The impact of My Hero Academia : A decade long journey that redefined the Superhero anime genre

My Hero Academia's manga concluded with the release of chapter 430, on August 5th, 2024. Over a decade of shonen superhero action and antics have passed since it first premiered, leaving a legacy that will be well remembered. While the anime is still ongoing, with a fourth movie titled You're Next released on August 2, 2024, the manga has ended long enough to dissect its impact.

Regardless of the fans' thoughts on the conclusion of My Hero Academia, numerous aspects of the series warrant proper discussion. The themes of redemption, the characters' development, and the fact that it always took itself seriously redefined the superhero anime genre.

Disclaimer: The following article will contain spoilers for My Hero Academia, including the conclusion of the series. All opinions are exclusive to the author.

Analyzing My Hero Academia's impact on anime, and the superhero anime genre

The Superhero anime genre before My Hero Academia

Superhero anime pre-MHA (Image via Japan Vistec, Studio Sunrise, Tezuka Productions, TMS entertainment)

Japanese superhero fiction includes long-running series in the tokusatsu genre like Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and Super Sentai. An example of their impact on anime is Super Sentai inspiring mangaka Naoko Takeuchi to create Sailor Moon, Gridman became an anime franchise, alongside other works like Saint Seiya and Go Go Loser Ranger!

The superhero anime genre before My Hero Academia tended to crossover into other genres: there were science fiction heroes like Astro Boy, the titular cyborgs in Cyborg 009, people turning into robots like Ultraman, magical girl heroes like Sailor Moon, wrestling crossed over with superheroes like Ultimate Muscle, the concept of superheroes retiring like Tiger & Bunny and darker, more obscure tales like Zetman.

The point is that superheroes tended to follow certain formulas, even if the contexts were wildly different in various superhero anime: the heroes were altogether good, the villains were evil, and there was a certain over-the-top charm to everything.

My Hero Academia enters the fray

My Hero Academia’s start (Image via Shueisha/Studio Bones)

When My Hero Academia debuted in 2014 in manga form, on screens in 2016, superhero stories were still popular. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was in its glory days, the DC Extended Universe was starting, Into the Spiderverse wouldn't premiere until 2018, One Punch Man until 2015, Mob Psycho 100 in 2016, and The Boys and Invincible wouldn't begin until 2019 and 2021 respectively.

My Hero Academia is a great superhero story in a world where superhero stories came back before the concept of "superhero fatigue" arose. The series rose on the back of being different from the average shonen battle series, starting with Izuku Midoriya.

Although most people come and stay for the overpowered characters, especially if they're funny like Saitama or are epic teachers like Satoru Gojo and All Might, most fans found themselves drawn to Izuku's journey from the outset because Izuku was kind, quiet, and nerdy. These traits set Izuku apart from mainstays like Naruto, Luffy, or Goku.

Defying certain tropes

There's a lot to unpack regarding My Hero Academia's continued success over a decade, including the tropes it redefined. Much like how Dragon Ball Z influenced shonen battle anime and Sword Art Online caused an Isekai boom, so did My Hero Academia redefine what it meant to be in the superhero anime genre and shonen anime.

The Number One Hero spot is an empty accolade in this series, as shown by all the problems being put on a pedestal or aiming for that spot causes with Endeavor and All Might, whereas in others it would be a badge of honor. Bakugo starts as "the next Sasuke Uchiha," as some fans dubbed him, but Bakugo grew as a person in half the time Sasuke took and never turned evil or joined the villains.

The female characters make and leave impacts, especially during the Final Act saga, with characters like Stars and Stripe cutting All for One's plans short. This is especially true for Toga vs. Ochaco, their fight is both a turning point in the war and considered one of the most cathartic storylines alongside Shoto's fight against Dabi and the Todoroki family arc.

My Hero Academia never fell out of favor

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Sometimes a series will be marketed and heralded as the "next big thing," only to fall quickly due to mismanagement of the adaptation as infamously seen in The Promised Neverland or Game of Thrones. Sometimes writers lose the plot in the middle or don't have a cohesive plot, so the story falls apart at the barest scrutiny.

My Hero Academia never had that moment. Though many criticisms popped up over a decade, they did little to stop the manga from reaching well over 100 million copies in circulation by April of 2024, becoming one of the best-selling manga. It was also among the most popular superhero series airing, followed up by X-Men 97 and Invincible.

Multiple delays to the manga had to be taken due to mangaka Kohei Horikoshi's health issues. Horikoshi first stated he would have liked the manga to be finished by the end of 2022. As a result, the series concluded in August 2024. Most fans completely understood, given the massive workload a weekly manga requires and how stresses can end up hospitalizing or killing mangaka.

Super themes

Examples of MHA’s themes (Image via Studio Bones/Shueisha)

My Hero Academia has many themes relating to superheroes that comic book fans and the superhero anime genre can learn from. The main theme is "what makes a hero", a nod to Spider-Man's "with great power, comes great responsibility" adage. It starts with the idea that anyone can be a hero, superpowers or not.

It evolves into the idea that Quirks do not determine what someone becomes, their actions and other factors do. Systemic issues like societal pressure, horrible parental treatment, apathy, and lack of access to mental health resources and proper counseling are issues that cause villainy. To their credit, Class 1-A is shown in the Epilogue arc working towards these changes.

Placing all the world's hopes on one person, as in All Might, or one person taking all of it on themselves, like Deku during the Dark Hero arc, only leads to pain and suffering that requires immense aid to reverse. Egotistical thinking is also discouraged, as it leads to injury, abuse, and failure, even if heroes like Bakugo and Endeavor take a long time to realize it.

Influences and influencing successors

MHA’s influences and anime it influenced (Image via Marvel Enterprises, Marvel Entertainment Group, Toho, Studio MAPPA)

My Hero Academia inspired successors, including Jujutsu Kaisen according to mangaka Gege Akutami. Plenty of influences can and have been taken from My Hero Academia in the decade since it started, much like how Horikoshi took influences from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, X-Men, and kaiju media like Godzilla and Gamera.

One major influence is the plot point of societal collapse following the top hero retiring or being captured. This was seen in Jujutsu Kaisen's Shibuya Incident arc, which showed chaos on a similar scale to My Hero Academia's Paranormal Liberation War and Dark Hero Arcs when Satoru Gojo was captured in the Prison Realm.

My Hero Academia's characters are recognizable and stylized, much like how Western comic companies like Marvel and DC Comics have their heroes. Class 1-A all have unique and iconic outfits, powers, and appearances. There are also various comic book references and allusions scattered throughout the series.

Villain sympathy

My Hero Academia’s sympathetic villains (image via Studio Bones)

While the concept of sympathetic villains is not unique or new to the superhero anime genre or shonen anime, My Hero Academia is notable for having many of its main villains be tragic figures or incredibly sympathetic except for All For One, including several being forced into villainy due to their unique circumstances.

The League of Villains is especially highlighted in this regard, with Toga, Dabi, Shigaraki, Twice, Spinner, and even side characters like Mange all getting sympathetic reasons for their twisted and warped outlooks on life and society. While this doesn't excuse their actions, it makes them realistic and humanized.

Villains not associated with the League like Gentle and La Brava are humanized to show how untrained people trying to help can lead to disaster. Fallen heroes like Lady Nagant and prospective heroes forced into the double agent role like Aoyama are brought in to show how corrupt the Hero Public Safety Commission is with the former and how villains prey on the desperate in the latter.

A different kind of superhero story

Different superhero stories (Image via Kripke Enterprises, Studio Madhouse, Warner Brothers Pictures)

The typical critiques of superhero stories can be found all over media, fan forums, and even in older media like Watchmen or more cynical stories like The Boys. Considering that My Hero Academia premiered when the MCU was at its height, and has ended when people are getting sick of superhero stories, it's worth pointing out how different it is compared to its contemporaries.

The series survived "superhero fatigue" because it knew how to take itself seriously without going overboard and focused on telling a character-driven story. Unlike the cynical worlds of One Punch Man or The Boys, most heroes aren't heroes to satiate their ego or money and aren't all complete jerks.

When the MCU didn't take itself seriously, the DCEU took itself too seriously, and The Boys drifted too close to its comic grit, My Hero Academia endured. It's an antidote to cynical storytelling, and even when the series got dark in the later story arcs it never lost that sense of optimism it held onto since the first episode.

Super finales and fitting Epilogues

Finales to stories like My Hero Academia, Naruto, and others tend to be large and chaotic. Superhero stories often have major crossover events with all the characters in a shared universe coming together, whether it's the Justice League uniting to fight Darkseid or Starro, or the Avengers coming together to fight Thanos.

Some of the larger themes are shown during the Final War saga: fighting alone is less effective than teamwork, friendships and bonds triumph over lone efforts, and no act of kindness or compassion is ever wasted. Almost every character, even ones dismissed as unimportant, returns to help fight against All for One.

While the Final War arc showcases the Avengers: Endgame style war, the Epilogue arc showcases that the hard work needed to fix society is still ongoing even eight years after the war. It's a fitting end, echoing the theme that heroism can come in many forms: whether it's Deku being a teacher to aid and educate the next generation, Ochaco expanding Quirk counseling and mental health to ensure nobody suffers, or Shoji doing anti-discrimination work.

Final Thoughts

MHA's farewell and finale (Image via Shueisha/Kohei Horikoshi)

My Hero Academia made strides in the superhero anime genre by taking a more serious, character-based approach to its subject matter. Most of its predecessors focused heavily on the powers or the black-and-white subject matter, My Hero Academia introduced complexity to its heroes, villains, and world.

The series stands as a testament to the endurance of the superhero genre that fans have enjoyed from beginning to end. Regardless of the criticisms or dissatisfaction with the ending or epilogue, fans can agree that the journey was well worth seeing through to the end.