Wyn Talks Anime:

My Hero Academia S1 review: What’s in a Season 1?

 

When it comes to setting up a good story, particularly in television form, the importance of making a proper introduction cannot be understated, yet for so many shows, many of which would go on to be brilliant, we all too often hear the refrain of “Just get through the first season- it gets better.” Common shows that get this rap include Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Avatar: The Last Airbender, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood, And The Dragon Prince. We have become so desensitized to somewhat mediocre opening seasons in pop culture (particularly in anime, and animated shows), that it is always a truly astounding feat whenever an excellent season 1 comes along. The anime adaptation of the popular manga My Hero Academia comes to mind as an example.

Now, I can claim all I want about MHA S1, but I think it would be wise to set some parameters as to what a good first season should be, at least in my humble opinion. There are a few primary elements that I believe constitutes what a first season is: Exposition: an introduction to the characters and the world of your show; Conflict: the primary motivator to drive the plot forward; Characters: characters should be allowed to grow within the confines of your season, and focus on more than just your leading man and leading lady; and of course, Conclusion: The season should conclude in a satisfactory manner, but still leave room for future seasons of conflict and character growth. Now let’s take a look at a season 1 for a well regarded show, and see whether it stacks up in going beyond the expectations.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is well regarded in the anime community as being one of the best anime of all time, not a single episode of its 5 seasons is filler, and includes many complex characters, lovable heroes, and intimidating villains. But let’s ignore all that for a moment and look at season 1 specifically. Season 1 of FMAB does particularly well in terms of exposition, but mostly in terms of a few key ideas in the world, and the motivations of our protagonists, the Elric Brothers. This is actually quite justifiable, as many of the things that are left unexplained in the first season are important plot elements vital to the mystery the show is cultivating. However, the show doesn’t give itself nearly enough time to do this development, thrusting the viewers head first into the major moral dilemmas of the show after only 2 episodes of introduction. While not necessarily a bad thing, it can be jarring to be treated like these characters should already be familiar to the viewer, and that we can jump right into the thick of it. As with many lackluster things in first seasons everywhere, this does have an explanation: There had been one prior adaptation of Fullmetal, which covered the first season fairly faithfully to the plot of the manga, but then diverged once they ran out of material to adapt. Despite this however, I don’t believe it can be justifiable to assume knowledge of anything prior. Case in Point: Voltron: Legendary Defender, the 2016 reboot of the classic 80’s cartoon does not assume that the audience is at all familiar with the concept of Voltron, nor with any of the protagonists, and does a lot better for it. Because of this assumption, Season 1 of Brotherhood has pacing issues all over the place. The primary villains are barely seen throughout the entirety of this season, and it brushes past things that should have taken time to explain. Unfortunately, while incredible, Brotherhood’s season 1 cannot be seen apart from the larger whole, and fails as an individual season. (Note: in my mind this is not necessarily a bad thing, for example, I might say that certain volumes of the Wheel of Time book series failed as individual novels, but are excellent parts of the larger story being told.)

Now let’s take a look at My Hero Academia, Season 1.The first 4 episodes of 13 total are spent introducing the world, the characters, and fleshing out our main protagonist’s goal. At episode 5, around the halfway point of the season, we start transitioning into the conflict, and the trials our hero will have to overcome to grow. This to me, represents about the perfect amount of exposition you can have. There’s enough of it to settle into the world, but not so much that it detracts from the pacing. Yet the characters are still being developed all throughout, and the show takes the time to give the side characters, and even an antagonistic character, mountains of growth and development. MHA tackles the challenge of balancing character introspection vs. the forward momentum the plot requires to keep itself progressing with flying colors. Not to mention the final 4 episodes comprising a hair-raising finale, a conflict which easily can be built upon in future seasons, yet remaining satisfactorily conclusive to boot.

It is often said that true greatness comes from humble beginnings, and I’d say that’s true, just take a look at Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Both shows rose out of the level of simply ‘fine’ to become 2 of the greatest and most respected Western Animated shows of their era. Yet while humble beginnings can lead to greatness, it is undeniable that My Hero Academia hit the ground running, with a world established early, characters being given a real chance to grow, and the beginnings of a greater story. All of this wrapped in a nice little 13 episodes, that we call, My Hero Academia: Season 1. So, in conclusion, if you haven’t yet given MHA a try, whether you be entirely inexperienced in anime, or whether you’re a veteran weeb (a term I say endearingly), I cannot recommend  this show enough. Plus Ultra!