When it’s revealed All Might wasn’t born with a quirk and had instead been given one by a benefactor, it squanders the underdog story inherent in Midoriya’s determination to become a superhero despite his own powerlessness, but it also makes you wonder. It is for this reason the word is so often associated with the phrase, “war hero,” a solider who loses their life in battle placing valor, duty, and honor above their own personal safety. People often conflate heroism with classic altruism, being a selfless actor who is concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with their own, but whereas altruism is more a matter of humanitarianism no matter the context, actual heroism requires self-sacrifice, putting yourself in harm’s way for the sake of others. I know it’s typical to refer to the protagonist of a story as the “hero,” but someone should only be called a hero if they preform heroic feats.
This is not only bizarre considering the quote I used earlier, where season one begins by outright telling us Midoriya is destined to become the world’s greatest hero, but also because the series never embraced these themes to begin with. People talk about the good ol’ days, back when this was a show about a powerless kid working hard and overcoming weakness and hardship, whereas now we’re just watching an overpowered Gary Stu with infinite power who’s totally unsympathetic, and therefore it’s worse. Apparently, this show began to sully its reputation during season four, and its deterioration has clearly continued, but what’s weird is this has prompted people to start reminiscing about better times, and I don’t understand this at all.
This series is somehow doing both, but you wouldn’t think so if you listened to its common reception, and I find this rather odd. Everything it has ever done, is doing, and will continue to do has been done before, sometimes well, but often terribly, and even in the former case, many such properties are dragged out until they crash and burn or just slowly decline into dogshit. It looks awful and nothing about it is entertaining. The villains come back toward the end, but they’re still one-dimensional nobodies with nothing interesting to say about anything, and there’s still zero stakes because, just in case you forgot, “This is the story of how I became the greatest hero!” The artwork and coloration are hideous since Bones only cares about making non-canon movies, the show is 80% still images, the pacing is at once horrendously rushed but at other times painfully slow, and the fights are more panning stills with people screaming and crying at each other like autistic babies. It was dumb, ugly, and I hated every second of it. Most of it is spent going back to interclass tournament arc style bullshit that’s filled with recap footage and feels like filler even when it isn’t. Try watching this shit sober, so much of this season is foggy to me, but what I do remember about it just makes me want to drown myself in even more liquor. I’ve been an insomniac for years, but now my circadian rhythm is completely fucked. Other times I can’t tell if I’m hungover, legitimately ill, or if I simply laid down funny and part of my body fell asleep. Sometimes I’ll stand up, and then just find myself on the floor. This show got worse? I’m sorry, but what the fuck are you talking about? How is this any different than it has ever been?Įver since working from home became a thing, my alcoholism has gotten exponentially worse, and I think I’m dying. Thus begins the fiery competition between Class 1-A and 1-B as each tries to prove that they are superior to the other. However, Shinsou is determined to overcome this challenge. Despite using his training with Class 1-A's homeroom teacher Shouta "Eraserhead" Aizawa to prove that he's capable of being a real hero, he is still far behind the others due to his lack of experience. While this sounds simple, a curveball is thrown into the mix with the inclusion of General Course Student Hitoshi Shinsou, who wishes to transfer into the Hero Course. The winner is the group who first secures all of the opposing team. The classes are split into squads of four, each of which is tasked with capturing the other group members. Desiring to prove their skills, they look forward to the opportunity that has been given to them: a set of mock battles between the students of each class. This attention has left Class 1-A's rivals, Class 1-B, feeling quite bitter.
UA Academy's Class 1-A has been the focus of a substantial amount of public attention due to the multiple villain attacks they have faced over the past school year.