In case you hadn’t heard, a 5th season of Boku no Hero Academia was announced before this season finale even aired. That’s among the least surprising bits of “news” in anime history, it must be said, but official is official and still worth noting. HeroAca is a series that obviously won’t end until the manga does – it remains a worldwide blockbuster success even if Kimetsu no Yaiba’s insane popularity has eclipsed it (for now) within Japan itself. It’s fitting that it and Haikyuu should end on the same day, as they remain the standard-bearers for WSJ’s “next gen” block.
This season of BnHA has not been as well-received as the last two, to be sure. That was eminently predictable with a new director and animation team, and the fact is that the material this season is not as flashy as what came before it. I sold it short myself to be honest, but in hindsight both the school festival arc and this brief taste of the future which followed it are vintage Horikoshi. The former was a very nuanced deconstruction of the series’ mythology, and this seasonal epilogue a complete game-changer. This world was always destined to look at the retirement of All Might as a “before/after” event – it was the incident in Fukuoka which proved the point.
Endeavor is a hero quite unlike any other hero in HeroAca. It’s always been apparent from Shouto’s attitude that Endeavor was something less than a good father (and his personality itself is as winning as sandpaper underwear) but the truth of what happened inside the Todoroki family was only alluded to fleetingly. It was pretty clear from events back in Episode 25 that Todoroki Enji had done some terrible things, things which his children never forgave him for and which drove his wife to an asylum. For a man Horikoshi-sensei has installed as the new #1 hero, that’s a pretty rough first line on the resume.
Now though, Endeavor is the new Symbol of Peace – or if he isn’t, one no longer exists at all. And he finds himself in the battle of his life against an upgraded nomu the likes of which Hawks had only just referred to, but which we’ve never seen in the story before. It’s massively fast and powerful, it can regenerate itself with sickening speed, and it can talk. And think – it has a clear motivation (to fight the strongest opponent) and it’s smart enough to manipulate events to allow that to happen. That includes splitting nomu (1st gen by appearances) off itself (another new ability) to occupy Endeavor’s backup so it can have the mano a mano matchup it wants.
Chief amongst that backup, of course, is Hawks. He’s forced to occupy himself in rescuing those trapped in the building Endeavor’s battle is splitting in two, using his “Fierce Wings” to great effect. It’s easy to see how Hawks’ and Endeavor’s abilities in fact complement each other – Hawks is strongest in defense and rescue, and trails behind some heroes in terms of pure power. But I doubt even All Might could have saved 87 people as quickly as Hawks did – and in terms of intellect, he’s clearly in the upper echelon in the world of heroes.
Endeavor, meanwhile, is pretty much getting his ass kicked. Nothing he rolls out, even his Hell Spider attack, inflicts any lasting damage on the nomu. It inflicts damage on the user, though – overheating his body (and revealing why it was so important to Endeavor to try and engineer a child like Shouto). Despair rings all around – the realization that All Might really is gone, and no one can truly replace him. Only Endeavor’s dai-fan speaks up for him, but his children – in spite of themselves – are horrified to see what’s befalling their father on their screens. The enormity of the moment is not lost on Endeavor – he knows that the whole world is watching, and with an intensity that they never will be again.
You know Endeavor is serious when he breaks out a hated “Plus Ultra!”. Courtesy of the pain from his injuries he’s able to remain conscious, and courtesy an assist by Hawks he’s able to keep moving, and he finally defeats the nomu using his “Prominence Burn”. But that attack is one and done, all or nothing – it’s everything Endeavor has to give, and more. Endeavor may not be All Might, but neither is anyone else. If this was his first real test as the #1 hero Endeavor certainly passed – he gave the world a look at his back and managed to stand up to the end. But at what cost?
As if that weren’t cliffhanger enough, we get a little taste of things to come with Deku, too. He has a strange and disturbing dream where he sees (or rather, a partially-disembodied version of himself sees) the previous One For All users, and one of them introduces himself, referring to Deku as “the ninth”. When he awakens, One For All seems to have been activated, the window is broken and his room is in a state of disarray. That’s a lot to chew on for the next six months, or the next year, or however long it is until Episode 89 makes its appearance.
It seems like we saw nothing but complaints about the visuals in HeroAca this season, but I have a hard time imagining too many viewers would have been dissatisfied with the Endeavor-Nomu fight – it was a classic Bones bottle sequence in every sense of the word. I enjoyed the more stylized take on the art this season, but that comes down to personal taste. Comparing the season to what’s come before I can’t ignore the fact that the Shie Hassaikai arc, which took up basically a cour, is one of the series weaker on the whole. Still, considering how high the baseline in BnHA is, that’s still pretty damn good – and so is Season 4. This series remains for my money the best battle shounen of its generation, and Bones’ production of it a masterful adaptation. Season 5 can’t come soon enough.
Zol
April 4, 2020 at 11:57 pmI liked both arcs of this season. The first was really tense, action-packed and had a lot of great battles and “a-character-reveals-their-past-while-overcoming-a-strong-enemy-moments” (that’s the best I could come up with on the fly). The second arc was funny and all about teamwork and social bonds in school life.
My Hero Aca has never been one of my most favourite shows, but I like its general atmosphere and characters enough to be looking forward to the next season.
Yukie
April 5, 2020 at 2:42 amThe anime form of this season definitely slowed down the manic pacing I felt when reading the manga. Still, no amount of sakuga and great OST could really fill the lacking emotional core of this season. IMO, Shie Hassaikai arc really fell victim to the pacing as there were too many characters with unrealized potentials. Often it feels like Horikoshi is spreading himself too thin by trying to advance the plot at a snappy pace while touching base on as many characters as possible; throw in the constant and thorough world-building and the man has a full plate (now that I think about it, he’s very plus ultra).
It’s worrisome that as BnHA progresses, both the series and its world will inevitably continue to expand. I just hope that the pitfalls of long-running shounen (not that BnHA is your typical shounen) never befall this beloved series.
Guardian Enzo
April 5, 2020 at 9:18 amProbably fair to say the anime took things a little slower than the manga. But I would say your criticism applies more to Shie Hassaikai than what came after. I think the School Festival arc is one of the more intimate in the series, and as for Endeavor he was always going to become a central figure – with All Might’s downfall it was inevitable. Because of his limitations as a character (on both sides of the fourth wall) he needed a foil, and that’s Hawks.
Folks can make up their own mind about what’s next. Some of it is not universally loved, but then HeroAca manga readers are not the most supportive and positive fanbase out there.
Daniel Carrilho
April 5, 2020 at 8:46 amI think that was uncalled for, people have been not-liking-as-much (hate is a strong word) this season for very obvious reasons, sakuga being the least of them. Endeavor’s time in the spotlight certainly delivered what all fans like, emotional pay-off for older, established characters.
Kurik
April 5, 2020 at 9:48 amThis episode was all ACES in my book. I had goosebumps everywhere and shouted profanity like HECK YEAH! at the end when he defeated the nomu. I mean….there is no way anyone could have told me that I would be rooting that much for Endeavor since knowing what he did to wife and kids. Dang! Love it and Hawk has made such a strong impression in such little time. Kudos to excellent writing there. Now the agonizing wait for next season. I will not read manga I will not read manga….
Guardian Enzo
April 5, 2020 at 11:35 amHorikoshi is very good at avoiding black and white morality. Stain and Endeavor are both excellent examples of it (Gentle too for that matter).
Tim
April 5, 2020 at 4:23 pmI was literally just having a discussion with a friend about how it feels like the animation this season was a huge step up, and I’m something of an animation junky(not just sakuga). I don’t quite understand what people mean when they talk about this season feeling bad. I was so hyped for this after reading the manga, and it delivered on all ends, even more so with the school festival. I love school festivals in anime.
Guardian Enzo
April 5, 2020 at 4:51 pmThe line forms behind Hyouka.
I get it in this sense – there’s unquestionably less sakuga this season than in the prior ones (especially 2 and 3). Those seasons were extremely straight-laced visually and faithful to the manga – this one took a much more stylized approach. But when they needed sakuga (the Gentle-Deku fight, Endeavor vs. Nomu) they pulled it out. For me, it was a welcome change.
DukeofEarls
April 7, 2020 at 8:08 pmI’m extremely impressed how quickly they made Endeavor into such an interesting character. On the one hand he’s so easy to hate for what he has done to his family, but they didn’t leave him as just an abusive asshole. This episode actually made him very relatable.
I think anyone who has ever competed and strived to be the best, dragging themselves up, whether it be through business, sports, or any other aspect of life, could see a human side to Endeavor during the scene when Hawks remembered he was the only one seriously trying to surpass All Might. It gave me chills actually, reminds me a lot of my company and one of our competitors.
Guardian Enzo
April 7, 2020 at 8:13 pmI think a case could be made (though I wouldn’t, it could) that Endeavor is the key (not “main”, but key) character of what might broadly be called the second half of HeroAca (of course we have no idea how long it’ll eventually be). He’s at the heart of a lot of issues Horikoshi wants to explore, I think, and IMHO he correctly assumed focusing heavily on him early on would have been too much for a lot of readers. So he sucked us in, then sprung Endeavor on us in a big way.
DukeofEarls
April 9, 2020 at 9:08 pmLooking back at the series thus far with your point in mind, it certainly seems to be the case he laid the groundwork for Endeavor as a major character study for the series. I was led to believe this was all in service of his son’s character, which it obviously still is, but it perhaps was as much or more to introduce Endeavor and bring us to this point.
Like the people of the BnHA story, we’re forced to come to terms with a highly flawed, very human man taking the place of a true Messiah figure. Indeed this seems to be connected to some themes the show continually examines since the Stain hero killer arc regarding the hypocrisy of the hero society. Yet you find yourself all the more wanting to root for Endeavor, given that he is human, he’s not perfect, but he still saves the day anyways.
Guardian Enzo
April 9, 2020 at 9:31 pmA very flawed man at the head of a very flawed system. In many ways Endeavor is a truer representation of hero society than All Might, even if he’ll never be as beloved.
I have a hard time rooting for Endeavor unreservedly, because what he did to his family is really unpardonable. I empathize with him, on a certain “professional” level I respect him, but I certainly don’t like him. What I think is going to be interesting as Horikoshi fleshes all this out is the next generation aspect. All Might’s spiritual son is clearly Deku (whose biological father remains a total mystery). Endeavor has a biological son who rejects him (though not quite as totally as he did) and strives to be everything his father isn’t. And he has a spiritual son in Bakugo, who resembles him in so many ways, even down to his quirk.
Jashwini
June 14, 2020 at 11:28 amSome videos say that season 5 is coming out on 2022!?!?
Guardian Enzo
June 14, 2020 at 11:53 amI’ve seen nothing to indicate that. Seems very unlikely.
Jashwini
June 14, 2020 at 11:31 amI sometime wish that they made a season every 2 months. And that they began on 2000 so 20×6= 120 seasons.