SPOILERS FOR S6 AND PREVIOUS SEASONS AHEAD.

I think this is the most efficient way to summarize my feelings on this season: It was inconsistent. It started strong, ending up with a subpar first cour and then regaining its feet during the second. And I would be fine with that if the first cour would be just setup, and not as deserving when it comes to whether to execute it well or not, but the fight of Shigaraki against the top heroes, his final encounter with Deku - This is the final payoff of build-up and setup from pretty much all the seasons before.

This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy this season. There might have been a point while watching where I felt a little bored in the first cour, but I don’t think I ever had a moment where I think it was just bad, and even a poorly executed pay-off is still a pay-off. But why do I think it was poorly executed? It’s hard to break down an overall experience and point out particularly bad factors, but in this case, I think there are two, and one of those is the overall visual look and the direction. I think the second cour is a suitable comparison - A dark and muddy color scheme that fits the current mood of the series, strong drawings that convey the emotions of the characters, and the direction works well to make moments impactful with suitable boards and usage of music. Even episodes 3 and 4 which were the setup part of the first cour were very good - Not only due to a stellar animator cast joining in but also because they are some breathless moments, enabled through the direction and strong visuals. Compared to that, the rest of the first cour looks uninspired. The backgrounds are mostly the same, there was a “blue sky” meme running on Twitter when it came to MHA, and looking at the first cour, there is a lot of truth to it. Even Dabi’s dance, a very impactful moment where they could’ve gone bolder with the colors had just a blue sky as a background. Remember when Stain declared his conviction in season 2? Now that’s how you make a scene intense through colors alone. I’m afraid there is nothing of that in the first cour. And that’s sad because if you ask me several moments could’ve been as impactful as what they did with Stain. There are also a lot of 1:1 panel adaptations of extremely good manga panels, which were pretty much just butchered in the anime. While I always prefer an original take over a 1:1 adaptation, it is mostly good enough as it’s at least properly drawn, but when looking at this, yeah no. Not one bit of the intensity in the manga is replicated here. (Note: I am not a manga reader. Some panels were shown to me by a friend who reads the manga) I’m particularly bummed out about the first encounter between Shigaraki and Deku this season, as the manga panels did such a good job of giving it an uneasy and horrifying vibe with the black background, emphasizing how terrifying Shigaraki is from Deku’s POV, meanwhile the anime didn’t do anything of that, we only got a horrible texturized background later which didn’t sell the tension. This was a long rant, but I wanted to clarify why MHA is so inconsistent to me - The first cour certainly wasn’t it. Also, moments like Bakugo sacrificing himself didn’t hit as much as I would’ve liked them to. I think it’s also time to talk about what I liked - The second cour. The second cour not only looked significantly better, but it also did a good job illustrating the faults of the hero society and how much it crashed down after Shigaraki and AFO broke into all jails of the country and made the law in the country ineffective. Deku is also burdened even more by his sense of responsibility, with his belief in the hero image being tested by such as Lady Nagant, and the blame the common folk now shifting onto heroes. However, just like the OP the second cour recovers from its moody atmosphere at some point and lets some rays of hope shine through - It shows that people can improve, and that being a hero is not about power but about taking extra steps toward other people and inspiring others. Doing the things which the average person is too afraid to do, that’s what makes a hero. And heroes still exist. All things considered, this was a good season nonetheless. We finally had an actual encounter between Shigaraki and Deku after season 2, and we had a thorough and lengthy arc in the second cour covering the hero society and what heroes are. The situation is grim, but there is hope. Stakes for the next season are high too, I’m looking forward to that.