Anime Review: My Hero Academia

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Writing: ⭐⭐ | World Building: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Story: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Fan Service:🤢

Content Watched: S1-S7

Summary:

A superhero-admiring boy enrolls in a prestigious hero academy and learns what it really means to be a hero, after the strongest superhero grants him his own powers.

Review:

It is no small feat to bring an anime to 7 seasons and still keep things relatively interesting and fresh. I paused at season 4, which based on conversations with other folks seems to be a very common pause point. Season 1 was excellent in setting up the primary conceit, a bit of the lore, and introducing a massive cast of exceptionally colorful side characters. Even a pretty awesome villain too. Season 2 exemplifies why I love this anime so much. They lean into the school aspects. You are able to enjoy the insular, small world of going to class and trying to be a good friend and let the world dynamics loom for another episode. It’s so refreshing and reprieve from series that just get darker and darker and further from school/classmate dynamics over time. Season 3 MHA has a nice series of milestones (enrollment, class competitions, licensing exams, becoming pro) that feel like a natural motivation. So, dropping these back into the story as we hear side-plot points like All Might and All4One creates excellent balance between narratives. It’s really cool to see the last vestiges of the old Hero world fall in favor of the new (Midoriya) 3 seasons in! Season 4 brings us outside the inner-fold of UA and into the world of licensing and internships! It’s quite charismatic to have a window into the logistical, rather than just flashy fighting, of the professional hero scene. It matters in the scope of world-building – these are the rules that define all future interactions. This work is essential in letting us as viewers understand the stakes! Omg the end of the year festival was SO CUTE. I do feel that Season 4 burned people out because of MHA’s tendency to overwhelm with backstory and motivations all at once instead of gradually rolling them out. It feels like all of the character development is an after-thought from the writers. Just shove it all in right before a big fight so the motivations are stupidly clear now. Season 5 is proper drama. For the first time, we see a season dedicated to the mechanics of the fight against evil, some organic character development/back-story (which finally takes center stage), and a very intriguing conspiracy! I think a cornerstone of MHA is the duality of Midoriya’s empathy and the personal growth of the League of Villain characters – it feels good to put these tensions against each other in a way that morally murky. Season 6 is BOMBASTIC. All of the tension built up in Season 5 is unleashed in a torrent of crazy crazy crazy! The first half covers a massive battle which gives you whiplash tracking all of the revelations and assumptions of past seasons. In the aftermath, we have moody Midoriya, akin to Spiderman 3, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome. This show isn’t a depressive dystopian show, but we needed a break from the highly saturated school moments and the intense, but still colorful, massive fight scenes. I think this season was essential in keeping the viewers engaged.