Detailed Review of My Hero Academia Season 6 This review contains some spoilers. Past In general my experience with My Hero Academia has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. In 2021 when I first started watching the show I was not impressed. I had just finished the first season which has 13 episodes and was almost ready to abandon the remaining 75 episodes. I felt the show was overly ordinary and clichd constantly trying to evoke emotional responses or pump me up but failing to do so. The only aspect of the show that kept me going was its music. Most other stuff were complete failures. However just when I was about to give up a friend of mine stepped in and advised me to continue watching. He told me that the series gets much better and that I should give it a chance. Taking his word for it I decided to continue watching and... I am glad that I did. Well I dont think its very good but definitely the sequel of the series was a worth mentioning upgrade. Despite my initial criticisms of season one I must admit that season two was a significant improvement. Yes the unoriginality and clich elements of the show remained but the main and character storylines were finally developed making for a more compelling viewing experience. Most importantly the action scenes in season two were presented in an exciting and thrilling manner unlike the first season and maybe with slightly improved animation. I also believe that season two featured two of the top three arcs in the entire series covering the entire season. These arcs drew me to the mha universe and its characters to some extent. Going into season three I had expectations of course filled with anticipation curiosity and a little excitement. And... I was not disappointed. I wasnt an upgrade honestly but it didnt get worse either. It was delivering a highly exhilarating Hideout Raid arc which I believe to be the best in the entire series. In addition to this standout arc there were also a few smaller passable storylines. Overall while it failed to top the previous season season 3 lived up to my expectations and fueled my curiosity for the continuation of the series. So whats the problem? If Im pleased why am I comparing my opinion of the series to a roller coaster ride? Sadly things are getting worse. Seasons 4 and 5 are the reason why my opinion of My Hero Academia has been so inconsistent. While season 4 was generally mediocre in quality comparable to the first season although the story was vastly different it was season 5 that really tested my commitment to the series. If the season hadnt covered that My Villain Academia arc I might have given up on the show unlike the first season and in that case I would not probably listen to my friend. By the way I blame those who compare the U.A Sports Festival arc in Season 2 with Joint Training. They are on very different levels. By this point its likely that you noticed my cautious approach to season 6. Due to my inconsistent experience with the series sometimes good sometimes bad I was wary about what to expect from the latest season. The series had been frustrating and disappointing at times but then redeemed itself only to falter again. I was at a point where I needed the new season to clean things up if not I would have given up on the series entirely. Thankfully season 6 manages to redeem itself and right the ship. It is able to clean things up and return to form up to a point delivering a needed improvement after a few subpar seasons. While Im happy to say that I like My Hero Academia again even if its still not on the level of the second or third season it made me wonder what could happen next in the series after a long time. Wow this paragraph is more positive than it should be. In the end mha is just an okay ordinary shounen. Season 6 Except for the part so far and texts I wrote in italic font the review covers the first 17 episodes that is the entire Paranormal Liberation War war and Tartarus Escapers as I watch them. So the tone of the review may vary in that paragraphs. Following the conclusion of Season 5 which contained a considerable amount of filler material and the My Villain Academia arc was introduced. This arc deviated from the primary storyline and instead placed a greater emphasis on exploring the backstories and character development of the series villains especially Tomura Shigaraki. Despite this departure from the main narrative the arc was surprisingly fine not great though and the sole reason why season 5 isnt bad and watchable. I wont dwell on it too much as its not the main topic. Im saying that just in case youre worried that Season 6 is relatively unimportant like season 5 and youre not sure about watching it. Dont worry about it. Finally with season 6 mha tells the climax of the main story so far and thats what the show needed apparently. I wont sum up the story of this season. If you want it go to the seasons anilist page or ask it to google. Lets talk about the story now. Is it any good? Well when it comes to My Hero Academia story is a thing that I dont pay much attention to therefore dont delve into it in detail. In my opinion there wasnt anything that particularly bothered me or felt overly negative nor was there anything that stood out as exceptionally good and praiseworthy. Rather the story seemed to be relatively ordinary with the typical portrayal of good guys and bad guys fighting and shouting at each other. This is not to say that the story is necessarily bad but rather that it did not stand out to me in either a positive or negative way. To talk about what Ive seen so far Undoubtedly the latest battle between the villains and the heroes in My Hero Academia presents us with the most challenging battle that they have ever faced. However the storyline also delves into several aspects that are not the primary focus of the series. For instance it explores the conflict between Tomura and All for One shedding light on their complex relationship also it reveals the truth about Endeavour who is on his way to becoming a symbol similar to All Might suddenly falling out with the people because of the secrets his son Toya Dabi has just revealed. These plot elements provide a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the characters and their motivations while also adding a little bit of complexity and depth to the overall story. The biggest disappointment I have about story or action is that when it comes to the greatest battle I expected the most epic fight scenes the whole series ever had. I had anticipated an epic showdown between Tomura and the heroes with the classic Good versus Evil conflict. But unfortunately I think the One for All vs All for One even the Deku versus Shoto battle in the U.A. Sports Festival was more engaging and exciting especially during the climax. Actionwise I feel that the quality of Season 6 is fairly comparable to Season 4 story is whole another story of course. Given the magnitude and importance of the battle I would say that Season 6 is slightly better than 4 and 5 for sure although my overall expectations for the most significant battle were not fully met. But is that all the series is about? Its just a typical battle shonen where the good guys and the bad guys fight each other relentlessly. Didnt it tell a different story? It told a couple of times actually. But the best one was the Vs. Hero Killer arc. It was a story about a man who challenges the notion that those who are labeled as heroes are truly deserving of that title. This character engages in a struggle with other heroes in order to promote his own unique understanding of what it means to be a hero utilizing his own methods and ideology in the process. Along the way he attracts a following of villains who are influenced by his ideas. This arc was unique in that it presented a questioning of the traditional binary between good and evil. While I wouldnt classify this storyline as particularly great or exceptional Although it doesnt go into detail philosophically Even though the subject matter is very favorable to it it did evoke emotions and reactions that I was not expecting to experience while watching My Hero Academia. The reason why Im telling you this is because I expect the rest of season to have a story that adds a different flavor to it. Even if its not like Vs. Hero Killer it can be a more characterdriven arc that takes its time rather than being a classic good vs. evil battle. I hope the Dark Hero arc will be like this. How selfish people are. The Dark Hero arc is one of the best in My Hero Academia. Although the action dosage is lower than Paranormal Liberation War it is fuller more emotional and more important. I think it would not be wrong to divide Arc into two parts vs. Lady Nagant and vs. Class A. I have to say that while I was bored in vs. Lady Nagant I was really surprised in vs. Class A. The phrase Mha is nothing more than an ordinary shonen that I wrote throughout the review doesnt really apply to this arc and there are certain reasons for that. The loss of public faith in heroes in Paranormal Liberation War is more emphasized here. People protest against the heroes instead of relying on them for protection they build their own water defense systems some bandit for resources others take out their anger on heroes they perceive as weak. Those who still believe in heroes are ostracized rejecting the offers of heroes who innocently want to help either out of fear or distrust. In short the atmosphere has turned to sht. This is the first time My Hero Academia has dealt with this shtty atmosphere in such a dramatic and moral way. In the final episodes when Midoriya is brought to the U.A. the refugees there strongly oppose his return saying that he is wanted by the bad guys and that he could be a threat to them if he stays here. Thats why I say how selfish people are. When there has been a great defeat when cities have been destroyed when heroes have died along with civilians when everyone has been taken to a safe haven by heroes people still blame it all on the heroes and the government. What I mean is the lack of solidarity. The people are busy denouncing the heroes but it is the heroes who work for solutions not them. The heroes who do everything who try to make things right endure the cries of an irresponsible and selfish public. Im not sure how realistic this is but dramatically its good. I think the people who have been grateful to the heroes as their protectors as they should be for so many episodes then yelling and screaming at them this time crying over their losses and so on are handled deeply enough for an ordinary battle shonen. At the same time it was unusual to see the heroes who are often energetic and gassed Lets blow these aholes up Come on btches in a miserable state. Let me say it again. These themes are not overly dramatic deep or emphasized. I would say they are just above the standard. Also even though the fact that the peoples trust in the heroes especially Midoriya was restored towards the end partly because of Urarakas emotional speech completely destroyed the shitty atmosphere that had been built up to that point the part until the end was more than enough for me. In this season the characters felt somewhat different. I did not find myself getting bored with characters that I never liked and cared about despite some of them suffered unexpected losses that evoked sympathy Bubaigawara is the main one here. Also some characters were given more prominent roles than usual like Toya while the U.A. students played more background roles. If there were any new characters introduced in this season I didnt even notice them probably because I wasnt really interested in them . Overall my opinion of the characters in this season is a bit positive. Additionally it felt good to get rid of the mediocre shonentype comedy on characters this season. Ive got to say that Im not a fan of My Hero Academias visual style. Whether its the bright color palette used even in the most intense moments the linearity of the drawing style or the smoothness and frame count of the animation in general it falls below most of mainstream battle shounen standards which I dont understand because I know the problem is not with the studio that making the series. Considering the scenes they did in Mob Psycho 100 which can be considered a side project of Bones compared to Mha I think it doesnt make sense that the animation quality being so mediocre in the series is their main material. Maybe transferring some of the team from Mob Psycho to Mha while Mob Psycho is finished can fix this issue. And its not just Mob Psycho. Bones also personally produced Bungou Stray Dogs and The Case Study of Vanitas. Even though I dont know much about the production process of an anime series I assume that these 4 series were largely made at the same time. In this case it seems really strange that My Hero Academia looks worse than all the other anime. Im not saying it should be much better but if it was at least as good as one of these it would be enough because the others are good. You can say that the crews are different I wish they had assigned the most qualified crew to Mha then. Or let me put it this way maybe it would have been better for them if they handed Mha over to the best team. As I said I know very little about this process I might be rambling. You know they had their times for it. Because Mha previously had a gap of one year between two seasons then increased this to 15 year with Season 4. And yet when I thought Season 2 and 3 had the best animations in the series though they werent that great either I wondered if there had been some changes in the part of the studio that handles animation and art design maybe the new team might not be as good as before. It doesnt look like that. Although I havent researched it in too much detail it looks like the staff has mostly stayed the same. In this case theres not so much to tell. For some reason My Hero Academia got a slight downgrade in terms of animation and maybe art direction. Even Season 5 which was made during Covids peak doesnt fall below Season 6 but rather stands out by a few frames. Maybe the stuff they tried in World Heroes Mission where the camera angle moves smoothly and honestly I couldnt find a way to explain this clearly but for you to understand there is a lot of this between 52:0553:04 minutes of the movie. I couldnt find the video link but they didnt use it here. Every scene is from the classic fixed camera angle or like a slideshow moving in one direction. Its not a bad thing This is already standard but because of seeing what they did in the movie I think the studio wasted a bit of its potential again. To sum up the color palette used in the series the fps in the animations the effects etc. are nowhere near the level of Demon Slayer ufotable or Chainsaw Man Mappa and thats not the problem. The main issue is that its not very good even compared to the general standard and most importantly its slightly downgraded in itself. They also chose not to use some of the experimental styles they did in the last movie. Fortunately my opinion is more positive when it comes to sound. The voices are still good. Most of the time they speak in a very tense tone and shout and theres nothing wrong with that. Battle Shounen are all like that Chainsaw Man comes to mind now as an exception. Its just the usual. But the music might be my favorite thing about Mha in general. If you remember in the first paragraph of the review I already said that the first season couldnt hold me in anything except the music. Music in mha is the crucial factor in making what should be epic scenes truly epic along with the voiceovers . It is the most important aspect that makes the show stand out and adds to the emotional impact of the series. In addition to the music that played during the epic scenes there were other tracks in the series that did not leave a lasting impression on me. In comparison to other battle shounen series such as Naruto that holds the crown here the background music in My Hero Academia did not have the same impact. However there were two tracks that have remained my favorites since the first season: My Hero Academia and Kimi wa Hero ni Nareru both epic if you noticed. About the openings and endings so far Ive not paid attention to the endings in any anime except Chainsaw Man but I have some idea about the openings and Mhas openings... Theyre fine. But thats it. In this case I want to talk about the entire series not just season 6. About videos I have noticed that many of them tend to have a slowpaced beginning. The footage gradually introduces the primary and supporting characters of the series in a sequential fashion while also providing glimpses of the storylines direction and new characters. However once the song reaches its crescendo the video becomes more dynamic featuring action scenes and battles between various characters. Its a standardized format for most of the openings with the majority of the songs supporting this structure. Typically the songs commence with a calm and measured tone after a short intro part with the climax occurring in the late first minute or early second minute. My favorite songwise is the first opening the day porno graffitti but Im not sure about my favorite video. I think Ill go with the day again. I didnt expect the review to be this long I think its because Ive talked a bit about the previous seasons. I was expecting around 6k characters like my other reviews that dont exist anymore but it turned out to be up to 16k. Wow I almost tripled it. Finally after a long wait we can say that My Hero Academia is back i guess. To be honest I was apprehensive about the continuation of the series particularly after the disappointment I felt with the Paranormal Liberation War arc. However just like in the second season the show managed to captivate me with unexpected elements that go beyond the typical shonen anime formula. At the beginning the series followed the classic trope of a battle between good and evil but as the season progressed it delved deeper and offered a memorable final act that was both dramatic and protest. I hope we will see something more developed in every sense next season and I can say that I like Mha with peace of mind.