My Hero Academia: Season One [Blu-ray]

We watched this a while back, but never got a chance to fully review it, but with the release of Season Two Part One on Blu-ray coming soon, what better time to do it!

A new favourite anime has been added to the list here in the Asylum:

In a world where most of the population is now born, or grow up with, superpowers known as Quirks, the story revolves around Izuku "Deku" Midoriya, a "Quirkless" boy whose one dream is to become a hero.

The very likable and relatable character of Midoriya has wished since childhood, to be like his idol All Might (voiced by Christopher Sabat), the "No 1 Hero" - whose Quirk, known as One For All is the most powerful. As one of the 20% of the population to grow up without their own Quirk, he feels that he couldn't be further from his dream, so instead studies Quirks, keeping notes in his diaries and truly obsessing over All Might. A chance encounter brings him and his hero together, bringing him closer to the destiny that he desires.

Drawing comparisons to Naruto, Izuku is accepted into U.A. High School - the high school of heroes - and the story revolves around the inner workings of Midoriya growing up in a world of heroes. The show has a lot of emotion and deep stories, making this easily become one of our new favourite animes. A Shonen Jump release, we would consider this to be this generation's Naruto. 

With a wide variety of characters, the series has many other tricks up its sleeve with all of their different Quirks - again similar to Naruto with all of the different Ninjutsus. And with heroes come villains, each of them being deeply unsettling. As well as the villains, we have the protagonist's allies, and their rivals (albeit still on the side of "good"). Allies such as Tenya Iida (J. Michael Tatum) who has "Engine" as a Quirk, allowing him to use his super-charged legs for insane speed and power, and Uchaco Uraraka (Luci Christian) who can make anything she touches float, and rivals such as childhood friend/bully Bakugo "Kacchan" Katsuki (Clifford Chapin) who excretes nitroglycerin from his palms (creating massive explosions on command) really brings a lot of depth to the story and gets you emotionally invested throughout.

Personally, we really love the look of every single hero (and villain) as they are all so varied in their appearance and ability. The powers shown are so different to what we've come to expect from "Superheroes" as there's more to offer than just the standard abilities, with some that will really leave you thinking about what Quirk you could have if you were in this world!

One gripe that we have about the show is that the villains, whilst menacing, aren't fleshed out enough throughout the season. This is most likely down to the fact that with only 13 episodes, they wanted to focus more on the main character of Midoriya and his backstory, leaving villains open for further seasons, but it still leaves you wishing more had been shown. The rival students at U.A High however are done really well. Bakugo and Midoriya have had their rivalry since childhood, with them always being a sort of Yin/Yang of each other. Bakugo: the hot-headed one and timid, Quirkless Midoriya balance each other out in a way, and that really brings a lot of credibility to their characters, and while Midoriya is the main character and you of course feel a lot of support for him, you still feel for Bakugo.

All of the characters, including the villains are well developed, which really lends itself to how addictive the series is. We really enjoyed seeing them in all of their costumes and learning about them and their quirks. We are really looking forward to what Season Two has in store for us.

Overall, we were thoroughly entertained throughout the entire season and would definitely recommend anyone to check this out. It gets the Collecting Asylum rating of:

Absolute Belter!

What did you think about My Hero Academia?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x