My Hero Academia Is One of the Biggest Shonen Today – But Is It Overrated?
There are few shonen action series as popular as My Hero Academia. Taking place in a world where over 80% of the world is born with superpowers, commonly referred to as "quirks," it follows the journey of a boy named Izuku Midoriya pursuing his dream to become the "Number 1 Hero" like his idol All Might, the hero whose powers he inherited. Midoriya attends a high school known as U-A and studies to make his dream a reality, encountering many villains along the way.
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When the series first premiered, it was lauded for its original concept as well as its superb art and action. It became a fast favorite among fans of manga, and its fanbase grew exponentially after the anime premiered. Over time, My Hero Academia only grew in popularity, but with that came a very serious consequence. Now, the series has an expectation to live up to, one that seemingly gets harder and harder to reach as time goes on. This has actually made My Hero Academia's flaws more noticeable, as the series now has to both tell a good story and live up to the hype created by fans.
Deku Isn't the "Perfect" Protagonist
First off, it should be noted that the idea of a "perfect" protagonist is completely subjective, therefore it is practically impossible for one to exist. For a main character to be universally loved isn't something anyone should expect. The problem with My Hero Academia, though, is that hardcore fans of the series refuse to acknowledge that concept and tend to exaggerate how good of a character Midoriya, commonly referred to by his hero name "Deku", actually is.
Interestingly, Deku is a fairly well-written character. He's smart, good-natured, and has a lot of room to improve as hero, especially when it comes to understanding his quirk and the role he's set to inherit as the "Symbol of Peace". The problem is that Deku is actually "too good". He fits this perfect cookie-cutter mold that many other anime protagonist fill, but unlike other shonen characters such as Naruto, Deku doesn't really have any real flaws aside from not being able to properly use his powers. What's worse, is that this inability to use his powers stems more from the quirk itself rather than Deku lacking training and understanding of them.
All in all, this makes Deku kind of boring as far as protagonists go. There's nothing wrong with the hero being nice, but Deku takes it to a whole new level. His self-sacrificial nature feels like a trope most of the time, as he is always trying to save others without any real regard for himself. While it's one thing to behave like this with his classmates, but currently he is even trying to "save" Shigaraki, who is nothing short of a psychotic mass murderer that revels in killing anything he doesn't like, which is pretty much everything. It's not just unrealistic, it's borderline insane.
While this is a great quality for a hero to have, it makes it hard to really relate to Deku, not because everyone in the real world is completely selfish, but because it feels like he doesn't even need to be at U-A to learn how to be a hero. This makes his only real flaw his lack of mastery over his quirk. In fact, that has been what almost his entire development as a character has been about, him learning and understanding his quirk, One For All. Thankfully, the origins of the quirk are tied directly into the main plot, adding a very needed layer to everything, but it's unfortunate that Deku himself isn't enough to already do that.
Too Much Is Happening Too Fast
While this isn't something many talk about, it is odd just how quickly things have developed over the course of the story, especially given the premise. My Hero Academia is supposed to be the story of how Deku goes to school to become the No.1 Hero. While the Hero Course is meant to take three years to complete, Deku is already facing the final boss while only being in his first year. It just seems like things might have progressed a bit too fast.
My Hero Academia is already almost 400 chapters, which is pretty impressive. However, there have been no significant time jumps during this time. Deku is still just a first-year-high-schooler. At the rate the story is going, Deku will be the top hero before he even graduates, which further pushes the series away from any sense of realism. It's not that the series should be moving at a snail's pace, but rather that it makes it hard to see and feel the weight of developments in both the characters and the plot. So much has happened that has pushed Deku and his classmates to grow, but the story doesn't take a long enough breath to really let it all sink in.
Another problem this causes is that it doesn't leave a lot of time to shine the spotlight on the supporting cast. For the most part, each arc tends to focus on Deku, Bakugo, and occasionally Todoroki, while also elevating one of the other classmates into a temporary position spotlight. This character is then cycled out with another once that arc ends and the next one begins. At first this worked really well, as it gave side characters like Kirishima and even Todoroki the opportunity to become important and layered characters. But due to the fast pace of the story, it becomes increasingly more difficult to see how much they develop from those points, mainly because so little time has actually passed in the story.
This also extends to the villains, as they have also been treated as main characters just as much as the heroes have. It should be noted that this was a wonderful idea, as it has helped My Hero Academia develop its villains in a way that fans can easily follow. The problem with this though is that by pushing the story forward so fast, it removes the option of watching them grow even further. Shigaraki and his squad rose up from just a bunch of rebellious brats into bona fide super-terrorists.
This was incredibly exciting, but unfortunately it feels like so many great story possibilities were skipped over in order to reach the ending faster. The story would have been so much fun if it allowed both Deku and Shigaraki to grow together as hero and villain over the course of three years, ultimately leading to a final confrontation around the time of Deku's graduation. This could have created bond as iconic as the one between Batman and the Joker, which would have been very fitting for the series. Shigaraki could continuously try new tactics and ideas, acquire new resources such as when he invaded the Liberation Army headquarters. Deku himself could have then learned discovered just how deep the darkness of villainy reaches, and just what it will take to actually be the best hero possible.
That being said, My Hero Academia is still a great series. The characters are likable and layered, even if they don't get as much time to shine as they may deserve. The powers are all pretty interesting and the action is top-notch as well. These are all qualities that make for a good, even great, series, so it definitely deserves a lot of the praise it has received. The thing is though, it's not the greatest, and that's the problem. With fans constantly trying to put others onto the series, over hyping it in an effort to convince them, they've actually made it harder for newcomers to fully appreciate it for what it is, as the expectation becomes too high for any show to reach.
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