MY HERO ACADEMIA, THE THREE SEASON RULE AND HOW FANDOM CAN SHAPE EXPECTATIONS

Hello and hello! Hopefully everyone is healthy and content. A heads up is due here, I don’t know where I’ll be going with this short post. Just some random thoughts that were going around in my head while I was watching My Hero Academia.

I’m sure the readers of my blog already have an idea of what My Hero Academia is about, but for the sake of others, here’s the official summary from Viz:

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested extraordinary superpowers called “Quirks” at age four? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Becoming a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? U.A. High’s Hero Program of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless? Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all gives him a chance to change his destiny…

Viz Media

My experience with My Hero Academia went like this: when it was first started being serialized, I checked out two episodes and I wasn’t interested in it so I dropped it. I’ve never been a fan of the superhero subculture anyways but to tell you the truth, I loved Todoroki’s character design. That was what sparked my initial interest in the series, and I thought to myself, I need to get to know him. But MHA didn’t stick. Later on, two of my mutuals from a different Twitter account were having an exciting conversation over MHA and how good it was, and sort of tried to convince me to give it another chance. Who am I to say no!

I kept up until mid-second season, but it still wasn’t interesting, and that was my second goodbye. I still loved Todoroki but didn’t feel guilty about dropping it. Fast forward to last month, when we got the latest movie hitting our theaters. A friend of mine asked if I’d want to go to the movies with him, so I said “If you give me the 6-minute-MHA-for-dummies briefing, why not!”. You can see I’m easily convinced. But for some reason, it didn’t sit well with me so I decided to binge as much as I can, in 2x speed. And after completing 3 seasons, I finally started to genuinely care about these characters. I even started buying the manga.

3 episode rule became more like a 3 season rule, but one way or another I enjoyed MHA and in the end, that’s all that matters. Plus, getting into a widely popular series with a huge fandom is always an interesting experience. “Shipping BakuDeku is enabling abuse in real life,” verdict given by the anti-shippers? I witnessed that. Fandom having this series’ translator close their Twitter account by threatening them because according to their fansub-taught Japanese the translation “sucked”? I witnessed that. Raging Endeavor hate? Yep. I wasn’t keeping up with the series, but I witnessed stuff like this (and many more) from the sides.

I say it’s interesting because, with a series THIS popular, there’s no way of going into MHA blank. I’m sure we know how even something as simple as a series being widely loved or hyped can evoke starkly different impressions where some people think the series should be good or at least is doing something right, while for others it’s an immediate sign of mediocrity before even laying their eyes on the first episode.

For example, with all the hate he got, I expected Endeavor to be this vile, disgusting monster of a father but he turned out to be the run-of-the-mill overachiever who expects his son to fulfill his shoes. Not to take the emotional abuse he’s made Todoroki go through lightly, it’s just that I expected something outrageous judging from the reactions. Or I have seen its male cast being talked about in most cases, and that gave me the impression that the rest of the cast were really extras that I wouldn’t remember or connect with much. However, almost all of my favorites are from the supporting cast. Look at them. 

Now for me, they all are a bunch of good kids who try their best and I love them. Sure, I’m not looking forward to knowing where things will be going too eagerly and it’s become one of my casual watches, but I’m still glad I went through all the trouble. Wait a minute, I AM looking forward to 3 things: those recent cool suits Deku, Bakugou and Todoroki are wearing (because in the end, I couldn’t see the movie in theaters and I’m waiting for Crunchyroll to pick it up), meeting Hawks because he looks cute, and of course, meeting Lady Nagant. Me wanting to meet her is most definitely, 200%, totally for scientific purposes.

What were your thoughts on My Hero Academia? Were you able to easily make your way into the story? Or had trouble like me and coerced yourself into liking it? I’m exaggerating, of course; I don’t have trouble dropping series and wouldn’t force myself to act like I love something when I didn’t since I don’t have any obligation to appeal to anyone with my blog. But knowing I drop series rather easily, I also try to be generous in giving them a second (or third, or fourth) chance. Though given that there’s an abundance of series I’d like to read or watch but I have limited time at my hands (and money, in some cases), it’s not always possible to be this generous. Let me know what you think in the comments if you feel like there’s something you’d want to contribute, otherwise, see you tomorrow with my Friday BL!

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