-Out Feud Between One Punch Man and Jujutsu Kaisen Fans
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 17 is being hailed as a franchise high point even as it sparks backlash over alleged bad scheduling that left animators overworked, with a star-studded team straining under production woes.
Anime fans spent the week arguing about who botched what, but the conversation keeps landing in the same place: Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 17 is a jaw-dropper that was apparently finished by sheer force of will, and One Punch Man season 3 stumbled out of the gate so hard the internet is still yelling. Underneath the noise, the problem looks a lot bigger than any one animator or studio.
JJK S2E17: Peak episode, messy reality
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 17 got the instant-classic treatment from fans. The episode was stacked with top-tier staff, the action hit like a freight train, and the discourse crowned it one of the season’s best. Then the production stories started surfacing.
Behind the scenes, the word was bad scheduling and crunch. Despite the talent involved, the team was reportedly overworked and scrambling, which is how you end up with a broadcast that later needs extra polish. Sure enough, fans noticed the episode is getting additional cuts and corrected visuals for the Blu-ray and DVD release. Translation: yes, it was amazing on TV; also, it wasn’t actually done.
'Only 30% of the intended vision.'
That’s how Roccia Nobili, one of the episode’s animation directors, described the on-air version. It explains a lot: the show played great because the bones were there, but the home video pass is where the team finishes what they wanted to do in the first place.
One Punch Man S3: The backlash and the blame
Meanwhile, One Punch Man season 3 launched on October 12 and is two episodes in. The reaction has been rough. From the jump, viewers called out some of the weakest animation the series has seen. The immediate response online was to roast the animators and Studio J.C. Staff.
Animator Vincent Chansard pushed back a bit during a YouTube stream, suggesting the fault doesn’t sit squarely with the artists or the studio but higher up the chain with the production committee. Fans are still mad (understandably, it’s One Punch Man), but that context matters. If the schedule is a brick wall, you only get what can be made before the clock runs out.
Fandom skirmishes are missing the bigger target
Some people tried to use JJK’s episode 17 as a rebuttal: see, overworked animators can still deliver greatness. Others pointed out that JJK’s TV cut needed fixing for home video, which kind of proves the opposite point. What you saw was a strong draft, not the finished painting.
The throughline here is ugly but simple: MAPPA (JJK) and J.C. Staff (OPM) aren’t the movie villains. They’re operating inside a system that treats deadlines like a deity and artists like batteries. Call out bad episodes all you want, but 'lazy animation' isn’t what you’re seeing. You’re seeing schedules eating quality and burning out the people who make the shows you like.
Until the folks with the money and the calendars fix the pipeline, you’ll keep getting half-finished broadcasts that get completed later on discs, and shows that never quite look like the thing their creators saw in their heads.
Where the numbers are landing right now
- One Punch Man season 3 episode 1: 6.0/10
- One Punch Man season 3 episode 2: 6.4/10
- Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 17: 9.6/10
Both series are streaming on Crunchyroll right now. How are you feeling about this whole mess? Fired up about the shows, or more annoyed at the system making them?