Among anime’s wide and varying collection of new generation classics, few are comparable toMy Hero Academiain terms of global impact. Shedding the “new generation” label,My Hero Academiahangs proudly in the historic halls of anime as a genre-defining trailblazer.
Running for nearly a decade since its debut in 2016,My Hero Academiahas blossomed to become one of the medium’s biggest successes from both a commercial and storytelling standpoint.Deservedly,My Hero Academiais often mentioned in the same breath as the likes ofAttack on Titan,Jujutsu Kaisen, andDemon Slayer,poster titles for the modern shōnen era.
Yet, despite the show’s far-reaching feats and standout moments,My Hero Academiafalls under the weight of its own potentialfor several reasons; reasons that impede the story from reaching perfection.
My Hero Academia Reinvented The Shonen Trope In A Classic Way
It Revived Dying Faith In The Genre By Introducing Western Tropes
Before examining whatMy Hero Academiacould have been, it is important to acknowledge its position as a shōnen work of art. Certainly, it is one of modern anime’s high-performing shows on the frontlines. But how exactly didMy Hero Academiaearn its legendary status?
The answer to the question lies in a combination of factors, the most important being the series’ immediate impact on the shōnen genre from the moment of its manga debut in 2014. For most fans,My Hero Academiawas the first glimpse of what modern shōnen has now become.
Making its first appearance at a time when the shōnen genre was slowly losing its appeal,My Hero Academianot only reignited interest in the genre but also appealed toa global audience with its rich mix of Western superhero tropes and traditional anime storytelling.
From both a visual and narrative standpoint,My Hero Academia’s debut season was a breath of fresh air to the somewhat stale shōnen presence at the time. Beyond the title’s shōnen impact, the core of the series’ success rests on the strong character depth thriving in the main cast.
The protagonist,Izuku Midoriya, drives the story’s narrativewith the classic hero tale, evolving from a quirkless high schooler to an aspiring number one hero. The story approaches this evolution from an inspiring standpoint, displaying Izuku’s vulnerable and cumulative experience to capture the essence of heroism.
Similarly, supporting characters like Bakugo, Uraraka, and Todoroki are not background cast, but well-crafted individuals with their own struggles and resolutions that blend seamlessly into the central narrative.My Hero Academiavillains are modeled as the ideal antithesis to heroism. Evidently, Tomura Shigaraki and the League of Villains are carefully crafted as philosophical foils to the hero idealism.
My Hero Academia villains are modeled as the ideal antithesis to heroism.
Above all, what truly sealsMy Hero Academia’slegacyas a classic is the ambition embedded in the story; it’s more than a tale of heroism. The anime questions the very system of heroism it glorifies. It delves deep into the cost of idealism, with touches of soulfulness that make the story’s visuals pale in comparison.
The Story’s Timeline Will Not Let My Hero Academia Reach True Greatness
My Hero Academia’s Compressed Timeline Leaves A Lot To Be Desired
Despite being one of the most celebrated anime of the decade,My Hero Academia’slong-term potential has been hindered by circumstances entirely of its own making. Apart from the anime’s heartfelt message to viewers, it thwarts its own momentum by not maximizing key elements like pacing and its expansive character base.
The subtle implication of this is that the story compresses the plot awkwardly. Despite the franchise starring four hundred manga chapters and over a hundred episodes spread across seven seasons, the entirety ofMy Hero Academiaspans a little over a year in the universe’s time.
This means that within the story, nearly all of the significant events happen right after each other with almost no breathing space for the story or characters in between. The compressed timeline leaks into the story’s characterization, and considering the series’ extensive cast,My Hero Academia’sunderutilized character base becomes apparent.
The compressed timeline leaks into the story’s characterisation, and considering the series’ extensive cast,My Hero Academia’sunderutilized character base becomes apparent.
A prime example of this would bethe Meta Liberation Army and its leader, Re-Destro, whose introduction to the series carried so much potential for a more diverging narrative. Unfortunately, their introduction ultimately does not count for much as both the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army merge into one during the Villain Academia Arc, killing off any story potential the latter might have had as a faction on its own.
On a side note, some events in the series can be faulted on the grounds of genuineness and believability. Even thinking about it, it will only be appropriate that some events be questioned, given the fact that everything happens within a year. Just how chaotic can one year of hero training be?
Even All Might’s long-standing career as a hero pales in comparison to the drama occurring in the present-day hero world. For instance, the League of Villains sporadically grew from a non-existent group to a country-dominating force in just one year.
Due to the story’s closely knit timeline, the show misses out on the potential of a number of its characters outside of the main cast that could have positively impacted both the story’s direction and quality.
On a closer look, Deku’s sudden mastery of his seven quirks during the “Dark Hero arc” begs the question of plausibility. In retrospect, the timeline of these events was just too close for the story to maximise the potential of each significant occurrence.
What Exactly Did My Hero Academia Need?
A Little More Time And A Decompressed Timeline
WhileMy Hero Academia’s majorflaw is its compressed timeline, it doesn’t mean the story needed a much longer episode count. However, a more richly developed sequence of events across all three years of Class 1-A at U.A. High would certainly have been more beneficial to the story. The series could have also employed longer time skips that introduced narratives more efficiently to the plot.
These solutions would have resolved the show’s uneven pacing, giving way for believable character development, particularly for characters with much less screen time, like Kirishima, Tokoyami, and Yaoyorou. Ultimately,whatMy Hero Academianeeded was not flashier fights or more quirks but more time to fully embrace the consequences of the world it built.
