Until very recently, the identity of One-Punch Man Season 3‘s director was kept under wraps. Looking at some of the reactions to Shinpei (or Shimpei) Nagai’s reveal, it’s not hard to see why — some users have taken to X/Twitter to comment on what they perceive to be his lack of credentials (even though anime staff aren’t bound to a single genre) and his past involvement in adult anime (Nagai is hardly the only person in the industry to have worked on adult animation — names like Akiyuki Shinbo, Masami Obari, Hideaki Anno, and Toshiyuki “The Perfect Animator” Inoue have appeared in the credits of such titles).
Around one-and-a-half-hours after Nagai’s involvement officially became public, the director made the following post (reformatted slightly for this article) on his account. It goes over his work history, his interest in a “hybrid of 3DCG and hand-drawn animation,” and why he requested for his participation to be hidden:
“Hello everyone, nice to meet you. I’m Shimpei Nagai, the director of One Punch Man Season 3.
“I completely understand everyone’s reactions. Please calm down and hear me out, if you would. I’ll explain why I was chosen, and it might be a bit long, but please listen.
“I’ve been a freelancer from the beginning, and that hasn’t changed.
“At 37, I wrapped up my apprenticeship and stepped into the anime world with a work called ‘Hiiro no Kakera.’
“I learned how to create hybrid animation with 3D in a project called “Aquarion Logos,” and after that, I switched to a 3D company for just one year, contributing to image boards for “Altered Carbon” and such.
“My goal was always Manglobe. I honed my skills on Episode 6 of ‘GANGSTA.’ and ‘Samurai Flamenco,’ among others. I was aiming for a hybrid of 3DCG and hand-drawn animation, but as everyone knows, Manglobe ended up closing down. In the midst of that, J.C.Staff became a long-term partner, commissioning me for storyboards and direction throughout the year.
“However, since I’m relatively unknown and don’t have standout achievements as an animator, I thought it might give a bad impression, so I asked to keep it under wraps. Then, when the consultation for One Punch Man Season 3 came up, I focused on incorporating a new workflow—something I discussed in CGWORLD, bridging 3D and 2D workflows—to squeeze out even one more second of production time.
“I sincerely apologize for keeping quiet about this. The team is giving it our all on site. I can’t discuss details about the production, but I’m open to answering what I can within limits.”
The post received many supportive replies, including one from animator Kento Fukuda, who said, “Nagai-san is an underrated director. His public achievements may seem small to fans, but he’s a real Saitama who has saved many productions behind the scenes. As always, he storyboarded at eight times the speed of the average storyboard artist.”
Nagai also took the time to respond to some of the replies. One of his responses shed more light on his hybrid animation endeavors:
“Actually, that online HENTAI was the first time I tried a hybrid animation pipeline where all the backgrounds were created in 3D, previsualized, and output as 2D layouts, then overlaid with 2D animation—about 20 years ago. I’ve been experimenting and tweaking it ever since.”
The shows that Nagai has contributed storyboards to include Flower and Ashura, Demon Lord 2099, 2.5D Seduction, Dropkick on My Devil, Otaku Elf, and DATE A LIVE III. The series he directed include Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying, and <DOGEZA>I Tried Asking While Kowtowing.
One-Punch Man Season 3 is set to premiere on October 5 JST. It’s arriving ten years after the 2015 first season (directed by Shingo Natsume at Madhouse, with Frieren co-animation producer Yuichiro Fukushi as its animation producer), which impressed viewers with its animation, and six years after the 2019 second season (directed by Chikara Sakurai at current production studio J.C.STAFF), which didn’t impress so much with its animation.
Regardless of how One-Punch Man Season 3 turns out, let’s remember that there’s no need to overreact or behave in such a manner that a director feels the need to issue a statement like this.
Source: @ShinNagai_Anime
