In its second attempt at an anime adaptation, Hunter x Hunter sits alongside My Hero Academia as one of Weekly Shounen Jump’s most popular series. Although, referring to the much absent former as ‘weekly’ does sound odd. In a world where power is latent and must be unlocked through life’s challenges, the two series share many a similarity as characters grow through battle. It doesn’t hold the same sort of stylistic charm as HeroAca does, but what Hunter x Hunter brings to the table is certainly valuable.

With Gon and Killua, they travel the land, getting attached to various character driven adventures, many of which focusing on a core concept. Whether it be a tournament arc, gangsters in New York or an RPG inspired adventure, the series is constantly prepared to reinvent itself in avoidance of becoming at all repetitive. With an ever growing cast, the anime’s structure is something to be admired, taking the time to adapt even the smallest moments in the manga into something special.

My Hero Academia couldn’t have come at a better time. With the combination between hype for Captain America: Civil War and last year’s One Punch Man, superhero stories have never been more popular. As many will be aware, One Punch Man acts more as a parody of these sort of stories, based around the idea that he has become so strong that he never gets to have the awesome battles that we see in My Hero Academia.

However, even though these fights end quickly, the action animation is among some of the best in years. With Space Dandy director Shingo Natsume taking up the helm, many of the same faces are back to deliver their own unique styles in this absolutely crazy production. Technically under Studio Madhouse, the staff is compiled from faces all over the industry, even including Bones and Dogakobo animators. If you haven’t seen it yet, get ready to sit back and be stunned by impressive spectacle with some laughs along the way.

Superheroes aren’t dead and both Gatchaman Crowds and My Hero Academia make an attempt to modernize the concept, but in different ways. My Hero Academia has looked at superheroes and imagined a world where it has become the norm, opposed to the classic idea of these people are special and to be revered. However, Gatchaman Crowds has imagined a world not too divorced from our own, where a collective entity of people can make up a superpower in itself.

The greatest villains within Gatchaman Crowds aren’t the aliens that appear to induce havok, but rather society itself. In the first season, people could take control of avatars known as CROWDS which were strong enough to take over cities and cause chaos. Becoming an ongoing conversation throughout the show, the cast of Gatchaman superheroes eventually fall into conflict in the second season. Much like My Hero Academia, there’s a conversation about power to be had and whilst Gatchaman certainly goes deeper, both are valuable contributions to a culture around superheroes.

Both being a part of the new age of Weekly Shounen Jump, they both boast a large cast of characters training to defeat their respective opponents. As relationships start off tense, both shows feature rivalries growing into new friendships and some brilliant moments of the underdog getting their chance to really shine. It’s interesting to note that three of the magazine’s most popular new series have an anime this year with Shokugeki no Soma getting a second season later this year.

Assassination Classroom is part “Let’s kill our teacher because he’s a world destroying monster” and part “Our teacher is actually a really cool dude”. I’d try to use actual genre tags, but very few actually fit the narrative of this ridiculous series. It’s a bizarre concept that manages to capture you with its emotional resonance through assassination.

Concrete Revolutio is one of the best series of 2015 and it works to evaluate heroism to its core values and puts superheroes into an entirely different context than we’re used to. Like My Hero Academia, it’s a series about superheroes, but once again, one that goes deeper into the issues. In a way, Concrete Revolutio is the anti-thesis to My Hero Academia, where superpowers are something that are feared rather than aspired to.

ConRevo follows the Superhuman Bureau, a team of superhumans working to regulate and protect superheroes whilst acting in the interests of the government. With a constant conflict between an idealistic justice and a real world compromised justice, it’s not afraid to ask viewers the hard questions and force them to watch the outcome of their choices. There is no correct answer in Concrete Revolutio. An ideal justice is flawed and a real world compromise restricts freedom. The only way you’ll find out where you stand on the issues is to watch it.

Whilst a superhero show like My Hero Academia and a mecha such as Gundam Build Fighters don’t seem like they’d even be in the same ballpark when it comes to similarity, you’ll find that the narrative pacing and style has a lot in common. Both directed by Kenji Nagasaki and written by Yosuke Kuroda, this was the dream team for My Hero Academia’s adaptation.

Gundam Build Fighters exists within a world where model robots based on Gundam can come to life and be controlled by anyone. However, whilst our protagonist, Sei Iori is good at building Gunpla, he’s terrible at controlling them and constantly loses battles.

But everything turns around for him when an alien named Reiji appears, teaming up with Sei to uncover the mysteries behind the Plavsky Particles and win the World Tournament. It’s a fantastic series and it’s got a really strong grasp on the character relationships involved and always takes the opportunity to give us those really human moments.