Let me start off by saying that this season was good. Despite what many reviewers thus far have said, the show has not deteriorated in quality since its debut. Is it the best anime or shonen out there? No, it's not. It doesn't even surpass some of the shows preceding seasons. However, My Hero Academia Season 4 is still an enjoyable watch for fans of both the series and shonen in general. The action is exciting; the animation is still phenomenal; the characters are engaging and relatable; while the story demonstrates a nice balance of dark complex themes with some light-hearted slice-of-life activities; all while maintaining the central themes around what is means to be a hero.

Lets first go into the action and animation as these basically go in tandem. Similar to previous seasons, season 4 demonstrated studio Bones' determination to polish every climatic fight to the last pixel. Spoilers ahead:

Spoiler, click to view

Many viewers cite the fight between Todoroki and Deku as the bar for fight animation in this series when it aired, myself included. The United States of Smash in season 3 subsequently raised the bar even higher with its unique styling, natural feeling of weight physically, emotionally, and as a story climax. Season 4 had large shoes to fill if it was going to be compared to these experiences and I am glad to say that it did not disappoint! The final battle between Overhaul and Deku showed an amazing level of animation. Its utilization of contrasting colors to highlight each momentous beat of action proved to the audience that although the likes of All Might is gone, we will still be able to see fights on par with his few bouts in seasons to come. I mean just look at this:

And lets not forget about basically the last scene of the season with Endeavor's fight against High-End and his use of Prominence Burn. In animation, some of the hardest things to animate in 2D is motion, especially when there is lots of rapidly changing features. Fire, unfortunately, is basically the definition of a fast, rapidly changing object that generally takes up the much of the focus of the audience. This is why when the time is taken to properly animate it, fire can demonstrate some of the best work for a studio. Bones have demonstrated their top notch animation once again with this fight.

Now on to what many, myself included, would deem the weakest part of this season: the story. Without getting into details, the two basic arcs for this season are a raid on a villain's hide out and UA's school festival. The major problems regarding the story are found in the first half of the season during the raid. The progression of this arc often feels quite slow compared to previous arcs. Especially in the initial episodes, very little happens to move the story forward while later a one hour raid is spread over 7 episodes. While fights are still exciting and are entertaining to watch, the show runs into the classic problem of many shonen by stretching out something to a near breaking point. As with previous seasons, the fights in BNHA 4 are used to examine characters and are centered around their growth. However, the characters focused on are ones that we really don't need to spend too much time with. Familiar characters like Uraraka and Tsuyu, who can be considered borderline main characters if not very critical side characters, are shoved to the side lines while we spend time on characters that although they are likely to appear again, won't ever have the spotlight after this arc. The show wastes opportunities to explore the development of characters that we already care about by introducing 20 new people and trying to explore them. In this arc, only 4 new characters should have really been explored: Mirio, Nighteye, Overhaul, and Eri as they are central the the story and their influences will be felt for seasons to come.

However, I will make one note for those who are already finished the show. I truly believe this season is much better as a binge watch rather than an episodic viewing. While I noted the slower pace compared to previous viewings, I had less trouble with it compared to many as I was able to watch an entire arc in one sitting. I have watch BNHA both episodically and all at once and I believe that this is 100% a show that benefits from waiting until it is complete to enjoy. While the school festival arc would have been quite enjoyable to watch episode to episode, the raid would have been infuriating as it often felt that our heroes progress about 10 yards on a 100 yard foot ball field every week, but I digress.

Finally, let me briefly jump into the character development in the season starting off with our main man Deku. His progression has always felt rather slow compared to other heroes. Maybe this is due to my relative unfamiliarity with shonen jump stories, but it often feels that he has changed very little since his debut, at least personally. This is were I think this season has really excelled compared to previous ones. The raid arc achieved this in many ways, with him feeling like a more mature character as a result.

Spoiler, click to view

The death of Nighteye and actual recognition of his prowess and ideals in the professional hero society have really changed him from the innocent child he was in the first season. His progression is also highlighted by giving the audience a glimpse of Deku's final form during his fight with Overhaul. We got the chance to see what a fully realized Symbol of Peace and Justice truly is capable of. This was something that even in his many fights, All Might never quite gave us as we all knew his power was but a shadow of its former glory (expect perhaps in his final fight against All for One).

While this season did a good job in Deku's story progression, it also excelled at introducing several memorable new heroes and villains as well as explored more into some previously introduced characters like Eijirou. While it could have reduced the number, as mentioned previously, the characters that it did introduce were compelling in there own right. Overhaul presented a villain we could root against, yet understand; Nighteye introduced a new mentor figure to Deku while exploring more of All Might's past; and Eri gave us one of the cutest children in anime who we can all just enjoy and wish the best for. Among the new characters, however, I have to say that I believe Mirio was the stand out edition thanks to his optimism, cheer, humor, and relationship with the other characters, specifically Deku.

Spoiler, click to view

With the absence of All Might after his fight with All for One, the show needed to introduce a character who could act as a role model to Deku and the audience; someone who could remind us all what it truly means to be a hero. Mirio fits this role perfectly, exemplified no better than when he is shot by the quirk removing dart while protecting Eri and all we see is his smiling face, thinking he is about to die but rather do so protecting the innocent that live watch them suffer.

I will be honest when I initially thought going into this season I would find Mirio too on the nose as an All Might clone, but I was pleasantly surprised when he become my favorite new character.

In conclusion, My Hero Academia Season 4 is an excellent edition into an already enjoyable series. While it explores some of the darker sides of being a hero, it lets the audience enjoy the simple pleasure of watching our favorite characters put on a festival. Though it's story progressed slower than I and many others would have liked, it still delivered satisfying conclusions through breath-taking animation and entertaining action. I would strongly recommend this season to any fans of the series who have yet to see it and were hesitant to start, especially due to the improved quality resulting from binge watching it.