My Hero Academia

“Season Three”

The thing about developing a story is that it needs to follow a progression that feels logical with the previous events. This is how the most remarkable stories of all time have made an impact: by progressing in a way that fits everything established before and delivering in a satisfying manner. It’s classic storytelling.

However, the third season of My Hero Academia has a severe problem: the cracks begin to show. While the season isn’t awful, it is a considerable decline from what happened in the previous two, showcasing some of the struggles the story is having because some tropes are repeated in a way that no longer has any impact.

Unyielding Heroes: My Hero Academia | Season Three Review

This was the first season in the franchise where some major flaws were beginning to show, and it is critical to highlight that.

This season features Deku and his friends continuing with their training to become superheroes in U.A. High, only this time, they have to go through a survival camp, including saving a classmate of theirs.

The second part of the season also shows the students preparing for the upcoming Provisional Hero License Exam, which, if they are successful, will grant them a Hero License, and they will be able to work professionally as heroes.

There are moments in a story or series where the cracks begin to show. This can often happen for a myriad of reasons: the plot was perhaps extended way beyond what was recommended; some poor decisions were made; the structure of the story broke; a lot of repetitive elements started to creep in; the story lost any kind of suspense; and the list goes on. There are many interpretations when it comes to understanding why a story didn’t work.

When it comes to My Hero Academia, season three can often be viewed as the breaking point for many people, or at least the moment where the series’ flaws were beginning to show much more pronouncedly. This is very important because it helps people understand what kind of anime this is and the message that it is trying to convey.

Deku is one of the main problems of the series, at least in how it is structured. And one of the reasons why Deku is a problem is his relationship with Bakugo. While being rivals is all well and good, these two don’t view each other as rivals: Bakugo downright hates and abuses Deku, while Deku just takes it and pretends that Bakugo is his friend. A few moments in Midoriya’s childhood don’t make his lifelong bully a friend; that is a significant issue with the story, which becomes a problem this season.

Bakugo starting the series as Deku’s bully and the latter not standing up for himself is a solid beginning for the protagonist because it shows a character flaw: his lack of temper and inability to do what is necessary. However, when you’re three seasons in and still putting up with Bakugo’s crap, that’s a problem.

Other issues stem from the fact that Deku always comes out unscathed in battles. It doesn’t matter how dangerous his Quirk is or how overwhelmed he is by the odds at that point in the story; he will always be victorious and not have a lot of severe consequences. That’s a problem because it makes the protagonist feel dull and like his victories have no impact, which is a serious issue because this is supposed to be the main guy.

Another problem that hurts the series is that other characters, such as Uraraka, lose notoriety as the story progresses. This is a typical malice of Shonen stories. My Hero Academia is no different, as they have a lot of interesting characters that are often put on the back burner simply because there needs to be a lot of focus on Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki, who are good characters in their own right, but variety is essential in an anime.

Much like in previous seasons, the voice acting has been excellent. It has improved from the last ones, with the cast delivering repeatedly, even in the most frustrating periods of the story, which is saying a lot.

When it comes to the soundtrack, it also gained some improvements, adding to the fact that while the story declined, other elements were improved, which goes to show the level of care and dedication that Bones Studios had for this project. In terms of voice acting and soundtrack, the series is a joy to listen to at this point.

Much like what happened in the second season, the third season has been quite good. It has been an improvement from previous ones. It does justice to a lot of different moments in the manga, which is something that deserves a lot of praise because these storylines started to get derivative and repetitive at some points, so Bones Studios should get credit for working with what they had and coming up with a phenomenal product, visuals-wise.

The animation and the visuals are one of the season's best points, giving the fighting sequences a level of dynamics and excitement that raises the standard for the series as a whole—one of the best things of this season, without a shadow of a doubt.

The third season of My Hero Academia was a step down in quality, and it was one of the first times that it was shown that the series was struggling to offer something different. While the fighting scenes were still plentiful and some characterizations were solid, it felt too little, too late, and didn’t have the impact many people wanted.