Boku no Hero Academia 4

AdolCrimsonWanderer

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.

KiraYosikage

_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!

tsugan

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.

Struggler

I'll preface this review with the fact that no, this isn't going to be a positive review and no, I didn't like this season. __With that out of the way, feel free to scroll down and downvote because you don't agree with my opinion.__ ~~~___Story: 3/10___~~~ I found the story and plot development of this season to be remarkably unremarkable, especially the school festival arc. I will admit, however, that Chisake is quite an interesting villain and I enjoyed his arc. It's quite tragic that one of the most interesting villains in a while is now just stuck in prison, where all we have now villain-wise is Sasuke and his band of misfits. The final fight with Chisake was pretty meh as well, in my opinion, Eri just healing Deku, or rather, reversing his body in time, is quite an ass pull. It's on par with the ass pulls you'd find in shounens such as JoJo, like Star Platinum suddenly becoming the same stand as Dio's or Giorno just immediately getting god-like invincible powers. It's just cheap to build a villain up, give him great power, and then just finish him off with the protagonist getting sudden invincible power to defeat him. It's just bad, boring, and uninteresting story telling to do so. Does that mean it's not enjoyable? Of course not, it's entertaining, but is it _good_? No, absolutely not, but again that's just my opinion. Pertaining to the school festival arc, I found it to be horrendously boring, to the point where I had to force myself to watch it. Gentle Criminal is an enjoyable villain and character, but his writing is laughably bad in my opinion. His goal was what, to infiltrate the school and go viral? It's beyond lame and they could've given him greater aspirations and greater evil plots, but no, his most evil grand scheme? Infiltrating a high school. Wow, so daring, so adventurous, so _evil_. It's eye roll inducing how mediocre the school festival arc was. Before you say or think it, yes, I know Gentle Criminal is a foil to Deku and that he's a representation of what Deku could've been had he not gotten his power from All Might. Even with that said, I still think this season was mediocre. ___~~~Characters: 2/10~~~___ Like many other reviewers have pointed out, this show has a problem with having too many characters in one show. What's more, is that they keep adding _more and more_ every season. Four seasons in, and most of the characters don't even have a smidgen of character development, we don't know anything about most of them! There's no background or development for: - Ochako, she's just a cardboard stand-in love interest for Deku - Bakugou, he's just Sasuke, but with no backstory and is as annoying as OG Naruto saying believe it. God I hate this character, literally all he is, is just loud, annoying, and obnoxious anger. - Tsuyu Asui - Momo - Mineta - Mina - Denki - Hanta - Mashirao - Mezou - Fumikage - Tooru - Kouji - Rikidou - Aizawa Even with 88 episodes of development, we know nearly nothing about these characters. They're just cardboard stand-ins for Deku, just a classroom full of nobodies, and don't even get me started on the villains of Sasuke and company, we know less about them than we do about class 1-A! It's terrible writing, and what's worse, is that they keep adding more and more characters. To compare, take a shounen like Naruto, even at episode 88, there was somewhat of a background on nearly every character, even the minor ones like Neji and Hinata. MHA is full to the brim with characters we know nothing about, they just stand there and make the protagonist look good or cheer him on, that's it. In my opinion, that's boring and lackluster writing at it's worst. ___~~~Visuals: 7/10~~~___ Not much to say, MHA has a huge budget, so the animation is crisp and high quality. With that said, I wasn't stunned or shocked by the visuals, nor was I impressed. ___~~~Enjoyment: 2/10~~~___ I did not enjoy watching this show, I had to force myself to even complete it. I cannot understand how people rate this show 8-10/10, it's just not as good compared to other shows of similar rating. It doesn't have a background meaning, it doesn't make you think, and it doesn't have a significant story of any kind. It's just cheap shounen action designed to entertain you for the brief time it's on screen. Were the fights entertaining to watch? Sure, but then after those few minutes, what then? It's just boring, especially since the second arc barely had any action in it. My Hero Academia is a clusterfuck of characters we know nothing about, is overhyped and painfully mainstream, and has absolutely no depth to it at all. It's a mediocre show to watch when you're bored and want to see action, nothing more.

Geordie611

Let me start off by saying that this season was good. Despite what many reviewers thus far have said, the show has not deteriorated in quality since its debut. Is it the best anime or shonen out there? No, it's not. It doesn't even surpass some of the shows preceding seasons. However, _My Hero Academia Season 4_ is still an enjoyable watch for fans of both the series and shonen in general. The action is exciting; the animation is still phenomenal; the characters are engaging and relatable; while the story demonstrates a nice balance of dark complex themes with some light-hearted slice-of-life activities; all while maintaining the central themes around what is means to be a hero. Lets first go into the action and animation as these basically go in tandem. Similar to previous seasons, season 4 demonstrated studio Bones' determination to polish every climatic fight to the last pixel. Spoilers ahead: ~!Many viewers cite the fight between Todoroki and Deku as the bar for fight animation in this series when it aired, myself included. The United States of Smash in season 3 subsequently raised the bar even higher with its unique styling, natural feeling of weight physically, emotionally, and as a story climax. Season 4 had large shoes to fill if it was going to be compared to these experiences and I am glad to say that it did not disappoint! The final battle between Overhaul and Deku showed an amazing level of animation. Its utilization of contrasting colors to highlight each momentous beat of action proved to the audience that although the likes of All Might is gone, we will still be able to see fights on par with his few bouts in seasons to come. I mean just look at this: img220(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bokunoheroacademia/images/1/19/Deku_barrages_Overhaul_at_100%25.gif/revision/latest?cb=20200111184535) img220(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bokunoheroacademia/images/3/32/Deku_vs._Overhaul.gif/revision/latest?cb=20200111184537) And lets not forget about basically the last scene of the season with Endeavor's fight against High-End and his use of Prominence Burn. In animation, some of the hardest things to animate in 2D is motion, especially when there is lots of rapidly changing features. Fire, unfortunately, is basically the definition of a fast, rapidly changing object that generally takes up the much of the focus of the audience. This is why when the time is taken to properly animate it, fire can demonstrate some of the best work for a studio. Bones have demonstrated their top notch animation once again with this fight. img220(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bokunoheroacademia/images/1/1b/Plus_Ultra_Prominence_Burn.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20200404171140) !~ Now on to what many, myself included, would deem the weakest part of this season: the story. Without getting into details, the two basic arcs for this season are a raid on a villain's hide out and UA's school festival. The major problems regarding the story are found in the first half of the season during the raid. The progression of this arc often feels quite slow compared to previous arcs. Especially in the initial episodes, very little happens to move the story forward while later a one hour raid is spread over 7 episodes. While fights are still exciting and are entertaining to watch, the show runs into the classic problem of many shonen by stretching out something to a near breaking point. As with previous seasons, the fights in BNHA 4 are used to examine characters and are centered around their growth. However, the characters focused on are ones that we really don't need to spend too much time with. Familiar characters like Uraraka and Tsuyu, who can be considered borderline main characters if not very critical side characters, are shoved to the side lines while we spend time on characters that although they are likely to appear again, won't ever have the spotlight after this arc. The show wastes opportunities to explore the development of characters that we already care about by introducing 20 new people and trying to explore them. In this arc, only 4 new characters should have really been explored: Mirio, Nighteye, Overhaul, and Eri as they are central the the story and their influences will be felt for seasons to come. However, I will make one note for those who are already finished the show. I truly believe this season is much better as a binge watch rather than an episodic viewing. While I noted the slower pace compared to previous viewings, I had less trouble with it compared to many as I was able to watch an entire arc in one sitting. I have watch BNHA both episodically and all at once and I believe that this is 100% a show that benefits from waiting until it is complete to enjoy. While the school festival arc would have been quite enjoyable to watch episode to episode, the raid would have been infuriating as it often felt that our heroes progress about 10 yards on a 100 yard foot ball field every week, but I digress. Finally, let me briefly jump into the character development in the season starting off with our main man Deku. His progression has always felt rather slow compared to other heroes. Maybe this is due to my relative unfamiliarity with shonen jump stories, but it often feels that he has changed very little since his debut, at least personally. This is were I think this season has really excelled compared to previous ones. The raid arc achieved this in many ways, with him feeling like a more mature character as a result. ~!The death of Nighteye and actual recognition of his prowess and ideals in the professional hero society have really changed him from the innocent child he was in the first season. His progression is also highlighted by giving the audience a glimpse of Deku's final form during his fight with Overhaul. We got the chance to see what a fully realized Symbol of Peace and Justice truly is capable of. This was something that even in his many fights, All Might never quite gave us as we all knew his power was but a shadow of its former glory (expect perhaps in his final fight against All for One).!~ While this season did a good job in Deku's story progression, it also excelled at introducing several memorable new heroes and villains as well as explored more into some previously introduced characters like Eijirou. While it could have reduced the number, as mentioned previously, the characters that it did introduce were compelling in there own right. Overhaul presented a villain we could root against, yet understand; Nighteye introduced a new mentor figure to Deku while exploring more of All Might's past; and Eri gave us one of the cutest children in anime who we can all just enjoy and wish the best for. Among the new characters, however, I have to say that I believe Mirio was the stand out edition thanks to his optimism, cheer, humor, and relationship with the other characters, specifically Deku. ~!With the absence of All Might after his fight with All for One, the show needed to introduce a character who could act as a role model to Deku and the audience; someone who could remind us all what it truly means to be a hero. Mirio fits this role perfectly, exemplified no better than when he is shot by the quirk removing dart while protecting Eri and all we see is his smiling face, thinking he is about to die but rather do so protecting the innocent that live watch them suffer. img220(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bokunoheroacademia/images/5/58/Mirio_Togata_saves_Eri_with_a_smile_%28Anime%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20191228174158) !~ I will be honest when I initially thought going into this season I would find Mirio too on the nose as an All Might clone, but I was pleasantly surprised when he become my favorite new character. In conclusion, _My Hero Academia Season 4_ is an excellent edition into an already enjoyable series. While it explores some of the darker sides of being a hero, it lets the audience enjoy the simple pleasure of watching our favorite characters put on a festival. Though it's story progressed slower than I and many others would have liked, it still delivered satisfying conclusions through breath-taking animation and entertaining action. I would strongly recommend this season to any fans of the series who have yet to see it and were hesitant to start, especially due to the improved quality resulting from binge watching it.

zilla1

Boku no Hero Academia 4 was one of the most underwhelming of the series I’ve seen yet but also the most exciting season I’ve seen yet. The transition between Season 3 and Season 4 was mainly the cause of the first arc being underwhelming and awkward to even begin with. Despite this, the series was still able to barely push out of the boulder it trapped itself in and put momentum into it. Despite the first arc being called dragged out by many people, I would beg to differ. The first arc may not have been as straightforward as how a shounen anime should have been, I believe it was the right choice to have done it this way. The grief Midoriya and the others felt, the stress and effort they were put under when strategizing for this invasion were all build-up to the climax of the arc. They poured all their effort into strategizing for the invasion and it portrays how both sides were going to deal with the opposing parties. The determination and grit Lemillion and Deku held wouldn’t have been portrayed well enough without the so-called “unnecessary drag”. Eri wasn’t the only one suffering, everybody was. It was the right move to have portrayed that. Putting the considerably unstable and controversial first arc aside, we reached the second arc—the School Festival Arc. Well, basically my favorite arc every anime that ever had it. However, I really liked how Boku no Hero Academia moved with this arc. Believe me or not, I’m not a big fan of battle shounen. That also goes to show that I’m not the biggest fan of Boku no Hero Academia either. However, one thing that caught my attention the most is the festival arcs. They do exceptionally well in that factor, and this School Festival arc allowed me to ensure that. In the Sports Festival, they were able to portray and develop the students of Class 1A. One of the notable ones would be Todoroki, his backstory heavily portrayed who he is now, and his battle with Midoriya changed him. There are a lot more but I want to talk about it but this is the wrong review for it, so I’ll hold back my words and use it for a more appropriate occasion. Now back to the School Festival, I loved how this time they portrayed and developed the more underrated characters, one of them especially is Jirou—best girl. She felt unappreciated and this was the perfect time for her to shine. But most importantly, this arc’s main focus wasn’t just about having fun, it was also to make a certain girl smile again. To get her out of the self-deprecation she is in and the stress she’s put herself under, just to see Eri’s precious smile again was something that just made me go, “TAKE MY MONEY“. I’ve been there before, emotionally scarred and ended up being a self-deprecating freak. People may find her smiling again being trivial and some may not even be concerned about it, but to me, I treasure it a lot. Being able to stand up again and face humanity is a great feat. We also had a small follow up with Todoroki and the rest about their licensing exam, which also gave us a quick outlook on what’s happening to the world. My favorite one being quirks getting more and more complex. Reason? It’s realistic, just like how humans constantly evolve, get smarter and make more complex things; Quirks constantly evolve and start to give itself more and more variety, with the result being those children. This can potentially be an arc in the future and I’m curious to see how they deal with it. Overall, Boku no Hero Academia Season 4 has its share of flaws, one thing I think they’ll still have to work on is transitioning. However besides that, the OP and EDs are as great as ever, the characters are still as fun as ever. And most importantly, you’ll have a blast watching it! On a side note, stay healthy, stay at home and keep watching anime!

TheAnimeBingeWatcher

It’s always a weird feeling where I feel like I have to play defense for the most popular, widely beloved franchises on the market. But that’s the paradox of ubiquity: when an anime, movie franchise, TV show, book series, or whatever become so popular that pretty much everyone’s at least heard about it, it can be easy to take it for granted. They become so omnipresent that we forget what made them good in the first place, and we forget how to love them in the same way we used to. Small wonder the cry of “overrated” has become so prominent in today’s criticism; it can be so hard sometimes to divorce the most popular stories from that popularity and approach them as if seeing them for the first time. But it behooves us to remember: things get popular for a reason. Sure, there’s plenty of garbage that amasses a following by appealing to the lowest common denominator (Twilight, the Transformers movies). But when something becomes beloved enough to rule the conversation- the MCU, Miyazaki movies, there’s a good chance it’s because it’s good enough to actually goddamn deserve it. Which is why I now find myself here once again, feeling the need to remind today’s anime fandom that My Hero Academia is still really damn good. Yes, it feels like 2019 was the year the anime community finally got tired of Deku and company. With stuff like Promised Neverland, Demon Slayer and Doctor Stone taking up the mantle of hype shonen series for everyone to rally around, the first truly mainstream anime success story since Attack on Titan and One Punch Man felt like it was falling by the wayside. I’ve seen so many people lately who just seem exhausted with the whole thing, with heroes and villains, with UA Academy, with All-Might and One-For-All and All-For-One. And if no other semi-serious anime analyst is gonna step up in its defense, then it might as well be me. My Hero Academia isn’t perfect, and it never was, but at its core, this is still the best vanguard modern anime could possibly ask for. It’s inspirational and emotional, genuinely hilarious with great characters, packed to the gills with stellar animation courtesy of Studio Bones, and constantly striving to be a hot-blooded shonen with something to say about the nature of heroism and its place in society. There’s a reason why this show’s first season is second only to Naruto in MAL popularity for long-running shonen action titles, why this franchise is one of the rare few to break out of the otaku dungeon and achieve mainstream success in the United States and beyond. And I will be damned if franchise fatigue makes us forget why we fell in love with it in the first place. All that being said, I do understand the lukewarm reception this latest season has received. Especially after the crowning achievement of awesome that was season 3, season 4 feels like a step down in pretty much every way. Like all of MHA’s two-cours seasons, it’s pretty evenly split between two separate arcs, and the first one is by far the stronger of the two. The Overhaul arc sees our plucky heroes confront villains in official capacity for the first time, using their fancy new provisional licenses to team up with established hero teams and go after the dangerous, mysterious Overhaul, the League of Villains’ latest uneasy ally. It’s the darkest the show has ever gotten, bringing Deku and company up to the big leagues with a truly chilling undercurrent of menace and brutality. Overhaul’s gang are all dangerous beyond belief, and the emotional and physical trials the heroes undergo to bring them down make for some truly nail-biting moments of dread. Not to mention how the arc’s emotional core is centered around Overhaul’s daughter Eri, a victim of the madman’s abuse who Deku and Togata have an opportunity to save before the battle even starts brewing… but fail. It’s a stark look at the realities of this show’s world that are bubbling to the surface now that the light of the Symbol of Peace is no longer around to blind us to them, and it kills. The second arc, meanwhile, has a far more laid-back goal in mind: a school festival! I honestly kind of love this idea, just for the sheer balls it takes to follow up the series’ darkest arc yet with a tried-and-true staple of anime time-wasting. Why _shouldn’t_ My Hero Academia be able to embrace the medium’s more slice-of-life elements? Certainly its characters are strong enough to carry it. Unfortunately, this arc definitely suffers from a lack of real meat on its bones; none of the conflicts that brew throughout it have any real legs to stand on. It feels like we should’ve been spending more time on watching Jirou come out of her shell and embrace being a punk rocker, or the flamboyant pair of villains Deku encounters trying to bust the festival up, or even the follow-up to the Provisional Exam arc that sees some fascinating developments for Bakugo and Todoroki. And it can’t help feel like a lot of this arc is just killing time in between the big moments. Actually, that’s kinda this whole season’s biggest issue: there’s too much space between the really good stuff. At its best, My Hero Academia is a series of compelling, well-produced story beats that all build on each other until climaxing in moments so utterly jaw-dropping that they become the new standard bearers of what “that kind of thing” should look like in shonen. The big moments are still there in season 4, but the space between them is wider and less interesting. The Overhaul arc is plagued by countless flashbacks that drag down the pace of what should be a tense, propulsive lair invasion. The School Festival arc is full of dead air and underbaked time-filling. And the animation across the board is far less consistent than it’s ever been, with stiffer character models, flatter direction, and an overall lack of polish. One highly emotional battle’s climax is played out entirely in still shots, for crying out loud. In previous seasons, even a lot of the chill character moments were still given flair and style; I still remember how enjoyable it was watching class 1-A just hang out in training camp last season thanks to how snappy the direction on their interactions was. That spark is missing from season 4, and even if you can’t pinpoint all the little ways things feel off, the difference is noticeable all the same. And yet. Whenever this season actually does get to those big moments, the moments where all the frustrations and limitations fall away and the production team pushes their effort to Plus Ultra and beyond… yeah, it’s still _really_ fucking good. Kirishima pushing his hardening to the limit to protect the heroes he looks up to, Deku’s final showdown with Overhaul, the freaky wall-twisting powers of Overhaul’s right-hand man, a final-episode Endeavor-focused smackdown that somehow manages to rival All Might vs All For One in sheer hype factor, even the freaking music-video-esque concert that caps off the festival… when this show hits its peaks, it blows everything else out of the water. The best battles of this show are some of the best battles not just of the year, but of all damn time. The best animation isn’t just above-average, it’s the new standard against which animation deserves to be judged (well, not counting Bones’ other 2019 masterpiece Mob season 2). And man, everything related to Eri’s painful escape and recovery from her abuse is just goddamn spectacular. Forget Nezuko, give me this smile to protect any day of the week. _That’s_ why this franchise has become the new face of modern anime for so many: at its best, few things even come _close._ The truly great moments might be fewer and further between this season, and the overall quality might be more uneven than ever, and Mineta still seriously needs to just die already, but it’s still far from running out of steam. You can keep the cringy lameness of Doctor Stone, the confused intentions of Demon Slayer, and the insufferable stupidity of Fire Force: when all is said and done, there is still no better vanguard for the face of modern anime than My Hero Academia. And I will continue to love it as long as that star keeps shining bright.

Orangekid12

My Hero Academia is a show that I have recently gotten into and binged watched, and overall the first 3 seasons were all good fully while still having some cons and overrated things into it. I thought Season 4 was going to be the same mostly in the departments and decided to avoid reviews for a better experience. I watched and thought it was a solid enough time but for sure thought it had notable flaws. I was in a Situation of being in the middle ground so i decided to explain my thoughts .In this review I will be fully explain my thoughts on this Season and reflect where it worked and where it did not. Please don't just dislike this just because someone has a different opinion then you. I don't do that to others that disagree with me instead if I just do not like it. __Summary__ ( Skippable) This season's main story starts with the idea of a more advanced internship with the people that succeeded in getting a provisional license. Izuku Midiorya or Deku ( Which I'm just call him) learns about Sir Nighteye's agency and asks All Might his former Teacher/Mentor to get him the provisional license, however All Might Declines, due to a previously made Prediction that he will die in the future through Nighteye's quirk which can see the future. All Might does request for Mirio Togata to escort him to Nighteye's agency and Mirio execpts. At the same time Overhaul a prominent Mob Boss approaches the League of Villains and asks for a partnership, when the league declines he Kills one of them and cuts one of their arms. Shigaraki then decides to accept, planning on just using him. Nighteye decides to test Izuku and Izuku does fail, however Nighteye allows him to join anyway due to him already planning to do it before the test. Nighteye then tells Mirio and Deku to scout out the area and they encounter a crying kid named Eri, a young girl that is abused by Overhaul by using his destroy/remake quirk, they then encounter Overhaul and alow him to take Eri, due to Mirio thinking that they should wait it out. At the same time at Kirishima's intership with a hero named Fat Gum, he encounters a thug with bullets with The temporary power to enhance or stop a quirk, Kirishima then defeats the man with the bullets after going to his Red Riot Unbreakable form. Nighteye requests a partnership with other heroes and Deku, Kirishima, Ochacko and Tsu are all roped in due to their internships. Nighteye then explains that the child Eri is possibly Overhaul's child and may being used for Bullets. Mirio and Deku are obviously disgusted and vow to save her later. Aizawa then meets Up with Deku and the others and tells them the league of villains could maybe be involved. Deku worries about Eri as do the others. They finally get a text that they found Eri's location and then head there and everyone fights with the mob that Overhaul has in place. Mirio is then critically injured and has his quirk erased, but is sucessful in saving. Nighteye then gets injured crictally and looks into Deku's future and sees that he doesn't make it. Ovehaul then calls Eri back saying that she will kill another, Deku then faces Overhaul and goes to 20% of one for all and doesn't beat Overhaul however he jumps to save Eri instead and tries to flee. Nighteye warns Deku that he will die but Deku says that he will change his future. Using Eri's reversing quirk to sustain his body Deku turns to infinite 100% of one for all and deafets Overhaul. However Eri cannpt control it, but Aizawa erases both of their quirks so they don't die. Overhaul is then taken to jail, however the league of Villains take his formula for the bullets and Cut of his hands so he can no longer use his quirk.In the hosptial, Nighteye tragically dies infront of All Might, Deku and Mirio. With his last breaths he tells Mirio to never stop smiling. Aizawa then announces that there will be a school festival. However a villain named Gentleman tries to stop it and Deku succeeds in stopping Gentleman. The Festival goes as planned and Class 1-A does anh amazing job. We are then introduced to Hawks the 2nd best hero and who Tokoyami decided to intern with. Hawks asks Endeavor to help him with a Nomu rampaging through the cities and Endeavor stops it and reflects on he should be a better father and hero. __Story __ The story in the first Arc works Great. The progression seems believable, and all the events that happen are shown in a believable way. We also see what it is like to see a more advanced internship and the payoff of getting a provisional license. We also see the more seriousness of being more highly up, as we get mentions of child torture and burned corpses. Also, we can be shown what characters react to this hopeless situation. I personally like how Deku is scarred at the torture. This story has pretty good side stories that I excluded from the summary such as All Might execrising, Bakugo and Todoroki getting a provisional license and Hawks being introduced. My biggest problem with this first arc is that Uraraka and Tsu are basically useless, like the have no point being there. The second arc's story is simple, which is fine, Season 2's sports festival was extremely simple to the point. The School Festival is fine , but is ruined by the stupid introduction of the new villains, which makes it sour the pacing and actual direction. The idea of the charcters being softer and having more moments is fine, but if you want to do that you need to fully commit. The concept is also a bit too light hearted, as Nighteye literally died. The story works amazingly in the first arc, but reeks of missed shots in the second one, making it Meh. Finally the new guy with All For One's influence could have been moved. __Characters __ The characters are good, especially the new ones. Kirishima gets a really good backstory with him feeling like a failure, and thinking about him not saving a group of people when some people getting attacked. He accepts failure but is then inspired by his mentor. I also like how he talks about Deku saving Kacchan from the sludge villain and then says they don't focus on people that are subtle. Mirio is great, he is a good mentor for Deku, he has a great personality and him vowing to save Eri as well and him vowing to always to smile after his mentors death. Nighteye is great, his backstory with All Might is interesting and him seeing into the future feels like a burden to him. I like how he only scouted to be All Might's successor, but then realizing he likes him in his own way was great. His death was probably the best death in the show and almost made me cry and him telling Mirio to always smile was powerful. Eri was great, as she thinks that she causes everyone to die around her. I also love her for her thinking she's a burden and her seeing Deku and Mirio as the light. The visuals shown with Eri in the end credits is really well shown and she barely talks as well, making it great. Deku is good, wanting to save Eri is great and him fighting for the festival is like great. Tamaki and Hadou are great and Aizawa is a blast. However as good as the new charcters are, the old ones execpt Kirishima are meh. Bakugo is not a good character anymore and is used as comic relief wierdly .Todoroki has good interactions with his father but is overall stiff. Uraraka literally does nothing at all and is there just because. Tenya is just his season 1 self. The rest of the side charcters are overall just ok. __Villains__ Overhaul was very threating and I think he shows being a scary villain to a great degree. His dark power with his hands literally kept me on the edge of my seat, and honestly I was terrified to what he could in a single touch. They succeed in making him very dark as he literally extracts blood from Eri, kills her when he's done and then revives her, which works well in making a good threat. However they mad the mistake similar to what they did to Kuvira from Legend Of Korra. They make the final battle kinda anticlimactic, like it's a good final battle and Infinite 100% was hype but that final form looked stupid. I also like they cut off Overhaul's hands making him unable to use his quirk, it's so savage. I also like the members in his crew, specifically the person who fought Kirishima. The freaking Gentleman villain is so bad. Like his backstory is fine I guess, but his inclusion sours and ruins what the school festival goes for and clashes it's tone. The League is also pissing me off, like the barely have done anything since the forest attack, it's been 1.5 seasons DO SOMETHING. __Other __ The animation is worse then the previous 3 seasons, but that does not mean it looks bad. It still looks great and even better in the ending credits with Eri. The end credits is weirdly good and is a great example to use imagery to tell a story. The Humor mostly sticks in this season, but has it's fails. OP 6 is great and OP 7 is fine, but could be better. Action wise, it's ok except for the battle against overhaul, with some great visuals and good ideas in it. Pacing in this is great in the first arc but just bad in the second. __Conclusion__ In my previous review on season 2, I talked on how the first 2 seasons reminded me of the X-Men movies. This one feels like episode 8 from star wars which I think has great moments but is hidden under a ton of flaws. This season could have been great, it could have been as good as season 1 or 2, but the second arc drags it down and then some making the amazing first arc suffer badly from the meh second arc, and I can perfectly see why people Love/Hate it. I just wanted to give my point from the middle ground. I cannot wait for season 5, however I hope that they don't make too many apparent flaws like this time

BlackPhoton

# Intro The first time I watched this season, I gave up around episode 18. On a rewatch of them all from the start, the season felt a lot better than the first time I watched it. The first season essentially carried all my interest in the show, and even if it's a generic battle anime at many parts, the fact it has characters you know makes it feel better. ___ ~~~BEWARE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON~~~ ___ The season is split into two halves, so I'll cover them seperately: # First half In the first half of the anime, some of the UA students get to do work studies, which is a level up from the internships before. This eventually leads to an attack on the Shie Hassaikai, who are attempting to make drugs to stop quirks. Their main aim is to rescue Eri, a child who is being used to create the drug. The Shie Hassaikai are pretty generic tough villains and could have really done with some buildup beforehand. Overhaul had some backstory given during the fight, but it's a bit too little too late to have much of an impact. In contrast, Nighteye and his conflict with All Might felt pretty great, and it really hurt when he died. LeMillion as a character felt really good and it was great to see that they didn't just make the next One for All candidate obviously flawed to show Midoriya is the only one who is 'worthy'. Eri was really understandable and worked well as a goal, an interesting new quirk, and a new character to make the future more interesting. The other characters were also decent, but while there were good characters such as those above, there weren't any great characters/character arcs. Midoriya especially seems way too simplified with his only motivation being to get stronger to save everyone. He's so pure it's hard to believe and there aren't really any consequences to that. However that does likely make it feel better for a younger audience. Overall the arc was decent with a lot of action, but it's lost a lot of the magic from the first season. This is largely because Midoriya is no longer a normal person who wants to be a hero. He is just a hero. # Second half The second half was quite different to the first. It spent most of the time building up to a festival. This made it essentially feel like filler. The main villain, Gentle Criminal is mildly interesting, but not really enough to care about, and felt like a villain whose only purpose was to make the festival more exciting. But I actually hope he appears again as it felt like that was starting to go in an interesting direction. The show could do with a lot more building up excitement for things before showing you. None of the characters again were too special, but I did really appreciate their attempts to redeem Endeavor, and makes me appreciate him a lot more. MHA has been really good overall at giving redeeming factors to anyone not a straight-up villain. # Overall The season was decent and follows on nicely from season 3. But watching it on it's own after a long time it doesn't hold up much at all. Hopefully season 5 will be able to bring back the feelings from season 1, making us care about Midoriya, and feel like we're watching students going to a school to learn rather than fight.

Bubblesssssss

# ~~~__The Decline of My Hero Academy Part 3: Season 4__~~~ ~~~ youtube(https://youtu.be/Oa7cSnyK7TQ) ~~~ ~~~[Two Heroes](https://anilist.co/review/13322) ~~~ ~~~__(SPOILER WARNING FOR MHA SEASON 4)__~~~ Season 4...Season 4 is where it finally sinks in, what My Hero Academy is. It's bad. The potential of seasons 1 and 2 added up to nothing. I talked a lot of shit about season 3, but at least I can say some of it is decent. Every episode of season 4 is bad except for 2. And any hope I still had left for the series was squashed up front with the Overhaul arc. It's a frustrating situation, but at this point there's nothing left to do but cut it open and take a look at why it died. # ~~~__Early Episodes__~~~ Season 4 honestly doesn't start off that bad. Definitely better than season 3. The first episode is filler, and nowhere near as bad as the 2 filler episodes from previous seasons. Mostly it’s just this reporter guy trying to figure out who inherited One for All. But there’s one thing they do that bugs me. It’s this: img(https://i.imgur.com/eeyd6Ok.png) This is something that’s been annoying me since Stain, where the way it approaches heroes changes depending on who its coming from. If you’re a hero or citizen, its super great! It’s so great in fact, that when someone says they don’t like heroes, they are shamed or need to be corrected, like here and when Kota says he doesn’t like them in season 3. On the other hand; if you’re a villain, heroes aren’t perfect. They have flaws and their society leaves people behind, who in turn become villains. These 2 approaches clash. This ties back to the Stain problem, where Stain has these criticisms of society that barely exist because Horikoshi can't seem to decide if heroes are super great and all the criticism of UA and heroes is unfair, or if hero society is actually flawed. Mostly he just has villains say hero society is bad, but then goes into no further explanation as to why it is or even to prove that these bad things exist. He says one thing, but when it comes to actually showing it, putting it into action. Aka the important part. He doesn't follow through. img(https://i.imgur.com/24y9z90.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/w12l2KR.png) The other big scene before Overhaul is Kirishima’s…thing. I do have a problem with this subplot, but it'd be easier to address it later when its more relevant. # ~~~__Overhaul__~~~ Which leads us to Overhaul. The Overhaul arc is bad, but in strangely new ways. Rather than it failing due to the usual suspects like the villain being poorly written or no one ever dying; the Overhaul arc suffers from new problems like lazy storytelling methods and poor production quality. Here’s a recap: This arc stars the new villain Chisaki (aka Overhaul), leader of the Shie Hassaikai. They are yakuza. Shigaraki wants to take over the Shie Hassaikai. He meets with Overhaul, a fight breaks out, Overhaul kills Mag, Shigaraki kills one of Overhaul's goons, and Compress loses an arm. Deku goes to join Nighteye's agency for a work study. Deku does a thing and Nighteye accepts him for the work study. During the work study Deku and Mirio run into Overhaul, who is escorting a young girl around named Eri. Deku thinks Overhaul is suspicious, but Mirio intervenes and they go their separate ways. Because of a truck accident, Nighteye is suspicious of Shie Hassaikai. Nighteye and other pro heroes are planning a raid, and plan to involve some of the students. They tell the students they choose about Eri, Overhaul's quirk-erasing drug, and their plan. The raid begins at 8am the next day. The rest of the arc is a bit harder to quickly summarize due to how much shit happens, but: Kirishima and Suneater have their big character moments, and Mirio and Deku end up going after Overhaul. Mirio's quirk gets erased, Overhaul fuses with one of his goons, Deku fights Overhaul at the climax of the arc. Eri's quirk is revealed (Rewind) and undoes Overhaul's fusion. Nighteye is fatally injured, Deku takes Overhaul out. Overhaul is escorted to the villain hospital, but the League of Villains attack the vehicle. They overpower the escort and bring out Overhaul. Shigaraki destroys his hands so Overhaul can't use his quirk anymore, and the League of Villains fuck off. Later in the hospital, Nighteye passes away due to his wounds. There's so much wrong with this arc that we're just gonna go from plot point to plot point to get it all. ~~~__Shigaraki vs Overhaul__~~~ This scene isn't bad. It furthers the idea that Shigaraki is ignorant of his place and in over his head (whether or not this is intentional or not is up for debate), which earns some roasting from Overhaul. Neat to see both Shigaraki and Overhaul kill someone. I like this for Overhaul more because like I said before, a villain killing someone in their first big appearance makes them intimidating going forward and lets the audience know that this guy is a threat to kill our heroes if they aren't careful. img(https://i.imgur.com/zkdXzo8.png) Also, I love how visceral Mag's death is. It’s a nice contrast to how the series usually avoids death altogether. ~~~__Nighteye Tests Deku__~~~ I don't really like this scene and I think Nighteye accepting Deku because he didn't step on a rare All Might poster is corny, but whatever. Nighteye hammering the stamp is hilarious though. I love the energy. img(https://i.imgur.com/5jSaLPM.png) ~~~__The Eri Problem__~~~ Now's as good a time as any to talk about Overhaul in general. To be honest, I think Overhaul is probably the best villain the series has had on paper. He's somewhat intimidating due to the vocal performance of Kenjiro Tsuda and the fact that he's the only villain we've seen kill someone so far. His plan is coherent and so are his motivations: he wants to erase everyone's quirks to restore the age of the Yakuza, when his group was at its most powerful. Why? Because quirks and the changes that were brought with them to society has made Shie Hassaikai into something of an endangered species. What does he do to achieve this goal? He develops a quirk-erasing drug using Eri. Makes sense! As trivial as it sounds to even mention these things, these are things that the series has somehow managed to get wrong over and over. Shigaraki's motivations and goals are often nebulous, poorly thought out, and childishly unambitious. Stain's actions and motivation make sense but not for the way MHA's world is written. All for One is inherently mysterious because that's just how his character is written. And we're gonna have a field day with how fucking confusing Gentle Criminal is. But everything seems to come together for Overhaul. The problem comes with how Horikoshi uses him. Given Stain and some goons from this arc we'll get to in a little bit, it seems pretty clear that Horikoshi is trying to write villains that represent flaws in society. At least sometimes. Shigaraki is an immature idiot that doesn't believe in anything, and One for All appears to be just a really powerful mustache twirler. Horikoshi isn't exactly consistent in the way he writes villains. Anyways, Overhaul falls into the mustache twirler category. You definitely understand his motivation, but Horikoshi goes way off the deep end trying to make the audience hate him. I hate pretty much everything involving Eri. And before you say "wow, you hate an innocent little girl? you're awful", that right there is exactly my problem. The show manipulates the viewer emotionally using Eri. This is the most innocent-looking, Disney eyes-having, cute as can be girl you can possibly imagine. And its revealed Overhaul is abusing her. It’s just...so cartoonishly black and white I can't take it seriously. They make Overhaul so hilariously, ridiculously evil, that he's basically a Saturday morning cartoon villain. img(https://i.imgur.com/lpLdme6.png) And it’s not like the way the show treats it from the heroes' perspective is any different. They go on and on about how Overhaul is this demon using his daughter's body to make a weapon. Like, we get it. You want us to hate the villain. This is overkill. This is from the wiki: "Eri became a fearful and secluded girl, without anyone showing affection to her in her life. Apparently, Izuku Midoriya's touch was the first time she ever felt kindness, which overwhelmed her. When murderous intents are directed at her, she does not scream, nor cry and simply remains silent, because she knows she has no choice but to accept whatever is happening to her. Eri is, however, willing to let herself go with Kai in order to protect those that help her. She feels guilt over other people being hurt in order to rescue her. Unfortunately, after her rescue, Eri still psychologically suffered from Kai's influence, as she was unable to smile and had no experience of being happy." That is beyond overkill. This is like when shows or movies try to get you hate someone by kicking puppies or taking candy from babies just because they can. Just something so universally loathsome that it’s impossible to even think about liking them. It’s really hard for me to take writing that emotionally manipulative and black and white seriously, and as such I really didn't care about Eri or Deku and Mirio's drive to rescue her or all that nonsense during the planning meeting. ~~~__Overhaul's Design__~~~ So. One thing My Hero Academy's villains have a tendency to do is mostly make sense, but then they say or do one thing that confuses the way they're written for no reason. With Stain, it was the money and fame worshipping thing when neither problem is systemic in My Hero Academy's world. With Gentle Criminal, he says that the problem with heroes is them being unprepared because they're cowardly. Even though he could easily just say "heroes are being careless' alone and that would make sense. Plus, the cowardly heroes part has nothing to do with his backstory or ideology, as well as being confusing and not elaborated upon. With Overhaul it's this: img(https://i.imgur.com/IX8g1Vk.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/FEojhbU.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/mn8FRob.png) I don't get the healing their diseases and illnesses thing. It explains how his quirk works, but it's confusing since the action doesn't align with how the character is written overall. He has a pretty notorious disregard for human life and the Eri thing frames him as a mustache twirler, so using his quirk to heal random people feels out of character considering. Plus, they never properly elaborate on the sickness he's talking about. He uses his quirk to heal the illnesses of criminals committing a crime. He also said Mirio has the 'hero illness'. I don't really see what connects the 2. It feels more like how SCP-049 describes the illness he believes only he can cure. Except in that case at least it's supposed to be vague. The other problem is his design. Overhaul's design consists of 3 different ideas for a character, none of which are properly realized due to having to coexist with the other 2. You have the crow imagery, the mysophobia thing, and the Yakuza thing. The least pronounced of the 3 is the Yakuza stuff, I'm guessing mostly because the crow stuff supplants it when he puts his boss into a coma. Here's the thing about that, though. He doesn't stick out as much among the other villains after you do that. img(https://i.imgur.com/bYYtErp.png) And I know what you're about to say: "how can you say that? He has a big plague doctor mask on his face". Okay, but the show's primary antagonist has this design: img(https://i.imgur.com/O3qWK4C.png) One of the reasons All for One sticks out for example, is the tuxedo. Same for Gentle Criminal. He has a dapper look that makes him clearly stand apart from the show's other villains. Which is important because of the way those 2 are divergent from the rest of the show's villains. But with Overhaul, the jacket and mask together just make him look like any loser in the League of Villains. Now, there are definitely merits to his design. Specifically, the mask. First, the mysophobia plays its way into him wearing it, but also the surgical gloves. Second, wearing something as archaic as a plague doctor mask is an interesting commentary on Overhaul and his group being an anachronism in modern society. And third, the plague doctors historically were delusional weirdos who thought they could heal people of a disease they believed only they properly understood, even though they rarely actually healed people. That seeems pretty fitting given the 'hero illness' thing. Overall, I like the mask. The jacket is what I don't like. The show doesn't fully commit to one idea for his transformation. The plague doctor imagery has to split time with the crow imagery, which in turn results in a mess of a design. I think it'd be better off just committing to the plague doctor imagery for the reasons I described earlier. So, here's how I think you fix him: Cut that bit about him curing those villains. Downplay Eri. Cut the crow imagery, as 1 it's heavily associated with Eri and the Eri stuff sucks. And 2, its influence on his design makes him less distinguishable from the show's other villains. That means ditching the jacket, but you can keep the facemask. Commit fully to the plague doctor look. And elaborate more about what the sickness is he keeps talking about is. There you go, now he works. The reason I went through all that effort to try and clean up his character rather than just dismissing him like Shigaraki is because I think Overhaul is My Hero Academy's best villain by virtue of being the closest to being done well. Unlike Stain and One for All, whose problems are tied to massive systemic problems with the show's writing and world-building I'm not even sure you can fix anymore, Overhaul's issues are small and isolated. He even kills people! I certainly like that. He just needs to be cleaned up a bit. ~~~__The Raid Begins__~~~ Then we have the raid itself. The raid starts off pretty dumb, with the police and heroes standing outside Shie Hassaikai in broad daylight. What happened to being glad Deku and Mirio didn't go after Overhaul earlier because it would've tipped off Overhaul, and given him and Shie Hassaikai a chance to flee? Like, they can see all of you outside. img(https://i.imgur.com/6BIm4iR.png) Apparently the reasoning is they want to read the police warrant, which lol. I think is dumb because there's no real need to enforce the idea that the heroes value doing things properly. This would imply that there are consequences when they don't, which as we went over earlier is not the case for pro heroes or the students of UA. You can do whatever the hell you want and plot armor will protect you. So why start enforcing it now? Once the raid starts, it becomes a bit harder to track everything. People get split up, multiple fights and events are happening simultaneously, it’s a mess. So let’s just tackle each problem area as it comes along. ~~~__Diminished Visuals II__~~~ Episodes 71-74 are where My Hero Academy dies. They are so bad, so dull, and so ugly that I gave up on the series when it was airing and just dropped the show after the Mirio slideshow. Because that's the point where it becomes clear. The way it is now, it will never return to the level of quality we got in the sports festival. And one of the biggest reasons these episodes are so bad is the way they look. The time when Bones actually put effort into making the visuals engaging is long gone. This arc is low energy and looks like corners were cut all over the place. Granted, there are some decent cuts here and there (really just the Nakamura cut from the end of the Overhaul vs Deku fight if we’re being honest). img(https://i.imgur.com/RoRllWx.png) But mostly, it looks like piss. The best way to illustrate why this is so deflating would probably be the wiggly hallway scene from episode 71. img(https://i.imgur.com/WdHeI4W.png) To me, this is My Hero Academy at its lowest visually. This right here, is a big part of why I don't think this arc works. 1, the background is shit. Yeah, nice gray tube. img(https://i.imgur.com/9dxriX8.png) 2, the character animation is pathetic. They just wobble back and forth in a loop. 3, it just lacks energy. This may be a brief shot but it bugs me so much because it’s so lazy and flat that it ruins any possibility of the viewer being engaged by the visuals. Also if you think this looks fine, watch this scene from Paprika of basically the same thing, except done well. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Hm9Ckma-Uhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Hm9Ckma-U) ~~~ [In case the embed doesn't work](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Hm9Ckma-U) ~~~ This isn’t the only time they do this either. They do it later in episode 73, and that episode also has this sequence. img(https://i.imgur.com/2jIiW1E.png) _~~~What’s with the casual pace? Overhaul is getting away and they don’t know where he is. Why aren’t they running?~~~_ There’s just no energy. This sort of lazy presentation is crippling to the Overhaul arc, as tons of scenes fall flat due to either how bad they look, or how poorly they’re presented. ~~~__Flashback Storytelling__~~~ During the early parts of the raid, we have the big fights for Kirishima and Suneater. And I know that everyone likes Suneater's big moment and Kirishima finally getting a little arc, but I'm sorry. They're both bad. Well, okay. Kirishima's on paper is okay. It’s just executed poorly. Kirishima and Suneater’s big moments fall victim of a growing problem with Horikoshi's writing that reared its head a few times in season 3, and like the other problems with the writing, has spiraled completely out of control. That problem being flashback storytelling. If you've watched a few of or are even just familiar with the battle shounen genre, you've probably heard of the "power of friendship" meme. Aka the end of an arc where the main character is struggling, the show does a flashback, and the main character finds the strength (often it's friendship) to defeat the villain. The reason I dislike this sort of thing is that since you’re inserting a backstory we haven’t seen before or from when the characters are children before the show start, you can basically just make up whatever you want. Requires no planning of any kind on the author’s part. You can just make something up and that’s how the hero wins the fight. It just feels cheap and lazy. BUT. If you think I'm about to complain about the simple fact that MHA does this, don't worry, I'm not. There's a reason battle shounen manga writers use this trope over and over again. It’s surprising, the flashbacks builds tension by basically edging the viewer at the climax of a fight, it ties into the theme of "you have the strength to overcome this within you already, you simply need to find it" which is important because of the demographic they're made for. I get it. I don't like it but it comes with the territory and its part of the experience. I think it’s okay to have these moments every now and then. Like any other storytelling method though, the problem comes when you abuse it. And battle shounens have a major tendency to abuse flashbacks this way. img(https://i.imgur.com/y8P6tEo.png) Shipudden is a good example of that line being crossed, where it’s just padding the runtime episode after episode with lengthy flashbacks of entire scenes we've seen already. And then you have Fairy Tail, which uses the “power of friendship” flashback storytelling thing in every arc, over and over again. And Bleach uses the flashback powerup thing constantly. It’s using flashbacks a means of primary storytelling, and I don't care for that. I think you should build your narrative in a way that places all the pieces you need for a scene, in that scene. Plan ahead. Anyways, in the context of battle shounens, I think flashbacks are bad when: you use them too much, they're excessive in length, or you try to use them to develop a character the audience doesn't care about at the last second. In this arc, MHA does all three. First Kirishima. __Kirishima__ Now, Kirishima’s arc isn’t nearly as bad as Suneater’s. There are things I like. For example, this bit during the flashback: img(https://i.imgur.com/kii3CF2.png) I like this, as Kirishima is one of the few heroes that isn’t inspired by All Might. And, we at least already know enough about Kirishima to care. But it just isn’t done well. One, the show pauses for 8 god damn minutes of flashbacks. That is ridiculous! You are stopping an exciting fight so you can show us things that happened years ago. In this instance, it's the sheer length of these flashbacks. Kirishima gets his arm injured, 8 minutes of flashbacks, the power of flashbacks gives me the courage to fight again. That is bad writing but as I said earlier, it’s part of the battle shounen experience. Fine. Whatever. I'm not seriously going to complain that a battle shounen characters wins with the power of friendship. I can, however, criticize the show for using it repeatedly within the same arc, to the point where it feels like Horikoshi is doing it because he’s too lazy to actually plan anything out. __Suneater__ And then we get to Suneater. Suneater's arc is bad because its rushed as shit. It is hinted at when he's introduced as a character at the end of season 3, is introduced in more detail at the start of season 4, and then resolved midway through season 4. That is way, way too quick, especially for a character we've just been introduced to. We as an audience haven't been given enough time to get to know Suneater yet. I barely know this guy. And now it’s time to payoff his arc? At least Kirishima has been around, so when they start shoving in his mini-arc, I'm like "alright, I think the show has earned an arc for him after keeping him involved in the story this long". With Suneater, I really don’t care. I might care if his characterization was done well, but it isn’t! img(https://i.imgur.com/51uZMy0.png) In this instance, Horikoshi tries to write too much of Suneater’s character through flashbacks during his big character moment. This goes back to what I said earlier: flashbacks can be used effectively so long as they aren’t abused or used poorly. Here, it is used as a primary storytelling method, which I dislike. After all, Suneater is in the middle of a fight and I have learned more about him from these flashbacks than I have from the entire rest of the show thus far. And because of that lack of prior characterization, I don't care. That is bad storytelling. __Mirio__ Mirio's arc is a little better than Suneater's. Granted, I was already tired of the flashbacks with Suneater and Kirishima. And then they do the same thing for Mirio too. But unlike Suneater, I think they work in a lot more characterization into the scenes that are actually happening currently. Like this moment after Mirio gets his quirk erased: img(https://i.imgur.com/XIlebCR.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/O3Mg1Xu.png) It’s pretty good. It implies that his quirk isn't what makes him a good hero. Which ties back into the idea the show posed way back in season 1: "Do you need a quirk to be a hero?" Plus, it works as a nice juxtaposition to how Suneater just gave up when his quirk was erased earlier. Of course, his quirk isn't permanently erased. I predicted this the second he was shot with it. Not that it being impermanent is the worst thing ever. To even have Horikoshi develop this theme at all and to take a risk like erasing Mirio’s quirk for a while are things I definitely appreciate, and I wasn't going to ignore that considering I literally complained about the lack of this exact thing in season 3. But, yeah. More flashback storytelling. Don't know Mirio well enough yet to care. ~~~__More Bad Villain Writing__~~~ Speaking of sloppy writing without a plan, I’d like to talk about the goons Suneater fights. Specifically, these lines: img(https://i.imgur.com/HuJkz6H.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/N7dJWNa.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/8fvLjjy.png) ~~~_Can't imagine why_~~~ This is more of the Stain problem, where the villains make a statement about the world they live in that isn’t reflected by it. There hasn't been a theme of hero society tossing out misfits or troublemakers. If you look at UA, if anything they bend over backwards to make sure nobody fails. The only example I can think of is Gentle Criminal, but he doesn't come in until later in this season. This is a pathetic, barely trying attempt by Horikoshi to humanize his villains, when it would be so easy to just plan things out and be willing to write a flawed hero society so their words actually hold weight. Truth be told, I don’t know why he writes dialogue for villains like this. Overhaul is the best villain you’ve ever had and part of why is because isn’t a half-assed attempt to write a deeper villain. Overhaul is just a really shitty guy. That’s it. And based on what I’ve seen from Horikoshi’s writing, that’s probably what he should be going for. Villains like Stain and these guys, where an attempt is being made to have villains that represent problems with society, require a specific type of worldbuilding to work. Granted, that type of worldbuilding isn’t hard. You literally just have to make sure the problems the villains claim exist…. you know, actually exist. But he didn’t do that with Stain, and he didn’t do it with these guys. You're not showing me their society is fucked up, you're telling me it is. And words without action to back it up is, again, the opposite of what the show preaches. img(https://i.imgur.com/24y9z90.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/w12l2KR.png) ~~~__Shigaraki Takes Out Overhaul__~~~ It’s been a while since we talked about Shiggy and the League of Villains. They come back in this arc, and their contributions only serve to make me even more confused about Horikoshi’s direction for the series. Most of my criticisms of the League of Villains up to this point are made moot if they're written to be idiots on purpose so they can develop into something greater later. To avoid talking about them constantly, I’ve been operating under this assumption. The way Horikoshi writes their dialogue and actions in this arc still seem to point to them being…dumb. Or at least simple-minded. Like these lines: img(https://i.imgur.com/aFSXucr.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/tLaDbTu.png) These are not exactly motives with a lot depth or intrigue and furthers the impression that the villains in this show aren't really that bright. But then at the end of the arc, we get the scene where The League of Villains take out Overhaul. Let’s get this out of the way first: the only reason the League of Villains is able to pull this off is because the heroes do something incredibly stupid: they had Overhaul be taken to a villain hospital with no escort except for the driver, one cop, and one pro hero. How fucking stupid can you be? You launched this massive raid to arrest him, he causes all this damage and destruction, and you don’t think you might want to send a few more pro heroes and a proper police escort? Fucking morons. And because of this, the League of Villains is able to overpower the one driver and one hero escorting Overhaul and take him out, preventing him from using his quirk. img(https://i.imgur.com/WfJehpE.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/GTuvfPF.png) At this point, I can’t tell where Horikoshi is going with the League of Villains. At the beginning, I assumed they were supposed to be stupid and incompetent, so that they could grow and become more threatening over time. But like, them being stupid has never really stopped. Shigaraki’s raid in season 1 was a failure that only resulted in a bunch of his goons getting taken out and getting mocked by All Might and the students. In season 2, his interactions with Stain still paint him as just as dumb and immature, as do his actions elsewhere. Like when he mindlessly released nomus to just…attack stuff. The nomus didn’t accomplish much either. In season 3, the forest training camp raid was mostly a failure. They did get Bakugo, but he was rescued the next day. So much for that. And then here. The League of Villains does end up getting the upper hand over Overhaul, but that only happened because the heroes did something incredibly stupid; which it seems is how most of the plot progresses since the start of season 3. I guess maybe this is Horikoshi trying to make the League seem like they’re growing in power and becoming more competent, but it doesn’t really work. Shigaraki has not been getting smarter; the world around him has been getting dumber. This isn’t the only time something like this has happened either. This is from episode 13: img(https://i.imgur.com/OrcHtY6.png) ~~~_Why are cops handling the thing that's so strong All Might could barely defeat it with a rope? Does that sound smart??_~~~ It’s like, okay. Maybe Horikoshi is making the heroes stupid on purpose to legitimize the criticism of UA and heroes. But then you have shit like this: img(https://i.imgur.com/Rb06aeT.png) ~~~_Commenting on the news coverage about Shigaraki taking out Overhaul_~~~ And how Deku was complaining about the media being unfair when they criticized UA in season 3. The show keeps treating these things as though the heroes are being treated unfairly. I can’t figure out where he’s going with any of this shit. His writing is so inconsistent it…ugh. # ~~~__In Between Arcs III__~~~ The episodes after the Overhaul arc are honestly...pretty good? Well, they’re at least definitely superior to the horror I just witnessed. They play with some interesting ideas that were sidelined for another bad villain arc. They again touch on the idea that there's a hole in society that was left after All Might retired that Endeavor isn't able to fill. It’s also interesting to see them developing Endeavor like this, having him embracing his status as the #1 hero to improve as a person. This moment is a bit more human, and I think that's somewhat interesting. And then you have uh…whatever this is: img(https://i.imgur.com/OXAskli.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/wy0j2LY.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/XtQ2I9p.png) I really don’t know what to say about this. This subplot was so bizarre and surreal I…just…what? Now that the Overhaul arc is over, the show is improving again. Well, aside from... img(https://i.imgur.com/GSTj9O6.png) I swear, if it just cut down on these terrible villain arcs, the show would improve dramatically. Maybe the show can take a break from the stupid villains for a bit so we can-LOL JUST KIDDING GENTLE CRIMINAL # ~~~__Gentle Criminal__~~~ One might think that after Overhaul, Horikoshi might be getting close to figuring out how to write a good villain. He came close to having a villain that represents societal problems with Stain, he came close to having a fun mustache twirler with Overhaul, and All for One would have been good had he accomplished more before he was captured. And it kind of blew my mind when I watched the next arc, because…I don’t know how, but he's actually getting worse. Gentle Criminal is the most baffling of the show’s villains so far, mostly because it was difficult to tell what Horikoshi was even going for. Like with Stain, I was confused by Gentle Criminal and wasn't sure what statement the show was trying to make with him the first time I watched this arc. It took until I was basically done with editing to full figure him out. Getting to there was a painful process. And that started with the first scene he appears in. Good writers a lot of the time will use a character’s first appearance and what they do in that scene to tell you things about them. The first major scene for Gentle Criminal is…the robbery from episode 81. img(https://i.imgur.com/sMOBUZ9.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/rQBDrI1.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/qpH7AA2.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/0VlzhwF.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/eELPmpH.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/83HBBei.png) ~~~What the hell was that? So he robs a convenience store, some heroes show up. He beats them up but leaves behind the money because that’s his “appearance fee”. Then he reveals his goal isn’t money but for “his name to go down in history”? What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Beyond that, is this supposed to be funny? Intimidating? Endearing? I don’t know what I’m supposed to get from it! I feel like its supposed to be comedic, but I mean, there’s no joke. What’s the joke, that he’s cringey? The guys watching the video seem to be taking it seriously but like…huh?~~~ That was my initial reaction to that scene. Complete bewilderment. It does give you an accurate representation of Gentle Criminal as a character in hindsight, but it's not very good as a character introduction. Mostly it's just really confusing. Now that I've seen the arc I get it, but the first time? It basically broke me. 3 1/2 seasons of trying to figure out what the fuck Horikoshi is doing with Shigaraki took a toll on my brain, and this scene was the straw that broke the camel's back. That confusion however, did not stop with the first scene. Part of the problem is the tone. Gentle Criminal's backstory is sad and actually supports the worldview that hero society is flawed, which has been a part of the show's themeing despite not really being represented in the show at all. So in the one instance you actually depict it, you pair it with the most light-hearted arc and character of the show? Why? Isn't this what the likes of Stain and specifically those goons from earlier have been saying? That heroes aren't great and leave people behind, who in turn become villains? It's supposed to be a serious topic the show wants to cover, right? Then why would you associate THAT with THIS? img(https://i.imgur.com/zjAqMR4.png) You don't think its most focused representation might warrant a more serious tone? And to those of you who might say "well yeah, that's the point. He's supposed to be inept so you pity him and begin to subscibe to that world view." Well, there's a problem with that too. It's hard to say for certain Gentle is supposed to be pitiable by virtue of being incompetent because, well. Every villain in the show has proven to be incompetent. The main antagonist of the series is dumb and incompetent. And it seems pretty clear at this point that he isn't supposed to be. img(https://i.imgur.com/wBCZR1i.png) So now I'm supposed to believe Horikoshi is doing it here deliberately? The wiki claims a lot of the mistakes Gentle makes are due to a lack of insight, but a lot of characters in the show (not just villains) make dumb decisions for the same reason. What's to say this isn't just more bad character writing? Like yeah, I'm pretty sure the intent was a bumbling villain. But this arc has the same structure as all the other villain arcs. Villain causes mischief, heroes find out about the villain. At the end of the arc, Deku (in All for One's case All Might) meets the villain and they fight. The villain puts up a good fight but loses, and get captured. That's what happens to Gentle here. What's really that different? And this is the problem having bad villains creates over time. When they're defeated in underwhelming fashion (All for One), when the idea they represent is undermined by the show and how it presents the issue (Stain), when their general incompetence causes them to regularly embarrass themselves (Shigaraki season 1 raid, League of Villains forest training camp arc). Well guess what? All of those things apply to Gentle here. It he's an attempt at an intentionally incompetent character, it doesn't really work because basically all of My Hero Academy's villains are like this! Gentle Criminal is the logical endpoint to the ways My Hero Academy has failed with its villains. His character concept is so simple, and yet is undone by previous mistakes that easily could have been avoided and bad writing habits. And I'll be damned if that isn't the ultimate microcosm of My Hero Academy as a whole. # ~~~__School Festival__~~~ So, the other half of this arc is the school festival that Gentle Criminal was trying to interrupt. And I really wish he had succeeded in interrupting it, because this thing is pretty much the worst thing ever. img(https://i.imgur.com/3YcvIsB.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/3CWE2Iv.png) As much as I hate Gentle Criminal, I think the School Festival might be worse. Because it represents yet another instance of how little Horikoshi seems to care about tension or stakes or consequences or anything that might actually invest its audience in what’s happening. So, the premise is this: the other courses are sick of the hero course doing whatever they want without consequences. (Wow! Wonder why!) So to address this, the students decide…to throw a concert. Ugh. Bakugo correctly diagnoses why this is a stupid fucking idea. But like Iida when he was the voice of reason in season 3 before the class raid, Bakugo is unable to convince them, as he too is unable to overcome the power of Horikoshi plot armor. So this entire concert idea is fucking stupid. Bakugo is right. It is performative garbage to distract people from the issue, rather than addressing it genuinely. And this is an issue I have wanted addressed since basically the start of season 3. Since the students were allowed to sneak out LITERALLY AT THE SAME TIME as teachers from UA were making that press conference talking about how they were sorry and they’re going to take accountability. All that word vomit that meant nothing. I’ve wanted some semblance of consequences for all the shit the students get into. This could’ve been that opportunity. A chance for the students to make it up to the other courses whose lives they’ve made harder with their selfishness and recklessness. Granted, UA should be the ones receiving punishment, but still. I’ll take it for class A. A concert does nothing to fix the issue. A good apology is one that acknowledges what was done wrong, expresses remorse for the action, and most importantly, promises to do things differently next time. Aka, real change. That is why this concert is a bunch of performative garbage. It doesn’t do anything to fix the problem going forward. Its just “hey I see you’re upset, so here’s an epic concert oooo!” And now that they’ve acknowledged the issue, class A can go back to doing whatever they want with no consequences again. Hooray! Also, this arc is mostly supposed to be about class A trying to repair their relationship with the other courses, right? Yes, it does in a wrong and stupid way. But that’s what Horikoshi is going for, correct? Then what’s with this line? img(https://i.imgur.com/RKWmxaB.png) What the fuck is this line doing here? Do Mirio and the students from class A look down on class B and the other courses? I thought the idea was that the other courses are different rather than inferior? It just makes Mirio and Deku look like elitists. Anyways. So all the students from the other courses hate class A. Then they throw the concert. And suddenly, all the other students love class A. They’re the best! All those completely legitimate and unaddressed concerns? Who needs them? Class A plot armor is indestructible! # ~~~__In Between Arcs IV/End of Season 4__~~~ Finally, we’ve made it through all of season 4’s garbage arcs. Now I get to talk about the only good episodes in the entire season, the last 2. As it always seems to be, the episodes in between the last arc and the next one are pretty good. They’re focused on world-building and moving the plot forward. Yes, it’s mostly exposition and setup. But without the main plotlines to distract him, Horikoshi again allows himself to focus and dig into some interesting ideas and craft some worldbuilding. In fact, the best-written scene in season 4 might be this casual scene of Hawks and Endeavor talking: img(https://i.imgur.com/ep5ADcZ.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/gSSNmQF.png) It expresses several ideas and concepts while simultaneously delivering exposition. Like how they establish ways Hawks can use his quirk while delivering exposition. Good stuff! Or here, where they illustrate what Endeavor’s flaw is and the reason he’s struggling to replace All Might as a ‘symbol of peace’ by playing the citizens' reactions to Endeavor and Hawks side by side. Excellent! img(https://i.imgur.com/mbJXVXK.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/F7ylhYW.png) This is an idea they’ve been toying with for a while, and it’s nice to see Horikoshi following through with an idea, something he isn’t usually a fan of. Also for the first time in a while, the show made me laugh: img(https://i.imgur.com/BVhvAFq.jpg) Episode 87 is pretty good, but the best episode of season 4 is 88. It again expresses how the outlook of citizens has changed since All Might retired. All Might’s entire thing was that when he showed up, people were reassured just by him appearing. Here, Endeavor (aka the new #1 hero) shows up, and everybody panics anyways. It expresses an idea you’ve established ahead of time, goob job Horikoshi! Episode 88 also has the best visual direction of all of season 4. The end of the Overhaul may have had the best animation technically, but I think this scene has much better direction. img(https://i.imgur.com/iG4jaON.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/srma1yj.png) img(https://i.imgur.com/5BBeaz0.png) And that’s season 4. Somehow, that dumpster fire ended on a positive note. If there's one thing we can take away from season 4 though, it’s that it would really suck to be the lady with the caterpillar head. img(https://i.imgur.com/mjRAXuW.png) # ~~~__Conclusion__~~~ Overall though, MHA is not in a good spot. It has declined every season due to both Horikoshi’s ineptitude as a writer, but also Studio Bones’ declining production quality. I have very little hope for season 5, but there might be a ray of hope for this once promising series. And of all places, it comes from the second movie. ~~~[Heroes Rising](https://anilist.co/review/13415) ~~~

oolonoui

moistmossyroc

__Overview:__ Continuing immediately after the events of season 3 BnH, there are 4 arcs covered in this season. Internships, or better called work studies. Deku is meeting up with the top 3 of UA, Togata, Amajiki and Hado. Lemillion, Togata, is with Deku during his work study. Deku is training hard, learning more about himself and abilities when the yakuza decide to start causing a bit of a ruckus. Yakuza are deciding to dabble in a bit of child experimentation and attempts to revoke a person’s quirk with a special bullet. Obviously, this is a huge deal that puts Deku and others into the fray the moment it is found out about. Alongside learning that All Might is inevitably going to die, which was heavily hinted at from previous seasons. More details are given with Endeavor getting his chance to talk more. Entire buildup with Eri and the ending fight with Overhaul is something else with a emotional impact that allows characters to further mature and grow. Alongside having an unexpected result that was necessary to really hit about the severity of being a hero and the inherent risks it entails. Entire arc goes hard on a slightly slow ramp up to a high peak of enjoyment and immersion. Arc is followed up with Katsuki and Shoto which wasn’t the best but is necessary for the story and has some good points. Namely Shoto and his father getting some well deserved one on one that will be more meaningful as the episodes progress. Endeavor has more to him than the views of the others around him with reasonings that may not be completely apparent on the surface. School festival and Gentle are next up. School festival is the tourney arc but for the rest non power houses. Since the hero world is not only about raw strength. It is a needed portion to show and balance out everything while expanding on a hero put forth in this verse. Gentle is one such hero that is a villain but not a true villain. He wants to be renowned and known, with his story being one of my favorites so far. The trials he attempted and the ways he went about wanting to achieve his fame are completely different than the rest. It is entirely a selfless goal, but isn’t that what the other heroes are too? Some questions put forth about heroes again with Deku stepping in to contrast out failure. Gentle really shines from how strong his views are and how they are challenged perfectly by Deku in their fight. Notably with Gentle not wanting to hurt an innocent bystander during his fight and explaining why. Since it has been months since All Mights retirement, it was finally time to announce the new rankings and positions of heroes. Endeavor makes an appearance again and of course is officially dubbed number one. Is it everything he expects or wants though? This arc delves into his mental, giving more perspective and rounds out his character to be more complete. Showing reasoning for his actions even more than prior, where they are not with ill intent. They may be selfish but do have good intent behind them. He has a fight that ends is a well done conclusion for season 4. __Visuals/Music:__ All visuals keep up with the rest of BnH where they are unique yet very well done. From the movements and especially the fights where this style animation shines. No complaints and really is only praise with how well the animation has matured and continues to do so season after season. Music is also once again built upon and continues to be great. There are times where there could be better placed OST’s to help immersion but overall, its solid. Silence is used when needed and emotional scenes keep the viewer attached by a solid ost. __Final Thoughts:__ Highly recommend continue watching or getting into BnH as the story is a worthwhile investment. There are several points that can hit deep while having enjoyable to watch fights and progression in both story and character development. Honestly did put on hold for a bit after Eri arc since Shoto arc after was a bit lackluster but eventually did continue. More than worth the effort to continue as Gentle has turned out to be one of my favorites easily. I found last bit with Gentle and Endeavor to be the highlights of this season. Sure, Eri and Yakuza are very good, but they don’t hit the same for some reason as the later bits. Either way there is no other way to put it than its very enjoyable to watch. Every show has their highs and lows. Characters (main) – 5/5 Characters (sub) – 5/5 Enjoyment – 4/5 Visuals – 4/5 Music – 4/5 Story – 4/5 `Overall Ratings - Rec: 4/5 Raw: 86%`

outwritereview

__Spoiler Alert__ My Hero Academia Season 4 is good series but compared to Season 3 to me it was not up to to it. Season 3 for me was way better in story as well as action wise. I don't see much growth in Midoriya physically as well as mentally compared to season 2 and season 3 where we could notice and feel the way he was growing in it. The Villains in this series as well were not giving that threatening vibe compared to past league of villains but there is a exception that I will mention later and that was the best episode for me in this series and was very impactful as well. Anyway the series starts in the pace to develop a story and it stays in it for a long time in between there comes a moment where I think the series will pick up as they battle with villain and there is a introduction of new character with interesting quirk but as I said the villains doesn't seem that threatening as before so the battle for me didn't seem that interesting. Eri was very interesting in this series and Toogata and his story was very good in this series and also Taishirou and Kirishima was very good, I was surprised by Sir Nighteye's character would have been a very powerful character in future but I think this was impact they wanted to show and it was nice as well but I would have loved to watch him further and grow his relationship with All Might. ~!But later the introduction of Gentle Villain was very good with La brava I liked their relationship, quirk and backstory. The fight between Midoriya and Gentle Villain was very good as well. Later the performance of I-A was very fun to watch as well.!~ And the most interesting for me in this series was the last episode it was so good to watch the character development of Hawk was very good and within one episode there they set up him up with Endeavour and it was so good the action between Endeavour and yomu was so great I could feel the emotions the series was delivering there and Shouto's emotions was so well shown will the battle. Overall the series starts okay but it keeps being okay for a long time some good introduction of characters and fun episode in between but they end it on a high note last episode is worth watching. The end has developed curiousness in me and I am excited to watch ahead, I would like see Endeavour more from now on and the relationship between Midoriya and Eri and also more importance should be given to Shouto and other classmates of Midoriya that would be very interesting to watch their motive and develop their quirks as well. I guess there are fillers as well which I had watched in season 3 which was suggested as per an website for episode guide.

Nischara

My Hero Academia Season 4 was a very diverse season, but at the same time, in my perception, it was one of the most intense and focused. It had several overarching narrative threads that spanned the entire season: firstly, the story of Eri and how she slowly reintegrates into society, overcoming her trauma; secondly, the development of the world in the post-All-Might era and how the world adjusts with its new number one hero, Endeavor, and how Endeavor accepts this role. Accordingly, I found that the different segments of the season fit well together and seamlessly transitioned into each other through this overarching narrative: the school festival was a self-contained arc, but with Eri's presence, it was linked to the previous storyline, similar to the final battle of Endeavor. In this aspect, the season had a stronger focus than Seasons 1-3. Moreover, it was relatively intense, especially due to the detailed depiction of Eri's rescue mission, incorporating many character moments. There was only one part that I didn't like as much, and that was the Mirio vs. Overhaul fight because it was somewhat oddly choreographed. However, the emotional investment was still there, and that's what really sets this season apart: as I mentioned in the first season, every conflict feels personal. The characters are fighting for something fundamentally important to them, often for a person who simultaneously personifies their abstract hero ideals, making each conflict meaningful. Accordingly, the composition of the season was excellent. Not only were the animations a significant improvement, except for that one fight, there were also several insert songs played in the background that enhanced the scenes emotionally. Eri was the perfect character to characterize Deku and Mirio, highlighting how closely aligned they are regarding their ideals and dreams, and how similar Mirio is to All Might. But even the other character moments, especially Eijiro during his fight and Shoto as he watched his father, finally allowing himself to embrace his emotions for him, were strong. Other characters did get a bit less screen time this time, but that was due to the season's strong focus. Therefore, the school festival was a good addition, allowing more passive characters like Kyoka to come to the forefront, and giving us another glimpse of Bakugo's somewhat more tame side, which was hinted at towards the end of the last season. Nonetheless, the villains of the season were somewhat disappointing for me. Overhaul lacked some complexity, and his goal made little sense, but he fit the mood of the arc and served as a fantastic obstacle on the way to saving Eri. The same cannot be said for Gentle, although he is not a bad character: his relationship with La Brava and how they found solace in each other, as two lost people providing support, was very touching. In principle, a more fun and cartoonish villain also fits into the series. The problem was how serious the conflict was for Deku, who was determined to make Eri smile and feared the impact it would have on the mental state of others if another school event was disrupted. This makes sense for his character, but the contrast between Deku and Gentle made their conflict tonally inconsistent, especially since it was unclear what goals Gentle was actually pursuing and they seemed very far from the same fundamental needs that Deku was striving for. This is a shame because, especially in the second part of the fight, where Gentle starts fighting for La Brava, there is a beautiful parallel between him and Deku, with Deku having to fight someone antagonistic who has the same emotional drive as he does. I am very interested in Endeavor's further fate. His struggle with his role, even asking his old rival All Might for help to become a symbol like him, while seeking his own authenticity, showed all his inner turmoil and greatly elevated his character, which was also evident in his final fight, where he raised the victory pose like All Might. Overall, I found the season very good again. Although it didn't have the same strong character moment as the end of the third season, it was better and more harmoniously written as a whole season, pursuing a clearer goal between the first and last episodes, which paid off in the end. Next up is the second movie and then, perhaps, Season 5 over the weekend.