One Punch Man Season 3 Episode 5 Review: Garou’s Training Arc Stumbles Out of the Gate
One Punch Man season 3 episode 5 opens with hope and unleashes nonstop fights, but the fireworks fizzle—its thrills hinge on Garou's monstrous rampage, leaving little else to care about.
Episode 5 of One Punch Man season 3 tees you up with a little hope, then reminds you we are still in the J.C. Staff era. It is wall-to-wall fights and, somehow, still kind of a slog. The whole thing leans hard on Garou, who keeps leveling up so quickly it is tough to track what form he is on by the end of the runtime.
Yes, the characters move now (mostly)
Credit where it is due: the show finally proves the characters can, in fact, move. A few shots actually pop. But those are the exception. Most of the episode still plays like a slideshow stitched together with speed lines and cuts. Hits do not land with weight, motion looks jittery, and the scene-to-scene flow is rough around the edges. It is an upgrade from earlier episodes, but the bar was sitting on the basement floor.
Garou carries the hour
This episode lives and dies by Garou and his monster-like evolution. He racks up so many power-ups in one go that keeping score feels pointless. The fights come fast, and he chews through a stack of enemies on the way to the big bosses.
- Tiger-level monsters as the warm-up
- A dragon-level, overgrown dog
- Gyoro Gyoro
- And finally, Orochi
There is even a line that should have landed like a mic drop:
"It is hunting time."
On paper, that is a killer moment. On screen, the animation undercuts it. The impact just is not there.
The craft: still too static, still too choppy
Even with the extra motion, the episode leans heavily on static frames. New character pops in? Freeze, deliver dialogue, move on. The fights try to feel bigger than they look, but the oomph never shows up. Transitions are awkward, the choreography rarely reads, and the most consistent flex is how many shortcuts the production can stack without the whole thing collapsing.
Better, or are we just used to worse?
Is Episode 5 actually good, or are we just grading against earlier disasters? It is a slight step up, sure, but the fights are still underwhelming. A few moments look like real effort, and that keeps the 'maybe it will get better' chant alive for another week. But at this point, even manga-first fans can see how shaky this adaptation is.
What did you think? Are we on an upswing, or just getting numb to the flaws?
One Punch Man season 3 is streaming on Crunchyroll.