Anime of the best boys (My Hero Academia)

To be honest, when I first heard about My Hero Academia I didn’t know if I would genuinely like it or not. I’m not super big into the super hero kind of aesthetic or story and don’t have many superheros that I actually like *apart from Captain America because you know, daddy*. I find the whole concept a bit cringe-worthy with my thought process being that this show would be like if Sky High met anime (god that show was bad). However, when I took a step back I realised my mistake and immediately fell for such a well made shounen anime that I learned to truly love *cough* fairy tail, with an abundant amount of best boys to fawn over 24/7.

My love for this anime all started when I took a chance on Izuku Midoriya because I thought that the blonde haired guy with spiky hair looked extremely hot. Don’t ask me why, but just look at those lovable eyes… I could get lost in them for years. After a quick hanky panky session, I decided to give the first episode a go and quickly realised this would not be the stereotypical “I am strong man and save girl, I’m rich with all my cars and famous now support me” kind of superhero anime.

It’s a coming of age story that is extremely relatable with a guy who just wants to realise his dreams along with his friends *even if they may be EXTREMELY subtle about it **cough** Bakugo* but alas, this anime had me interested. A world where EVERYONE has the potential to become a superhero but only the elite can receive it is the most exemplary way to demonstrate to an audience that anyone can reach their dreams which is so damn inspiring. However, this anime does it differently. We see the struggles along with realising dreams and not just struggles as in mistakes or small failures, I’m talking about breaking EVERY. FUCKING. BONE. IN. YOUR. BODY. Just to make your dreams come true. We’re proud of you Izuku.

In this world, everyone is born with a quirk clearly identifying their individuality from birth. We have frogs, slugs, birds and people with tails. Invisible girls, Katy Perry song’s in physical forms (Todoriki) you name it, My Hero Academia has made a quirk for it. Being armed with these quirks means that people have the potential to do harm to a society, thus this also means that some have the potential to do good resulting in a professional heroes rising to the challenge of defeating villians to keep society in order. If that didn’t get you hard I don’t know what will. Honestly.

Introducing Midoryia, a quirkless child who wants to become a hero, but with no defining attribute to become one. Instead, he uses his motivation to analyse the quirks and physically fighting styles of other heroes to make up for his lack of strength. His bully the dreamy yet explosive Bakugo realises his weakness and calls him ‘deku’ or useless along with believing that he is the strongest to ever walk the earth. He’s proud and he knows he is strong which is motivation to reach his goal of also being the top hero. Both boys have a deep rooted passion for heroes which is derived from the top hero All Might. Both of these characters become possessive over All Might’s image with the obsession obscuring their vision of reality and justice to some degree.

In a somewhat ironic role reversal, we see Bakugo get kidnapped and holds his own against a villain with a struggle and a quirk-less Izuku’s feeble yet passionate attempts to save him. A spark is ignited inside of All Might, seeing this quirkless child run in without hestiation to save someone, catalysed the decision for All Might to transfer his power, One For All to Izuku, being the defining factor in Izuku’s journey to heroism.

The writing for this anime is so well done with every step being thought out and executed to a tee. Props to the manga creators. Deeply ingrained character motivations drive this anime and make it a strong story based driven watch. Bakugo and Midoriya’s origins are two extremely passionate and fiery juxtapositions of each other, however have so many similarities that cause of paradox of motivations which fit together with other characters like a puzzle. From being born quirkless to having power and from being born with power and feeling powerless is a strong combination of feelings which correlate effectively in the context of this anime.

The thing about Bakugo is that he is the literal and emotional bully that causes Midoryia to keep inflicting harm on himself, as Izuku has said, he is trying to catch up to Bakugo at every opportunity he can. This physically manifests itself in Izuku destroying his body just to understand his own power and gain strength. It is similar to the age old bully tactic of ‘stop hitting yourself’ but instead of being physical, Izuku is the bully inflicting pain on himself with Bakugo being the catalyst for this to happen.

We see the true form of this development where Bakugo slowly begins to acknowledge Izuku’s insane power, however, becomes emotional when he believes he is working just as hard to reach his goal. When his role model chooses someone else over him, it clearly effects the way he sees not only Izuku as a rival but the world around him as he behaviour shifts and he becomes softer towards his classmates along with his bestfriend Kirishima.

Development of each character is also done well as no one is really stagnant in power level. Throughout the progression of the series it does rely on shonen crutches with the premise of the anime becoming a tad tedious with training, villian introduction, tournament arc, villian attacks, repeat cycle. But it is still worth watching the development of these characters and their motivations as this is where the best bits of the anime lie. Characters like Tsu, Todoroki, Ochaco and Tokami all have their individual nature’s about them which relate heavily to their quirks and overall involvement in the story in assisting Midoriya to becoming a better hero. Tsu in her calm and collected decision making in crisis, Todoroki in acknowledging his own power which is derived from the hatred of his father, Ochaco in never giving up even if your opponent is superior and Tokami in realising your biggest weaknesses are also your greatest strengths and attempting to combat them by understanding them.

The best part is, there are SO MANY BEST BOYS to choose from. You have your pick, (Izuku) stereotypical selfless main character, (Bakugo) bad boy bang, mysterious yet emo bipolar dude (Todoroki), someone who would like a solid relationship (Kirishima), a dimwitted guy who just wants a stable spark (Denki), a perv (Mineta), or if you don’t like any of those a normal guy will suffice (Ojiro).

The thing this anime does different is that we don’t see a main character with an obvious power level from the get go. We know that Midoriya has power, however, he cannot utilise it and ends up injuring himself severely might I add, after using it, a concept which doesn’t really prevail in shounen anime too much as we see characters like Natsu and Luffy being set up with high power levels from the very beginning. With the overwhelming figure of All Might and his looming demise, the anime sets itself up for a sellor ride. This story really is about coming of age, having a figure of a large pillar to strive to be like but then creating your own path and destiny to make the journey your own which can be identified through the parallel dreams of Bakugo and Izuku with different trajectories. It shows that any individual quirk or unique quality that you may have is your own power inside you and can be used to do great things. Who thought a girl with earphone jacks for earlobes could do THIS.

My reason for watching this anime was extremely shallow in that I just wanted to perve on Bakugo for the rest of my days but honestly it was so much more than that… There are so many best boys to choose from! And waifu’s I guess. Along with each characters unique and extremely fascinating quirks, their personalies shine and each get their moment in the spotlight at some point with their individual qualities being their strongest asset. Yes Bakugo’s assets are my favourite. ANYWAYS.

The funny thing is, I don’t gravitate towards the loud, bad guy, bully type of character, I find it extremely hard to even relate to a character that exudes pride and confidence such as Bakugo, I usually mention them with distaste. But I could feel that there was something there that I liked about him. As the story progresses, you can clearly identify that his intentions change towards Izuku and schooling due to his own conceptualisation being bred in clarity along side Midoriya. His childhood of having a cascade over his eyes which manifested his pride slowly inches away to reveal deep down what he’s all about. Being the strongest and preserving to reach the goal of All Might, to fight alongside his hero and surpass him. We barely see Bakugo crying, which makes it even more powerful when Midoriya and Bakugo clash because (even though I’m a sook) I cried when their emotions ran wild and if an anime can do that just through the experiences of two characters being shared and their relationship developing through a fight to the fullest, it must be a fucking great anime.

I just remember feeling giddy when the villians first attacked USJ, I remember feeling giddy when Midoriya first used his power in his legs, I remember feeling giddy when Bakugo eventually conveyed his feelings to Midoriya and I feel giddy waiting to see what is going to happen in season four. This is going to be awesome, and do you know why? BECAUSE I AM HERE. ok but seriously watch this anime.

The thing about this anime is that I never see it getting old for a variety of reasons. It’s appeal in its character designs and plot development to all audience super-seeds its somewhat bland top layer concept. The main character motivations and juxtaposition of personalities lets you pick who you want to root for even if their paths are different. I highly recommend this anime and it’s variety of best boys.

Also, it comes with a KILLER soundtrack. That is all.

~ krisesandchrosses ~