One of these days I’m going to have to do an actual series review post for Boku no Hero Academia. But I hope it isn’t anytime soon, and I suspect it won’t be. The 4th Season announcement at the close of this episode was among the least surprising ever, to be sure. This series will continue to receive adaptation as long as Horikoshi-sensei continues to write it, and he’s hinted that he’s more or less at the halfway point of the story he initially planned (he also tweeted “I’m so thankful the anime didn’t end for good with a dick joke!”). And I think the way this adaptation has been handled – effectively six months on and six months off every year – should serve as a model for how long-running weekly manga should be adapted. It certainly reflects the utmost care the WSJ-headed production committee has taken with their golden goose, which of course started with choice of Bones as lead studio for the anime.
In point of fact Boku no Hero Academia is becoming a worldwide commercial sensation of the type anime has rarely seen. I take a bit of pride in the fact that I spotted this franchise’s potential very early (as listeners of RC podcasts would confirm). The TV ratings are always top 10, it sells remarkably well on disc for a WSJ title, merchandising is huge and of course, it all starts with volume sales – right now HeroAca is probably WSJ’s #2 or 3 selling title depending on whether you count Hunter X Hunter. Perhaps most surprising, the “Futari no Hero” theatrical film – which did quite well but not spectacularly in Japan – is putting up box office figures in America no non-Miyazaki anime apart from Your Name has ever approached. We’re all present at the creation of a genuine cultural phenomenon.
You have 62 episode posts worth of reasons why I think that is, but it should be pretty obvious to anyone who loves shounen, manga and anime, American hero comics or just a great story. Given that the 4th series was clearly greenlit before the 3rd was even airing, there was never any intention of making this episode a real finale – it’s a bridge to the arcs that are upcoming, plain and simple. Most of the season finales have primarily served that role in fact, with the closest thing to real endings often coming at the mid-cour break. But there was a lot of important stuff introduced here, make no mistake about it.
Speaking of introductions, we met all of the “Big Three” last week but it was only Togata “Tintin” Mirio that had a chance to impact. His fellow trio members are Amajiki Tamaki (Uemura Yuuto, who seems to be a contender for the next seiyuu “it” boy) and Hado Nejire (Yasuno Kiyono). Hado refers to Amajiki (good-naturedly) as a “flea”, and he clearly has a few neuroses he’s carrying on his back. For her part Hado is a genki type who speaks like a kindergartener but seems to have something hard as steel under her soft exterior. These two are important, but they pretty much defer to Mirio right from the beginning – and even if this is a big three, there’s really no question who the “big one” is.
Mirio immediately makes a strange offer – he’ll fight everyone in Class 1-A, all at once. Naturally they – the proud class who’ve battled pro heroes in controlled environments and villains outside them – bristle at being taken for zaku by a fellow student, no matter how esteemed. But Mirio is doing this for a reason – to show the grommets what’s in store for them rather than try and explain it. His ability is a beast – “Permeation” – but during the course of the fight, during which he takes out everyone in class with a punch to the gut, including the girls, no one quite figures out how it works. Deku, natch, comes closest – but even he isn’t able to fully grasp the nature of Mirio’s quirk until Hado spills the beans.
Mirio’s demeanor is smiling, sunny – he’s even apologetic about showing off his “chinchin” to the girls in releasing his quirk. Dare I say, he has something of a young All Might about him. But his fellow trio members make it clear – he’s scary. He got where he is not because his quirk was so overpowering, but because he was able to master a difficult quirk and figure out how to use it to maximum advantage. And he’s gone too far in teaching his kouhai a lesson before, sometimes with disastrous results. Behind the Tintin grin is a raging beast, and anyone – friend or foe – would be foolish to take Mirio lightly.
Meanwhile, big things are happening in the world of the villains as well. We briefly saw Chisaki Kai (Tsuda Kenjirou) last week, but he truly enters the story this time. Twice brings him for his “interview” with the League of Villains at a secret location, and Shigaraki – who’s not exactly a respectful man – refers to him as a “big fish”. There’s also a reference to Hassaikai Shie, but given that no more details are forthcoming about it – or Chisaki – in the anime yet, it’s best we leave discussion about them for next season.
Finally, Izuku makes a call to his mentor in the internship program, Gran Torino, looking for help in potentially setting up a work exchange assignment (if Yuuei eventually decides to approve it for first years). Torino refuses as he’s busy (obviously helping the police) but directs Deku to ask his master himself – and makes note of an “old sidekick” as a potential connection. Mirio has earlier mentioned that “Sir” would be interested in Deku, and someone does get called by that title here – this fellow, played by no less than Miki Shin’ichirou (damn, Boku no Hero Academia’s voice cast actually got cooler), without question one of the very finest seiyuu ever to grace a mic. Strap in, because we’re just getting started…
As faithful as this adaptation has been, Nagasaki Kenji and Bones have made the odd tweak here and there, almost always for the better. Still, in general terms the anime’s best moments have been the manga’s best – and as such, I think this third season may just rank as the best so far. It has my very favorite moment in the series (“You’re next”) to be sure, but as well it’s just generally strong start to finish – the blend of action and interior character drama is perfectly balanced and there are no clunkers among the arcs it covered. Boku no Hero Academia is an ongoing saga and no doubt will be for a long time to come, so this really isn’t the moment for post-mortems – just an admonition to stay tuned, and an appreciation that a wonderful manga is getting an equally wonderful adaptation, and finding worldwide popularity to boot.
Stöt
September 29, 2018 at 10:52 pmThanks for the review! BNHA is literally so good it turned me into a manga reader. I am beyond excited for the next season. Love the influx of great seiyuus too. Wow. What else can a fan boy hope for?
leongsh
September 30, 2018 at 12:24 amI like Mirio Togata. I like him a whole lot. He epitomises what you could do with what seems a hard-to-use quirk and making it his own by training extensively and thinking – an immediate role model for Midoriya. Not just that, he has the smile, quirky confidence that resembles All Might.He seems to be attached to a superhero named Sir and he is thinking that Sir would be interested in a smart one like Midoriya. And to add to that, Sir appears to be All Might’s former sidekick. What a roundabout coincidence that is so.. so..
.. badly cliched. *frown* *sigh*
At least, I like Mirio. Just a bit annoyed by the cliched roundabout relationship.
Guardian Enzo
September 30, 2018 at 12:59 amI like Mirio a whole lot, too. He’s a loveable dork, just like All Might, and largely a self-made man.
I dunno about the cliche dig, though. I mean, Mirio is a kid who has aspirations to be the #1 hero. Is it surprising that he’d be connected to Team All Might?
leongsh
September 30, 2018 at 4:46 pmMost aspire to be #1 hero. That does not automatically make them be connected to Team All Might. Mirio just happens to be. He could have been attached to another superhero not in Team All Might. It is not a necessity. Take a step back to have a look at the bigger picture and you’ll see the obvious cliche of the long roundabout connection. Really it is a forced setup that screams out to me that there must have been something that happened between All Might and his former sidekick Sir that made Sir a “former” and not a “current”. Hence, the *frown* and *sigh*. I hope it’s not Mirio that’s the cause because that will make it even more cliched.
Guardian Enzo
September 30, 2018 at 5:16 pmWhatever floats your boat. Mirio has been accepted by the staff as the “closest to #1, heroes included” – Eraserhead said so himself. He’s not just another student with big dreams.
leongsh
September 30, 2018 at 9:38 pmEven then, it is not necessary for him to be under Sir. This episode, Midoriya noted that he did not stand out in the previous year’s UA Sports Festival. Thus, he may not have been the pre-eminent UA student until recently. If he was identified as pre-eminent, he could have been recurited as an intern for one of the top 10 heroes, like say Blue Jeanist, but he wasn’t.
It’s not what floats my boat but really to keep in perspective. It’s just convenience to make it a roundabout coincidence.
I won’t belabour anymore.
TheYepMan
October 2, 2018 at 9:36 amLeon, let’s just say… You’re nitpicking at something that’s hard to talk about because spoilers. I guess that even saying “hey, wait for the spoilers to happen to draw more conclusions about this” can still be called a spoiler, but yeah. Wait and see.
Guardian Enzo
October 2, 2018 at 2:57 pmI don’t think that quite crosses the line, but yes – let’s not discuss it any further because it’s getting into dangerous territory.
Bob
September 30, 2018 at 1:45 amMildly disappointed that Hikaru Midorikawa wasn’t Sir, if only for the sake of Sakamoto memes, but Shinichirou Miki’s long since proved himself to me with Kojiro and Kojiro.
Do you have any plans of reviewing the movie?
Guardian Enzo
September 30, 2018 at 2:04 amYep, as per my usual practice I’ll do so after I see it subbed.
Simone
September 30, 2018 at 5:14 pmReplace that with Knov memes, since the two are basically the same person in two different universes anyway.
Khalid
September 30, 2018 at 4:50 amDamn, first Kenjiro Tsuda and now Shinichiro Miki? Music to my ears. I instantly recognized his voice. Wouldn’t mind a Norio Wakamoto (wan!) or Hiyama Nobuyuki next.
As usual, the animation was incredible and fitting for a season finale. Can’t wait for season 4!!
GC
September 30, 2018 at 6:24 amThis was an odd spot to end the season. Its almost like an afterthought episode or an OVA. Too bad it wasn’t inserted a little earlier in the season and the season ended with the fight and aftermath between Deku and his rival.
Wangwang
September 30, 2018 at 8:32 amI actually find Mirio jarring, like the author are pushing too hard to make us sympathy with him. His power are the basic walk-through-walls power, yet somehow make to be too complicated. I mean, did Kitty ever have that much trouble using her power? And before you say that that makes the show more realistic, please not. If the show is realistic then Bakugou would have blow up himself when he was a kid, and Shouto would have die of dehydration a long time ago.
Stöt
October 2, 2018 at 9:58 pmWho is Kitty? Mirio’s power is computer game glitching. Not realistic, no. Neither is quirks either, but most fans bought into that premise some three years ago already.
Fluca
September 30, 2018 at 1:08 pmAnime only here, so I’m left wondering if and how I missed the point regarding Mirio’s loveability.
I simply found him to be a big show off and, if I’m honest, kind of a bully.
As far as the anime let me know, he still is a student, so how come he assumes that he has free reign to humiliate and even discourage younger students (given one even dropped out because of him), and worse, how come the acadeny let him?
To me both his demeanor/choices and the students sudden acceptance of his behavior felt forced. Not to mention they immediately treat it as a great lesson coming from a great guy.
Tl;dr: I hated that guy and am not sure why I should feel different.
Stefan
September 30, 2018 at 2:39 pmHmm… I wonder if that is how Enzo also felt when me & other users complained about the shallow allure of Planet With in its earlier stages based on lack of exposure to Mizukami.
Guardian Enzo
September 30, 2018 at 2:44 pmI’m struggling to figure out how you got from Point A to Point B there, but I don’t see the connection.
Stefan
September 30, 2018 at 6:29 pmAh, sorry if that seemed off-topic! Basically, since we’re both manga readers, we have the right mental model to interpret Mirio’s psychology and thus his actions in this episode.
If someone is left out of the situation, and just watches from outside, he seems a bully; all the internal nuances appear sort of like… a shallow retrospective justification?
Analogously, with Planet With, many people who didn’t know about Mizukami before felt that you were hyping it up because you’re in Mizukami’s series ingroup, i.e you understood the story in the context of Mizukami’s style, but from the outside it might’ve looked like you were hyping up the show just because you follow him and like to spread his reputation.
Planet With, of course, followed up on your expectations to a significant degree, hence those people who judged the show early were wrong. Now use that as a parallel to Mirio being called a bully…
I hope it’s clearer now.
Guardian Enzo
September 30, 2018 at 6:56 pmAh, OK – I get you now, thanks.
It still doesn’t strike me that way, mind you – I didn’t remember much of Mirio’s manga appearance when I watched the last couple of episodes. But of course you can’t unknow what you know, so it may have colored my interpretation more than I’m consciously aware of.
Simone
September 30, 2018 at 7:37 pmI get the idea, but I don’t think that’s the key here. It’s more about how we perceive Mirio to be. To me, it seemed that the main take we’re supposed to have from him is that he’s overeager. He’s enthusiastic, maybe to a fault, and a bit awkward, hence why the fight was the best way for him to “break the ice”. He doesn’t brag at all; in fact he immediately follows his beatdown with an inspirational speech. That’s not what a bully would do. Obviously that approach still can have negative effects, but I think the episode itself made it clear that it’s not his intention. However someone might just not resonate with that feeling.
Guardian Enzo
September 30, 2018 at 7:47 pmThat’s just about where I am. Mirio is a kid, first of all. He’s direct, he’s not a master of subtlety, he’s overeager. His approach is to teach by example because he thinks it’s the best way he can help the younger cadets. If he makes mistakes it’s from inexperience and the rush of the moment going to his head. Bully? No, I don’t get that at all. If anything, maybe not as understanding as he could be that not everyone is on his level either in terms of talent or zealousness, so he’s too demanding.
Stefan
September 30, 2018 at 7:48 pmYeah, Simone, I agree. I just think the outgroup tendency probably dominated the “fresh eyes” perspective in Fluca. When I read the manga, I had your exact impressions.
Fluca
October 1, 2018 at 1:47 amThanks for that, that is exactly what I thought was coloring my perspective.
Sam
September 30, 2018 at 6:25 pmWell, I like Mirio just fine – not sure why some here are so quick to condemn a character. 🙂 How can anyone dislike Tintin?
I’d admit the main reason I like him as he is seemingly OP and resembles All Might, both in looks and general demeanor. Yes, a bit different but close enough. Probably due to All Might-loss.
One thing I didn’t realize when i was reading the source material for this part was that Endeavor (not All Might) was the #1 hero at this point when Eraser Head mentioned Mirio being “the closest to #1” here. There are numerous Reddit threads on folks speculating Mirio’s strength in the show (stuff like “can Mirio beats All Might or Endeavor or so and so”). It’s all in good fun, of course, as far as I’m concerned.
Fluca
October 1, 2018 at 1:36 amI wasn’t quick to condemn him, as a matter of fact, I started my post by saying I thought I was missing the point on that regard, I thank you guys for explaining his demeanor a little bit better.
As for “he doesn’t brag” the scream “POWER” right after his attacks sure sounded like a brag to me, and that also informed my point of view.
Anyways, thanks for the healthy debate, it help me understand him a little bit better.
Bob
October 1, 2018 at 6:05 amThat’s Mirio hyping himself up, like a kiai.