Hello everyone and welcome back a brand new anime review! Yes I know it’s been a while but I finally got another one out and hopefully I’ll be able to do more in the future. But anyway for this time I will be continuing my series of reviews for the seasons of My Hero Academia, appropriate given that season 5 is currently in play. If you’ve read my reviews of the previous 2 seasons, and the movie, Two Heroes, you know that I am a very big fan of this franchise and I’m very excited to see where it’s going to go next. I thought season 1 was a very strong start to the series, while I found season 2 to be even better as it kept what I liked and improved upon many other aspects as well. As for season 3 well it does continue that hot streak and has a lot of great things about it. Although on the whole I don’t think it was as strong as the other two seasons. So let’s jump back into this world full of heroes and see how things have held up the third time around (spoiler warning)!
Taking place shortly after the events of season 2 and during the summer, this time Class 1.A. are taking a trip to a training camp in order to improve their hero skills and master their quirks some more with Deku in particular looking to continue honing One For All. Yet what starts out as some intense training then turns into a fight for survival as the League of Villains have broken into the camp in order to capture specific people for nefarious purposes. All of this leads to a pivotal fight involving the true mastermind behind it all, All For One, and All Might who can only hold onto his powers for a short amount of time. Can this great evil be stopped once and for all before he brings havoc upon the hero society? That’s not all though as the second half of this season also deals with the heroes trying to get their provisional licensees in a big exam which is mandatory in order to becomes a hero.
As you can tell there is a lot that goes down in this season and most of it is really exciting to watch unfold. The training camp episodes both give us the opportunity to see these characters in a different setting and see how they can handle themselves in a life or death situation when the villains attack. Admittedly they are reminiscent of the villain attack in season, although this time the students have more training under their belt and it’s even more intense than last time with the baddies willing to shed blood to achieve their goal. It all builds up to the long awaited reveal of All For One and the battle he has with All Might and this is where the stakes get high and some huge society altering events occur like the Number 1 hero using the last of his strength to defeat his most powerful enemy. It’s all very exciting and action packed with plenty of hard hitting moments that pack a big emotional punch like when everyone is cheering for All Might in his fight and when he gives Deku a sign that Deku is next to follow in his place. It also sets up some exciting things to come in the future at the same time and I like how we get a bit of a glimpse into how the hero society’s reactions into all this and the huge ramifications of losing the Number 1 hero. Then we get to the provisional license exam and this was unfortunately my least favorite part of the season. Now there is no shortage of things to enjoy as there are some interesting new character dynamics and the action is solid (more on that later), but for the most part plot wise it wasn’t the most investing arc and honestly really dragged at times as it felt longer than it needed to be. Pacing wise I did not find this to be as tight as season 2 and once again there are times where the constant re caps can get a little too much. I know a common complaint is that this series can be pretty slow, and this is unfortunately the case when it comes to the exam. Luckily it’s still is fun to see the quirks in action and once again the comedy that stems from the character interactions are really funny and got some nice laughs out of me and I will admit the concept of seeing how heroes go about getting their license to become well heroes is interesting. So while I enjoyed the first half a good bit more than the second half it the story still does deliver what I’d want from this series which is always a good thing.
Just as always the animators at Bones have done a great job in visually translating the manga into an anime once more. It actually feels like the biggest one with the environments feeling a bit more vast and the size of the action increasing. Speaking of which that is the stand out element here for me as there are some truly epic fight scenes throughout the entire season that not only are visually stunning and creative with some great fighting choreography, but also have stakes which makes them very intense and left rooting for the heroes to win the fight which is very much evident in the attack of the training camp. They even work on an emotional level in that they leave a huge impact on the characters and develop them even more with the two biggest stand outs in that regard being All Might using all of his power fighting All For One and when Deku and Bakugo have their own fighting match near the end of the season. Their exciting to watch and once again the animators have done a great job in showing off the different quirks of each character and coming up with some creative ways to highlight them which was a positive regarding the Provisional License exam. It’s also always neat to see the different designs of the new characters that show up like the different heroes and villains we meet as I love how they just capture the personalities and abilities of them so nicely and each stand out so that not one looks the same. As for the soundtrack, well just like in the previous seasons the music is pretty darn epic and can equal parts rousing, intense, and emotional depending on the moment and it’s just so effective when it hits. Then there are the openings and not gonna lie the first opening set to “Odd Future” by Uverworld may be my favorite of the series thus far as the visuals are cool and foreshadow what will go down and who will appear and the music syncs up with it perfectly and the first ending (set perfectly to “Update” by miwa) is fun as it’s light hearted showing the kids living a normal school life and the addition of character sketches from the show was a neat touch. The second opening set to “Make my Story” by Lenny Code Fiction focusing on the license exam is also cool even if it doesn’t pop quite as much as the first while the ending is also inspiring as it shows just how much Deku has come and the friends he has made and I really love the song, “Long Hope Philia”, by Masaki Suda as it’s uplifting and I like listening to it. It all just goes to show just how made of a show this is and all the hard work bringing the manga to life absolutely shows on the screen.
Like I have mentioned in the previous reviews one huge reason this series works as well as does for me is it’s characters who all manage to stand out in some way shape or form which is impressive considering that it is such a large ensemble. Of course there’s our protagonist, Midoryia (AKA Deku), at the center of it all and it is great seeing his journey progress as he becomes more confident in himself and learns new ways to improve his hero skills. It was also great seeing his relationship with All Might develop and even the Number 1 hero himself gets plenty of moments to shine and what happens when he is no longer the Number 1 hero later in the season and there are plenty of great emotional moments between the two. Same goes for him and Bakugo who also gets more great character beats and I remain impressed at how he has come from being a character I found pretty unlikable at first to a fully fleshed out character with a well established motivation of wanting to become the greatest hero he can become just like Deku and they have come to share a mutual respect with one another with Bakugo wanting Deku to fight him with his all. Adding to that he also finds out that Deku has One For All which added another dynamic to their interactions. As for some of the other fan favorites like Todoroki and Ochako, while they may not get as much to do like in previous seasons their arcs still progress in meaningful ways and I do like how we get to see more of Class 1-A working as a team in different situations this time around and even Class 1b gets their moments to shine during the camp raid. We also get introduced to a number of new characters this time around that do manage to leave some sort of impact one way or another. In the training camp arc there’s this young kid named Kota who is the nephew of one of the Pussicats (a trio of heroes who run the camp and are quite delightful whenever they appear) and while he starts off a bit unlikable with his distaste for heroes once we learn the reasoning he does become a bit more sympathetic, the idea behind his character is interesting, and he does have some great scenes with Deku that further Deku’s arc. Another noteworthy player comes in the exam with Inasa Yoarashi who is a very powerful yet loud, fun energetic character who is also full of high spirits with relatable views regarding heroes (that they should all be kind and not filled with hatred). He works as Todoroki’s foil in this arc and he was one of my favorite parts of that entire arc. Now moving on to the villain side of things this for me is a huge winning point of the season as the baddies get much more to do than before. Shigaraki finally gets a substantial amount to do beyond just being a creepy, threatening, presence watching from the shadows (although he was effective at it) and there certain revelation regarding him that were surprising. Even the other members of the League of Villains get their times to shine in particular, Dabi, with his calm yet creepy nature, Himiko Toga, with her gleefully sadistic personality, and Twice who is probably my favorite as he provides some fun comic relief, yet he also has a deeply tragic backstory that adds a lot more depth to him that I appreciated. Of course the big one of them all is All For One who after a lot of teasing, we finally get to see in action and he works as a very powerful and malicious threat that will do anything to accomplish his goals and he of course despises what All Might stands for. While he still is shrouded in a bit of mystery he does live up to the title as the main big bad of the series and his fight with All Might is just epic to watch unfold. Once again the characters make this show a joy to watch and I am interested to see what is in store for them.
All in all, My Hero Academia Season 3 is another solid outing in this universe that has all of the interesting ideas, emotional beats, fantastic action, great animation, and investing character work that the series is known for. It’s not quite as strong as prior seasons due to some clunky pacing, constant recaps and an entire arc that just wasn’t all that investing aside from a couple of noteworthy points, but I still really enjoyed it nonetheless and it sets up many exciting things that are to come in later seasons. I continue to be invested in this world and story and having also seen Season 4 and the second movie, I look forward to giving my thoughts on those when the time comes.
Rating: B+
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