My Hero Academia sure goes down easy this season, but recently I've been heavily processing what tournament arcs really mean to shounen series. On one hand
MHA feels like it takes a more modernized approach to staples of the genre, but when I reflect on the what I'm taking in it almost feels like I'm watching the death of shounen action in real time. It's important to understand and interpret what tournament arcs have been utilized for in the past. Typically speaking we see a focus on documenting character growth, match-ups that give context for the abilities of the cast against one another while giving the sidecast an opportunity to showcase their talents under a shared spotlight, and for characters to be tested and placed in a situation where they have to overcome odds.
I'm hesitant to say that there is a specific way to do things, but it sure feels like
MHA ignores most of these concepts while also abandoning the structure that shounen fights tend to adhere to. When it comes to fight scenes of the genre you tend to get a rough sketch of a character that fills out more as the match progresses, but I really don't get the same sense of operation order here. It is exceedingly uncommon for characters to utilize their abilities in unexpected ways in
Academia, and because they tend to have known quantity single quirks the base of shounen action is completely absent: surprise. Sometimes fighters will pull something unexpected out of their back pocket, other times they'll creatively utilize their powers to overcome a situation that otherwise seems insurmountable.
MHA regularly feels like it just devolves into simplistic brute force usage of its powers, and often hides its biggest clashes behind giant explosions as contestants meet one another. This caveman brain approach to action is further undermined by most of these power struggles having a single swing point that decides the match in one blow.
From a storytelling perspective I also just find
Academia's tournament arc to be highly questionable. How much was really gained from this entire experience? What kind of change do we see in the main cast? Midoriya takes such a heavy backseat here, and development for Bakugou, Iida, and Uraraka also just feels...very limited. None of these fights really challenge these characters in a way that pushes them to grow. We get tons on Todoroki, but we still don't see that stuff pushed into a new place after twelve episodes. The story of these characters is not really the only stagnant piece here either, their abilities really see almost no development over the course of the tournament. I'm just questioning how much we really got out of this entire arc.
The powers of the lesser characters feels extraordinarily downplayed as well. All Might has a line about anyone being able to have one the tournament this week but it feels so hollow. Even with a variety of events that should offer an opportunity for certain characters to display skills other than direct combat the same characters are positioned above all others across the entire event. This is so disastrous that a character with super speed can't even really shine during a race event. For all the unique powers jammed in to this show we wind up in a place where ice is the most powerful element in the universe that seems to overcome all else.
Looking more broadly the simplicity of this tournament arc is also just...kind of embarrassing. Other shounen shows like Naruto pile in alternate storylines that dramatically impact the flow of events. The Chunin Exams aren't just about pitting the characters against one another or testing the cast, Ororchimaru has infiltrated the event to try and get closer to Sasuke, while other villages like the Sand prepare to attack the Leaf Village. There are interests, storylines, and concerns here that stretch far and change the scope of the story. By contrast
MHA has every major character simply aiming to become a stronger hero with no real concern outside of the tournament other than the brief teaser with Iida's brother to set up the next set of events. Even just the way the tournament plays out feels like it takes the easiest way out. In other tournament arcs you see events bleed into one another. Events take their toll on characters and that bleeds into other fights, whether it's Kuwabara standing up for his team as the last contestant in the Dark Tournament while he can barely keep himself up from bodily damage, or Sasuke toughing out the preliminaries after the perilous journey through the Forest of Death that left a seal limiting his abilities.
MHA just has no momentum that carries through this arc.
And that is still not really speaking on how lacking
Academia is from a visual perspective. That background work is hideously simplistic and horrendously colored, and even the fights feel lacking in personality, movement that spikes the clashes, and general framing. Blows don't flow into each other and the storyboarding takes easy ways out in the same way the story does by simplifying the action. Even when someone like Yutapon contributes it's hard to feel like he is really contributing to the look and feel of the show overall. There is nothing even remotely close to the effort put in by someone like Norio Matsumoto on
Naruto, who has such a
tremendous impact on the
look and feel of the action on the show that it almost seems to influence the way the original creator does work on the manga. Academia just feels so...aimless and pedestrian to me. The entire cast wants to be the best and do their best, but it sure doesn't feel like the people working on the property are putting in their all or stretching themselves.
