Boku no Hero Academia 5th Season

This season starts off well, but leaves you in a spot of feeling like this is going to be a filler based on other long term anime. I was tricked too and picked it back up after 2 months. This season is getting really juicy and goes further into details in regards to "One for All" as well as some soon to be big fights. Stick around through the initial match ups for Deku's fight. TRUST me! It gets good and the whole story is starting to unravel.... You could technically skip a few episodes, but I don't want to spoil anything.

Since i see a lot of comments and rewievs about this show being childish and getting boring and stuff i just want to adress something in my review of SEASON 5.


Almost all the shonen shows you like don't go where My Hero Academia goes to: INTRODUCING EVERY CHARACTER AND SHOWING THEM GROW BOTH IN MIND AND BODY!

This arc of the 5th season may be NOT AS ENTARTAINING AS some very high stakes arcs BUT it's essential to the STORY OF MY HERO ACADEMIA! It's showing how all the characters are improving their line of thinking and how they are honing their skills. The writer of ... this story is showing you how everyone in this story matters to some degree and is giving most of them a chance to shine. Yeah he can go develop only Midoriya and carry on with the story, BUT NO! He shows you REAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT of MCs, Side Characters, Villains and others.

NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE A HIGH STAKES FIGHT.Yeah those kind of fights give all of them an example of where their place is right now, but what happens after that, what will they do, how will they improve, do they even want to improve? MHA is showing you how all the characters are improving to be able to help or be a BIG PART of those HIGH STAKES FIGHTS that will come after.

SEASON 5 is really good people it is giving everyone's character development and showing their "improvement". It is good and it will continue to be good.

*Writing after seeing up to episode 11 of the 5th season*

I've seen a lot of people debate over this season. I started watching My Hero when it was about halfway through the second season. I've been following it as much as I could since then; I love it. From what I've read, a lot of people are torn on this season. Some say it's boring and bad, and others say it's far from the worst arc of the series. I believe that this season does what MHA does best, and that is character development. This arc shows so many characters and how hard they've worked ... to become stronger. It may not have that "bad guy vs good guy" feel to it like the other seasons (so far) but it doesn't mean the action isn't great. There's so much thought to the strategy of each team and how they work together. Also, towards the later parts of the first half, there's some BIG developments for a main character. I think that this season has been great so far, and I can't wait to see where it goes.

I am here to give a patient review on the latest season of MHA. In my opinion, verdicts need to be kept until a season's completion, so let this be a 10-episode-in update that lets you know that, dammit, they've done it again. Just as you think the plot is cooling and taking a slower pace on as the anime matures, they hit you with some ridiculously hype episode that puts a whole new layer over this anime. This latest episode was groundbreaking. If anything, watch the first 9 episodes just so that you can enjoy the pure bliss that follows.

Sure, we could argue that ... they could have fitted the first 9 episodes into half as many episodes as they did. But then I honestly would not have appreciated episode 10 nearly as much. I cannot tell you what the rest of the season is going to hold, but I can tell what it feels like. It feels like MHA season 5 is going to be a contender for the best anime of the year.

The story of My Hero Academia rages on with its fifth season, but like anything that goes on forever, the hype it once generated will eventually falter, and with this series, season 5 made that fall.

Heroaca season 5 is such a wild one to watch, and it really feels like two different shows. The first half of the series shows the class vs class battle between Class 1-A and Class 1-B, and predictably, Class 1-A wins. This is by far the most boring arc of the anime. Watching it come out week after week is so boring, with the pacing being way too off. I ... have heard that binging the first half makes it watchable, but seriously, this first half if a major snoozefest. And not only that, the show is starting to treat the audience like we're idiots, with every single episode showing character names and quirks for every character, because they think that fans might not already know them after four seasons? Like come on.

The second half of this series does pick up quite a bit. The Endeavor Agency arc was quite a nice bit of entertainment, but it never had the same effect or energy as earlier seasons. Seeing the Todoroki family develop though was a nice touch, and made a character that is loved much more fleshed out. This was the highlight for this arc, and was much needed.

Then the final arc arises: My Villain Academia (no seriously, that's what it is called). This arc is what the series should have been for this entire season. High stakes energy. Lots of action. Major story developments, but this time, it's for the villains. It's such a nice bit of fresh air because after 4.5 seasons, you kind of get tired of the same old school heroes. The characters and the plot are quite well executed for this final arc, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It finally felt like this was a real season of Heroaca. Unfortunately it was just an arc, and not a season. But the foreshadowing in the finale is definitely hyping up season 6.

This fifth season of My Hero Academia just felt like a major rollercoaster of ups and downs. Although the first half was such a snoozefest, the villain arc definitely did redeem this season from the depth of low scores. And with the peggies and MAN WITH A MISSION performing theme songs within this season, we at least got some excellent tunes to listen to as well.

So has My Hero Academia lost its once top-tier status? Yes. But was this season wholly bad? No, but it will never be the same as it once was.

Writing this as someone who is currently caught up on the manga, I will try to focus on it from a strictly anime point of view.

There are many issues with this season of Boku No Hero Academia, be it story, art, characters or anything else. I'll start with my biggest issue, which is the artwork.

The anime has had two previous incredible seasons, and I mean incredible. The art in the fourth season especially in the fight with Overhaul has been perhaps the peak until right now, and any manga fan knows Deku v Kacchan 2 has been incredibly animated, doing justice to Horikoshi's artwork in ... the manga. Unfortunately, this season fails to deliver; This is exactly where I feel it failed to deliver the most as the art is lacking, the characters look off, and there are moments when you really wonder whether the artists have read the manga previously. I know anime and manga will never be the exact same, but it is upsetting to see the beautiful artwork of the manga transform into something that often feels like it's unfinished or not checked more than twice. I am well aware the season was under time restraints with COVID, but I would have much rather they focused more on making the scenes beautiful and accurate to Horikoshi's artwork than fluid if necessary.

The next part of the review will have spoilers, so please proceed with caution!!

The story is good, the first half feels a bit stretched out and certain moments have been taken out but it isn't to the point where it is quite literally upsetting. There were some foreshadowing-like moments that have been removed and scenes that were changed, but the biggest issue I had with the inclusion of an anime-only Izuocha scene after Deku manifests blackwhip and removing what I felt was telling of Izuku's actual fear of manifesting blackwhip. While I did feel the scene was nice, I do wish they would've more focused on the foreshadowing of Izuku being terrified with himself.

The characters are fine, although it is quite obvious Bones has favourites. Bakugou is unfortunately not one of them, which is quite unfortunate as he is building up to be a big part of the story. Regardless, I am willing to overlook this as it is possible they simply didn't focus on the first half of the season as much as the second given it was a more relaxed arc, however, I do wish the same kind of attention was paid to everyone in the anime.

The enjoyment is fine. It isn't the best season. It's probably one I'll skip if I ever rewatch it, or not watch entirely. It's not bad by any means, but it is also not up to par with what we've already seen.

Overall, I give this season a 7/10. It isn't a bad anime and it's far from being a bad season by overall anime standards; However, by the standards Bones has already set for us with Season 3 and Season 4 in particular, and by the standards of the manga, I do have to say it falls quite flat. I do hope the second part which recently started airing will be better, but we will have to wait and see.

(spoilers ahead - watched 12/25)

I don't get the hate towards the first arc of the season. To me, it was clear that they're showing more of the character's development, and including other characters with quirks as unique as the mcs quirks. The first arc wasn't boring - it managed to re-introduce a lot of people that I honestly thought were useless in their utility in battle.
For a lot of people, though, this was a let down. I don't think it was - the fights were cool, the animation is better than the one in fourth season, and the arc felt way less filler-y than ... the ones in the other seasons. Honestly, I believe this first arc is important because it not only introduced Shinso in the hero course, but it also showed a little bit more of the One for All quirk/story, which seems to be one of the season's main points.

I don't usually write reviews, but the number of negative reviews for season 5 of Boku no Hero Academia has forced me to do so.

I don't understand the reasons for the disappointment of the people who wrote negative reviews. In fact, the main downside of season 5: the timing. It's just short and that's its main minus. It was noticeable that the screenwriter was trying to maximize the exposure of the villain characters, while still managing to colorfully tell everyone's story. I think the writers did a very good job of fitting all these stories into 25 episodes.

Overall, I'm grateful that the villain characters were ... basically revealed and given backstories. You can only dream of that in a lot of shows.

On a separate note: the episode about the Shigaraki family is delightful. When the episode ended I just went silent for a while, because it made a big impression on me.

I think the show doesn't get worse with each season. Each season "holds the bar" high. As I've said before, the only thing that could have made season 5 better is if it was 10 episodes longer.

Otherwise, I don't regret watching it for a second.
I'm looking forward to season 6.

finally completed its first half, which adapted the Joint Training Arc from the manga. While the arc wasn’t nearly as satisfying as most of the storylines the anime has done so far, it had some good standout moments. And Bones’ astounding work with the animation this season combined with Yuki Hayashi’s moving soundtrack indeed elevated the source material that could have been duller than people made it out to be.

My Hero Academia Season 5 started with a decent recap anime original episode which has been a tradition since the sophomore season and then went into the canon story with a shocking second episode featuring an ... exciting reunion between the Todoroki family. The highlight moment of the arc’s first half comes in Episode 2 when we get to find out that Hawks is working with Dabi and the League of Villains to get to Shigaraki, the payoff to which is inevitably coming soon.

I watched 4 seasons of mha when i was very new in anime world. But after watching most of the shounens I m really yawning at the moment.

I hope it gets better cuz as mha fan I m really not enjoying it. I know I should not jump on conclusions this soon cuz there’s more to come. I would suggest to binge it rather than watching it weekly. Mha is more fun when u binge it honestly.

Story is fine. I would really suggest you to read manga if u haven’t already.

Fights, quirks still fabulous. MHA animation never lets you down. Emotions displayed well ... as usual.

I liked the music too.

Overall my rating is 7 because I m not a hard scorer but I’ll definitely change it in future if show stands up my expectations
Lets see how well it goes.

I have no idea why the scores are so low and I'm glad I don't. Personally, this was one of my favourite seasons. I purposefully waited until at least 20 episodes or more were out before I started and also went through the effort of rewatching Season 1-4.

After rewatching them, I had a clearer picture of which seasons I liked and why and just overall had a total refresh of everything that happened.

And that is why watching Season 5 through and through and very quickly helped me make a very easy decision. Easy 9/10 for me. The 2 seasons prior to this were also, ... imo, extremely good and this one rivalled it. In my experience, MHA is just getting better and better as the story develops.

Now in the previous ones, it was the action that made it a 9 for me. Personally, I doubt MHA will ever have a 10/10 season for me just because of the way the story is. I'm aware that giving a brief summary of what MHA is about immediately gives off the impression that it's childish. Superheroes, villains, powers etc. I love anything with powers so I can admit that. But as enjoyable as it is, it's probably never going to be on the same level as something like Vinland Saga or Jujutsu Kaisen (just off the top of my head). It 100% has its deep moments and the fight scenes are really good but at best, it will be a 9/10.

So although 9 is the highest I'd give MHA, Season 5 really is in a category of its own for me. I've seen complaints about most of the season being Class A vs Class B and I'm ngl, yeah, some parts of it were honestly a drag. Characters I was hardly interested in had a whole episode to themselves and I had to force myself to push through those.

But what absolutely made the season for me was the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. I couldn't have imagined what was going to happen in this season and that's a huge plus. I think we started seeing it when it was Bakugo's turn to fight with his team and it just got even better from there. Todoroki has more air time, both with his family and with Deku and Bakugo, so relationships and friendships were also fleshed out a little more. Then all three of them get their own development individually, each significant in their own way.

But the villain arc oh my God, it was easily my FAVOURITE arc of the entire season and maybe even show. Maybe I'm just high off the feeling of having completed S5 but I'm so glad I waited before bingeing the last 5 or so episodes.

I'm huge on villains that have a great back story, or even an interesting one. And that's something MHA excels in. When you can understand a villain's actions or even want them to win, that's when you know a show is doing a really good job. The writers especially. Before this season I did like Dabi (come on, who wouldn't?), Twice was funny, Toga was cute and I also liked the unconventional friendship they all had. But this season goes further and does exactly what I said at the beginning of this paragraph.

Villain. Backstories. And I thought it couldn't get better. I was perfectly happy not having that much empathy for the villains, but the last I think, 5 or 6 episodes hit the spot. Whenever the story isn't focused on Deku or Todoroki or Bakugo (clearly my favourites), I kinda blank out and am just waiting for them to have screen time but THIS time, I was watching it straight without a thought of the heroes. I loved the villain arc. They fleshed out Tomura SO well, gave Toga a backstory, Twice a "realisation" of some sorts, getting over his trauma, and moved the story further. Tomura might just be one of my favourite characters.

Not to mention I was kind of on edge the entire time, not knowing where Hawks stood. I liked that the season wasn't told in a linear fashion. Although the focus was on Class A and Class B in the beginning, there were hints of foreshadowing. I was confused at first but everything started to fall together and I really had no idea how everything came to be.

And lastly, just because I feel like this has to be addressed, yes it kind of sounds ridiculous that they're only just now finishing first year 5 seasons and 113 episodes in. But looking at the bigger picture of things, it's unsurprising that a whole year has amounted to that. When you think about how events would span over 2 or so episodes, different character focus, character and relationship development, plot development, flashbacks, training scenes etc. it's kind of realistic. The entire year of Class 1-A has been extremely hectic not to mention the behind the scenes of the villain arc.

I personally like that it has gone in depth. I would never attach the words "slow-burn" to this show, but it might come off as such when you think about 1 year = 5 seasons. It isn't a slow-burn. It is perfectly balanced and sometimes even fast-paced, which I love for an action anime.

TLDR: Season 5 is ace, highly recommend. I enjoyed it A LOT, there is loads of character and relationship development, the villain arc is EASILY one of the best arcs I've seen so far in MHA and Bakugo has character development. What more could you ask for?

I personally just watch MHA because I've already started it, and it's interesting enough to watch with friends. I don't find myself loving the characters that much nor having any favorites, so I didn't find myself very excited about watching this weekly. It just feels a bit distant, and maybe I felt like the anime was a bit too slow for me, though that's a personal issue, and I've definitely watched slower animes. I did find myself liking the second half of the season more, and I'm more excited about season 6 than this season. The anime is fine, the fights are good, and the ... plot is something to look forward to. I'm not especially taken by the anime though. It's at a "good enough" level in my head, but objectively I'm definitely leaving out things to complain about and things to applaud it for. A solid 7.7/10 from me.

To be clear, IN MY OPINION MY HERO ACADEMIA IS REALLY GOOD: BUT

If you really want to enjoy it at this point I would HEAVILY recommend you read the manga from the beginning BEFORE you watch the anime. Theres a lot of (mostly visual) details in the manga that are being left out or simplified for the anime, mostly due to directors on the project not the creators themselves.

The manga really is something special and you can read through it much faster than the anime, while in my opinion getting a much better experience.

TLDR: MHA is good, but the manga is much better than ... the anime at this point.

One of the better seasons of MHA. In my opinion, nothing will ever compare to that first season, but this season comes somewhat close. If you're a shonen fan like me, this season rules. There's so much more action than we're used to, and the major story gets pushed forward a little bit. I'm not going to lie, it feels like the writers are kind of "making it up as they go", as opposed to having a solid plan for the larger series, but that opinion is coming from someone who doesn't read the manga and doesn't know where any of this is going.

Regardless ... of any blemishes I could point out, this season is just awesome. There's nothing to really comment on as far as artwork goes, since you've seen the artwork before. The pacing is still a bit slow, but I think it's clearly a bit more satisfying than the last few seasons. We get a ton of story, a lot of character building, and a lot of action. This season was just good anime.

What I really appreciate about this season is that it somewhat "humanized" the villains. At least, it showed their perspective for a good amount of time, displaying just how cunning they are, as well as uncovering their motivations for the viewer.

Please stop doing training arcs. PLEASE. The plot is good. Where are you going. I don't give a shit about mud floor man or mushroom girl or cum pot head. Just allow the story to happen.

I find the stuff with Shigaraki and Re-destro very good in this season (8-9/10) it's a really fresh take on the big shonen villain that I'm very interested in seeing.

Obviously bones knows how to make things look very nice when they decide to, but the art is competent elsewhere.

The main cast of the show is a bit bland in my opinion, Deku isn't that interesting and his development ... isn't significant enough to justify him carrying the show and the side cast is just kind of okay. The best character this season was Endeavor, an interesting take on the trashy dad trope.

Just. Everything else, I don't remember how many episodes it was but can you please stop with the low stakes fights between characters I don't care about. The training arc could have just been a montage and have highlights on maybe 2 of the fights. Not literally all of them. I expect payment for the damages done to my table due to my bashing of it by my skull for the entire duration.

So in conclusion, its alright. Just alright. It is somehow the worst and best season of the show at the same time. The really high highs and the absolutely shocking lows level out to be around about as good at the rest of the show. Explaining my score of 7/10.

I understand that this first half of the season seem to be taking too much time and there's not much story going on. Horikoshi himself stated that he wanted an arc to show off everyone's skills, hence why they're getting quite into details on each one of class A and class B's quirks and all that. It can be kind of boring, but I personally think it's fun. If you read the manga, you know shit's going down after this and especially in the latest arc, so I think this is one of the last arcs currently where they're all (kinda) happy and just having ... fun being a high schooler. Story aside, the art's amazing!! They really did an effort on the animation on the matches and it's really cool to see.

Wanted to say also don't be so quick to judge the season! I know that the second half of the season is a lot of people's favorite arc, and it /is/ pretty cool. So, yeah. It kinda upsets me there's so much of low reviews but of course everyone has their own tastes and opinions. But I hope you all can enjoy the rest of this season and trust me, it'll get even better in S6.

The fifth season of the anime behemoth that is My Hero Academia.

It gets a lot of bad rep on account of the first arc, as well as the pacing, but as a manga reader, and a keen follower of the anime instalments, I disagree with the common consensus of the ignorant.

The story of my Hero Academia continues, with half the season being taken up by a 1A v 1B arc, and I'll start there: I think the story of the season itself is "Good"- sure, I would have liked to have a longer Villain Academia arc, but I trust in the studio to provide in ... future seasons.

The characters were in the high seat this season, and their development and backstories were elaborated upon. I myself would have maybe preferred more focus on the main cast, although I do appreciate that BNHA effortlessly seems to come up with backstories and personalities for each character, including side-side characters.

The art is decent as always, as well as the voice acting. I actually feel as though there's almost something nostalgic about the sleek BNHA animation (with room for some minor flaws) and the iconic voice actors- for both the sub and dub alike. (Although I do prefer the sub myself.)

I was debating with myself whether to give this season a seven, but I feel as though the manga has been fairly represented, and the enjoyment factor was very good in my opinion. There's just something about watching the characters we all love grow and evolve; For this reason, my overall rating for the fifth season is a solid 8.

I look forward to seeing what the next seasons will bring, though I already sort of know. Haha.

THIS IS MY FIRST REVIEW SO BE PATIENT WHILE READING IT

MINOR SPOILERS
So, this season of my hero academia starts off pretty good i would say. You will learn more about the all for one and one for all. But after that there is a probably worst part of the my hero academia - class 1.A vs 1.B. Some fights were good that's true but it was really long, longer than it should have been. After 1.A vs 1.B we were getting ready for the next arcs. (MVA,...). We have learned alot new things this season and MVA is the greatest arc of MHA and ... it saved this season. If you will just sit through the first 12 episodes you would get really good pay off for your time.

Okay I'm going keep this quick and simple since we all already know what MHA is about.


SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT:

I can't deny that I thoroughly enjoy My Hero Academia. I love how Horikoshi incorporates the large cast of characters in this world. It's no surprise that I was excited and awaiting this 5th season. However, I noticed a trend with the production and it may inevitably cause a downward spiral.

Season 1-3 of MHA were arguably some of the best works to come out the last decade. Season 4 didn't quite live up to the standard that the previous seasons set albeit I still enjoyed it. ... This season is another story. If it weren't for MVA, I would have scored this a 5. People seemed to not like the Joint-Training Arc, but it's actually not that bad considering that there needed to be more focus on Class 1-B.

The problem lies with the Endeavor Agency Arc. The studio placed it before MVA and it felt like it was dragged on, week to week. MVA wasn't adapted properly because of that arc. I understand that the studio was also producing a movie while in the midst of production for the season, but man I'm praying that this won't happen again during the Paranormal Liberation Front Arc during Season 6.

This season was the worst so far but it was still enjoyable. The first 10 episodes were amazing, the six that followed were fun and then everything died for me until the season finale.

Visuals:
absolutely stunning but did notice how inconsistent the animation is

Sound:
1) not a fan of the OP or ED
2) the seiyuus performed really well, bringing life to the show as usual
3) Hiroaki Hirata's voice doesn't fit Re-Destro at all. Hirata is one of the greatest seiyuus of all time but this character needed someone else to be his voice. Bad casting choice.

... Story and characters:
1) this season begins with a re-introduction of every character and their quirks. It's the 5th season, there's no good reason for this. It'd be much better if instead of this re-introduction, a short recap/summary of last season was shown.
2) Bakugou still steals the show with his constant rage and maniac screams. I love him!
3) There's this plot thing that happens but what would be an amazing plot twist is immediately lost because everything is revealed from the beginning to the viewer. It'd be soooooo much better to trick the viewer into thinking a character is actually bad and then BAM! PLOTWIST! The character is a double agent!
4) loved the Tokoyami character development. One of the reasons why I love this show so much is because every single character, regardless of big or small their role is, gets the spotlight every once in a while and it matters.
5) Too many Todoroki's family flashbacks hurt the 2nd half of the season
6) I hated the villain arc. I could be in the minority here but I just didn't enjoy a second of it.
7) There's a character whose quirk is... stress. STRESS! The more stressed he is, the stronger is gets and so he goes pale skin Hulk and... absolutely awful. Boku no Hero Academia's universe is so diverse and full of creativity and they couldn't come up with something better than a "here's skinny dude that becomes a giant bodybuilder with stress".


All things considered, it's a 7/10 for me. I can't wait for the 6th season :D