The third season of My Hero Academia, which is based upon the manga, is 25 episodes long. It is set in a world where 80% of the population has superpowers called Quirks. It follows Midoriya (also known as Deku) who has the One For All quirk, giving him super strength. He is currently attending the prestigious U.A. High School in order to become a hero. The first episode is basically a recap, with around half of it being new animation. It is kind of a throwaway episode and disappointing that they wasted one episode's time on it. The second episode onward is fine and it starts with the summer camp arc that was hinted at the end of the second season.
Naturally, you wouldn't expect a summer camp involving all the of the young heroes-to-be to go without a hitch. Even though you know that the League of Villains is coming, it's still surprising and cool when they do appear and escalates things much further than before. Despite how powerful the students are, the villains are all shown to be incredibly adept and can easily take out Todoroki or Deku. If there's one thing that My Hero Academia does well, it's raising its characters to unbelievable heights but then smashing them back down to reality...
Out of the new villains that are introduced, there are a few with awesome designs and crazy enough personalities that you can't help but like them. From Toga and her crazy smile, to Dabi and his zombie-esque look. The series continues to hit with the emotional scenes where Deku, idealistic to a fault, overcomes bad odds to achieve what he wants to be most, a hero. As he is beaten down, he will find a way (which he sometimes pluck from out of nowhere, but forgivable to a degree) to reverse the situation, gain a bit more power, and get out of the situation.
This first arc, due to the different perspectives happening at the same time, will jump around in each episode. It doesn't get too bad but can be jarring the first time it happens. Each episode also spends a few seconds summarizing the events of the last episode. The plot has an interesting under layer where it questions the perceptions of heroes, and thanks to the peace that everyone has had, they have become complacent. The citizens are quick to blame heroes when things go wrong and it makes you question whether it is worth it.
On a more personal scale, Deku has to deal with the strain of having One For All in his body as he is still not used to it yet. He continues to learn how best to use his abilities such that it gives him his own unique style, as well as not putting too much strain on his body. He is often put into situations where he has to face the dilemma of doing the right thing and following the rules, or breaking it to do what he believes it. These are an interesting insight as it'll leave you thinking what you would do in his place, since there are heavy consequences.
On the other hand, we have All Might being the number one hero and practically invincible. He passed on his One For All quirk to Deku and throughout the past two seasons, we have seen his power get weaker and weaker. You know that his final battle will be coming up but just don't know when. Needless to say, it was emotional thanks to All Might's charisma, and we finally learn about his background and what drives him.
The next arc manages to raise the stake in a different direction and while the overall structure is similar to the sports festival from Season 2, it carries the same interesting execution strategy by the characters. It expands the character roster by quite a bit. Yet this is a double edged sword because those characters that you'd love to see again... don't reappear. New characters also mean new quirks and while at first glance, some of them seem lame, they are used in creative ways.
Most, if not all, of Class 1-A now have a proper role and time to shine, allowing you to rethink about your impressions of them. We get hints of what drives each of the characters, and allows you to feel the same adrenaline high when they work together well and succeed. From the overly vain Aoyama to the ever annoying Mineta, the teamwork that the class displays (as well as inventively using their quirks during combat) gives them much needed character development.
This leads to one of the most irrational characters in the series, Bakugo. Bakugo retains the same old personality which can make for some really frustrating scenes where his short temper makes him extremely unreasonable. He is not even a rational person and his behavior is unsavory for a hero. Yet Deku still treats Bakugo as if he is so awesome and the best friend he ever had. You have to give credit to Bakugo though with his dedication in what he believes in and never wavering.
The end of the season wraps it up with massive character development with Bakugo. While it doesn't heal the rift between Bakugo and Deku (and to be honest, it is too deep to ever heal), at least we understand Bakugo more, and their friendship is better for it. One thing you'd notice is that the animators seem more comfortable with the characters with a lot more action sequences. Humor is increased and there are some really funny scenes and gags but at the same time, some of these feel too silly or lighthearted to work in the scenes that they were placed in. When this happens, it makes these jokes feel really random and out of place.
The music in certain scenes emphasizes the feelings that the characters must be experiencing, either from despair or redemption, to hope and success. Some scenes has huge impact as you consider what the implications are, particularly as a huge antagonist, someone teased in the last two seasons, finally takes on a bigger role. Each episode ends with you wanting to find out what is going to happen next. The fact that the pacing manages to keep going strong is impressive.
However, while there are a bunch of positives, there are some negatives. Most of the season devolves into some really cliched scenes and subplots, which taint the show a bit considering that it can feel lazy and predictable. This is doubly so when there are some extremely melodramatic scenes that feels over the top. There is a filler right in the middle of an arc, which was surprising and annoying. More so when the previous episode ended on a pretty big cliffhanger. The filler is connected to the movie and it wasn't bad filler, just really out of place and in an awkward spot in the season.
Since a major arc ends a few episodes before the end of the season, you know that the final episodes will be more relaxing and be a setup for the next season. This is true with it introducing new characters and just like the end of the previous season, gives a short spiel about the upcoming arc.
Overall, the pacing of the third season of My Hero Academia allows you to feel like it has achieved a lot. Going through two major arcs as well as some subplots, it was an exciting ride. While it feels like the tone got a tiny bit lighter with numerous gags, the second half bought back a lot of the intense action. It's also good that the characters, especially Bakugo, end up having at least some of their grudges resolved, allowing you to be eager at what's next without being tied down with the same tired personality quirks. My Hero Academia undoubtedly got better, which is quite an achievement considering how good the previous two seasons were.
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