Like most people, I tend to make New Year's Resolutions whenever I feel like it. For 2020, I created a couple but the easiest one that I wanted to accomplish was to finally dip my toes back into the world of anime. I'm not talking about the occasional movie or shonen one-off that I tend to do but to actually see what's going on in the current scene and to play some catch up on some series. I don't plan to go full weebo, foolishly think to watch everything available and get totally involved in the discourse with the diehards. All I just want to do is have some fun and watch some anime.
Putting my foot on the pedal for this decision largely came from several factors: I wanted to continue some series whose runs are stunted on Netflix (Fairy Tail, Blue Exorcist), there were series that are currently being simulcasted that I wanted to watch beyond YouTube clips (Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-Kun), and I needed a strong alternative to the daily binging of YouTube videos. So I got myself an annual subscription to both Crunchyroll and Funimation and have been partaking on the offerings. To make the endeavor more interesting, I decided to jot down my thoughts on whatever title I feel like talking about.
To kick off this side project, I picked one of the most popular ongoing shonen titles today: My Hero Academia. My only experience with the franchise before finally binging the series was seeing the first feature film Two Heroes in theaters with a packed crowd. I really enjoyed the film and it even came close to making my top 20 of 2018. Also before the binge, I read the first manga volume digitally.
As of this writing, I've watched the first three seasons and I'm up to episode 63. I plan to continue watching up to the current simulcast episodes some time this week, as like many anime fans I'm a bit more excited in seeing the franchise's latest feature film Heroes Rising on Wednesday.
Overall thoughts on the series: I do really enjoy it but I can see why some find it a bit overrated. It takes the American superhero concept and gives it a nice Japanese spin to make it palatable for its local audiences and easily win over overseas audiences. However, at the end of the day, it still acts and feels like a shonen series. Not quite as great as One Pice but a fun alternative.
So 80% of the world's population has a "quirk", aka a superpower, while the rest have been labeled as "quirkless". 20% is still a large enough number so I don't really feel the plight of main character Izuku Midoriya as much as I'm supposed to be. Considering the size of his middle school, statistically there had to be other students who didn't receive a quirk.
I can fully understand the "You Can Be A Hero!" scene and its significance but it just doesn't do anything to me, not in the manga nor in the anime. I think I have just seen this type of scene too many times for it to have any meaningful impact on me.
The series already struggles in the early goings by essentially repeating the same story beats. Both the UA entrance exam and the first day exercises hit the same notes: Midoriya is scared of failing, on the verge of being kicked out, performs a mighty feat that injures him but wins over hearts and minds, barely passes, annoys a fellow teen who thought he was better.
The show does a great job on the various injuries Midoriya inflects upon himself when using his earned quirk "One For All". They all look and sound absolutely painfully.
Now to run down the entire class of 1-A:
Midoriya is a perfectly fine shonen protagonist that you can cheer for throughout the series. Justin Briner does an amazing job as his English voice actor. I just wished he was a bit smarter when it comes to keeping his new quirk a secret instead of just straight up telling the first person who actively and angrily wants to know.
I know that he has to have some admirers and probably does well on the character polls but I detest Katsuki Bakugo. Perfect rival material and I do kinda like his Owen Hart-like personality of constantly being royally pissed off that his immense prowess and strength keeps being overlooked by mightier displays of heroism and charisma. But all he ever does is whine, complain and shout at everyone ad nauseam. Why is everyone friendly to him? I also roll my eyes at how he's had a extensive free ride since he was four and seemingly never got in trouble despite the clear evidence throughout his tumultuous life.
Ochaco Uraraka is a fun pick as the series' main heroine. I do like her character growth, her fight with Bakugo is a great episode, and her struggles with her crush on Midoriya is adorable. Having Luci Christian as your voice actress also greatly helps.
I'm still utterly surprised that Tenya Iida is placed so high in the series. The comical class rep with a somewhat limited superpower as the main supporting male player? The show does well with him but it is a little sad that he kinda falls into the background after the Hosu arc.
Todoroki is great. A fusion of Iceman and Pyro is an easy superhero concept but his backstory of how his quirk came to be, along with his facial scar, is utterly disturbing. Far more excited for him to be Midoriya's main rival.
Asui was an instant favorite with the internet and it's easy to see why once seeing her in action at the USJ. Utterly lovable and one of the series' best all-around heroes.
Kirishima seems alright but let's face it, the guy is clear cut C-tier. If action figures were made of the entire class, his would be the ones that would clog up all of the hangers. In other words, he's Booster, not Turbo Man. It's a bit sad that his most important moment in the series is being a rescue hook.
Yaoyorozu suffers from the story being hot and cold with her. Her struggle to overcome her early stumbles is good but then she's in the background as eye candy again only to briefly come back up as a new potential leader only to then retreat again.
Tokoyami is a personal favorite. I kept dubbing him Falco until I finally got his name down. I especially love how he gets moved to the forefront with the Cavalry Battle and the tournament finals in the Sports Festival arc and keeps his position as the most prominent B+ player of the class.
I like Ashido because she helps reinforce that oh yeah these are are children. Being a cheerful friend to everyone and having a cool destructive quirk adds further points in her favor.
Jiro is such an easy choice for best girl. You got the 80s female best friend/punk goth look and then you have her quirk that makes something normally gross into something cool and very useful and you have yourself a great character. Too bad she doesn't really get the spotlight and often shown to be the weakest of the group.
It's funny how Sero is often the most useful in the show. The diamond in the rough of the class.
Kaminari is fine. The show needs an easy comic relief. Not much else to say other than his stupid state is pretty funny albeit overused.
Hagakure also works as comic relief but she and her invisibility never seem useful in the slightest. Then the show just ups and gives her light refractions as her ultimate move. Huh?
What made me like Mineta back when I first saw Two Heroes was largely Brina Palencia's voice performance. Seeing him in the series, yeah I can understand all of the hate for him.
Do I really need to say something about Aoyama? I do like the anime trope of the most useless character who's somehow utterly useful at crucial moments but he just blends in the background.
Shoji. He has gross arms. Useful at times. Makes me long for Goro. That's all.
Ojiro. He has a gross tail and a bland gi. Useful that one time he talked with Midoriya. That's all.
Koda. I loathe him and his stupid animal voice quirk. Please expel him ASAP.
Sato. Nobody's favorite. Please also expel.
Okay, now back to the rest of the show!
I haven't talked at all about the opening and ending themes. That's because they are largely very forgettable. The sole highlight is "Odd Future", the third season's first OP. That's because it does the job of pumping you up for the show and it's from UVERworld, who are known for their great anime tracks.
Okay, maybe I'm being a little too hard on the theme songs. LiSA's ending theme "Datte Atashino Hero" was also good. Though I was more enamored with its corresponding animation, depicting the superhero kids in a fantasy RPG world.
The first season ends very strong with the surprise attack on the USJ. Eraser Head gets to shine albeit with some gruesome injuries, it's great following the trio of Midoriya/Asui/Mineta, and All Might's entrance and subsequent fight with the Nomu is pretty cool.
Wait a minute, Shigaraki is supposed to be the show's main bad guy? Really? Yeah, he starts off as a creepy menace with a scary quirk but then he falters hard from all of his tantrums, poor managerial skills, and penchant of just sitting around. He's so lame that he literally goes up to Midoriya in a latter episode and asks his opponent to remind himself why he wants to be evil.
It's quite hilarious how bad U.A. High School is at running itself. Kids nearly killed by a sneak attack? Let's do our version of the Olympics to distract everyone! Kid with a grudge wants to intern in a city where a supervillain is killing heroes? Approved! Kids still in danger and are more actively being targeted by evil? Send them to the woods with little to no adult backup! They surely will not be traumatized, poisoned, injured and kidnapped there!
The Sports Festival arc does its job well of slowing the main plot down, introduce a ton more characters and pad the show out with fights. There are several great episodes ("Shoto Todoroki: Origin" being the best) and I certainly enjoyed the supporter hero Mei Hatsume. Too bad it ends on a whimper in order to move on to the Hosu arc.
Stain's a good creep and I liked the 3-on-1 handicap street brawl but his mantra and ideals are so eye-rolling. To make it worse, the show then takes them very seriously and it becomes the rallying cry for supervillains to rise up. Really, that basic mumbo jumbo about the dilution of superheroes' convictions?
I do appreciate the injection of realism into the proceedings. Having the cops and teachers brownbeat the kids for getting over their heads and committing vigilante justice was a nice touch.
"Everyone's Internships". More like some brief clips of everybody and then a full side-story about Asui working with the Navy.
Bummer ending to season two. Just another series of battles and then Shigaraki's trip to the mall.
Season three starts and oh great, here's a sad kid designed specifically for Midoriya to win over and be spirited away once the plot is done with him.
I do like the Camp arc and how it finally cuts some of the wings off of the kid's dreams about being superheroes.
The show does a very poor job at making you care about the Wild Wild Pussycat member who gets kidnapped and later stripped of her quirk. A total fridge job indeed. I felt more bad for Pixie-Bob after getting that the awful hit to the head.
Oh hai Deadpool! Nice Spawn cosplay! Too bad Stain already did it.
Wow, this one villain. Mr. Magnet Guy and his "I got out of bed late" attire. What a complete scrub and yet the show takes him seriously and allows him to walk away.
(EDIT: So, I later learned by watching season 4 that Magne is actually a transgender woman. Sorry about the incorrect pronouns. But wow, the show really did a bad job conveying that detail, literally shoehorning it in right before killing her off in a surprise twist.)
Come on guys, you don't need to break the rules again just to save someone from the clutches of the DEADLIEST VILLAINS YET! Plus, it's Bakugo. Let the piss-ant rot for all I care.
I'm supposed to boo the media for going after U.A. but they bring up good points save for that one guy who plays the "think about the children" card.
Oh come on, how can Blue Jeanist survive from that horrible wound?! What a stupid hero.
Okay, episodes 48-50 are pretty god damn incredible. No wonder people were going crazy when they premiered.
Oh hey, we finally get to see Bakugo's parents.
I really hope Midoriya's new Shoot Style leads to good fights.
Oh great, Sports Festival Version 2.0 aka the Provisional Exam arc.
Seriously though, I do like how this arc has the kids acting like real heroes. You just have to get through another new set of flashy yet empty hero wannabes and an overlong dodgeball battle. Also, that Meatball guy. Whenever the show goes full-on disturbing, it pulls it off way too well. See the later Twice-focused episode for further proof.
Yeah, it's nice that we see a different side to Bakugo with his second fight with Midoriya but I still don't like him.
You know, when I first saw an image of Mirio aka Lemillion, I instantly disliked him and thought he was a very poor All Might replacement. Seeing him in action in the last two episodes of the third season, yeah my gut reaction ended up being right. But wow the opinions of this guy from other fans.
So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed all of my rambling opinions about My Hero Academia. This was kinda fun so there's a chance I might be doing this again this year. Just need to find a juicy title to rant and rave about.
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