My Hero Academia is one of the most popular anime and manga series today. While the primary characters are heroes, many important characters are villains. The series creator, Kohei Horikoshi is known to subvert common troupes in the shonen genre. However, it's how he treats his villains that is most interesting. It has been noted that characters like Bakugo and Endeavor aren't quite as heroic as expect. They can be considered to be anti-heroes. The true villains of the series have been given arcs of their own.
Currently, the Meta Liberation Army arc is focusing on the development of the League of Villains as they come into conflict with the Liberation Army. The main antagonist, Tomura Shigaraki is given a backstory, as he and his comrades train to become stronger. Why does Horikoshi focus on villains at all? Shigaraki story mirrors Midoriya's, how's that different from typical shonen series? Will focusing on villains in this manner result in readers caring about them more?
I am literally *so* excited to read this. I really like how Horikoshi makes readers question how heroic the "heroes" really are, since they're doing it as a profession in a capitalist society (which therefore devalues people who have no quirk, like Deku, or "unheroic" quirks, like Shinsou). All Might explicitly tells Deku he can't be a hero if he doesn't have a quirk. I really hope you touch on this false dichotomy of heroic vs. villainous, good vs. bad, good quirk vs. bad quirk, etc. and how the League of Villains is essentially a band of misfits whose quirks or upbringing alienated them from a pro-hero society. A buddy of mine runs a villains-centric blog that might have some useful discussion for you: codenamesazanka on Tumblr :) – Eden6 years ago
The protagonists of My Hero Academia are in short, fairly bland and one dimensional. they have one defining trait and are mostly left to that. Horikoshi seems to put so much emphasis on the villians because those are the characters she took the time to make interesting. – Aschneider4 years ago
my hero Academia is a realy populer manga and anime. but it has a one problem: chanting
when anime and manga want show roots of problem start to say a lot of Slogan. and the villain of story become a some human without any Ideology. they just make trouble for revenge from his father or Society. be like Dabi
and Shigaraki. – daralmajanin8 months ago
The anime has characters such as Endeavor who is known as the number 2 hero despite having villainous qualities such as abusing his wife and children. On the flipside, they have Stain, a villain who ruthlessly kills people yet values true heroism. In a show promoting the idea of becoming the best hero in the world, what does it mean when characters hold opposing traits from their roles in society? Additionally, can characters such as Bakugo, Deku, and Todoroki be considered as true heroes considering their reasons for becoming heroes?
Interesting take on the show, I also want to add the route the show is currently going in - reminds me a lot of naruto and how sasuke was taken by orchimaru's "henchmen" but in that case he made his decision, bakugo did not but sasuke and bakugo share similar qualities so I'm very curious to see what happens there. To compare that idea to your own, I think over time (as I feel like this show will last YEARS to come) that your questions will be answered with more validity and less convoluted heroism and villains: the ways of attributing to becoming a hero and how someone walks the path of evil. - Jeet – jeet7 years ago
My Hero Academia first garnered attention when it gained a surprising amount of momentum soon after its debut in Shounen Jump, often being heralded as a spiritual successor to highly successful and soon-after ended shounen titles like Naruto and Bleach. Now, with one completed anime season and a second one ongoing, MHA can be seen everywhere in otaku culture, particularly in the realm of visual essay analysis videos posted on Youtube and elsewhere. All this, despite the fact that, as many fans and critics have pointed out, there's nothing particularly new or inventive about it. MHA takes almost every traditional shounen trope in the book and runs with them, using them to their greatest effects. It'd be interesting to pinpoint what some of those tropes are and how MHA uses them so effectively. The writer could also analyze how outside factors (like timing and anime adaptation) affected its popularity growth over the past 2-3 years.
I've heard extremely positive things said about this anime. I think I will begin watching it due to its use of these common tropes. In addition to this, being a spiritual successor to favourites such as Naruto and Bleach compel me even more. Great Topic! – AdilYoosuf7 years ago
I'm a huge fan of this series, I think one could focus on the characters add to My Hero Academia. – Jiraiyan7 years ago
In my opinion i think the popularity comes with its simplicity in that MHA seems to be a purer example of the heroes journey as well as a story making great use of the big dam heroes trope. When you take such a classic formula and add deconstruction along with a health dose of power scaling your bound to catch eyes. – Delebo6 years ago
