Next, it’s your turn!
- Episodes : 25
- Genre : Super Power, Shounen, School
- Airing Date : April 2018 – September 2018
- Studios : Bones
Contains Spoilers
Boku no Hero Academia 3rd Season Introduction
Class 1-A and 1-B of U.A. High go to a training camp to continue their education as heroes. Their training quickly goes awry when the League of Villains stage an attack with the successful goal of kidnapping Katsuki Bakugo. Although it isn’t their responsibility, some of the students of Class 1-A, led by Izuku Midoriya, undermine their school’s instructions and try to rescue Bakugo. The rescue mission leads to a confrontation between the #1 Hero, All Might, and the leader of the League of Villains, All For One. While All For One is subdued and Bakugo is rescued, All Might is forced to use the remaining embers of his quirk to win.
The loss of the #1 Hero, repeated attacks on U.A. High, and the kidnapping of Bakugo cause U.A. High to allow their first-year students to compete for a provisional license so they can operate as heroes if necessary. At the provisional license exam, class 1-A meets some of the brightest heroes-in-training from across Japan. Although most of class 1-A succeed in getting their license, Shoto Todoroki and Bakugo fail and must take supplementary courses. Over time, Bakugo has begun to make the connections between Midoriya and All Might and challenges Midoriya to a fight. Bakugo wins the hard-fought fight and All Might confesses his relationship with Midoriya; fortunately, this proves to be the first step in rehabilitating the relationship between these childhood friends.
1. Midoriya versus Muscular and Bakugo
A good indication that you’ve had a successful season as a shounen anime is if viewers come away with one or two memorable fights, and My Hero Academia has that assured with season three. The first fight was against League of Villains member Muscular and, although he wasn’t a particularly well-rounded villain, a combination of stellar animation and Midoriya’s passionate desire to be a hero made for a spectacular confrontation. The second was a fight that everyone knew would come, the rematch between rivals Midoriya and Bakugo. As with Muscular and Midoriya’s fight with Todoroki in the second season, this was Bones studio at their best and the emotions running high between Midoriya and Bakugo made it impossible not to get worked up.
2. The Rescue Mission
The rescue mission to save Bakugo was filled with emotional highs. We saw class 1-A confront each other on the ethics of using their powers when it goes against the law but is for a good cause which allowed characters like Tsuyu Asui and Tenya Iida to get a bit of spotlight. The second biggest high comes from Eijirio Kirishima saving Bakugo and Bakugo gratefully accepting his help, a special moment where Midoriya allowed himself to fall out of the spotlight. The most significant moment was All Might defeating All For One and losing the last embers of his quirk, he turns his moment of weakness into a moment of strength when he indirectly tells Midoriya that it’s his turn to take the mantle.
3. Bakugo’s Progression
Bakugo was introduced as Midoriya’s hard-to-like rival from the very first episode, while he has remained a presence since then, his maturation has been a very slow process. Kirishima warming up to Bakugo played a significant part in him learning to become a more amicable person and his rescuing highlighted his progress as a sympathetic character. His recent fight with Midoriya helped to uncover the motivations behind his past actions and the resolution to that fight led to a satisfying improvement of his relationship with Midoriya.
1. Slow Second Half
The second half of My Hero Academia’s felt like a lot of set up for little payoff, the best example of that is episode 52. An entire episode is dedicated to Midoriya learning to use his legs instead of his arms, while they try to justify that behavior as him missing the obvious, Midoriya still felt silly for being so dim-witted. Between that, a ton of character introductions, and a special episode that diverted from the main plot, it often felt like nothing much was happening after All Might and All For One’s fight.
2. Half-Hearted New Characters
The provisional license exam led to the introduction of many new characters from different schools and many of them were underdeveloped both visually and as personalities; Yo Shindo stands out from the pack for having the appearance of a Midoriya knockoff. Many of them were there just to give other Class 1-A students a spotlight but seeing Momo Yaoyorozu finally live up to her billing as a top student felt unearned given her opponents felt unremarkable.
Final Thoughts
My Hero Academia’s 3rd season started off strong but fell off after All Might’s victory over All For One. Despite the slower second half, it’s hard to criticize it too much since we were introduced to the Big Three, a new villain, and had an incredible fight between Midoriya and Bakugo that felt like a positive step forward in their relationship. We’re sure that by the time season 4 of My Hero Academia comes around, we will have forgotten all about Midoriya learning to kick, and we’ll be looking forward to seeing what work studies has in store for Class 1-A.
Author: Jonathan Tshinanu
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