This is my first review written in English so please bear with me if you encounter weird grammar or overused vocabulary. I’m trying to improve lol

Until very recently (roughly a month ago I believe?) I didn’t really care much about MHA. I watched the first season, and it was good but not anything remarkable. I dished it out as a well-done, but still generic shounen and that’s it. After season 1 I didn’t bother continuing mainly because Netflix in Germany is shit and offers only the first season so watching the other ones is too much of a bother than it’s worth (that’s what I thought). But thanks to some friends of mine I actually tried the second season and oh boi from there I fell down into the MHA rabbit hole very rapidly. You can probably already tell by now but this review will be about all 5 seasons so far. So if you want my score for each season you need to have a look at my anime list (especially because I don't determine the overall score by average) And yeah, I won’t bother summarizing the plot and all that shit, you know already what happened you watched the anime too. So let’s start with the actual review.

MHA’s biggest strength is probably the execution. Like I already said, season 1 doesn’t try anything new. It’s generic, but well executed and that’s where its main strength lies. The quirkless Izuku being gifted a marvellous quirk from his idol All Might (which he worked hard for, of course) is pretty commonly used in superhero stories but who cares? It definitely works. And now don’t tell me that the line “You can be a hero too” plus Yuki Hayashi’s soundtrack didn’t get you hyped up. Actually, all of the soundtracks this anime has to offer are great. Ranging from “You say run” to “Rampaging Evil”, each one of these is a great addition for every scene. Accompanied by Bones animation the show definitely has great production value to make all of the great moments in the story shine. Again, at that point of time I didn’t think that MHA is a masterpiece or even great. But it was good, and it was difficult to find anything in it which I actually disliked.

Season 2 and 3 were the seasons which actually made me realize the potential of the “simple, but good” concept. If you look at it objectively, it didn’t change too much in its approach to season 1. We had a linear story with little to no plot issues, we had character development, we had finally a tournament arc, which was great by the way, and as usual, high production values. Not one scene feels wasted, each of these has a purpose and while not trying anything crazy new or mind-blowing the story progressed at a neatly pace with well-made execution while keeping us constantly entertained. And slowly, but surely, we started to care more and more about the characters and the world which MHA takes place in. Some may think that I’m giving this show way too much credit here, but I honestly do think that MHA really brought something back which I miss in A LOT of shows. I still remember how pumped I was when watching Naruto and Digimon when I was little and what made these shows great to me definitely wasn’t because they’re trying something new or have crazy twists. (Short disclaimer: I don’t want to badmouth these two things, they’re great in their own way ofc) What I enjoyed was that it got me hyped, that I cared about the characters, that I cared about the worldbuilding, and that I just had a fun time watching. MHA season 2-3 was great just because of that. And it made a solid foundation for what this show has in store next.

In season 4 and 5 the show decided to shift a bit in direction and tackled darker themes. We actually saw consequences from events in the previous seasons and a lot more insight into the more sinister side of the quirk society. Similar to how parts of Deku’s world crashed down when he met Eri and realized his own helplessness, it’s a shock for us viewers as well because until now we mostly saw the world from his perspective and it was easier to distinct between “good” and “evil”. Now we are offered more perspective and more background for the villains and their motives/beliefs which is not only great character building but elevates the world building to another level as well. (Another good reveal is Mirio. It showed us that Deku was lucky to get OFA, deconstructing MHA’s earlier theme “Anyone can be a hero”) You can literally FEEL how much All Might contributed to peace as symbol and now that he’s missing, everything which stayed in the shadows during his radiance is slowly coming to the surface as well. This not only makes the threat of the villains even more believable but also gives characters who weren’t in big spotlight before a chance to shine. The biggest example probably would be Endeavour. He had great character progression during these two seasons. But lets talk more about the villain side, to be specific about Shigaraki.

Season 4/5 and most importantly MVA truly showed us the potential Shigaraki has as a villain. Which doesn’t mean that he was a weak character in the previous seasons of course. I loved that Shigaraki was parallel in development to Deku. Both of them are inexperienced and not fully certain of how to use the power given to them but slowly they learn and develop, while pushing opposite Ideologies. Taking turns influencing the story they adapt to each other. Every scene with Shigaraki is simply a pleasure to watch just because of his beliefs and progression as character. Shigaraki and Deku are opposites, one being good and the other one being evil. While this does sound simple enough, it’s actually very interesting because stories rarely have an literally EVIL villain. Most of the time villains have background motives which you somewhat sympathizes with and which you may could understand and relate to. But Shigaraki doesn’t need justification for his goal: He wants total destruction. And that’s because society and AFO warped his beliefs and views to a point where he despises the image of a hero. Remember when Deku said that he can’t understand Shigaraki? I’m sure Shigaraki would have problems understanding Deku too. Reason for that is that their viewpoints and values are so fundamentally different they can’t possibly understand each other. You may sympathize with Shigaraki because of his childhood and appreciate some aspects of his character like for example him caring for his comrades in the League of Villains. But you can’t deny that the goal driving him is without doubt 100% evil and very hard to actually comprehend because he clearly has different values. MVA wonderfully showed us that by Shigaraki freeing himself of his shackles in the past. In conclusion, as you probably noticed by now lol, I really like Shigaraki as villain. He’s awesome.

However, as much praise I have for the show there are was also a worrying decrease in production quality in S4 and especially S5 which tampered with the enjoyment I had while watching. Lack of animations and sakuga, lots of use of still frames in crucial moments ( for example Mirio vs Overhaul and Shigaraki decaying everyone in Ep 21). Directing/Pacing was messy and the dialogue doesn't feel as organic as in previous seasons. Especially in season 5 there also seemed to be heavy censoring plus cut out content from the manga, which is sad to see considering that the anime according to manga readers used to SURPASS the manga. I don’t think that Season 4 and 5 is an absolutely awful adaptation in comparison to the average anime adaptation but it’s a huge difference nonetheless and I hope that season 6 will have a healthier schedule and more time to go back to the quality MHA once had. Overall I still enjoyed both seasons because of their wondeful peaks but they could’ve been much, much better honestly. That’s why I feel like while Season 4 and 5 moved the plot in a good direction and presented lots of interesting developments, both seasons aren’t great on their own.

TLDR: MHA is a great show excelling at using common shounen troupes successfully thanks to great execution. The slow but well-made world- and character-building shines especially in the later seasons, and I can’t wait where all of it will lead to in season 6. MHA is, without doubt, one of the best anime, if not the best, modern battle-shounen can offer.

Now that we reached the end I also want to pay respect to arguably the best animator of this show:
YUTAKA NAKAMURA

▶ Video Thanks for making so many moments in MHA absolutely amazing. He's not the only goat at Bones of course, but he is the one I noticed most so I wanted to address that at least once :)

Thank you for reading! Feedback, etc. is always appreciated.

(Disclaimer: The score shown below is my overall score for all seasons. It's not the score for the fifth season!)