Boku no Hero Academia: Final Season

In 2015, on a random week at the end of October, the first season of My Hero Academia was green-lit. At the time, my excitement was through the roof, like a kid at the candy store. It made all in the sense in the world to capitalize on its popularity. Animating this show was also no brainer with the growing trend of superhero media in the modern era. Here we are 10 years later, the final season of My Hero Academia is upon us.

The rivalry between the heroes and villains in this franchise has been old as time. To make a strong impression, we're thrown ... back between the struggle on both sides: All Might and All For One. Their battle has much more impact than just than saving the world. From All Might's point of view, he's trying to save the next generation of heroes. In a plot scripted way, he's also destined to clash with the villian boss. It's a cliche of good vs evil yet My Hero Academia has embraced on its idea. Similarly, My Hero Academia does rely on some common superhero cliches in the final season. One of the recurring themes is character redemption as seen with Aoyoma and even lesser extent, the hero killer Stain. All For One's past is also revealed including his hatred for a certain character and his quest for revenge against All Might. Sound similar? I'm sure you've seen a superhero movie or two about a villain's crusade to exact revenge.

In the present, Bakugo also manages to follow his own path, not one with redemption but his own character. His fight with All For One represents selflessness and growth beyond his usual arrogance. It contrasts against All For One's one-sided blindness to achieve power and domination. Rather, Bakugo's endurance and to prove himself establishes him as a true hero this season. And finally, we cannot forget Deku's archrival in the show: Shigaraki. They're polar opposites of one another. Deku walks the path to create peace and hope, while Shigaraki seeks destruction and chaos, while trying to make things right in his vision. From his perspective, Shigaraki sees the hero system as flawed and tries to correct it in the most extreme ways possible. In one of the most profound moments in the season, we also see how Shiagraki reacts to his feelings and reponses. Even his final words show that he followed his path from the start, to destroy, than to create. However, this season finally allowed Shiagraki to find peace and end of his own suffering. For Deku, he managed to win a battle of ideals. His character is the foil compared to Shiagraki and like in any hero/villain story, one had to win and one had to lose.

My Hero Academia's path to get to the final season was never an easy one or without flaws. It suffered from some pacing issues and perhaps introduced more characters than we bargained for. Among the cast, some got lost in the fold while others were oversaturated. Deku, Bakugo, Shiagraki, and All Might are those who recognize the most throughout this franchise. And indeed, the final season put the spotlight on them to finish all their character stories. The final season also resolved the main storyline of the Final War Arc, a conflict that manifested from the first season. It took 10 years for the anime to reach such a conclusion but no doubt one worth waiting for.

My Hero Academia: Final Season is the amalgamation of Kōhei Horikoshi's hard work and colorful ideas written into a story for his fans to enjoy. While the series has its ups and downs, the final season didn't hold back to give a final conclusion, one that made the most sense from a plot perspective. There are times when I felt like the series tried to milk itself or stayed longer than its welcome. But for this season, 11 episodes felt just enough to sent this season into the sunset. The 10-year saga of the mainline MHA anime is now finally over.

What does Boku no Hero Academia teach us?

- There has to be a reason behind why a person is evil, he has to have a background full of grief and the onus on you to hard reset his very own beliefs.
- The bully and the victim should be treated equally, they are both at fault. Adults should not help the bully to change his worldview, eventually, he will definitely get a character development phase and there it is, he is a full-fledged grown-up which society admires to the fullest.
- Governments should provide the most prominent figure in its liberation history a salaryman job.

There are ... a lot of characters that did not get share from the story (Principal Nezu, Fillers in Class 1-B, Lady Nagant, Doctor really what happened to him?, Midoriya’s father, Mirko) and characters author forget to mourn at the end (Star and Stripe, Twice, Shimura family)

Where should I even begin?

Season 8 of My Hero Academia disappointed me just as much as Season 7 did. It was tedious to watch and felt completely rushed. The story jumped from scene to scene, creating a confusing mess. What exactly happened to the previous holders of One For All after they entered Shigaraki’s soul? The series leaves the viewer alone with far too many unanswered questions.

The fight against All For One had no real consequences. It was predictable, and of course every student had to get their own moment against him. To me, the battle against All For One was one of the worst ... if not the worst final battles I have ever seen in an anime series. There was no drama, no tension, nothing at all, because everyone survived even in a fight against the supposedly greatest villain of all time.

The ending was stretched across several episodes, but I wasn’t truly satisfied with it either.

I’ve spent a significant amount of my life watching My Hero Academia across eight seasons. So before anyone assumes I’m just a hater, they should keep that in mind especially since I rated several earlier seasons very highly. This is criticism, and I believe it is justified. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, as long as it is expressed politely and objectively.

Conclusion:
The animation was excellent, as one would expect from MHA, and the soundtrack once again left a positive impression. The story, however, was messy and rushed. The final battle did not deserve to be called a final battle.

My rating: 3/10