My Hero Academia - Plus Ultra

[Xarpho's Return]

the Wizarding World as this corrupt, borderline dystopia

That was because it was basically "write what you know" and the wizards being basically a mildly fictionalized version the British government, and modern Britain is a corrupt borderline dystopia, yet Harry and his friends never wanted to dismantle or even reorganize the system despite giving him nothing but shit the entire series. Harry wanted to become an Auror himself!

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I thought the MLA and even villains like Stain or even Chisaki had some decent talking points behind them. And I still laugh at Endeavor being forgiven so easily by most of his family and his domestic abuse never being addressed in any real capacity. Then again I bet they'd have Bakugo or Izuku just yell and say "it made you a better hero!"

Yeah like the villains were at their best in MHA when they pretty much were flaws of society but Hori is a pretty pro-status quo guy given how society barely changed in the epilogue. Like the most done is quirk counseling which is vague but have faith because Ochako is leading it.

But keeping the leaderboards is ridiculous especially since the leaderboard is part of the reason Endeavor kept abusing his family because he wanted a kid to be the number 1 hero.

Endeavor's redemption is so weird cause like the character himself is aware he needs to atone yet does the bare minimum like buying a house so his family stays away from him. He doesn't suffer real consequences aside from the fact three of his children abandoned him and his son died. However, he's still a loved figure in society, the wife he raped is pushing his wheelchair around, and all of his sidekicks act like he's a good guy still.

Hell when Dabi revealed all the heinous shit he did, none of the heroes condemn him and Endeavor is treated like he's getting cancelled for a mean tweet he sent 15 years ago.

The same applies to Hawks since the Heroes were established to uphold a no kill rule yet he faces zero consequences for being outed as a government contract killer and becomes the president of the Hero Commission.

Not mentioning how none of the villains actions stick since almost every hero maimed or harmed by them recovered, and in the final war, the only victims were the villains and their only kills were by suicide or of other villains (even nameless pilot background characters were safe). Having no death is fine but Hori keeps doing fakeout deaths and hyping the villains as dangerous killers yet they can't kill a single hero

 

[Xarpho's Return]

Endeavor's redemption is so weird cause like the character himself is aware he needs to atone yet does the bare minimum like buying a house so his family stays away from him. He doesn't suffer real consequences aside from the fact three of his children abandoned him and his son died. However, he's still a loved figure in society, the wife he raped is pushing his wheelchair around, and all of his sidekicks act like he's a good guy still.

Hell when Dabi revealed all the heinous shit he did, none of the heroes condemn him and Endeavor is treated like he's getting cancelled for a mean tweet he sent 15 years ago.

It was pretty clear that Endeavor had some self-awareness that he treated his wife and children horribly from when he became the Number One hero due to All Might's forced retirement, that was apparent from the start with Todoroki's initial reluctance to use his fire skills.

The problem is that they already HAD the reveal that Endeavor was a massive douchebag, it would've been a better twist if Endeavor's abuse issues were mostly just hinted at and Dabi would be the one that would really be the one to tell all. That's probably why Hori didn't completely throw him under the bus because it's such an awkward story twist at that point.

Frankly, Dabi even having fire-related scars doesn't work with the rest of the story. Its stated that Recovery Girl just speeds up healing from the body's natural abilities, but Bakugo has used his fire ability on just about everyone and all victims of that make a complete recovery with zero scarring. So even if you go with the idea that permanent scars and injuries only are shown if they're exceptionally beyond all repair (but not necessarily fatal)—Deku breaking his bones repeatedly to use his powers, Aizawa sporting a giant scar under his eye after a mutant chimera nearly killed him, and Twice taking a giant knife to the forehead by his own clone. All for One and All Might exchanged blows too, the latter getting basically a crater in his torso and the former losing his entire face. (That's not even counting fatalities, which often happen at seemingly arbitrary points).

Then, to make matters all the more confusing, you have Todoroki's own burn scar from boiling water, despite being right on his eye he's completely fine in the vision department, and instead of looking like he's made of leather just has a stylish dash of color on his face that make the fangirls swoon, both in-universe and reality.

I know shonen anime tends to play fast and loose with which injuries "count" and which ones don't (One Piece is guilty of this) but you know bullshit when you see it.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

It was pretty clear that Endeavor had some self-awareness that he treated his wife and children horribly from when he became the Number One hero due to All Might's forced retirement, that was apparent from the start with Todoroki's initial reluctance to use his fire skills.

The problem is that they already HAD the reveal that Endeavor was a massive douchebag, it would've been a better twist if Endeavor's abuse issues were mostly just hinted at and Dabi would be the one that would really be the one to tell all. That's probably why Hori didn't completely throw him under the bus because it's such an awkward story twist at that point.

Frankly, Dabi even having fire-related scars doesn't work with the rest of the story. Its stated that Recovery Girl just speeds up healing from the body's natural abilities, but Bakugo has used his fire ability on just about everyone and all victims of that make a complete recovery with zero scarring. So even if you go with the idea that permanent scars and injuries only are shown if they're exceptionally beyond all repair (but not necessarily fatal)—Deku breaking his bones repeatedly to use his powers, Aizawa sporting a giant scar under his eye after a mutant chimera nearly killed him, and Twice taking a giant knife to the forehead by his own clone. All for One and All Might exchanged blows too, the latter getting basically a crater in his torso and the former losing his entire face. (That's not even counting fatalities, which often happen at seemingly arbitrary points).

Then, to make matters all the more confusing, you have Todoroki's own burn scar from boiling water, despite being right on his eye he's completely fine in the vision department, and instead of looking like he's made of leather just has a stylish dash of color on his face that make the fangirls swoon, both in-universe and reality.

I know shonen anime tends to play fast and loose with which injuries "count" and which ones don't (One Piece is guilty of this) but you know bullshit when you see it.

Dabi's make some sense with how his body is that of his mother's fire resistance which is astronomically bad, but really MHA's tech scaling is honestly worse than the power scaling since support items in the beginning were merely complimentary to heroes, but in the span of 1 year in universe, support items can now make a normal person into a top tier hero (if they have lots of cash of course)

I can buy Shoto not healing his scar if it was some stuff about how he wanted to remember that pain, but again, a lot of the Todoroki family characters are just sidelined to hear Endeavor make the same atonement speech while not taking any action.

 

[Cryogonal2]

Hell when Dabi revealed all the heinous shit he did, none of the heroes condemn him and Endeavor is treated like he's getting cancelled for a mean tweet he sent 15 years ago.

Maybe Japanese Kendrick Lamar should have made a super popular diss track about him to make him feel real bad. That would be the most realistic outcome if nothing else was changed

yet they can't kill a single hero

No you see this random mook killed Midnight offscreen, people die in MHA! Remember Midnight? She was the horny one that didn't have grapes for hair!

 

[regalterry]

The villains raise interesting points but Hori doesn't know any way to resolve it

The whole plot is like that.

I don't know whether it's Hori himself that walked back on a lot of things the early plot touched upon, or if it's something the editor forced on him, but MHA drops a lot of plot threads.

The alleged spy at UA? Gone. Endeavour being a rapist and abusive parent? Dropped and retconned, he gets a clunky redemption arc because heroes can't be evil. Which then brings me to Stain and his rants about heroes becoming little more than celebrities that fail at doing their job, that's minimized since all the heroes you see are selfless and valiant.

What about the fact the government cracked down on the populace so hard their spawned a fucking superpowered insurrection? Again, the plot goes nowhere with it - the rebels are crushed by government forces and their complaints are not addressed. Ditto for discrimination of people with quirks that turn them ugly or monstrous, that's also something the story goes nowhere with.

I can't really blame Hori for this though, it's a recurring trend in shonenshit. Anyone remember early Naruto where ninjas weren't ubermensch that can level cities? When they had to use deception, tactics and strategically employ their techniques to win in a fight?

How long did that last? Likely until whatever preplanned plot threads the author ran out and the pressures of needing to keep churning out chapter after chapter at a regular place forced him to default to the usual shonenshit formula.

Another issue with the formula is that it escalates far too fast. There's no room to breathe, to let the characters explore threats at their current level for a bit more, or to come up with clever uses for quirks, or quirk combinations, since there's no time come up with anything creative,, so Deku/Shoto/Bakugo just solve the problem by punching the bad guy really hard, rendering every other character, even professional heroes, utterly useless and superfluous.

No you see this random mook killed Midnight offscreen, people die in MHA! Remember Midnight? She was the horny one that didn't have grapes for hair!

I gotta ask, is Hori gay?

Midnight and Mirko were, arguably, two of the most popular female characters in the whole story, yet one gets all her limbs chopped off and the other is killed by some random mook.

I noticed something similar with JJK, nearly all the popular female characters are either killed, torn to shreds or maimed one way or the other.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I gotta ask, is Hori gay?

Midnight and Mirko were, arguably, two of the most popular female characters in the whole story, yet one gets all her limbs chopped off and the other is killed by some random mook.

I noticed something similar with JJK, nearly all the popular female characters are either killed, torn to shreds or maimed one way or the other.

Shonen writers have a hard time on what to do with female characters. The usual level of violence can't be done to women, especially the token waifu. But the fear of being called sexist (or their own fetishes) has them basically annihilate female side characters.

 

[BigBadBastich]

That was because it was basically "write what you know" and the wizards being basically a mildly fictionalized version the British government, and modern Britain is a corrupt borderline dystopia, yet Harry and his friends never wanted to dismantle or even reorganize the system despite giving him nothing but shit the entire series. Harry wanted to become an Auror himself!

Well there was Hermione with SPEW but they basically blackpilled the reader by saying some slaves are so indoctrinated they know nothing else and derive validation from servitude. Ron pretty much is the main mouthpiece for wizarding culture and events and outside of the racism he really doesn't mind how the Ministry and its bureaucracy is run. Harry isn't ambitious enough to really care, hes just along for the ride in 99% of the series. I can't see the trio even attempting to advocate for change and reform, outside of holding people like Umbridge accountable for their loyalties to Voldemort. Like Azkaban existing in itself is horrific, a fate worse than death.

But keeping the leaderboards is ridiculous especially since the leaderboard is part of the reason Endeavor kept abusing his family because he wanted a kid to be the number 1 hero.

Endeavor's redemption is so weird cause like the character himself is aware he needs to atone yet does the bare minimum like buying a house so his family stays away from him. He doesn't suffer real consequences aside from the fact three of his children abandoned him and his son died. However, he's still a loved figure in society, the wife he raped is pushing his wheelchair around, and all of his sidekicks act like he's a good guy still.

The general public finding out about how internally rotten and dysfunctional their top heroes truly are and actually showing them being disillusioned with and rallying behind vigilantes or even villains could've made for some good storytelling. Why cheer for Endeavor when he only saves you for prestige?

Hell when Dabi revealed all the heinous shit he did, none of the heroes condemn him and Endeavor is treated like he's getting cancelled for a mean tweet he sent 15 years ago.

The same applies to Hawks since the Heroes were established to uphold a no kill rule yet he faces zero consequences for being outed as a government contract killer and becomes the president of the Hero Commission.

Thats fucking ridiculous. Theres some unintentional dissonance between trying to write a story of young heroes embodying the best of themselves to fight evil and their peers or superiors excusing murder and sociopathy.

 

[Tinnitus]

Thats fucking ridiculous. Theres some unintentional dissonance between trying to write a story of young heroes embodying the best of themselves to fight evil and their peers or superiors excusing murder and sociopathy.

I think Hori was forbidden from making the japanese goverment stand-in look like pure evil.

Maybe that's why Hawks got a job there.

 

[Doctor of Autism]

I think Hori was forbidden from making the japanese goverment stand-in look like pure evil.

Maybe that's why Hawks got a job there.

Not really because a lot of shonen manga have gotten away with portraying the Japanese government as evil even within the same magazine. Chainsaw Man repeatedly shows the Japanese Government run by sociopaths willing to kill off their own citizens for the sake of their own power. Both CSM and MHA also do the same thing of portraying their public safety organizations as shady bastards.

My Hero Academia ultimately comes about to saying the status quo just needs to be slightly nudged and Hawks being in charge was the cheap way to show things change for the better because Hawks is popular with the fans. Despite the fact, Hawks is also a glowie who mercilessly kills people in secret and escalates situations to be worse than they are (like cornering Twice and forcing him to surrender instead of like, making him swallow sleeping pills or knocking him out with chloroform).

Hori's worldview most likely changed when writing the manga and he introduced so many complex situations that he is clearly not competent enough to handle. Given he also thinks having a villain temporarily kill a student (who immediately is set up to revive in the very next chapter) will somehow make people see them as super threatening instead of a joke, Hori should just stick to drawing.

The general public finding out about how internally rotten and dysfunctional their top heroes truly are and actually showing them being disillusioned with and rallying behind vigilantes or even villains could've made for some good storytelling. Why cheer for Endeavor when he only saves you for prestige?

Because Endeavor said he's sorry and atones by doing nothing.

Thats fucking ridiculous. Theres some unintentional dissonance between trying to write a story of young heroes embodying the best of themselves to fight evil and their peers or superiors excusing murder and sociopathy.

Really MHA should've honestly stayed as a black and white coming of age story since Hori's doesn't know how to really pay off the handling of nuanced topics he tries to put in since he either can't pay them off without giving cheap solutions which are about how the status quo was actually a good thing, but just some bad people need to be removed.

Not to mention how it often feels like the older generations in the story take the spotlight away from their successors such as All Might and the previous holders of OFA overshadowing Deku, All For One hijacking Shigaraki's role as the main villain, and Endeavor taking central stage in Shoto's plotline.

 

[6MillionCoofs]

So watched Episode 1 of Vigilantes and to say nothing of the fact it was obviously what Hori wanted to do the thing that stuck out of me is it just looks better in terms of presentation.

OP1 is a million times better than any OP MHA had in just how it is visually but together.

And the actual episode add comic book style visuals to things.

Makes me wonder what made MHA last longer compared to other modern Shonen, because i doubt MHA is any better than your regular shonenslop.

People liked it and it sold bonkers. There is no other reason. There is never any other reason. It only ended because the author wanted done with it. As is the case with all of them.

Are Japanese audiences just in general more hesitant to criticize media that is bad or has a bad ending, out of fear that media will stop being made because creators wouldn't be able to take criticism?

The audiences shitting on the endings is why every msnga now gets a longer extra chapter at the end that fixes the ending every time.

The japanese audience shits on them hard.

I don't know whether it's Hori himself that walked back on a lot of things the early plot touched upon, or if it's something the editor forced on him, but MHA drops a lot of plot threads.

Practically confirmed to be the editors telling him ‘can’t do x’

The general public finding out about how internally rotten and dysfunctional their top heroes truly are and actually showing them being disillusioned with and rallying behind vigilantes or even villains could've made for some good storytelling. Why cheer for Endeavor when he only saves you for prestige?

Because he’s better and more capable than 99% of Heroes or Vigilantes factually.

If anything society not giving a shit about the man he is behind the mask is an interesting and unique take.

Which is why they should have keep the story being Deku wanting to be the best hero and Shigi wanting to be the best villain.

Because ‘world is bad, sometimes are heroes are terrible but the alternative is a dude that can decay everything and the top heroes, despite how flawed they are are obviously trying to make a better version of them so that the future can be better’ is a much simpler and cleaner premise than what MHA turned into.

 

[BigBadBastich]

Really MHA should've honestly stayed as a black and white coming of age story since Hori's doesn't know how to really pay off the handling of nuanced topics he tries to put in since he either can't pay them off without giving cheap solutions which are about how the status quo was actually a good thing, but just some bad people need to be removed.

Not to mention how it often feels like the older generations in the story take the spotlight away from their successors such as All Might and the previous holders of OFA overshadowing Deku, All For One hijacking Shigaraki's role as the main villain, and Endeavor taking central stage in Shoto's plotline.

I think he could've added some nuance by clearly showing the method of inducing societal change from the villains while noble, wasn't justifying all their present choices and personality traits. Heroes save people meanwhile but don't want reform or self-improvement, they're fine with stagnation and ignoring the personal gripes or issues plaguing society. For example, would any hero have cared about that weird mutant girl Deku rescues or just judged her as a freak? Like Re-Destro had a somewhat idealistic plan but hes way too fucking unhinged and kills a guy for almost nothing.

The funniest thing is that the older generation really is just more interesting than a majority of the main cast. People like Aizawa, Present Mic and Midnight, they wanted to see more of All Might and learn the past of All for One or the history where there was a global war among quirk users. People even loved the Big 3 and wanted to see more of their class. I think its a huge issue when your main character and his supporting cast aren't grabbing the reader.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

So watched Episode 1 of Vigilantes and to say nothing of the fact it was obviously what Hori wanted to do the thing that stuck out of me is it just looks better in terms of presentation.

Oh it's out finally? Need to give it a watch. To be fair I haven't seen the last...3 seasons of MHA which are currently sat in the same pile as the new Bleach stuff but Vigilantes I really do want to see.

 

[Trollblade69]

I can't believe there's posters in this thread who haven't read both mangas to completion.

 

[FatR]

Why cheer for Endeavor when he only saves you for prestige?

Because he saves me. Duh.

The whole "it is not enough that the heroes fight motherfuckers that would dust me for lulz, they also must be morally good (read - conformist and as nonthreatening as possible), or I'll bitch about them" angle really pisses me off, because it is just so outlandishly selfish and petulant.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Because he saves me. Duh.

The whole "it is not enough that the heroes fight motherfuckers that would dust me for lulz, they also must be morally good (read - conformist and as nonthreatening as possible), or I'll bitch about them" angle really pisses me off, because it is just so outlandishly selfish and petulant.

I feel like it's the same mindset as "my idol needs to remain pure for me to follow her".

 

[The greater a'tuin]

I think he could've added some nuance by clearly showing the method of inducing societal change from the villains while noble, wasn't justifying all their present choices and personality traits. Heroes save people meanwhile but don't want reform or self-improvement, they're fine with stagnation and ignoring the personal gripes or issues plaguing society. For example, would any hero have cared about that weird mutant girl Deku rescues or just judged her as a freak? Like Re-Destro had a somewhat idealistic plan but hes way too fucking unhinged and kills a guy for almost nothing.

The funniest thing is that the older generation really is just more interesting than a majority of the main cast. People like Aizawa, Present Mic and Midnight, they wanted to see more of All Might and learn the past of All for One or the history where there was a global war among quirk users. People even loved the Big 3 and wanted to see more of their class. I think its a huge issue when your main character and his supporting cast aren't grabbing the reader.

The story fundamentally flip-flops too much on whether tragic villains should have their injustices empathically remedied, or if they should be told to suck it up and stop unloading their problems onto others.

 

[vern]

Fuck I forgot about this little part



I do still like Vigilantes more then the main series, but everyone knows it should of been bong land to mandate loicense for quirks, not the US.

 

[Trollblade69]

Fuck I forgot about this little part

View attachment 7386357

I do still like Vigilantes more then the main series, but everyone knows it should of been bong land to mandate loicense for quirks, not the US.

It's a reference to City Of Heroes. Or some other MMO, I can't be sure. Furuhashi seems to be a lot more keyed into western media than Horikoshi is, what with all the knockoff Marvel characters and Frank Miller references.

 

[Thiletonomics]

A new MHA game was announced, All's Justice:

I know that anime games are doomed to just suck, so will this be just the same?