My Hero Academia: Season One [Blu-ray]

I enjoy anime from time to time. Oddly, Studio Bones is usually the common denominator of anime I like. Wolf’s Rain and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood I count among the top anime I have watched (I enjoyed the original FMA but prefer FMAB’s ending) along with Akira and Ghost In The Shell. For context, I’ve barely read manga (some Battle Angel Alita as an exception) and while I can love anime, I am a little more on the casual side due to how frequently I consume anime. I had vacation over the holidays and had heard that My Hero Academia was good, so I specifically signed up on Hulu to watch it. Sweet Baby Jesus was the show good. I am a grown man and it brought me to tears. I love Izuku/Deku and the cast. I did not even know prior to starting it that it was Studio Bones, but it felt like the same quality as FMAB, which is highly thought of as one of the best anime, especially for non-hardcore anime fans. I marathonned the first season and started taking the rest slower to space it out. I’m about to finish season 2. Even though I am watching it on subscription, I had to own the Blu-ray’s. I, for the first time in ages, had to own merch for this. I bought a figurine of Izuku and have a shirt on the way, since then, I’ve got my eye on a lot of other items, Why bring all this extra crap up? Simply put, I love this show so much that it drove me to buy more. That’s amazing, as I don’t do this. I’ve even ordered the first volume of the manga. I’ve found out what “Shounen” anime is now (I was ignorant to this prior to MHA even though DBZ and FMA are considered this). I’ve seen this show is massively popular yet certain crowds think it’s overrated. Subjective tastes come into play here. There are no truly original stories for any genre in my opinion. It’s all in how excellently it is packaged. MHA has fantastic music, good characters, a decent sometimes great plot, but what is most important is that it packs an emotional punch. This show has heart. If the review was a ramble, sorry. I love this show. To those reading this review who may think I’m missing out on other anime, this show has driven me to want to check out shows like Tiger & Bunny and/or Hunter x Hunter in the wait for season 4 once I get through the existing episodes. People talk like this is the next Naruto. I certainly hope so, as I want as much time with these characters as I can get. If you like this show, buy the seasons, the movie, and the merch. The more money it makes the more we’ll get. Edit - January 21, 2019 I got the time to watch some of the special features. The anime expo, meet the characters, Nishino’s interview all three are good. The AnimeFest artist sketches are cool, but not necessarily a must watch. However, the Inside The Episode extras where staff/VO cast for the dub speak about the episodes, their characters, and themselves really shine. Each video brought me smiles and laughter. You can tell that all these people are passionate about this. I really love the Inside The Episodes featurettes.

Really it is an outstanding series. While live action superhero movies are huge now, I think a lot of us grew up watching animated superhero series. Honestly this anime is one I'm happy to add to my collection in general, but also as a great superhero show. The story has a fair amount of cliche elements to it, but the show takes those and uses them well. It does have a fair amount of surprises while using some familiar elements. The main character Izuku has a great mixture of characteristics. He's someone who has suffered a difficult childhood, has experienced being powerless and yet through all that he has the kind of decisive desire to help people that makes him worthy to become a hero. Or at least start on the road to learning how to become one. I really like the setting. We've seen settings where people with super abilities are ostracized (like X-Men) or where there are only a handful of powerful people in a normal world. But here we have a world where the percentages are flipped. Where people with abilities are the vast majority and it's only a small amount who are without powers. A world where there are so many powerful people that being a superhero becomes a job. A mixture of rescue worker and celebrity. It is just a good looking show. Studio Bones did a masterful job. The visuals are bright and defined, the characters are distinct looking, and the action looks really nice. It has a visual style that works well and feels like a comic book anime. And there are a surprising amount of extras. You really don't see this many extras (a lot of interviews, character intros, anime expo panels) for an anime release. Most of the time we just get clean opening and ending visuals, maybe a trailer. This is just the start of My Hero Academia. A really strong show that has a lot more coming our way. I think it is a good entry anime for people since it does focus on a topic that many can wrap their heads around. Worth picking up.

My Hero Academia is a love letter to the western comic. Everything about it oozes with that silver age aesthetic. It's good to keep this in mind since it will paint your expectations for the rest of the show The anime is a faithful (panel for panel) presentation of the Weekly Shounen Jump manga created by Kohei Horikoshi, which is still on-going as of writing this. This 13 episode season covers the first full major story arc in the manga, at a pace of 1 or 2 chapters per episode. I'll leave the detailed synopsis to others who find themselves more qualified to offer it. Simply put, this is the story of a boy named Izuku Midoriya who wants to be a hero more than anything. However, in a world filled with people with special powers, he winds up one of the very few born without any. What he lacks in super powers, he makes up for in the intangibles that drive a hero, and through both coincidence and his own determination he's offered the opportunity of a lifetime. Studio BONES spearheaded this effort, and their reputation precedes them. The realization of this show with sound, color, and motion is faithful and impressive. If the manga is regarded as a nascent masterpiece of shounen in the making, then be not surprised that the anime improves upon it still. The music is a particular shining point in an otherwise stellar presentation, featuring excellent themes and leitmotifs. What's more, the Blu Ray had a second quality pass by the studio and looks even better than the TV broadcast. The dub is a thoroughly solid showing. The casting is, across the board, spot-on. Chris Sabat as All Might stands out as an obvious high point, and he delivers in full. Not to discredit the efforts of the rest of the voice talent, Justin Briner plays a fantastic Midoriya as well. This anime is a perfect companion to the manga, and I have every faith that Bones will continue to deliver a quality product. It suffers for pacing at points, but only if we're nitpicking, and we very well shouldn't. All Might wouldn't stand for it. Do yourself a favor and check this out. Horikoshi is an extremely talented author and the manga moves at a blistering pace - thwarting along the way most of the tropes and trappings of the genre by embracing them whole-heartedly.

So, I'd like to start out by telling those unfamiliar with the series why it's so great. The characters have a lot of depth, some of which you can see in this season and some in later seasons. The variety of powers in the show is incredible, as well! People are used to your standard powers: Strength, speed, flight, etc. While those powers are still around, there are many more than that: Anti-gravity, explosions, creation, electric, and so many more! The massive variety of powers is not something typically seen, and it's very refreshing that not everyone can punch a brick wall to pieces. The plot itself, without spoiling too much, is also great! The journey follows a young boy who has dreamed his entire life of being a superhero like his idol, the world's number 1 hero, All Might! But he learned at a young age that he was born without any powers, making his journey to be a great hero all the more challenging. But a chance encounter with All Might alters his destiny onto the hero track, and he has to learn to become a pro through school, a task made all the more difficult with his lack of experience. And by the end of the season, the students are put to the test when real villains attack! Unlike most series, there aren't any filler episodes. All of the episodes are part of the same story: about how a young man grew up to become the world's greatest hero! The fight scenes are awesome, and the music is incredible! This series rivals many of the great superhero shows that are made by Marvel and DC, and most fans of the superhero genre will love the story and the characters! I highly recommend this not just for people who love anime, but anyone who likes the superhero genre!

Aside from some minor pacing issues, My Hero Academia is easily one of the best anime in recent years. It is a moving yet simple story about a world full of heroes, where almost everyone is born with a unique power at birth. The main character is one of the few children without such powers, though this quickly changes throughout the course of the series. These 13 episodes serve as an introduction to said series, though they stand quite nicely on their own. L Similarly, if we're talking presentation, the art style, animation and music all fit the series perfectly. Characters and backgrounds are colorful, and during fight scenes, the animation is very fluid. The music isn't the best anime has to offer, but it is certainly nothing to scoff at, and the voice acting was a particular highlight for me; surprising considering how most anime have lackluster English adaptations. Overall, this is a simple superhero story with a lot of heart. I can't tell you how many times I've eat yes certain scenes of this show... the feelings I get while watching it remind me of a simpler time when all that mattered was the next episode of teen titans. So, in the end, you can bet I'll be buying season 2 as well.

Awesome show. Arrived fast and in perfect condition.

I think down to its core My Hero Academia is so thoroughly enjoyable as a shounen because it has something most other shounen do not. While it presents stereotypes of the genre (the loser turned hero, the friend/enemy, etc.) It does so with genuine heartfelt emotional depth and feeling. These things don't ring hollow when they come to pass. You truly root for main character Deku to overcome, to persist, because you really to believe he is a hero at heart, and that's rare as well as captivating. I could say more, but this is a series worth experiencing with little info going in. The characters could use more development, but I have a feeling that'll come with time. It's definitely getting more seasons, with the second currently airing. The only reason I didn't give it a perfect 5 is because I really just hate that all the episodes don't fit on one disc. I feel like there's no reason for this, and really ruins the flow. Otherwise, no complaints.

It was clean.The disk were not scratched.It was sent with care arrived perfectly