zondag 19 april 2020

(Average+) My Hero Academia

NOTE: I watched this series in English

Series in one sentence:

Morty Smith gets the ultimate superpower handed to him and still fails.


Series in more sentences:

In a world where people are born with superpowers, and heroes and villains are a real thing, one aspiring hero learns at an early age he won't be able to follow his dreams and is "quirkless"; a normal human being with no gift.

One day, he comes across his idol and the most respected superhero in the world, who sees potential in him. Their meeting opens up Izuku's chance to go to hero school and train to become the best who ever was.



What an awesome story that'll likely jump the shark soon. I was disappointed by the direction it took concerning the main character as well.

Batman taught us that you can be a strong and feared hero without having actual powers, and I thought the show was going to take that route for Izuku. After all, people who didn't put trust in him did so because he was quirkless, so why prove them right by giving Izuku a powerful quirk? The only reason he made friends at school at all is because he showed off his powers. His kindness and selfless heroism were secondary.

It would've been a way more touching story if he rose to the top as a normal person, by physically training himself and being clever. There's this semi-background character in the anime who keeps herself busy with making robotic accessories; I think this role would've suited him.


I do think the story made right by making him struggle to use his power, but I found the speed in which he learned to control it to be fast and sudden. One day he cripples himself and the school nurse warns she won't heal him if it happens again, the next, he basically already has it under control before he's even taught the technique on how to do so.

How was he able to practise by himself, jumping on walls, if he couldn't show the same restraint when it actually mattered? And how can 5% of his power destroy a building and blow people away early in the show, but later it won't even knock out a single person?


As for the villain of the series, or rather his successor, what an absolute whine baby. He looks intimidating and weird, but he talks like an entitled 13-year-old and is a failure. I can't understand for the life of me why the big boss wants him to take his place. Because of the twist that's revealed later on; to spite the people who care about this? A foolish reason.


Season 4 in general tired me out and was a mess. It had an excellent cliffhanger, but it wasn't at all a follow-up to the majority of occurrences that happened. It brought the series back to the point, but came out of nowhere. The forgotten main story
was probably dug up as to convince the audience to come back for season 5.  
Most of the episodes I didn't care for. Preparing for a school festival isn't a logical conclusion to the horror that happened prior, the short villain plot that came with it wasn't interesting until the very last moment, and the literal last-minute focus change to the new nr. 1 hero in Japan, Endeavour, was nice to have after this bore fest, but you see.. I don't care to see that guy get glamorized.


He's a domestic abuser. A character that doesn't deserve sympathy, let alone from his wife he used as a birthing machine and then drove to absolute insanity with his abuse. She's stuck in a madhouse because of him, and has been for years. Is there no realistic law enforcement in this world? Endeavour is a criminal that should've gone to trial for the way he treated his family, but here he is, out working as a proud crime fighter. Because he leaves behind some fucking flowers for his mentally destroyed wife so now and then, there's more to him? Wow, so misunderstood, look out, true love over here. Omg, I hope she takes him back, cute.

None of his neglected children should watch him fight on television with honesty and hopefulness. Disgusting. I don't like where Hero Academia is taking things with this character.


So yes, I'd say season 4 was the worst, but the director was intelligent enough to have things get picked back up with the last 2 or 3 episodes. I know I wouldn't return for the next season if it hadn't.


There's so much time-wasting going on in this show; none of the filler episodes are any fun. They're infuriatingly boring. The way Izuku grows his power is also clunky and there's little consistency. Many of the characters that had a more prominent role at the start get less of an appearance as time progresses, and that's difficult to avoid when you keep throwing characters on the screen. Even Izuku gets drowned out by these crowds.

Wasn't this supposed to be HIS story, HIS journey on becoming the nr. 1 hero?


My Hero Academia is dangling on the edge of being average, but I won't and can't forget how good the early episodes were.

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15-10-2021 UPDATE:
Watched season 5, incredibly boring, lowered my overall score for this series.


This season is a clumsy mash-up of different storylines and littered with "2 weeks earlier" and "1 month earlier" flashbacks. There are slivers of entertainment to be found, but when it's a chore to sit through a show just to get to them, what's the point.


The main problem this anime has has become very clear to me while watching this season: there are too many damn characters. You can't make them all interesting, and to shoehorn in a sad backstory for every one of them is a cheap move.

I just want to see Izuku's journey, damnit, not all this other stuff. I don't care about the opposition, they were never interesting to me. Even after witnessing a cool awakening from the loser with the chain-smoker snake voice, I still can't say to care.


Not sure if I'll be there for season 6.



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