DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionBoku no Hero Academia 3
MANGA ActionBoku no Hero Academia
MOVIE ActionBoku no Hero Academia THE MOVIE: Heroes:Rising
ANIME ActionBoku no Hero Academia 5
ONA ActionBoku no Hero Academia: Ikinokore! Kesshi no Survival Kunren

REVIEWS

• 

  AdolCrimsonWanderer

  20/100
  Suddenly, the simplicity I praised on this anime, vanished.

  There it is, the fourth installment of one of the most successful battle shounen of the recent years. 4 seasons and 2 movies in the spawn of 4 years is no joke. Hero Academia had the charm of being simple and for that, I respected it. I used to be a fanboy for the first 3 seasons, thinking it was one of the best recent shounen, peaking at Stain's arc and delivering a great sendoff with AFO vs OFA, and after season 3 ended, I came to realize that it wasn't as good as I initially thought, but I still respected it for it's simplicity.

  It wasn't until Season 4 came that everything fell apart and I started to realize how the small issues that were present before started to mass, draining the enjoyment and love I once had with this series. You see, there's nothing wrong on aiming for something different, the problem is, that many things that Season 4 introduced, were introduced way too late and/or felt like a spit to the face. Suddenly, the simplicity I praised on this anime, vanished, and every detail on the plot started to be spoon fed to you as if you were mentally ill to the point is obnoxious. I understand the point of adding flashbacks and monologues, that's important when it comes to the manga, because manga lacks animation, so it's understandable that they add the thought process of the characters and what are they thinking on certain scenarios, however, when it comes to anime, you can rely more on "show, don't tell" instead of relying on monologues and flashbacks to explain what's happening. We can see what's happening, we know what the characters are thinking by looking at their reaction, there's no need to keep showing the same flashbacks over and over again. You may debate whether or not the audience that this anime is aiming for needs it or not, but I refuse to think that teenagers need to be constantly told what a character is thinking to understand what's happening. Nighteye's flashbacks were exhausted to the point it was obvious what was going to happen, because, if you remember, Deku is the one narrating his own story, so we know as a fact that he's going to succeed no matter what. All emotional weight Nighteye could've had is thrown to the drain by this fact. His quirk should have been only movement prediction rather than future sight. The only way that could've worked were if Nighteye's future sight wasn't put on Deku, but rather, on another character that doesn't have plot armor and could actually had the risk of dying, like Mirio for example.

  Now that I talk about it, remember when I said that this season felt like a spit to the face? Mirio, is part of this problem, not because I hate him or anything, but because it's crystal clear that he should have been the main character since day one, it shadows Deku in every way and his quirk, while it doesn't rely on random power ups, is the best when it comes to skills, it's a matter of seeing how bravely Mirio fought against Overhaul. This isn't just about Mirio, Gentle, while I hated him for being a shitty excuse of a villain, still had a better and understandable background story than Daddy Issues Shigaraki, if Gentle were a Day 1 villain, I probably wouldn't have hated him. Sadly, just like Stain, Mirio and Gentle are just disposable plot devices for Deku.

  This season also fell on the same mistakes many battle shounen do (specially, recent battle shounen) and it's the poor power balance these series have. I once praised the creativity behind quirks and how I thought it was a great power system, boy I was wrong. It felt in the same problem Re:Creators had, there's barely any control to it, it was never properly explained, and, because of that, broken and overpowered quirks is a thing. Let's take Hunter x Hunter for example, it's power system is very open and wide, but it's restricted to the user and it's type and achieving incredible powers has a lot of consequences, it's only through long long training that Gon and Killua were capable of improving a lot without random power ups, not a single character in HxH felt broken and/or over powered with no reason. Ever since AFO vs OFA, Hero Academia kept adding over powered stuff for the fun of it. Deku's fight against Overhaul was extremely insulting as it was a battle of insane powers rather of skills: Overhaul transforming himself into a giant while Deku had a battery on his back that was able to restore him, making him able to use his powers to the max without breaking his bones. It was just a flashy fight of insane powers clashing with each other with absolutely no value at all, Bones then relies on adding cheap audiovisual value in an attempt to make this fight memorable, but backfires, as the whole fight isn't even tense at all, specially since we know Deku succeeds. All the budget should have gone towards Mirio's fight rather than Deku. There is this short middle arc for the ones who failed the license exam, which is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen when it comes to power balance, can someone explain me, how the heck does some kids have full control of crazy abbilities and better thought process than heroes in training?

  Another big problem of this season, is that it keeps introducing more and more and more characters, which, if done right, shouldn't be a problem, however, we already have a large cast of characters, which, not even half of them are relevant and aren't really fleshed out properly, yet, this anime introduces way more characters, shadowing those that were already established, and even if they get their spotlight, it arrives way too late. If, we had a smaller cast, this could've worked way better, that way characters wouldn't be left out and development would feel rewarding. Giving several characters a tiny bit of development each time the story feels like remembering them isn't a good way to develop or even try to add depth to a character. There is a good chunk of characters that doesn't add ANYTHING to the plot, and makes me think, how the likes of Mineta or the Invisible girl approved the hero test while someone like Gentle didn't. It just doesn't make sense and it's heavily contrived in favor of shitty comic relief and wasted potential.

  Talking about Comedy, while it is a very subjective topic, making a joke by explicitly making a character point it out ISN'T BY ANY MEANS FUNNY, it actually ruins the visual joke which are all lame and repetitive anyway. Recent battle shounen comedy heavily relies on doing silly faces and very predictable jokes that are often out of place.

  The only thing left out to talk about is the animation, which took a massive downgrade of still frames that were already happening since Season 3. I know there was a movie in the making, but that's not excuse for doing a power point presentation. The scene I'm talking about is Mirio's fight, which entirely consisted on still frames, specially the quirkless Mirio part. Many people excuses this by saying that all they got in the manga was a black panel of Deku Narrating what happened, but that's not an excuse. David Production did a 1 minute lenght of 4 small manga panels for Vento Aureo, so why couldn't Bones do it?

  If only this anime had stuck to it's main simplicity instead of aiming for a more ambitious approach, things could've gone better, what I got in return was a disjointed ambitious project filled with plot holes, plot devices, conveniences, wasted potential for ideas that could've worked since day one and many other small issues that made this season a complete disappointment.

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• 

  KiraYosikage

  72/100
  A season with rocky start but manages to get back on its tracks after second half

  Disclaimer: I may edit the review because of grammar/typing issues. Plus this is just my opinion, don't take it too seriously!

  My Hero Academia is the staple shonen anime nowadays and perhaps the most popular long running battle shonen right now. When I started watching MHA, despite its cliche troupes, I still enjoyed it a lot so much so that I told my friend just after watching season 1 that My Hero Academia will be the new big 3 of new generation.

  With that out of the way, for me, this season had been a mixed bag for me. While this season showcased one of the most memorable fighting scenes. It also had one of the most boring scenes. Me being anime only, assumed that the issues stems from anime adaptation but in actuality the answer is bit more complicated.

  Pros:

  This season was all not that bad, while Shie Hassaikai Arc had its issues. It also had its redeeming qualities. In this season, the character that were introduced in this arc were pretty good, and a lot of characters that we previously knew also got depth added to them. To me Mirio was the favorite character and from Horikoshi's was able to deliver what he wanted i.e What if Mirio received One for All not Deku (In one of his interview he mentioned his intentions with this arc).

  The two arcs preceding this arc (Remedial Course and UA Festival Arc) were also pretty entertaining own their own and I don't have any major issues with it. The last arc which only lasted two episode actually were amazing and plus the production quality of last episode is almost movie like with that intense sakuga and impact frames. I wonder if Mr. Yutapon was behind some of the key animations

  Cons:

  Slow start up:
  Although this season had its moment, it was quite boring in the start and from my thread, it came to my knowledge that Horikoshi was sick during the Shie Hassakai Arc. Thus the chapters were shorter and pacing was incredibly slow. Unlike manga, where the reader can adjust their own pacing. Anime is on fixed pace this the issues were more amplified here. A lot of people do not agree with me and I understand. But for me, some scenes were so boring that I started browsing Reddit in some episodes.

  Midoriya has very little character development:
  My other and probably the biggest issue with MHA franchise is Deku. He is one of the most boring, linear main character. And please do not bring shitty battle shonen, it is not a big hurdle to cross. MHA as fine character development, well except Deku, because he will be in focus after everyone is done. Ever since season 1 the only difference between current Deku is that he a bit more control over his power. He starts crying pretty much everywhere and what used to feel emotional moments feel like flat now. When will he have some confidence in himself? The show does not make things better. I pretty much zone out every time Deku start doing his monologue. Like damn show, we get his motivation, no need to hammer it over our heads every 3 minutes.

  Villains are still not as explored:
  I get MHA is still continuing, and there is a lot of manga left but why villains are villains is still yet to be explored. Is there any manga material that actually goes in past showing One for All original user and how and why All for one become villain? Sure the anime touches on it but, I want a movie/arc on OFA/AFO quirk that concludes on how Al Might first defeated All for one in his original battle leading to his organ damage etc... There is so much room for exploration which IDK when MHA will ever do.

  Final Verdict:

  Despite its issue and me ranting about it. I still believe MHA is somewhat of a decent anime. While other reviews awarded it less than 50. To be <50 is too much and undermines the hard work Studio Bones has put until now. If you read this in future and all issues are addressed than ignore the rant part.

  Thank You for reading my review!

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• 

  tsugan

  85/100
  The fourth season of My Hero Academia is the slowest pace yet for the series, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad.

  I wasn’t going to review this season because it’s an interlude from the main plot turned into a 25 episode season with a lot of filler, however, the final episode convinced me that it would be a crying shame to not send the season off properly. Seriously, the finale alone was enough to raise my final score by five points, I enjoyed it that much.

  Story

  It’s always a bit jarring when a shounen suddenly shifts the focus of its storyline from the main protagonist to other characters, and that is what Season 4 of Hero Aca does. Midoriya takes a back seat - temporarily - as Nighteye, Mirio, Kirishima, and Tamaki Amajiki take turns being the focus at various stages. Midoriya sees character growth through the 25 episodes, to be sure, but this more wide lens approach to the story is a welcome changeup to the familiar formula.

  The story is cleanly divided between the two cours, so for clarity’s sake I will also be dividing my Story review.

  First Cour:

  This is My Hero Academia — and shounens in general — at its best. Slow buildup into a climactic ending. Some may disagree with me here but I felt this cour was amongst the best the show has yet produced.

  Learning more of the backstory for Mirio was great, and they successfully added another good side character to their collection with Amajiki. The dynamic between Nighteye, All Might, Mirio, and Midoriya is complex and something I hope they continue to develop in future seasons.

  The ending is really what makes it. Mirio loses his powers to the drug Chisaki made with Eri’s blood, and Nighteye dies. Whatever notions of plot armor the audience had after All Might didn’t kick the bucket against All For One are shattered here. It was also awesome seeing Midoriya go super saiyan with Eri’s help to kick Chisaki’s ass.

  Eri is an interesting character, but I can’t help but think she exists solely to be a deus ex machina at some future point in the story. We all know she’s either going to heroically save Midoriya’s life at the cost of her own, or somehow lose her powers after doing something, becoming an ornament in background scenes. There’s also no way that Mirio never gets his powers back, I would be shocked if that were the case. That would be a lot of character development down the drain and wasted potential.

  Second Cour:

  The first filler-esque cour in the show, and it’s quite lengthy. It isn’t bad by any means, but did it really need to last for as long as it did? As a sort of palate cleanser, it does its job well enough, by the time the narrative hints for the next season were being dropped in the last three episodes, I was ready.

  Gentle Criminal and La Brava are actually quite a cute little sideshow, they’re like if Disney decided to make the Joker and Harley Quinn. Their saturday morning cartoon hijinks bring some levity to an otherwise douring plot line with all the unresolved badness. The problem is their arc is like 11 episodes long! My God! Am I watching a 00’s era shounen?

  The final two episodes of the season could warrant their own, separate, review, alas they’re technically part of this season, so they’re tied to the other 23.

  Endeavour was nearly an anti-hero until this point in the story — less of a character and more of a sentient plot device for Todoroki — it’s hard to feel sympathetic towards a domestic abuser, and even harder to write one in a sympathetic way without normalizing and implicitly justifying abuse.

  They achieved that in two episodes.

  I cannot express here how nimbly they communicated Endeavour’s character arc in essentially 40 minutes. The only setup they established before was like two lines from Endeavour to Todoroki, then BAM, you’re hit with a whirlwind of character development and one of the best fights in the series. That’s what separates Hero Aca from lesser shounen, when it’s firing on all cylinders and lets itself go, it’s out-and-out one of the best anime in this generation.

  Enjoyment:

  Overall, Season 4 of Hero Aca is really Season 3.5. The first cour is very nice, right up there with the best the show has to offer, but the second cour drags… until the final two episodes, hot damn, watch all the episodes just for those.

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