Spring 2016 Anime in review: My Hero Academia

I’m going to start out and say it.  I really like this show.  I know that it’s nowhere perfect and it’s maybe not as interesting as some other people wanted it to be until the tenth episode, but it just clicked with me.  I like watching some more sophisticated stuff, but sometimes a pure shonen action series just works for me and that’s just what happened.

The pace of the show is pretty slow for a shonen action series, but I’m pretty okay with that.  The main character, Midoriya, really sold all the character development throughout the show.  I like how he’s not the basic shonen protagonist who is dumb but has a lot of ability out of pure, natural talent.  Midoriya has to earn what he gets.  Even when he does eventually acquire a quirk, he can’t fully control it yet.  He’s still working on that aspect and that little bit sold me on Midoriya.  He’s got a lot of heart and works his butt off.  Absolutely wonderful character.

Speaking of characters, All Might is my favorite character from this entire season.  Starting from Midoriya’s younger eyes, we see him as the invincible hero that everybody looks up to.  Later on when Midoriya meets him in person, we see that All Might has so much more character then that.  Sure, he’s still that uplifting hero that he’s always been, but we find out that he’s dorky, he has a wound so that his power is more limited than it used to be, and he is like a Mr. Miyagi to Midoriya.  He far away from the perfect hero that we saw in the beginning.  Also, I totally buy the relationship between All Might and Midoriya because they are so similar in a lot of ways and they both look out for each other.  Master and pupil, but also good friends.

The anime has barely started getting into the meat of the story yet, according to what a lot of people say, and that definitely feels true because this all felt like a prologue.  We got some good development between what I call the main characters, but we’ve only scratched the surface for everybody else.  Midoriya’s class mates at least got a speck of personality to them, but none of them have been truly explored yet, except for Bakugou.  Same for the villains.  We’ve gotten some names and have seen some cool abilities, but their evil schemes have only just started.

The highlights of this series, so far, are the art and animation.  Again, this is a Studio Bones production so fluid action scenes and facial animation are guaranteed.  The art and color palette of the show feel very 90’s to me, so maybe that’s another reason why I like it as much as I do.  It just feels right at home for me.  Even the small things like Midoriya’s eyes when he’s in the air or the movement of his broken legs when he’s in the air are so good.  Studio Bones’ work is just excellent as always.

At this point, I would definitely recommend watching this portion of My Hero Academia.  Is it slow? Yes.  Does it give a since of finality to it all?  No, there is a pretty big cliff hanger at the end.  I would suggest this to anybody who wants to watching something like Rocky the anime.  Something that will give you hope and remind you to never give up on your dreams, no matter how far out and unavailable they may seem right now.   It’s a good time all around, despite its flaws.   I can’t wait for season two.