My Hero Academia Season 3: Review

Ok, so full transparency, this took way longer that I wanted it to, but I managed to get it done! Right around the time the new season is starting.

Eh. Anyways, we continue our journey into the life Izuku Midoriya and UA High school. But it seems there is an even bigger threat on the Horizon.

​Rules as always:

1.Spoilers are abounding here folks. If you want to watch it blindly... go watch it. Spoilers are here.

2. Depending on the Anime, this can get NSFW.
​
3. I am watching the subbed version.

Time to go full hero mode! This is my review of My Hero Academia Season 3.

Alt Poster for the Show

Let's jump to the end of Season 2 for a second. During the last episode, Tomura met up with Himiko Toga, a girl who has caused multiple murders and Dabi, a dude who honestly doesn't make that much of a first impression besides the fact that he looks like a patchwork quilt. This was the beginning of something we will see as a constant theme in this season, the growth of Shigaraki Tomura's cause.

So Class 1-A and 1-B end up going on a summer training camp. Training them is the Wild Wild Pussycats, a 4 person hero agency, who send Class 1-A on a wilderness hike to destroy monsters. Watching them is Kota, a kid that hates the idea of the Super-Human society obsessed with heroes. During a nightime training exercise. Both Classes get attacked by the Vanguard League of Villains, a group that is an extension of Tomura's original league of villains. They are looking for Bakugo, but Deku ends up saving Kota from Muscular, a dude that just want to be able to fight for the sake of fighting. He killed Kota's parents(hence why he was with the Pussycats), and Deku learns that they are after Bakugo. After taking on Muscular, is what a is a VERY well animated fight, Deku joins up with Todoroki and Bakugo are trying to stop both Moonfish, a convicted murder on death row(JESUS CHRIST) and Tokoyami, who quirk Dark Shadow is out of control because it is nightime, and that is when his quirk becomes harder to control.

They defeat Moonfish in part thanks to Tokoyami's quirk, and the Group meets up with Uraraka and Tsuyu who have been fighting Himiko Toga. She's a yandere, but I'll get into this fight when I analyse Uraraka's arc for this season. Bakugo and Tokoyami are taken by the Vanguard League of Villains, and despite a spirted effort by Deku, Todoroki and Shoji(He had been with the group since the Moonfish incident), they end up losing Bakugo to the League of Villeins. Deku ends up injured thanks to his effort against Muscular and all of Class 1-A go to visit him, with Kirishima and Todoroki having a plan in order to go a save Bakugo. Momo made a tracking device that she gave to the police and All Might to track Tomura's movements, and using a copy of that tracker, Deku, Kirishima, Todoroki, Momo and an uneasy Iida head out to save Bakugo. However the heroes end up going to the hideout, but the 5 students end up going to the Nomu factory where artificial Nomus are made. 

Twice, what are you saying? Even if he pushes you, you still stuck in his branches.

The pro heroes and Police invade both the League of Villans hideout and the Nomu Factory, however their plans are stopped when Nomus start warping into the city, and Bakugo and the Villeins are warped to the Nomu factory by All for One, who presence ends up giving the now hiding students "hallucinations of Death". All Might arrives and soon afterwards, Bakugo is saved and Tomura and his gang of villains are sent away. All for One and All Might have their final battle which involves a lot of mind f**kery from All for One. 

So early when Tomura was asked where All for One was, he had a flashback to his past, and we learn that his name was originally Tenko Shimura, and All for One tells us that he's the Grandson of Nana Shimura. This breaks All Might, but he manages to take out One for All with what I call the Godsend Punch, despite it costing him what remains of All for One.

After that, UA end up implementing the Dorms System, and while there was some pushback from Enko, Deku's mother, all of the 1-A students enter the dorms as part of Training to get their hero licences and this where the story once again stops for a bit to look more into how individual characters can improve themselves as heroes. An example of this is Kaminari, where he ends up adding a shooting disk drive that allows to concentrate electric shocks better in one spot. This ends up them taking an exam with all the other hero academics that ends up with everyone but Bakugo and Todoroki passing. 

Bakugo after this calls out Deku to a fight, have figured out that Deku's power is passed down from All Might, with Bakugo feeling partially responsible for the end of All Might. The two fight with Bakugo winning through, however due to this they are put on house arrest. After that, Deku ends up meeting the Big Three of UA. Mirio Togata challenges Class 1-A to a fight... and they get their asses handed to them. 

And that's the story. I honestly found a lot better than season 2 character focused story, not that season 2 was bad, but there a lot more done to flesh out the bigger picture here. There is one new villain that I am skimming over, but he doesn't really do anything here.

It's always Jiro that has the to deal with the naked ones.

The villains are a mix bag this season. While I like the expanded league of villains, Spinner and Magne don't really stick out, Magne especially, he honestly feels like an afterthought. I'm fine with Moonfish being a one off villain because he's a convict so like Muscular, he may have just wanted to kill people. Twice has the same problem, but his backstory is that he cloned himself and nearly got killed, and Dabi is pretty interesting. I wouldn't be surmised if he was one of Endeavour's failed experiments. 

What do you want me to say about Toga? She's a Yandere. Yandere's are scary, though that does make me wanna watch Mirai Nikki, but that's besides the point. She can also clone people. She doesn't really use in any meaningful way beside using it to flirt with Deku. That was a thing.

All for One is the best villain of the season hands-down, and I want to say the series so far. His motivation is the same as Tomura's, the idea that society is twisted against certain people, but his power is insane! I need to see the first fight between All Might and All for One, just to get a scope of how powerful this guy can get. On top of that, he ends working his way into All Might's brain, bringing up Nana Shimura just to taunt him. For those wondering, Nana Shimura is the former One for All holder. The way he is presented as villain is just amazing, and I really hope he comes back in some shape or form.

All for One "Where's your smile?" SAYS THE MAN WITH NO FACE.

In terms of character arcs, there is a lot less to talk about this season, as most of the character development was pushed to Ochako, Bakugo and Deku. Aoyama get's a small hint of story, talking about wanting to be equal, though it's not expanded on.

Ochako's arc involves her feelings towards Deku, which involves her trying to put her feeling aside after realising Deku is not letting anything distract him. Her fight with Toga involves her confronting those feelings head on because Toga figures out what's going on with her. It's small, but I like Ochako's smaller developments. It's honestly refreshing to see.

Bakugo Arc is the big one for the entire season, and it's focused on him coming to terms with the fact that Deku, who was behind him for a lot of his life, is now as strong as him, and the one that All Might chose, as well as the fact that he feels if he was stronger, he could have helped All Might, and he would have to give up his power. The thing is, Bakugo is kinda of a prick. If it wasn't for Mineta he would probably be my least favorate character, because the way he acts is no where near what a hero should act like. This development made him better a character and maybe he'll get better later, but for me? I don't see what makes him so great. I do admitly like him a little bit more now, but he's still not that great to me.

Deku makes for some good screenshots.

Deku's arc this season is learning 2 things, the first being to surpass his limitations, which allows to use One for All:Full Cowl Shoot Style, where he uses the powers of the rider kick and DID NO ONE MAKE THAT JOKE YET?

The second is him now coming to terms that All Might is gone, and very soon the fate of the world and the shape of his dream is now in his hands alone. I found myself heavily invested in Deku's arc this season because it felt like was closer to becoming a true hero. In fact let me say this right now, I think is the best all-around hero of the 1st years, it's just that his power levels are inconsistent is all.

TO TURN YOUR ROOM INTO A SAUNA?

The animation levels have been turned up to 11, as all of the fight scenes a bring a spectacular energy to them. Make my Story by Lenny Code Fiction is a great opening theme, which I feel fits the theme of passing the torch. The use of Long Hope Philla as the ending theme is probably more for movie promotion than anything else, but I love the acoustic mix that is used here. And it's sung by Phillp from Kamen Rider W, so that's makes like it by default.

If I were to rank the seasons of MHA so far, I would put season 3 just above season 2, and far above season 1. I think that this season does a better job of expanding the overall story given to us, and I can't wait to see what's next.

This took me WAY to long, and I apologise for that! Now that this out of this is out of the way, we can get other anime's! I won't be watching season 4 as it is airing because I am MHA'ed out. However there are some other anime's that I want to look at, including Fairy Tail! Look forward to it!

Before I go, I want to take a moment to plug the Animator Dormitory Project. This was brought to my attention by Uniquenameosaurus, and they are a team looking to improve how young animators are treated in Japan. They have so far made 4 animator dormitories, and have housed 11 animators. As someone who is wildly against how corporations treat people, I think that this is a great inshitive, and that you should support it! Help young people! We want to shape our own futures!

And that's it! Thank you all so much for reading, and I will catch you guys later! PLUS ULTRA!

Written By Nana Marfo
My Hero Academia(C)Toho Animation/Horikoshi

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