My Hero Academiahas been going strong for six seasons now, and it’s undoubtedlyone of Studio Bones’ most iconic propertiesright up there withFullmetal AlchemistandSoul Eater, among plenty of others. It airs once a year in 24-episode seasons, whereas other long-running shonen tends to keep going until a hiatus, with no clear “seasons,” but isMHA’s production cycle good enough, or could it be better?
It’s been so long that fans might forget that Season 1 was only 13 episodes long, adapting up to the end of the U.S.J. Arc. This was for many reasons but the most sensible way becauseMHA’s manga was still fairly new, its first volume having been released at the tail-end of 2014, and by the time of Season 1’s airing, the most recent one was only at the end of the Hero Killer Stain arc. Each year since, however, the series has released longer seasons and despite that, it has kept a reasonable pace with the manga,which itself is steadily approaching its conclusion. In a medium with a past history of resorting to filler when adapting shonen, this production model has been shockingly successful. With that said, 24 episodes are perhaps too many.
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Highs And Lows
This might strike some who have been enamored with the series as preposterous. After all, the high points ofMy Hero Academianeed little introduction. Each season seems to have at least a few great fights that go viral. This is thanks to animators like Yutaka Nakamura, who animated Deku and Todoroki’s fight in Season 2, among many other extraordinary cuts. And he’s just one of many skilled artists who have defined this anime.
Bones generally knows when a fight demands something more and has the talent to meet that demand. This is by far one of their biggest series, next to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and yet, there is a sentiment that thestudio’s other projects - likeMob Psycho 100andBungo Stray Dogs- outpaceMHAin terms of quality. Even with a year between each season,MHAisn’t impervious to some animation lows as well.
There are stretches of episodes where the lows of the budget really start to become apparent, especially in the character designs. Even with the benefit of time to plan current and future seasons, it doesn’t change the time and effort that goes into making it, and it’s a year-long production. Over the years, the staff has changed, and it’s not always as consistent as fans might have been used to around Season 2.
Shonen series are long and require a lot of talent to produce, often prioritizing bigger moments on the horizon over smaller scenes that don’t demand as much animation. However, this is just as much a byproduct of the way the story has grown and expanded. There was good reason to be concerned whether something as big as the Liberation War arccould be brought to life in animation.
It’s an absolutely massive battle and a turning point for the series and to their credit, the team did a great job. But there were still complaints about big moments looking less impressive compared to the manga. In a lot of ways, it comes down to personal taste but on the other hand, so much energy is spent on the emotional highs that the moments in between can suffer.
And if this were any other shonen, that might be seen as par food the course, but this isn’t just a shonen; it’s Studio Bones making a shonen series. Their reputation far exceedsMy Hero Academia, but it is the show that is most associated with their name currently, so the pressure to have it succeed is high. And sincethe manga - and anime - are approaching the end, it might be time to reassess how to adapt it.
Why Shorter Seasons?
By shorter seasons, this isn’t to imply taking the content of something like Season 6 and condensing it into fewer episodes. Rather, this is a suggestion to take what would be Season 6 and make it two seasons released a year apart, meaning fewer episodes to animate, with more staff to work on them. Beyond making what would be animated that much prettier, the storytelling could benefit greatly.
My Hero Academiais very adept at applying pressure to the heartstrings in its climactic moments and especially the fallout of these events. But there are lulls that become more apparent as the series goes on. Moments like Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist ridingin a car together in the Dark Hero Arc. Characters are often recapping events that happened not two episodes ago or wax on about the state of society.
But these ramblings often feel like filler. They aren’t contributing anything new to the conversation that couldn’t be gathered through context clues.MHA doeshave interesting themes, but sometimes it will forgo subtlety in pursuit of expressing them, dulling an otherwise sharp narrative. And then there’s the recapping and flashbacks.
While they are certainly a staple of Shonen, they are nonetheless burdensome. The genre might be aimed at younger audiences, but the solution should be to tell a story that doesn’t meander rather than insult the viewer’s intelligence.Fewer episodes could incentivize tighter pacingAnd more creative storytelling, taking small liberties with big payoffs.
Maybe the series wouldn’t trend for as many weeks in a shorter season, but being a one-cour series has never madeMob Psychoany less successful and that’s one of Bones’ best. As another example, look to the recent return ofBleach, which started its final arc in Fall 2022 with a 13-episode season that has skyrocketed to #3 on MyAnimeList’s list of the top anime as of the time of writing.
Perhaps it’s recency bias or an aggressive campaign of positive reviews, but few would deny thatthe first season ofThousand-Year Blood Warlooks incredible. It might be the best the series has ever looked in animation and the fights might just convince more people to jump onto the bandwagon in time for its ending.MHAis nearing the end, and it needs this kind of momentum.
Studio Bones is one of the best in the industry, which is why it’s so disappointing to see derisive comments about their reputation, reflective of the low points ofMy Hero Academia. It’s a good show - a great one even - but it could be better and all it would really take is to scale back what they do in a year. This means fewer episodes and - as painful as it is to say - fewer films taking up valuable production time.
