The fifth season of My Hero Academia is 25 episodes long. It’s based upon the manga of the same name. As is customary, the season starts off with a first episode that eases you in. It reminds you of everyone in Class A of U.A., their quirks, and where they stand with each other. Soon enough, Bakugo’s continued hostile personality still makes you wonder how he managed to stay within the hero course, while Midoriya still somehow idolizes him. At least Bakugo becomes better as the season progresses as he shows that he cares, in his own way.
The first arc then covers an exercise between Class A and their rival Class B. Instead of a short brush over of the matches that you’d expect, it covers each clash between the teams in detail. This ends up spanning almost half the season. On the one hand, this gives some much needed spotlight on Class B and the powers that they have, as they were always out of the limelight thanks to Class A. While on the other hand, you’ll likely end up with at least some fatigue due to watching the same setup multiple times.
There is a further sense of repetition due to the season favoring flashbacks of scenes in previous seasons as a refresher on that character’s development. Or how it constantly reminds you of a character’s powers and name. The anime has always done this but feels more heavy handed than usual this time around. Still, seeing the two classes fight against each other in something with barely any rules or restraint is fun. Characters shows off new moves that they’ve thought up of that utilizes their quirks in imaginative ways. It’s the action that the series is known for, at its absolute best, reducing any need for thinking.
Despite is best efforts though, there are some quirks that are just too weird and unique, such that they will be disadvantaged in a lot of scenarios. It’s best not to think too hard on how some of the quirks work or how it came to be. When you have headphone jacks and machinery body parts, or being able to split up one’s body with the ability to float, then all realism is out the window.
Despite all the fun action, the first half of the season feels like it is one big setup for Midoriya and the reveal of some hidden elements of the One For All quirk. There are still a lot of mysteries but the quirk’s full abilities are starting to open up to him. You can see that once he masters them, he will become significantly overpowered, or at least have the potential to do so, without many drawbacks. But having half a season build up to this moment is somewhat pretentious.
There were some heavier episodes interspersed throughout that depict the current crisis of the rising of villains. These episodes are drier and duller in comparison but they are by no means bad. It lightly touches upon the other elements of being a hero, such one’s public image and how to portray oneself to be likeable to the public, just like someone in the show business. The anime still straddles the line between seriousness and casual, often swapping to a silly scene or gag when you don’t expect it. This takes some getting used to to get back into the groove of things.
The second half of the season is heavier with its theme and much darker. There are several tragic situations involving the supporting characters, revealing a new side to them. Ever since taking over All Might and becoming the No. 1 hero, we see the person behind Endeavor. He is completely different to the person we’ve seen before. It is explained that he is changing and wanting to reconcile with his family. It’s a huge change and difficult to swallow. He is more likeable but the significantly shift in personality makes it weird and off.
The writing in the last few episodes of the season is of a much higher quality. Instead of an excuse for a brawl, it focuses completely on the League of Villains on events that were happening concurrently with the first half of the season. It builds upon what was already revealed about each and every single member, from Togo to Twice to even Spinner. Most importantly, we get the full backstory of Shimura and it is intense. His tragicness, brought on by the nature of quirks within society as a whole, dwarfs everyone else’s tragic stories. In addition, watching through it the first time, you’ll think it’s crazy, violent, dark and overwhelming, and this is what makes it impressive.
As per usual, the season finale is only just the beginning by teasing the next arc. The arc in the second half of the season had a huge scope and something you did not think would be able to be resolved properly in the time remaining. That’s true but it closes it out at a good point, before giving us a breather as the final episode. At the end of it though, you come to reason that with all the jumping about in terms of the timeline, not much time has actually passed in -universe in the 25 episodes but it had still managed to cover so many significant events.
Overall, the fifth season of My Hero Academia was fantastic from start to finish. It had fun battles between characters that we’ve barely seen but were always present. It ends with one of the most serious and darkest arc yet, resulting in an intense second half. At this point, All Might as a hero is all by a small supporting character but seeing him view the students like a father, watching them grow, and accepting his mentor position now, is satisfying.
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