Story:-
It's nothing but training, exam, training, exam, training, then once in a blue moon a villain appears, who eventually either escapes or is arrested, and then we're back to more training. Granted, it is called My Hero ACADEMIA so this should be expected, and this kind of set up could work; Assassination Classroom is a prime example for that, but I find it very weak in My Hero.
First of all, there's a lot of training in this, which isn't a bad thing, I mean, look at Hajime no Ippo, Haikyu or any other manga where you have a lot of training arcs. But in those manga series, the training arcs are actually fleshed out and are thus, interesting. In My Hero, you get a page of exposition then a few more pages of characters doing stuff and then the rest is skipped entirely. For example, the students go to a training camp with the aim being to improve their quirks, how? By using it more and "smashing past their limit". Then we get 3 pages of "training" and it ends there. In any other manga with a focus on training, we see the characters struggle as they try overcome the physical or mental wall played in front of them. Like Naruto's training for the Rasengan or Tsuna's X Burner or Ippo's newly improved Dempsey Roll. Heck, the first half of Greed Island in Hunter x Hunter is one huge training arc with technique development at the end. In My Hero, you get an arc for quirk improvement that is almost entirely skipped, another arc for learning special moves where the protagonist comes up with an idea for something but we only get to see the end result.
Then there is the test/exam, where in a series like Assassination Classroom, which is set in our world, they take regular exams like we do. You get a chapter or two of the students studying and then a montage right before the exams begin. The interesting part is how the exams are portrayed as actual battles, with questions being illustrated as monsters and such and with the characters being placed under a lot of stress, it's engaging. And when characters didn't meet expectations, like Karma for example, they learn and grow from it. But in My Hero's case, it is set in a world where everyone has superpowers and are hoping to become superheroes. You'd expect the exam to have something do with "quirk control" or "quirk power", or just general fitness all round and the like. But no, instead, you have them playing glorified dodge ball because why not? And the worst part about these exams is that failing doesn't matter; Deku failed the entrance exam? Well, there was apparently a secret way to pass that no one knew about so he gets in anyway. Whoever places last place in the trails gets expelled? Sike, the teacher was just messing with them. Bakugo & Shoto failed the license exam? Meh, just take the extra classes.
And finally the villain attacks. I'll be frank with you; the villains are pathetic. The main ones being the "League of Villains", these guys are no threat whatsoever, they get beat by heroes in training and have to be rescued by another big bad, if anything they are the true underdogs of the story.
TL:DR, lots of training arcs with little or no actual training, lots of tests/exams with irrational requirements and no actual consequences, and the villains are a laughing stock.
Art:-
Great character designs and backgrounds but fight scenes have poor direction and panelling.
Character:-
In a class of 20, there's Deku, Bakugo and Shoto. Best not bother remembering anyone else in the class because they are just extras. Seriously, after finally catching up with the manga I couldn't stop thinking about how much praise this manga gets for its characters, and then wondering if I was reading the same manga as most people. Majority of the characters struggle to even get some freaking screen-time, talk less of development or characterization. I think the current arc pretty much embodies everything about the characters in this series; currently, the manga as of this writing is on another training arc with both class 1-A & 1-B, and it seems like the author is trying to say that people should give a damn about all these characters BUT HALF OF THEM AREN'T DOING JACK SHIT. It's mind-boggling, and I think it really says something when freaking Shino from Naruto has done more in one arc (Chunin Exam) than majority of the cast has done in the whole series.
Enjoyment:-
I can't find much enjoyment here when everything about this series is so half-assed, and has been done far better elsewhere.
Overall:-
This series has taught me not to buy into hype; I saw so much endless praise for the series, but it's nothing like I heard it was. That said, I really want to stress that I have nothing against the people that like this series, but more with the praise of how this series "breaks the mold" or "perfects shonen" when it's really very much a standard shonen manga.
