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If there's one word that anime fans have used for My Hero Academia over the years, it's "deconstruction". My Hero Academia has been notably subverting conventional tropes of both the superhero genre of comics and shonen anime since the manga debuted in 2014.
The prevalence of superhero material from comics to video games, to various adaptations like cartoons and movies has demonstrated certain longstanding tropes. These are the tropes that comic book fans have gotten tired of, likewise shonen anime fans. My Hero Academia has bucked several trends from both, from the contrived hero vs. hero story to overlong tournament arcs and filler arcs from shonen anime.
Disclaimer: The following article will contain spoilers for My Hero Academia, shonen anime like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto, and many comic books from both Marvel and DC.
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10 trends from superhero comics and shonen anime My Hero Academia subverts: Explained
5 Comic Book Trends My Hero Academia subverts
1) Unnecessary and excessive character deaths
Comic books tend to depower characters, maim them, or otherwise kill them with such frequency that most comics fans can set their watches to it. While there are some deaths that are iconic, like Jason Todd's death in Death in the Family or The Death of Superman, many more usually are not. They are considered very excessive like Superboy Prime's massacre in Infinite Crisis or in Heroes in Crisis.
Character death in superhero comics is likewise usually undone a couple of years down the line. This is usually done for A-list heroes, like Superman and Batman, as others tend to either stay dead or only warrant passing mentions. This has gotten very insulting over the years.
My Hero Academia is a slightly mixed bag between following this trope to a T and subverting it. When characters die, they tend to stay dead as Midnight and Twice prove. Character death is very rare in My Hero Academia compared to the big two comic publishers, so much so that it has a major impact when it happens.
Twice's death sent Toga into a frenzy and was used to besmirch the reputation of heroes. The deaths of many heroes during the Paranormal Liberation War led to a decrease in manpower, and civilians took the law into their own hands. The death of Stars and Stripe forced All for One's plans back and nearly killed him and Shigaraki too.
2) Hero vs. Hero fights
One trend that's led to outright terrible stories like both versions of Marvel's Civil War or Avengers vs. X-Men and the like from Marvel is the idea of a hero vs. hero conflict. The core theme of such a conflict is usually testing the characters against each other, or having to solve some deep crisis that leads them to fight each other.
In the aforementioned Civil War, both Iron Man and Captain America's sides were not portrayed well. Iron Man's Pro Registration side came across as straight fascists, whereas Captain America's side was portrayed as incompetent and out of touch. The worst part was that Iron Man's side was meant to be in the right, though even the writers of the event debated hard about that.
My Hero Academia does have hero vs. hero fights, but they're never huge or take up the bulk of the story. They're usually made into training segments, Deku and Bakugo having an unsanctioned late-night street fight, or during the Hero Licensing Exam. Even then, they don't bloom into major problems.
The only problem area with a hero vs. hero fight in My Hero Academia was Deku vs. Bakugo in that street fight they had, and Shoto Todoroki vs. Inasa Yoarashi. This led to them both losing out on their hero licenses. Aoyama being the U.A. Traitor was a problem, but he surrendered after being found out.
3) "Solo acts" vs. teams
If there's one thing a lot of superheroes are known for doing, at least in mainstream perception, it's being a solo act and making it work. In reality, tons of superhero comics tend to divide themselves on the issue of being a solo hero vs. a team. Solo acts usually work for heroes like Superman or Spider-Man, but even that has limitations.
Plenty of superheroes are known for being solo acts, or at least professing themselves to be such. Spider-Man, the Punisher, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and others are usually seen better solo than in teams. This viewpoint, posited even by professional writers, ignores a crucial part of a superhero team: the support structure it grants and the help heroes need.
My Hero Academia shows teams as superior in two major ways. First, having Todoroki, Bakugo, and Yoarashi fail the Hero License exam due to their bullheaded insistence on working alone, and second Izuku Midoriya pushing himself to be a hero 24/7 without a break during the Dark Hero Arc.
Plenty of victories in this series are won via teamwork. Deku had to be talked down via all of Class 1-A while rescuing Bakugo from the League of Villains required a major undertaking. Additionally, the Final War saw all of the heroes banding together alongside former villains to stop All for One.
4) Everyone is super/Bystander syndrome
This is two for one owing to the multifaceted, chilling effect this has on the civilian population in both My Hero Academia and superhero media. Even in situations where most of the populace has superpowers, or if superheroes are a common sight, there's still usually a level of distrust coming from the government and certain citizens.
Considering the X-Men as an example, the tropes are simple. The idea that everyone being super or heroes always being around is a good thing, so it means civilians don't need to intervene if a hero shows up. It doesn't always mean superheroes either, it could mean a cop or someone with authority.
My Hero Academia shows where both fail and share some common ground with X-Men on that front. The Paranormal Liberation War arc shows civilians attempting to take matters into their own hands, without training or proper gear, and making more of a mess than if a hero stepped in.
Likewise, bystanders saw Shigaraki needing help as a child and didn't bother getting him help when they could've. This isn't just Shigaraki, as no one bothered to help Toga when she needed it most, and the neglect and pressure she was under caused her to snap. It's not the Quirks that's at fault, it's society.
5) Rigid adherence to the status quo
One of the more frustrating parts of superhero comics is the dedication, if not worship, to the status quo. A hero will never permanently kill a villain if the death even sticks like the many times The Joker should've died. A big event like World War Hulk can devastate New York, only for it to be fine only a month or so later.
By far the worst example of devotion to the status quo is Spider-Man: One More Day. This infamous Spider-Man storyline destroyed decades of Peter Parker's character development and erased his marriage to Mary Jane. This upset many fans to the point where they refused to buy Spider-Man comics because the head of Marvel thought that Peter should be alone.
My Hero Academia subverts this in several major ways. Deku and Bakugo's rivalry gets dropped. All Might legitimately retires, and a power vacuum is left. The Hero Society is left in shambles, and the damage is still there even months later. Prisoners being released via All for One didn't help matters.
Basically, changes made are there to stay in one form or another. The heroes, young and old, realize how bad things are and go forth to change them. It takes a while for them to realize it, but things have changed and will continue to change once All for One is defeated.
5 shonen anime trends that My Hero Academia subverts
1) Major filler episodes/arcs/movies
The term "Filler" really doesn't exist anymore in contemporary shonen anime, but it bears bringing up because it's a trope that people abuse to mean "anything not plot-relevant" or otherwise. Major shonen anime like Bleach, Naruto, Fairy Tail, and Dragon Ball Z had a lot of filler between important events so the manga could catch up.
It even extended into the movies, as once upon a time all shonen anime movies were one-shot, self-contained stories that were fun and enjoyable but had no bearing on the anime itself. Notably, My Hero Academia wasn't the first to subvert this but it is definitely a major one.
The anime itself only has two filler episodes, and they're both lead-ins to the My Hero Academia: Two Heroes and World's Mission movies. This is widely seen as a good call since it means the anime can just adapt what's in the manga to the screen.
It's likewise good because there have been a lot of infamous examples where anime, shonen or otherwise, went off-script from the manga and messed the story up. Examples of this could b The Promised Neverland or Akame ga Kill! There are downsides to the lack of filler, but most older fans who hated it don't really mind.
2) The Shonen Hero and The Rival
The reason why this entry is two in one instead of separate is because these are linked. Typically, a shonen anime will have an all-loving hero and his cynical rival. Everyone has at least one favorite: Naruto and Sasuke, Goku and Vegeta, Yugi and Kaiba, Asta and Yuno, Gintoki and Shinsuke, the list goes on.
Both of these character archetypes usually go in separate directions as the story continues. The underwhelming or underpowered hero faces trials and overcomes them or is revealed to have been chosen by fate. Meanwhile, the rival goes into a more villainous route to surpass the hero or is already evil and turns good at the end.
It's no surprise that both of these archetypes are subverted in My Hero Academia. Deku isn't a chosen one, his kindness gets taken advantage of, and the aforementioned Dark Hero Arc shows what happens when he pushes himself too far into self-sacrificial tendencies and nearly ends up killed for it.
Bakugo is an interesting example in that his rival traits are shown as overwhelmingly negative throughout the series. He has to perform remedial hero work in order to get his license, his popularity tanks after middle school, and when he gets the offer to join the League of Villains he literally tells them to go to hell.
3) Pure Evil villains
The concept of villainy is usually straightforward in both superhero comics and shonen anime alike. There might even be multiple examples of villainy in the same universe, where world conquerors can coexist with pettier evils like hurting people to get rich.
Dragon Ball has quite a few of these, from the planet-destroying Frieza to Emperor Pilaf and the Red Ribbon Army. Sometimes villains are that petty, doing things for profit, to keep power, or to stroke their massive egos. Examples range from Muzan to Frieza to Myotismon and others.
My Hero Academia subverts the pure villain archetype with one simple thing: it makes All for One the only purely evil character out of the entirety of its villain group. Most of the villains are people broken by either society or rotten circumstances that earn them the label of villains.
Every other villain in the series is made sympathetic, from Spinner going through discrimination, Toga's parental issues and rejection, Dabi turning Endeavor's abuse into an everlasting hateful blaze, Twice's awful case of bad luck, Lady Nagant being betrayed by the Hero Public Safety Commission, or Shigaraki being groomed by All for One.
4) Overly long tournament arcs
Because most of the older shonen anime could afford to take their time on things, a tournament arc could easily be slotted in. Going over major tournament arcs in anime that have them reveals that they're usually major arcs in their own right. They're usually more than 10 episodes apiece.
The original Dragon Ball alone has three arcs revolving around the World Martial Arts Tournament. The titular World Tournament Saga had 14 episodes, the Tien Shinhan Saga had 17 episodes, and the Piccolo Junior Saga had 30 episodes for a total of 61 episodes. Naruto's Chunin Exams lasted 47 episodes. Yu Yu Hakusho's Dark Tournament Saga lasted 40 episodes. Ditto with Yu-Gi-Oh's Duelist Kingdom.
By contrast, My Hero Academia managed to fit the U.A. Sports Festival Arc into 13 episodes and the Provisional Hero License Exam Arc into 12 episodes. Each of these tournament-style arcs fits at least two episodes or more worth of content into one episode, with some fights being done instantly.
The fact that 47 manga chapters in total can be narrowed down into 25 episodes is a good thing because of how much story needs to be narrowed down and how many fights fit in there. It avoids wasting too much of the audience's time, unlike its older counterparts.
5) Unimportant characters/the hero is all that matters
This is a trope common to a lot of shonen anime: that one singular hero is all that matters. There's no backup, no one else that can do the job. It's a combination of the idea of passing the torch, where a mentor figure either retires or dies, and the idea that only one hero matters to the narrative and that's the main one.
Naruto has plenty of characters that fade in relevancy over time, with the plot focusing mainly on Naruto and Sasuke to the detriment of everyone else. Dragon Ball Z focused more on the Saiyans, half-Saiyans, and godlike people and left the humans in the dust. Those two are major offenders in that regard, of several that have a wide variety of characters and only focus on one or a handful at most.
My Hero Academia doesn't do this to that extreme. The trope of passing the torch is deconstructed by having Shoto abused by Endeavor, Izuku not being the first choice for One for All, and even Shigaraki being betrayed by All for One since he never intended to give up his power.
Likewise, the concept of the hero is all that matters is destroyed during the Dark Hero Arc and the Final War Arc. Not only does Deku need to be helped back to UA by Class 1-A, but plenty of other "extras", as All for One derisively dubs them, return to aid the heroes in the Final War Arc. It's summed up by Vlad King like this in chapter 344: there is no such thing as a side character.
Final Thoughts
Although My Hero Academia plays a few tropes straight, like Mineta's perversions or that the female characters are often sidelined, it does subvert many superhero and shonen anime cliches. There are more than a few reasons why My Hero Academia has gotten the label of the deconstruction anime.
My Hero Academia fans should remember that tropes are not bad and depend on the writing. Even the most cliche story can be remembered fondly if done well.
