My Hero Academia Season 1 Series Review – Super-powers done right.

My Hero Academia Overview:

In a world where almost everyone has a quirk (superpower), Midoriya finds he is the exception. That doesn’t stop him from dreaming big and working toward his goal of being a hero. Along the way, he meets his idol (All Might) and through demonstrating heroic spirit convinces All Might to assist him in achieving his goal and is ‘given’ a quirk.

From there we transfer to a school for heroes (hence the title of My Hero Academia) and meet a cast of interesting characters with interesting quirks and begin the journey forward.

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My Hero Academia Review:

My Hero Academia is as cliché as they come and yet proves, once again, you don’t need to be original to be interesting. Rather than worrying about amazing plot twists or unconventional story-telling, My Hero Academia works to its strengths.

The first few episodes deal with Midoriya working toward his goals and how he gains a quirk (as well as his relationship with Bakugou which is clearly going to be an ongoing thing) and then we shift to the school.

The thing about moving into a high school setting is that the story of My Hero Academia for a while feels even more contained than it was. We meet the strict teacher and get the threat of expulsion if you don’t score well, and the usual rivalries between students, and it all seems pretty safe because as if the teachers are going to let it go too far. The third act however, brings in an outside threat and really ramps up the action for the series end.

All and all, this show kind of understands pacing and realises that most of us don’t have all that much of an attention span so points are introduced, developed over an episode or two, and then we move to the next set piece. It isn’t deep story telling by any means but it keeps it fun. And the movement forward is always logical. We don’t have a whip-lash effect as we jump all over the place but rather we progress to what might logically happen next to a wannabe hero.

I’m not going into an in-depth analysis of this. I started it late because I’m not that in to superhero stories and thought I’d hate My Hero Academia. Instead, I’ve smiled and pleasantly enjoyed episode after episode, but I haven’t really thought about it or tried to analyse it. I’ve just watched. (That said, I haven’t watched the most recent seasons because I kind of have hero fatigue again.)

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So the strengths and weaknesses are the same. It is an old story but it’s told well. We have an interesting cast, but few of them get enough time to really develop in any meaningful capacity. We have some great action, with more or less predictable results. There are some super cool powers in this show, but again with such a large cast very few of these ever get a chance to really be explored (with the exception of All Might and Midoriya).

It’s bright and colourful and the music works.  If you are generally into super-heroes or kids with powers or just like action sequences, you will probably enjoy this. If you are in the mood for something fun and pleasant that you don’t have to think too hard about, you will probably enjoy My Hero Academia.

If you’re over the good guys are good for the sake of it or are wanting a bit more of a commentary on the hero genre, this one is probably not for you.

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Karandi James

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