My Hero Academia did exactly what it needed to in its final season.
It is a season that deserves a 10, but lost something.
It definitely had really good moments and I cried a lot, but the core premise of the show has evolved so much that I don't get that satisfied loopback feeling from a long Shounen ending.
I think its because it's a comic book ending. In other words plenty of payoff for the world and side characters so the story can continue whenever, but for the main character it feels like when a hero dies only for the writers to plan on resurrecting them later.
That probably makes no sense either actually.
Okay its like you know how Naruto, One Piece, Black Clover, all those long running Shounen anime? How their MC has a goal and the entire show it dedicated to their journey in reaching that goal. What was Deku's goal?
To be the strongest hero? The greatest hero? The number 1 hero? The most heroic hero?
Could be any of those depending on how you interpret it. Either way I don't think Horikoshi paid much attention to this originating premise of series.
This season Deku status had a bit of time in the limelight, but there was always some kind of limitation or hinderance on him in the final fights.
It seems like they shifted the goalpost for him to be the most "admirable" hero rather than the greatest.
Narratively it feels as though the story went in the direction of group efforts rather than individual efforts some time ago, and i understand why. The story is probably better because of it, but it leaves the ultimate payoff for the MC storyline as a bit of a footnote in the wider narrative.
Deku and Uraraka's storyline was also neglected and the build up through the series was relegated to one emotional conclusion at a cliff that was more about a villain rather than the two of them.
I would have liked Horikoshi to have more ego for his main character and let him have a good amount of time in that highest position.
Yes they wrapped up many story threads but that is honestly not important.
It's ok to have a story end with many plots or characters left undescribed, maybe even better because then the viewer/reader can relish in that and use their imagination. But!
The main driving force and main character having a mediocre payoff where they were never really the greatest hero is an odd choice. You could say that the Horikoshi was trying to emphasize how a society based on idealized heroes while pretty is not always that way. That reality has lots of contradictions and side effects from those heroes.
I would say if that's what they were going for they did plant many plot points through the series, but I feel this was more important for character motivation, stakes and world building, rather than something that effects the conclusion. Throughout the series the scenarios that could have added to and built up this "against the grain" ending were tossed aside in favor of hero/villain tropes. Which is fine! That is clearly what this series is about. Just feels like a slightly anticlimactic ending to not further embellish those hero/villain tropes with the main characters ending. Almost as if Horikoshi couldn't decide between two equally boring endings. The heroes all win but nothing really changes for heroes and villains. Or the heroes win and through their efforts the world has changed beyond the status quo. This ending feels like they wanted to the latter, but forgot that a good hero/villain story needs balance. A boring ending is also fine, no need to reinvent the wheel when everything else has been done right. They just needed to have more ego surrounding Midoriya conclusion.
Other than this the final season feels perfect for the series, but the one gripe annoys me too much to give it a higher rating. I'll let others talk about the good elements. It is still a good season.
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