I Was Wrong About My Hero Academia

The new site is running, and I think we should start with something a little bit different. Let’s do our first ever look at an Anime series! Looking at My Hero Academia.

I’ve been an Anime viewer, Manga reader and avid follower for over 20 years (yes, I’m old, and yes this dawned on me not too long ago). One of the “big” series that I couldn’t ever gel with, was My Hero Academia. Having tried to watch it a few times over the last few years. I couldn’t get on with it.

Then, the final season aired last year, people were singing praises and I had to see what all the fuss was about. So, slowly over the past few months, I’ve been working through it from episode 1 to the end.

I think it’s fair to say My Hero Academia has just gotten better over time. It’s a slow burn success story and spent a lot of time laying-out the foundations for something that ended up being quite special.

The Humble Beginnings

When Kohei Horikoshi first introduced us to Izuku Midoriya, the “Quirkless” kid with a heart of gold, the comparisons to Naruto or Sky High were relentless. On the surface, it looked like a standard “zero-to-hero” school drama.

However, the genius of My Herio Academia lies in its gradual escalation. Most Shonen series hit you with world-shattering stakes by episode five. MHA? It spent years in the classroom. It forced us to sit through the Sports Festival, the internships, and the mundane school festivals.

It was all the better for it, but it’s also what initally turned me away from it.

Why the Slow Burn Works:

Weighty Stakes: Because we spent so much time in the “normal” world, when the villains finally do strike, it feels like a genuine violation of safety.

Institutional Depth: We don’t just see heroes fighting; we see the commercialization of heroism, the legal red tape, and the societal rot that occurs when one man (All Might) carries the entire world on his back.

By the time everything comes into place, you’ve lived with these young heroes growing up. You’ve seen them fail, you’ve seen death and loss. You’ve experienced the world in a more richly-created way than most.

Character Exposition: The Long Game

Horikoshi is a master of the “long-form” payoff. Let’s look at the character arcs that define the series’ quality:

Endeavor: The Masterclass in Redemption

Perhaps the greatest achievement of the series is the redemption of Enji Todoroki. He started as a domestic abuser—a character we were meant to loathe. Instead of a quick “I’m sorry” arc, My Hero Academia spent several seasons showing him realize that he can’t erase his past; he can only try to be better for the future.

It’s uncomfortable, nuanced, and arguably the best-written arc in modern Shonen.

Bakugo: Deconstructing the Rival

Katsuki Bakugo could have stayed the “angry rival” archetype forever. But My Hero Academia painstakingly deconstructed his ego. We watched his explosive confidence turn into a paralyzing guilt over All Might’s retirement.

His growth isn’t a straight line; it’s a jagged, painful journey toward true heroism.

The Shift in Tone: From Bright Skies to Rain-Soaked Streets

As the story progresses, the “vibe” of the series undergoes a radical transformation. The bright, saturated colors of the U.A. High hallways eventually give way to the grimy, desolate aesthetic of the “Dark Hero” arc.

This shift in story quality happens because the series stops being about “becoming a hero” and starts being about “what it costs to be a hero.”

A lot of anime lose steam as they approach the finale. My Hero Academia did the opposite. It treated its early seasons like an investment, and the “Final War” is the massive dividend.

A Modern Classic

My Hero Academia is one of the best Shonen Jump series because it respects the passage of time. It understands that for a punch to really mean something in the final arc, we needed to see the character struggle to lift a single weight in the first.

It’s a love letter to the superhero genre, filtered through a lens of Japanese societal pressure, and it remains a “Plus Ultra” example of how to do a long-running series right.

I’ve gone from a “My Hero Academia isn’t for me” guy, to one that’s now planning a re-watch as soon as possible.

Highly recommended.