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(This is the sixth and final part of a series of video and written reviews called The Decline of My Hero Academy. If you haven't been reading through them and only want a review of Heroes Rising, stop before you get to the section that says "Decline of My Hero Academy Conclusion".)

Heroes Rising blew my mind because it’s kind of the opposite of the first movie. Whereas Two Heroes looked horrendous and like they threw most of it together in a month, movie 2 looks…good. Especially compared to the rest of the series. Where Two Heroes somehow looked worse than the series, Heroes Rising looks ... infinitely superior to the series. The entire time I was watching it, the dominant thought I had was “holy fuck why does this look so good?” (I would provide screenshots here like I did for the AL review, but MAL doesn't allow image embeds. Sorry.)

Story

As far as the story goes, it’s…okay. It’s mostly just the students running errands on this island until the villain attacks, and then the rest of it focuses on…stopping the villain.

But there are a couple of moments in the movie that caught me off guard. Like the villain just beating the shit out of Deku and Bakugo. That’s a really good way to establish a villain. Just have him beat the shit out of characters that usually have plot armor. And the blood! YES! This is especially great considering all the class A students were written out of the moment where the villains take over in the first movie.

Also, Shigaraki kills Nine, the antagonist of this movie. Truth be told, I was hoping they would do it when Nine lost. And…the crazy bastards actually did it. Kind of stunned they didn’t pussy out and have him arrested like the series would usually do.

Bad Stuff

Don’t get me wrong though. There are things I don’t like.

The villain starts off promising. His power and backstory are somewhat interesting. But when it comes to his ideology, he ultimately just ends up being another “I’m going to make a world for the powerful and strong” type. Disinteresting and recycled.

And while the ending is really cool, seeing Bakugo run around with One for All and everything. I really wish they didn’t bother with all the non-canon course correcting at the end. This is a battle shounen movie. Everyone knows that what happens in them never affects the main story. So don’t worry about making sure there aren’t any plot holes for the next season. No one cares!

Conclusion

Overall though, Heroes Rising is (if you choose to look at a movie’s production as an indicator of quality for an upcoming tv series) a glimmer of hope. It at least points to Studio Bones proving they can still put together a solid production if they need to, which is something I just didn’t believe anymore after how disastrous seasons 3 and 4 were visually.


Decline of My Hero Academy Conclusion

I think I've pretty well established how and why the My Hero Academy anime declines as it goes along. Also I basically already did the conclusion earlier, so I'll use the conclusion to clarify a few things that might get misconstrued:

1. Some of you might be asking, why did you make all these videos and reviews on a series you don't like? Well, that's the thing. My Hero Academy isn't inherently bad. After all, it started off well. But its potential is being wasted by 2 entities, and I think it's very easy to fix (most of) the problems that are plaguing it. You might have noticed after a lot of the issues I brought up, I also gave solutions to them at the end of those sections. That's because I believe My Hero Academy is salvageable, even after 2 full seasons of crap.

I would never throw hundreds of hours of my life away making a review like this about something like Fairy Tail because I don't think it has any real value. All I would say is "its really bad and don't watch it". You can't fix something that is broken on paper, that doesn't even have a solid blueprint for a good show. But My Hero Academy isn't like that. It could be good, if its issues were ironed out. And I think that alone is reason enough to make these reviews.

2. It was not my intention to use the Hunter x Hunter, FMA, and Naruto comparisons to do the whole "lol other show better" thing. That's dumb, and I think it would be disrespectful to both Kishimoto and Horikoshi.

It was also not my intention when comparing to say the show should always do what Naruto or Hunter x Hunter did. That isn't really fixing My Hero Academy, its changing it into something I like more. And to be honest, I don't really want every new shounen to be like those shows. They should strive to carve out their own identity. But if you're going to utilize the same tropes, I think it's more than fair to illustrate how My Hero Academy doesn't use them as effectively, and why that is.

3. I don't hate Horikoshi and I don't hate My Hero Academy. I liked the potential it had, and am frustrated with Horikoshi for wasting it with lazy writing. He's clearly a very talented illustrator, which is all the more reason to be frustrated with Bones for making his show look like ass.

And it's always possible some of the things I attributed to Horikoshi could actually be the result of an editor, or JUMP, or something. You never know. I'm happy for him that his manga is super successful and I'm sure he's a nice guy. He just happens to have written a popular manga that he's pissing away the potential of.

I'd like to end things on that note, because that's probably the most important thing I want to express here. My criticism of MHA comes from a love of the battle shounen genre. And that love makes it very hard for me to watch Horikoshi continue to spin gold into bronze.

(This is the fourth part of a series of video and written reviews called The Decline of My Hero Academy. Season 3 and Two Heroes are exclusive to Anilist for various reasons. @Bubblesssssss)

Season 4...Season 4 is where it finally sinks in, what My Hero Academy is. It's bad. The potential of seasons 1 and 2 added up to nothing. I talked a lot of shit about season 3, but at least I can say some of it is decent. Every episode of season 4 is bad except for 2. And any hope I still had left for the series was squashed up front with the ... Overhaul arc. It's a frustrating situation, but at this point there's nothing left to do but cut it open and take a look at why it died.

Early Episodes

Season 4 honestly doesn't start off that bad. Definitely better than season 3.

The first episode is filler, and nowhere near as bad as the 2 filler episodes from previous seasons. Mostly it’s just this reporter guy trying to figure out who inherited One for All. But there’s one thing they do that bugs me. It’s this line from the reporter:

“Anyone who didn’t like All Might in my generation was bogus”

This is something that’s been annoying me since Stain, where the way it approaches heroes changes depending on who its coming from. If you’re a hero or citizen, its super great! It’s so great in fact, that when someone says they don’t like heroes, they are shamed or need to be corrected, like here and when Kota says he doesn’t like them in season 3.

On the other hand; if you’re a villain, heroes aren’t perfect. They have flaws and their society leaves people behind, who in turn become villains. These 2 approaches clash. This ties back to the Stain problem, where Stain has these criticisms of society that barely exist because Horikoshi can't seem to decide if heroes are super great and all the criticism of UA and heroes is unfair, or if hero society is actually flawed. Mostly he just has villains say hero society is bad, but then goes into no further explanation as to why it is or even to prove that these bad things exist. He says one thing, but when it comes to actually showing it, putting it into action. Aka the important part. He doesn't follow through.

"A hero's job is to turn the lip service into reality" -Deku, Episode 42

The other big scene before Overhaul is Kirishima’s…thing. I do have a problem with this subplot, but it'd be easier to address it later when its more relevant.

Overhaul

Which leads us to Overhaul. The Overhaul arc is bad, but in strangely new ways. Rather than it failing due to the usual suspects like the villain being poorly written or no one ever dying; the Overhaul arc suffers from new problems like lazy storytelling methods and poor production quality.

Here’s a recap:

This arc stars the new villain Chisaki (aka Overhaul), leader of the Shie Hassaikai. They are yakuza. Shigaraki wants to take over the Shie Hassaikai. He meets with Overhaul, a fight breaks out, Overhaul kills Mag, Shigaraki kills one of Overhaul's goons, and Compress loses an arm. Deku goes to join Nighteye's agency for a work study. Deku does a thing and Nighteye accepts him for the work study. During the work study Deku and Mirio run into Overhaul, who is escorting a young girl around named Eri. Deku thinks Overhaul is suspicious, but Mirio intervenes and they go their separate ways. Because of a truck accident, Nighteye is suspicious of Shie Hassaikai. Nighteye and other pro heroes are planning a raid, and plan to involve some of the students. They tell the students they choose about Eri, Overhaul's quirk-erasing drug, and their plan. The raid begins at 8am the next day.

The rest of the arc is a bit harder to quickly summarize due to how much shit happens, but: Kirishima and Suneater have their big character moments, and Mirio and Deku end up going after Overhaul. Mirio's quirk gets erased, Overhaul fuses with one of his goons, Deku fights Overhaul at the climax of the arc. Eri's quirk is revealed (Rewind) and undoes Overhaul's fusion. Nighteye is fatally injured, Deku takes Overhaul out. Overhaul is escorted to the villain hospital, but the League of Villains attack the vehicle. They overpower the escort and bring out Overhaul. Shigaraki destroys his hands so Overhaul can't use his quirk anymore, and the League of Villains fuck off. Later in the hospital, Nighteye passes away due to his wounds.

There's so much wrong with this arc that we're just gonna go from plot point to plot point to get it all.

Shigaraki vs Overhaul

This scene isn't bad. It furthers the idea that Shigaraki is ignorant of his place and in over his head (whether or not this is intentional or not is up for debate), which earns some roasting from Overhaul. Neat to see both Shigaraki and Overhaul kill someone. I like this for Overhaul more because like I said before, a villain killing someone in their first big appearance makes them intimidating going forward and lets the audience know that this guy is a threat to kill our heroes if they aren't careful. Also, I love how visceral Mag's death is. It’s a nice contrast to how the series usually avoids death altogether.

Nighteye Tests Deku

I don't really like this scene and I think Nighteye accepting Deku because he didn't step on a rare All Might poster is corny, but whatever. Nighteye hammering the stamp is hilarious though. I love the energy.

Deku and Mirio Run Into Overhaul/The Eri Problem

Now's as good a time as any to talk about Overhaul in general. To be honest, I think Overhaul is probably the best villain the series has had on paper. He's somewhat intimidating due to the vocal performance of Kenjiro Tsuda and the fact that he's the only villain we've seen kill someone so far.

His plan is coherent and so are his motivations: he wants to erase everyone's quirks to restore the age of the Yakuza, when his group was at its most powerful. Why? Because quirks and the changes that were brought with them to society has made Shie Hassaikai into something of an endangered species. What does he do to achieve this goal? He develops a quirk-erasing drug using Eri. Makes sense!

As trivial as it sounds to even mention these things, these are things that the series has somehow managed to get wrong over and over. Shigaraki's motivations and goals are often nebulous, poorly thought out, and childishly unambitious. Stain's actions and motivation make sense but not for the way MHA's world is written. All for One is inherently mysterious because that's just how his character is written. And we're gonna have a field day with how fucking confusing Gentle Criminal is. But everything seems to come together for Overhaul.

The problem comes with how Horikoshi uses him.

Given Stain and some goons from this arc we'll get to in a little bit, it seems pretty clear that Horikoshi is trying to write villains that represent flaws in society. At least sometimes. Shigaraki is an immature idiot that doesn't believe in anything, and One for All appears to be just a really powerful mustache twirler. Horikoshi isn't exactly consistent in the way he writes villains.

Anyways, Overhaul falls into the mustache twirler category. You definitely understand his motivation, but Horikoshi goes way off the deep end trying to make the audience hate him.

I hate pretty much everything involving Eri. And before you say "wow, you hate an innocent little girl? you're awful", that right there is exactly my problem. The show manipulates the viewer emotionally using Eri. This is the most innocent-looking, Disney eyes-having, cute as can be girl you can possibly imagine. And its revealed Overhaul is abusing her. It’s just...so cartoonishly black and white I can't take it seriously. They make Overhaul so hilariously, ridiculously evil, that he's basically a Saturday morning cartoon villain.

And it’s not like the way the show treats it from the heroes' perspective is any different. They go on and on about how Overhaul is this demon using his daughter's body to make a weapon. Like, we get it. You want us to hate the villain. This is overkill.

This is from the wiki:
"Eri became a fearful and secluded girl, without anyone showing affection to her in her life. Apparently, Izuku Midoriya's touch was the first time she ever felt kindness, which overwhelmed her. When murderous intents are directed at her, she does not scream, nor cry and simply remains silent, because she knows she has no choice but to accept whatever is happening to her.

Eri is, however, willing to let herself go with Kai in order to protect those that help her. She feels guilt over other people being hurt in order to rescue her.

Unfortunately, after her rescue, Eri still psychologically suffered from Kai's influence, as she was unable to smile and had no experience of being happy."

That is beyond overkill. This is like when shows or movies try to get you hate someone by kicking puppies or taking candy from babies just because they can. Just something so universally loathsome that it’s impossible to even think about liking them. It’s really hard for me to take writing that emotionally manipulative and black and white seriously, and as such I really didn't care about Eri or Deku and Mirio's drive to rescue her or all that nonsense during the planning meeting.

Overhaul's Design

So. One thing My Hero Academy's villains have a tendency to do is mostly make sense, but then they say or do one thing that confuses the way they're written for no reason.

With Stain, it was the money and fame worshipping thing when neither problem is systemic in My Hero Academy's world. With Gentle Criminal, he says that the problem with heroes is them being unprepared because they're cowardly. Even though he could easily just say "heroes are being careless' alone and that would make sense. Plus, the cowardly heroes part has nothing to do with his backstory or ideology, as well as being confusing and not elaborated upon. With Overhaul it's that bit from episode 67 about him using his quirk to heal the illnesses of those random criminals.

I don't get the healing their diseases and illnesses thing. It explains how his quirk works, but it's confusing since the action doesn't align with how the character is written overall. He has a pretty notorious disregard for human life and the Eri thing frames him as a mustache twirler, so using his quirk to heal random people feels out of character considering. Plus, they never properly elaborate on the sickness he's talking about. He uses his quirk to heal the illnesses of criminals committing a crime. He also says Mirio has the 'hero illness'. I don't really see what connects the 2. It feels more like how SCP-049 describes the illness he believes only he can cure. Except in that case at least it's supposed to be vague.

The other problem is his design. Overhaul's design consists of 3 different ideas for a character, none of which are properly realized due to having to coexist with the other 2. You have the crow imagery, the mysophobia thing, and the Yakuza thing. The least pronounced of the 3 is the Yakuza stuff, I'm guessing mostly because the crow stuff supplants it when he puts his boss into a coma. Here's the thing about that, though. He doesn't stick out as much among the other villains after you do that.

And I know what you're about to say: "how can you say that? He has a big plague doctor mask on his face". Okay, but the show's primary antagonist's design is detached hands all over his face.

One of the reasons All for One sticks out for example, is the tuxedo. Same for Gentle Criminal. He has a dapper look that makes him clearly stand apart from the show's other villains. Which is important because of the way those 2 are divergent from the rest of the show's villains. But with Overhaul, the jacket and mask together just make him look like any loser in the League of Villains.

Now, there are definitely merits to his design. Specifically, the mask. First, the mysophobia plays its way into him wearing it, but also the surgical gloves. Second, wearing something as archaic as a plague doctor mask is an interesting commentary on Overhaul and his group being an anachronism in modern society. And third, the plague doctors historically were delusional weirdos who thought they could heal people of a disease they believed only they properly understood, even though they rarely actually healed people. That seeems pretty fitting given the 'hero illness' thing. Overall, I like the mask. The jacket is what I don't like.

The show doesn't fully commit to one idea for his transformation. The plague doctor imagery has to split time with the crow imagery, which in turn results in a mess of a design. I think it'd be better off just committing to the plague doctor imagery for the reasons I described earlier.

So, here's how I think you fix him:

Cut that bit about him curing those villains. Downplay Eri. Cut the crow imagery, as 1 it's heavily associated with Eri and the Eri stuff sucks. And 2, its influence on his design makes him less distinguishable from the show's other villains. That means ditching the jacket, but you can keep the facemask. Commit fully to the plague doctor look. And elaborate more about what the sickness is he keeps talking about is.

There you go, now he works. The reason I went through all that effort to try and clean up his character rather than just dismissing him like Shigaraki is because I think Overhaul is My Hero Academy's best villain by virtue of being the closest to being done well. Unlike Stain and One for All, whose problems are tied to massive systemic problems with the show's writing and world-building I'm not even sure you can fix anymore, Overhaul's issues are small and isolated. He even kills people! I certainly like that. He just needs to be cleaned up a bit.

The Raid Begins

Then we have the raid itself. The raid starts off pretty dumb, with the police and heroes standing outside Shie Hassaikai in broad daylight. What happened to being glad Deku and Mirio didn't go after Overhaul earlier because it would've tipped off Overhaul, and given him and Shie Hassaikai a chance to flee?

Apparently the reasoning is they want to read the police warrant, which lol. I think is dumb because there's no real need to enforce the idea that the heroes value doing things properly. This would imply that there are consequences when they don't, which as we went over earlier is not the case for pro heroes or the students of UA. You can do whatever the hell you want and plot armor will protect you. So why start enforcing it now?

Once the raid starts, it becomes a bit harder to track everything. People get split up, multiple fights and events are happening simultaneously, it’s a mess. So let’s just tackle each problem area as it comes along.

Diminished Visuals II

Episodes 71-74 are where My Hero Academy dies. They are so bad, so dull, and so ugly that I gave up on the series when it was airing and just dropped the show after the Mirio slideshow. Because that's the point where it becomes clear. The way it is now, it will never return to the level of quality we got in the sports festival.

And one of the biggest reasons these episodes are so bad is the way they look. The point in time when Bones actually put effort into making the visuals engaging is long gone. This arc is low energy and looks like corners were cut all over the place. Granted, there are some decent cuts here and there (really just the Nakamura cut from the end of the Overhaul vs Deku fight if we’re being honest).

But mostly, it looks like piss. The best way to illustrate why this is so deflating would probably be the wiggly hallway scene from episode 71.

To me, this is My Hero Academy at its lowest visually. This scene is a big part of why I don't think this arc works. (This section works better in the video and AL. Kinda hard to talk about a visual medium when I can’t use embeds of any kind, MAL!)

1, the background is shit. Yeah, nice gray tube.
2, the character animation is pathetic. They just wobble back and forth in a loop.
3, it just lacks energy. This may be a brief shot but it bugs me so much because it’s so lazy and flat that it ruins any possibility of the viewer being engaged by the visuals.

Also if you think this looks fine, watch the hallway melting scene from Paprika. It's the same thing, except done well.

This isn’t the only time they do this either. They do it later in episode 73, and that episode also has the sequence of the cops chasing Overhaul. What’s with the casual pace? Overhaul is getting away and they don’t know where he is. Why aren’t they running?

There’s just no energy. This sort of lazy presentation is crippling to the Overhaul arc, as tons of scenes fall flat due to either how bad they look, or how poorly they’re presented.

Flashback Storytelling

During the early parts of the raid, we have the big fights for Kirishima and Suneater. And I know that everyone likes Suneater's big moment and Kirishima finally getting a little arc, but I'm sorry. They're both bad. Well, okay. Kirishima's on paper is okay. It’s just executed poorly.

Kirishima and Suneater’s big moments fall victim of a growing problem with Horikoshi's writing that reared its head a few times in season 3, and like the other problems with the writing, has spiraled completely out of control.
That problem being, flashback storytelling.

If you've watched a few of or are even just familiar with the battle shounen genre, you've probably heard of the "power of friendship" meme. Aka the end of an arc where the main character is struggling, the show does a flashback, and the main character finds the strength (often its friendship) to defeat the villain.

The reason I dislike this sort of thing is that since you’re inserting a backstory we haven’t seen before or from when the characters are children before the show start, you can basically just make up whatever you want. Requires no planning of any kind on the author’s part. You can just make something up and that’s how the hero wins the fight. It just feels cheap and lazy.

BUT. If you think I'm about to complain about the simple fact that MHA does this, don't worry, I'm not. There's a reason battle shounen manga writers use this trope over and over again. It’s surprising, the flashbacks builds tension by basically edging the viewer at the climax of a fight, it ties into the theme of "you have the strength to overcome this within you already, you simply need to find it" which is important because of the demographic they're made for. I get it. I don't like it but it comes with the territory and its part of the experience. I think it’s okay to have these moments every now and then. Like any other storytelling method though, the problem comes when you abuse it. And battle shounens have a major tendency to abuse flashbacks this way.

Shipudden is a good example of that line being crossed, where it’s just padding the runtime episode after episode with lengthy flashbacks of entire scenes we've seen already. And then you have Fairy Tail, which uses the “power of friendship” flashback storytelling thing in every arc, over and over again. And Bleach uses the flashback powerup thing constantly. It’s using flashbacks a means of primary storytelling, and I don't care for that. I think you should build your narrative in a way that places all the pieces you need for a scene, in that scene. Plan ahead.

Anyways, in the context of battle shounens, I think flashbacks are bad when: you use them too much, they're excessive in length, or you try to use them to develop a character the audience doesn't care about at the last second.

In this arc, MHA does all three. First, Kirishima.

Kirishima

Now, Kirishima’s arc isn’t nearly as bad as Suneater’s. There are things I like. For example, him being inspired by Crimson Riot to become a hero. I like this, as Kirishima is one of the few heroes that isn’t inspired by All Might.

And, we at least already know enough about Kirishima to care. But it just isn’t done well. One, the show pauses for 8 god damn minutes of flashbacks. That is ridiculous. You are stopping an exciting fight so you can show us things that happened years ago.

In this instance, it’s the sheer length of these flashbacks. Kirishima gets his arm injured, 8 minutes of flashbacks, the power of flashbacks gives me the strength to fight again. That is bad writing but as I said earlier, it’s part of the battle shounen experience. Fine. Whatever. I'm not seriously going to complain that a battle shounen characters wins with the power of friendship/flashbacks. I can, however, criticize the show for using it repeatedly within the same arc, to the point where it feels like Horikoshi is doing it because he’s too lazy to actually plan anything out.

Suneater

And then we get to Suneater.

Suneater's arc is bad because its rushed as shit. It is hinted at when he's introduced as a character at the end of season 3, is introduced in more detail at the start of season 4, and then resolved midway through season 4. That is way, way too quick, especially for a character we've just been introduced to.

We as an audience haven't been given enough time to get to know Suneater yet. I barely know this guy. And now it’s time to payoff his arc? At least Kirishima has been around, so when they start shoving in his mini-arc, I'm like "alright, I think the show has earned an arc for him after keeping him involved in the story this long". With Suneater, I really don’t care. I might care if his characterization was done well, but it isn’t!

In this instance, Horikoshi tries to write too much of Suneater’s character through flashbacks during his big character moment. This goes back to what I said earlier: flashbacks can be used effectively so long as they aren’t abused or used poorly. Here, it is used as a primary storytelling method, which I dislike. After all, Suneater is in the middle of a fight and I have learned more about him from these flashbacks than I have from the entire rest of the show thus far. And because of that lack of prior characterization, I don't care. That is bad storytelling.

Mirio

Mirio's arc is a little better than Suneater's. Granted, I was already tired of the flashbacks with Suneater and Kirishima. And then they do the same thing for Mirio too. But unlike Suneater, I think they work in a lot more characterization into the scenes that are actually happening currently.
Like the moment when Mirio gets his quirk erased.

It’s pretty good. It implies that his quirk isn't what makes him a good hero. Which ties back into the idea the show posed way back in season 1: "Do you need a quirk to be a hero?". Plus, it works as a nice juxtaposition to how Suneater just gave up when his quirk was erased.

Of course, his quirk isn't permanently erased. I predicted this the second he was shot with it. Not that it being impermanent is the worst thing ever. To even have Horikoshi develop this theme at all and to take a risk like erasing Mirio’s quirk for a while are things I definitely appreciate, and I wasn't going to ignore that considering I literally complained about the lack of this exact thing in season 3.

But, yeah. More flashback storytelling. Don't know Mirio well enough yet to care.

More Bad Villain Writing

Speaking of sloppy writing without a plan, I’d like to talk about the goons Suneater fights. Specifically, these lines:

Episode 71, from the 3 goons: "one was unable to fit into society and was thrown away" / "one was betrayed by his lover and made to bear various debts" / "one was used as a tool by someone obsessed with money, but when it was discovered that the gems he produced were worthless fakes, he was called useless and beaten half to death"

This is more of the Stain problem, where the villains make a statement about the world they live in that isn’t reflected by it. There hasn't been a theme of hero society tossing out misfits or troublemakers. If you look at UA, if anything they bend over backwards to make sure nobody fails. The only example I can think of is Gentle Criminal, but he doesn't come in until later in this season. This is a pathetic, barely trying attempt by Horikoshi to humanize his villains, when it would be so easy to just plan things out and be willing to write a flawed hero society so their words actually hold weight.

Truth be told, I don’t know why he writes dialogue for villains like this. Overhaul is the best villain you’ve ever had and part of why is because isn’t a half-assed attempt to write a deeper villain. Overhaul is just a really shitty guy. That’s it. And based on what I’ve seen from Horikoshi’s writing, that’s probably what he should be going for. Villains like Stain and these guys, where an attempt is being made to have villains that represent problems with society, require a specific type of worldbuilding to work. Granted, that type of worldbuilding isn’t hard. You literally just have to make sure the problems the villains claim exist…. you know, actually exist. But he didn’t do that with Stain, and he didn’t do it with these guys.

You're not showing me their society is fucked up, you're telling me it is. And words without action to back it up is, again, the opposite of what the show preaches.

E42 15:40 "a hero's job is to turn the lip service into reality"

Shigaraki Takes Out Overhaul

It’s been a while since we talked about Shiggy and the League of Villains. They come back in this arc, and their contributions only serve to make me even more confused about Horikoshi’s direction for the series.

Most of my criticisms of the League of Villains up to this point are made moot if they're written to be idiots on purpose so they can develop into something greater later. To avoid talking about them constantly, I’ve been operating under this assumption.

The way Horikoshi writes their dialogue and actions in this arc still seem to point to them being…dumb. Or at least simple-minded. Like these lines:

E73 20:00 "i want the world to be a place where I can do what I want and live easily" – Toga
E73 21:43 "I'll beat up the guys I don't like" - Twice

This is not exactly a motive with a lot depth or intrigue and furthers the impression that the villains in this show aren't really that bright. But then at the end of the arc, we get the scene where The League of Villains take out Overhaul.

Let’s get this out of the way first: the only reason the League of Villains is able to pull this off is because the heroes do something incredibly stupid: they had Overhaul be taken to a villain hospital with no escort except for the driver, one cop, and one pro hero. How fucking stupid can you be? You launched this massive raid to arrest him, he causes all this damage and destruction, and you don’t think you might want to send a few more pro heroes and a proper police escort? Fucking morons.

And because of this, the League of Villains is able to overpower the one driver and one hero escorting Overhaul, and take him out, preventing him from using his quirk.

At this point, I can’t tell where Horikoshi is going with the League of Villains. At the beginning, I assumed they were supposed to be stupid and incompetent, so that they could grow and become more threatening over time. But like, them being stupid has never really stopped. Shigaraki’s raid in season 1 was a failure that only resulted in a bunch of his goons getting taken out and getting mocked by All Might and the students. In season 2, his interactions with Stain still paint him as just as dumb and immature, as do his actions elsewhere. Like when he mindlessly released nomus to just…attack stuff. The nomus didn’t accomplish much either. In season 3, the forest training camp raid was mostly a failure. They did get Bakugo, but he was rescued the next day. So much for that.

And then here. The League of Villains does end up getting the upper hand over Overhaul, but that only happened because the heroes did something incredibly stupid; which it seems is how most of the plot progresses since the start of season 3.

I guess maybe this is Horikoshi trying to make the League seem like they’re growing in power and becoming more competent, but it doesn’t really work. Shigaraki has not been getting smarter; the world around him has been getting dumber.

This isn’t the only time something like this has happened either. Remember in season 1 when the pro heroes a bunch of cops handle the nomu with a rope? Why are the cops handling something that's so strong All Might could barely defeat it? Does that sound smart???

It’s like, okay. Maybe Horikoshi is making the heroes stupid on purpose to legitimize the criticism of UA and heroes. But then you have shit like the scene where Deku and Recovery Girl see the news coverage of the LoV taking out Overhaul. And how Deku was complaining about the media being unfair when they criticized UA in season 3. The show keeps treating these things as though the heroes are being treated unfairly. I can’t figure out where he’s going with any of this shit. His writing is so inconsistent it…ugh.

In Between Arcs III

The episodes after the Overhaul arc are honestly...pretty good? Well, they’re at least definitely superior to the horror I just witnessed. They play with some interesting ideas that were sidelined for another bad villain arc.

They again touch on the idea that there's a hole in society that was left after All Might retired that Endeavor isn't able to fill. It’s also interesting to see them developing Endeavor like this, having him embracing his status as the #1 hero to improve as a person. This moment is a bit more human, and I think that's somewhat interesting.

And then you have uh…whatever that sequence is where Aoyama sneaks onto Deku’s balcony at night to leave some cheese. Seriously, what the fuck was that?

Now that the Overhaul arc is over, the show is improving again. Well, aside from...you know. I swear, if it just cut down on these terrible villain arcs, the show would improve dramatically. Maybe the show can take a break from the stupid villains for a bit so we can-LOL JUST KIDDING GENTLE CRIMINAL

Gentle Criminal

One might think that after Overhaul, Horikoshi might be getting close to figuring out how to write a good villain. He came close to having a villain that represents societal problems with Stain, he came close to having a fun mustache twirler with Overhaul, and All for One would have been good had he accomplished more before he was captured. And it kind of blew my mind when I watched the next arc, because…I don’t know how, but it’s actually getting worse.

Gentle Criminal is the most baffling of the show’s villains so far, mostly because it was difficult to tell what Horikoshi was even going for. Like with Stain, I was confused by Gentle Criminal and wasn't sure what statement the show was trying to make with him the first time I watched this arc. It took until I was basically done with editing to full figure him out. Getting to there was a painful process. And that started with the first scene he appears in.

Good writers a lot of the time will use a character’s first appearance and what they do in that scene to tell you things about them. The first major scene for Gentle Criminal is…the robbery from episode 81.

(What the hell was that? So he robs a convenience store, some heroes show up. He beats them up but leaves behind the money because that’s his “appearance fee”. Then he reveals his goal isn’t money but for “his name to go down in history”? What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Beyond that, is this supposed to be funny? Intimidating? Endearing? I don’t know what I’m supposed to get from it! I feel like its supposed to be comedic, but I mean, there’s no joke. What’s the joke, that he’s cringey? The guys watching the video seem to be taking it seriously but like…huh?)

That was my initial reaction to that scene. Complete bewilderment. It does give you an accurate representation of Gentle Criminal as a character in hindsight, but it's not very good as a character introduction. Mostly it's just really confusing. Now that I've seen the arc I get it, but the first time? It basically broke me. 3 1/2 seasons of trying to figure out what the fuck Horikoshi is doing with Shigaraki took a toll on my brain, and this scene was the straw that broke the camel's back. That confusion however, did not stop with the first scene.

Part of the problem is the tone. Gentle Criminal's backstory is sad and actually supports the worldview that hero society is flawed, which has been a part of the show's themeing despite not really being represented in the show at all. So in the one instance you actually depict it, you pair it with the most light-hearted arc and character of the show? Why? Isn't this what the likes of Stain and specifically those goons from earlier have been saying? That heroes aren't great and leave people behind, who in turn become villains? It's supposed to be a serious topic the show wants to cover, right? Then why would you associate THAT with HIM? You don't think its most focused representation might warrant a more serious tone?

And to those of you who might say "well yeah, that's the point. He's supposed to be inept so you pity him and begin to subscibe to that world view." Well, there's a problem with that too.

It's hard to say for certain Gentle is supposed to be pitiable by virtue of being incompetent because, well.

Every villain in the show has proven to be incompetent. The main antagonist of the series is dumb and incompetent. And it seems pretty clear at this point that he isn't supposed to be. So now I'm supposed to believe Horikoshi is doing it here deliberately?

The wiki claims a lot of the mistakes Gentle makes are due to a lack of insight, but a lot of characters in the show (not just villains) make dumb decisions for the same reason. What's to say this isn't just more bad character writing?

Like yeah, I'm pretty sure the intent was a bumbling villain. But this arc has the same structure as all the other villain arcs. Villain causes mischief, heroes find out about the villain. At the end of the arc, Deku (in All for One's case All Might) meets the villain and they fight. The villain puts up a good fight but loses, and get captured. That's what happens to Gentle here. What's really that different?

And this is the problem having bad villains creates over time. When they're defeated in underwhelming fashion (All for One), when the idea they represent is undermined by the show and how it presents the issue (Stain), when their general incompetence causes them to regularly embarrass themselves (Shigaraki with the Season 1 Raid and Forest Training Camp arc)

Well guess what? All of those things apply to Gentle here. It he's an attempt at an intentionally incompetent character, it doesn't really work because basically all of My Hero Academy's villains are like this!

Gentle Criminal is the logical endpoint to the ways My Hero Academy has failed with its villains. His character concept is so simple, and yet is undone by previous mistakes that easily could have been avoided and bad writing habits. And I'll be damned if that isn't the ultimate microcosm of My Hero Academy as a whole.

School Festival

So, the other half of this arc is the school festival that Gentle Criminal was trying to interrupt. And I really wish he had succeeded in interrupting it, because this thing is pretty much the worst thing ever.

As much as I hate Gentle Criminal, I think the School Festival might be worse. Because it represents yet another instance of how little Horikoshi seems to care about tension or stakes or consequences or anything that might actually invest its audience in what’s happening.

So, the premise is this: the other courses are sick of the hero course doing whatever they want without consequences. (Wow! Wonder why!) So to address this, the students decide…to throw a concert. Ugh.

Bakugo correctly diagnoses why this is a stupid fucking idea. But like Iida when he was the voice of reason in season 3 before the class raid, Bakugo is unable to convince them, as he too is unable to overcome the power of Horikoshi plot armor.

So this entire concert idea is fucking stupid. Bakugo is right. It is performative garbage to distract people from the issue, rather than addressing it genuinely. And this is an issue I have wanted addressed since basically the start of season 3. Since the students were allowed to sneak out LITERALLY AT THE SAME TIME as teachers from UA were making that press conference talking about how they were sorry and they’re going to take accountability. All that word vomit that meant nothing. I’ve wanted some semblance of consequences for all the shit the students get into.

This could’ve been that opportunity. A chance for the students to make it up to the other courses whose lives they’ve made harder with their selfishness and recklessness. Granted, UA should be the ones receiving punishment, but still. I’ll take it for class A.

A concert does nothing to fix the issue. A good apology is one that acknowledges what was done wrong, expresses remorse for the action, and most importantly, promises to do things differently next time. Aka, real change. That is why this concert is a bunch of performative garbage. It doesn’t do anything to fix the problem going forward. It’s just “hey I see you’re upset, so here’s an epic concert woooo!” And now that they’ve acknowledged the issue, class A can go back to doing whatever they want with no consequences again. Hooray!

Also, this arc is mostly supposed to be about class A trying to repair their relationship with the other courses, right? Yes, it does in a wrong and stupid way. But that’s what Horikoshi is going for, correct? Then what’s with this line?

"Sorry to show you the bad parts of UA, Eri"-Mirio, episode 83

What the fuck is this line doing here? Do Mirio and the students from class A look down on class B and the other courses? I thought the idea was that the other courses are different rather than inferior? It just makes Mirio and Deku look like elitists.

Anyways. So all the students from the other courses hate class A. Then they throw the concert. And suddenly, all the other students love class A. They’re the best! All those completely legitimate and unaddressed concerns? Who needs them? Class A plot armor is indestructible!

In Between Arcs IV/End of Season 4

Finally, we’ve made it through all of season 4’s garbage arcs. Now I get to talk about the only good episodes in the entire season, the last 2.

As it always seems to be, the episodes in between the last arc and the next one are pretty good. They’re focused on world-building and moving the plot forward. Yes, it’s mostly exposition and setup. But without the main plotlines to distract him, Horikoshi again allows himself to focus and dig into some interesting ideas and craft some worldbuilding. In fact, the best-written scene in season 4 might be the casual scene of Hawks and Endeavor talking in episode 87.

It expresses several ideas and concepts while simultaneously delivering exposition. Like how they establish ways Hawks can use his quirk while delivering exposition. Good stuff!

Or where they illustrate what Endeavor’s flaw is and the reason he’s struggling to replace All Might as a ‘symbol of peace’ by playing the citizens' reactions to Endeavor and Hawks side by side. Excellent!

This is an idea they’ve been toying with for a while, and it’s nice to see Horikoshi following through with an idea, something he isn’t usually a fan of.
Also, for the first time in a while, the show made me laugh with the streaker guy getting the big villain introduction and then getting dispatched in seconds by Hawks.

Episode 87 is pretty good, but the best episode of season 4 is 88. It again expresses how the outlook of citizens has changed since All Might retired. All Might’s entire thing was that when he showed up, people were reassured just by him appearing. Here, Endeavor (aka the new #1 hero) shows up, and everybody panics anyways. It expresses an idea you’ve established ahead of time, goob job Horikoshi!

Episode 88 also has the best visual direction of all of season 4. The end of the Overhaul may have had the best animation technically, but I think this scene has much better direction.

And that’s season 4. Somehow, that dumpster fire ended on a positive note.

Conclusion

Overall though, MHA is not in a good spot. It has declined every season due to both Horikoshi’s ineptitude as a writer, but also Studio Bones’ declining production quality. I have very little hope for season 5, but there might be a ray of hope for this once promising series. And of all places, it comes from the second movie. (I would put a link to my review of Heroes Rising and the overall conclusion to the series, but on MAL I can't. Sorry.)

(This is the second part of a series of video and written reviews called The Decline of My Hero Academy)
(SPOILER WARNING FOR HUNTER X HUNTER, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, AND NARUTO + SHIPPUDEN)

Season 2 starts off strong, with the best arc in the anime, the Sports Festival. Admittedly, a lot of why I like it is because it reminds me of my favorite arc from Naruto, the chuunin exams. Regardless, the Sports Festival is honestly pretty great. Tons of action and drama, a tournament of 1 on 1 fights, and most importantly: no villains around to distract Horikoshi.

Let's quickly run through the first 2 stages so we ... can get to the part I like:

Stage 1: Obstacle race

The first stage is pretty good, but the least interesting stage overall. Deku, Todoroki and Bakugo dominate this stage, settings things up for the cavalry battle.

Stage 2: Cavalry battle

Groups of 4 fight each other in weird formations. Need to grab other participants’ headbands to get points and pass. The higher you placed in the obstacle course, the more points you’re worth in this stage, meaning the bigger target you are to the other students. Deku finished #1 so he’s worth 1 million. This stage is also pretty good, except for the stupid part where some of the students retire from the festival because their memories of it are gone.

But where it really gets good is stage 3: the 1 on 1 tournament. This was the best part of Naruto, and I think its obvious Horikoshi took heavy inspiration from Naruto for this arc. In fact, some of the fights are basically copied from Naruto:

Like how Kirishima vs Tetsutetsu ends in a draw after both contestants knock each other out with punches to the face, aka the same way Sakura vs Ino ends.

And Bakugo vs Ururaka is basically Neji vs Hinata. Aka: female side character that's interested in the main character romantically tries to fight off arguably the strongest student, is inspired by the main character and fights on and on even when they're overwhelmed, and they end up collapsing.

I think this part of MHA outshines the rest of the show for a number of reasons, but the main reason is because it’s the most focused Horikoshi has been through the entire first 4 seasons of the show. Without poorly written villains running around to distract him, Horikoshi is able to focus not only on the strengths of what he’s created (characters, drama, setting), but also the strengths of the battle shounen genre itself.

You have characters informing the action, like Todoroki using his fire powers against Deku, and losing because he refused to use them against Bakugo.
The world building is informing the action, like Mei using her fight against Iida as an advertisement for her inventions.

The action is informing the character development, like Yoarouzu despairing because she lost so easily. Which becomes a plotline going forward.
It all comes together at once to create easily the best arc of the show, and also leads to the best fight of the show: Deku vs Todoroki.

If I had to compare it to another fight, I'd say this is MHA's Rock Lee vs Gaara. Deku's ability is actually pretty similar to Rock Lee's, where using their ability damages their body and overusing it could prevent them from fighting again. And Todoroki has always struck me as MHA's Gaara, what with his overwhelmingly strong ability, seemingly invincible defense, and how both characters hold back their full strength in every fight thus far, never being pushed enough to use it.

Which is what makes the 2 fights exhilarating. For the first time, you see someone actually get to them.

In both fights, the challenger (Rock Lee and Deku) is forced to overwork their bodies to dangerous degrees to level the playing field. And then, it happens. The thing we were told would never happen, happens. Gaara gets hit and is forced to use his real ability. Todoroki snaps and uses his fire.
And this moment, right here, is My Hero Academy’s peak. It is the moment where all of its strengths converge into one incredible moment.

This moment is great, but its the last time My Hero Academy reaches anything close to such a high. This is where the decline of My Hero Academy begins.

Bad Parts

After this arc ends, the first signs of a recurring problem the show has yet to solve through season 4 pop up: Horikoshi declaring stakes and then retreating to a safer option that's easier to write around.

1: Stakes

So. This is class A’s chance to show off their stuff for potential internships and hero agencies, as the event is broadcast across the nation but also tons of scouts are present. If you thrive, everyone will witness it but the same is true if you fail. It could hurt your reputation going forward.

Class A is also threatened with the possibility of being demoted to a lower class if they underperform. This one is interesting, as it adds a lot of pressure to the fights with class B students. After all, if a class A student loses to one from class B, there’s a high chance those 2 will be switching places.

The problem with this one is Horikoshi doesn’t follow through with it, as only class A students end up advancing and no one from class B is promoted.
In Naruto, all 3 of the sand ninja end up advanced to the finals of the chuunin exams. I liked this because it established the strength of the other nations, and indicated clearly that they're just as strong as Konohagakure and pose a very real threat to it. Which uh, yeah, turned out to be the case.
With MHA though, that doesn't happen. Now, I'm not saying that this decision is bad because MHA didn't do what Naruto did in a similar situation. Its bad because MHA does this consistently, creating stakes for a situation and then retreating from them, which constantly deflates tension and handicaps the potential for viewers to get invested in the drama in later arcs. Its not a huge deal here, but as you'll see when we get to season 3, it becomes a very large problem the series has yet to solve through the current season.

2: Deku's Body

Despite being told many times that Deku is risking his body by using his power the way he does, Deku never actually suffers any long-lasting consequences like permanently damaging his body, or being sidelined for a while so he can actually recover. Quick stop to the hospital and he's good to go next episode! This is again, not a huge deal now. But if you're going to create that subplot, you have to actually follow through with it somehow eventually. And Horikoshi never does, which again we'll get to in more detail in season 3.

Stain

So. The series is riding high after the sports festival arc, and I started becoming convinced that My Hero Academy could actually live up to its endless hype. After all, Horikoshi and Studio Bones proved capable of drawing out the show's strengths to overpower its weaknesses for one great arc. If they can keep doing that, the series is bound for greatness.
But like I said earlier, the decline of the series begins after the sports festival arc. And that decline starts with the show's next big villain, Stain.
Now, Stain himself is fine. Stain isn't a fan of current hero society. He believes that hero is a title that should only be bestowed upon those who accomplish good deeds. He thinks that the world has become overgrown with fake heroes, and that greed and fame have tainted what it means to be a hero.

The first time I watched season 2, I was confused by Stain and didn't understand what statement Horikoshi was trying to make with this arc, but couldn't really put a finger on why. On re-watch though, this line made me realize why Stain felt off:

"There are too many that act like heroes but are really money-worshippers" (E28)

Okay, now think: how many heroes can you think of that fit that description? How many heroes have we seen that are greedy, that will take bribes, that are willing to compromise their beliefs for money, or became corrupted by money? That's right.

There aren't any. And this is why Stain as a villain doesn't work. None of the heroes of MHA align with the way Stain sees the world. His reasoning make sense, but its rather difficult to think of any that represent why what he's saying is a bad thing. All the heroes in MHA are too morally upstanding to reflect Stain's criticisms of society. The worst hero I can think of in terms of behavior is Endeavor, and he's the worst by a LOT. He definitely checks the box for being overly obsessed with fame via aiming for the #1 spot, but at the same time he is the only example of this. Ideally, you want your villain's criticism of society to be something that resonates, where you look everywhere and see it. With Stain, you have to squint to find any examples of what he's talking about.

As for the money thing, the only characters that come close to validating Stain's claims are Uraraka and Mt Lady.

Uraraka's motivation to become a hero is to make money, making her the only hero to have the motivation Stain is criticizing. And in her case, the money isn't even for her. Its for her parents. She wants money to take care of her parents, which hardly sounds like money-worshipping and doesn't stand to prove what Stain said correct.

As for Mt Lady: there are several instances of her acting like a jackass, but these scenes don't seem to be written in a way that criticizes her behavior. Horikoshi seems to be writing it as charming. And if Horikoshi is trying to say fame-chasing and the over-commercialization of heroes is bad here, then that message is contradicted by this moment in season 4 when Deku wins over Nighteye because he knew some absurdly specific fact about an All Might poster. I thought it was supposed to be a bad thing?

And just generally, quite a bit of hero society feels over-commercialized but A LOT of it is played straight, rather than more deliberately critical. I can think of many scenes where the celebrity status of heroes grosses me out, but none that I can think of and immediately say "oh yeah, the show is very clearly portraying this as a bad thing."

So for money-chasing, you have 1 example that sort of works and another that completely contradicts it. Not exactly an ideology that resonates strongly.

Stain's problem is that not enough effort was put into making his claims about society ring true. The show isn't consistent in how it treats fame-worshipping and over-commercialization, and there aren't enough examples of either problem in the show for either issue to feel systemic rather than isolated. And before you dismiss this as nitpicking, this particular issue is something other good battle shounens don't usually have a problem with.

There's a reason you feel some empathy for Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist. Because we know exactly why he's attacking state alchemists, and we know that there are bastards in the military that ENJOYED slaughtering his people, the Ishbalans. Beyond just that, thousands of other officers like Roy Mustang turned the other cheek or didn't take a stand. In a way, they're all guilty and deserve to be punished. Point being, we know what Scar believes and understand why he believes it because what he opposes is systemic in the world he inhabits. This just isn't the case for MHA. Stain is effectively opposing a strawman, a non-existent class of greedy heroes that we as audience aren't shown. As such, his words ring hollow. There's potential here, but you have to be willing to take risks like making more heroes less than perfect. Endeavor was a good start but you need more if you want a villain like Stain to work.

With all this in mind, its no surprise that Deku's takeaways from their encounter are nonsense.

In episode 31, Todoroki and Deku talk about their encounter with Stain, and conclude it with “its obvious we were left alive for a reason.”

Uh why is that? Stain left everyone alive! He failed to kill anyone! This ties into another issue I have with Horikoshi refusing to kill heroes. It isn't obvious he left Deku and the others alive for a reason rather than killing them, because we have yet to see him kill anyone. I don't want to dig too deep into this particular issue yet, so for now lets move on to Deku's other takeaway.

He also says something about in the end Stain was the only one standing against his opponents, which um??? Deku did that when he approached Stain in the alley? Deku's body moving on its own when someone is in danger or a hero is needed and so on is one of his signature personality traits. It’s THE THING that convinced All Might to pass One for All to him. So Stain having the courage or resolve to "stand against his opponents" isn't something Deku can or needs to internalize. It is his signature strength. Ideally, you want the main character to learn a lesson that they needed to at the end of an arc. They acquire some knowledge or learn something that changes them. This one is half-assed and isn't relevant to the character's growth.

Him being unafraid to stand against his opponents is literally his greatest strength. His takeaway from his encounter with Stain is meaningless! He already does that same thing, more so than any other hero! He's always done it! It's nonsense!

Deku not taking away anything from this arc due to Horikoshi's bad writing ties into another problem the show has: Deku as a main character. And yes, I did say I liked him as the protagonist in season 1. But that’s only in the context of season 1, ignoring the rest of the series. Now, there are things I like about his character like his thing where his body moves without thinking, and the way he inspires change in people reminds me a bit of the way Naruto does the same thing. But like in terms of him as a person? He isn't very good. There isn't much to him as a person after he gets One for All, they spend more time developing his powers than him as a character, and he has very weak interpersonal relationships with the rest of the characters except for All Might and maybe Bakugo.

But the problem I wanted to cover relative to Stain is that he doesn't believe in anything.

Deku Doesn't Believe in Anything

As you can probably guess, I have an issue with Deku's belief system. That is to say, there isn't one. And no, "doing bad things is bad", "you should always try your best", and "never give up" do not count.

I think Deku is most similar to Naruto as a protagonist, so that'll be the comparison I use to illustrate my point. In Naruto, it is obvious what the writer identifies as the bad parts of the shinobi world. It is war.

The event that caused Naruto's parents to die was an act of war. An attack by Tobi to get the nine-tails to attack the leaf village. Most of the villains are in some way raised by war, or the circumstances they currently face are the result of it.

Haku was an orphan due to an ability he inherited from his mother: Due to a war prior to Haku's birth, many in his clan hated and feared this ability, due to its association with the war and the fear that its existence would mean more war. These circumstances resulted in Haku's entire clan being wiped out except for him. He is now an orphan as a result of war. The same is true of Zaku later. He was taken in by Orochimaru after being found on the streets. And ultimately, Zaku was sacrificed as a means of another attack: the Konoha crush.

Neji's belief system of people being unable to change their fate is a result of his father's death, which was a cover-up to protect the family after a Kumogakure Head Ninja visiting Konoha took advantage of a peace treaty and attempted to kidnap Hinata in order to gain the secrets of the Byakugan.

Nagato ended up an orphan after his parents were killed by shinobi from the leaf village, and was forced to leave his village and search for food and shelter after killing those shinobi. After nearly collapsing from hunger, he met Konan and Yahiko, orphans like himself. They shared dreams of a future where they were in charge and could use their power to eliminate war. This group became known as the Akatsuki. They grew in numbers blah blah blah, and eventually the leader of Amegakure (Hanzo of the Salamander), felt threatened. Hanzo pretended he would work with the Akatsuki so that he could ambush Yahiko and Nagato, with support from Konoha's Danzo. Some shit went down, Yahiko dies, and Nagato severs all ties with Amegakure.

Yahiko's death ultimately convinced Nagato that his philosophies about achieving peace were foolish; the world would never willingly end the cycle of death and hatred it had operated on for so long. Only through direct experience of war and all the losses and agonies it brought could anyone truly desire peace.

The scars of war are inflicted on many characters throughout Naruto, and Naruto himself embodies the things that the shinobi world needs to change, such as a willingness to forgive those who don't deserve forgiveness (such as the villagers who shunned him as a child) and compassion even towards your enemies.

The fact that Deku doesn't have a similar level of depth is for a lot of reasons, but a large part of it is that the villains lack an ideology that is followed up and/or informed by the world around them.

Deku doesn't represent a change needed in hero society. He just wants to be like All Might. The villains all say there are problems with hero society, but none of them actually have a point. When you look at what Pain says about continuing the cycle of death and hate, you understand what he's talking about. Because you've seen it in tons of characters. Naruto having to live in a village that hates him for something he can't control and having to grow up alone because his parents were killed during his birth. Sasuke's entire clan was wiped out. His entire existence is based around getting revenge and killing the person responsible. Tons and tons of examples.

And when I examine MHA's world in a similar way based on Stain's ideology, there's very little there. The things that the villains claim are just that, things that Horikoshi wrote for them. They aren't based on anything Horikoshi worked into MHA's world. As a result of all this, the villain arcs of MHA feel hollow. The pieces are there, but by not having opponents or a world that challenge the protagonist as a person, there isn't that emotional core they need. I really wish Horikoshi would just change his approach to writing villains to something more simple, as he never puts in enough effort to make a villain like Stain work.

Or alternatively, write a villain based around your protagonist. Remember when Deku didn't have a quirk at the beginning of the series and it frustrated him to no end? Write a villain around that. You could very easily write villains that abuse their powers and don’t appreciate what they have. That's something that would naturally infuriate Deku given he knows what it’s like to not have a quirk at all. I thought this is what he was going to do with Overhaul, but the show never touches on the idea.

Before I go further, I'd like to clarify this so my point doesn't get misconstrued: Stain isn't bad because he isn't Scar, and Deku isn't bad because he isn't Naruto. Stain doesn't work because he requires the world to be written in a certain way, and Horikoshi's failure to do so has a negative impact on Deku's potential development, and that impact is best illustrated by other, more effective protagonists like Naruto and better villains like Scar.

Conclusion

That's about all I have to say for season 2. It’s harder to judge than season 1 because half of it is great and the other half is...sloppy. Overall though I think its decent, and has yet to hit truly bad.

(This is the first part of a series of video and written reviews called The Decline of My Hero Academy)

My Hero Academy's formula for success in season 1? Fun, loose tone. Solid animation and visuals. Characters that are loose enough to feel fun in a world that doesn't appear to take itself too seriously, which is for the best in a battle shounen.

What surprised me the most when re-watching was how fun and loose season 1 was. I had become so used to the tired and tedious melodrama and bland villains of the later seasons, that I had forgotten what made the first season good: ... the amount of effort that’s put into its visuals and its tone.
Like I couldn’t believe All Might swore in season 1 while re-watching. It made me laugh every time because it was one of the few moments All Might felt human to me. As if his public image was just that, a façade put on for the public, and that he was a different guy when not in front of his fans or the press.

You’ll also notice there’s a lot of effort put into making the visuals engaging. Season 1 is very light-hearted and loose, something that is loses in the later seasons, opting for overly serious villain arcs that fall flat for a myriad of reasons I’ll get into later.

The production quality and tone become a much bigger problem later, but for now everything seems to be nicely humming along. This applies to the other 2 big things I wanted to talk about for season 1: Deku and Shigaraki.
Here’s a brief overview of what happens in season 1:

My Hero Academy takes place in a world where people can have quirks, which are superpowers basically. 80% of people have them at this point, but our protagonist Deku doesn’t. He idolizes All Might, and through a chance encounter ends up inheriting All Might’s ability. But, he struggles to control it and it tears up his body. Deku enters UA, the school that All Might went to, and begins going through the entrance exams and then begins life as a student. But during a training exercise, a group called the League of Villains (led by the series’ primary antagonist Shigaraki) raids the school and attacks the students. They are defeated without any casualties among the students, and season 1 comes to a close.

The Quirkless Debacle

I have a lot of issues with the way Deku is written, but for season 1 I think he works fairly well as the protagonist. I like the way the show establishes the traits he possesses that make him the worthy pick to inherit All Might’s ability over other, more talented potential vessels. Namely, the scene in episode 4 with the blob monster that ultimately becomes the deciding factor for All Might choosing him.

The problem I have with Deku in season 1 is that Horikoshi uses him to ask a genuinely compelling question, and then does nothing with it. When Deku first asks All Might “Can I be a hero too?”, it poses an interesting quandary…can someone without powers be a hero?

The question is really interesting and becomes more interesting as you go along considering basically every major character has a quirk. The only times this theme is brought back up are briefly with Melissa Shield in the first movie, and with Mirio in season 4. But it never really gets into it in as much detail as you’d like.

To solve this, I think it would be neat if One for All had an activation period. Where Deku would have to survive entry exams with a barely budding, weak version of One for All rather than having it be so powerful he can’t control it and it injures his body. Because at least then the answer to the question "Can I be a hero too?" isn't "yes, but only if you have powers".

After all, the definition of heroism they seem to like going back to after season 3 is "a hero's job is to turn the lip service into reality". The idea there, is that superpowers are not what makes someone a hero. What makes you a hero is if you can "turn the lip service into reality". It doesn't really say anything about superpowers. In fact, a statement like that, and when you think about how Deku throwing himself at the blob monster to save Bakugo despite having no powers is what convinced All Might to transfer the power to him, it’s fair to say that the traits that makes someone a superhero rather than just a guy with powers is explicitly unrelated to superpowers.

So why aren't there more examples of heroes or villains that don't have powers? People who overcame their handicap and became examples of what a hero can be even without a quirk? They set up Deku like he was going to be that, but then immediately retreat from it and the idea isn't played with again.

This plot choice bothers me because it’s the first big question MHA asks its audience, and it doesn't give that plot line enough time to come up with a good answer before basically erasing it from the narrative. It sets itself up to do one thing that’s risky and interesting, and then retreats to a safer choice that’s more convenient to write around later. When we get to the later seasons, you’ll notice My Hero Academy tends to do that a lot.

As it's set up, his power damaging his body is an okay way to prevent All for One from being so strong it feels like a cheap way of getting out of having a quirkless protagonist, but as you’ll see later the series doesn’t like to stick to it.

Shigaraki

The last thing in season 1 I wanted to talk about is Shigaraki. Shiggy is a bit difficult to discuss because Horikoshi’s intentions for the character aren’t always clear. Is he supposed to be stupid and incompetent? Is he supposed to be brilliant and intimidating? Horikoshi doesn’t always make it clear, but like most things in season 1, Shiggy is pretty simple to judge. After all, when you look at him divorced from the context of later seasons, Shigaraki is either a very, very badly executed attempt at an intimidating, intelligent villain; or a villain that’s written to be stupid on purpose at the start so that you can see him grow and become more threatening as the series goes along.

My take is that he’s written dumb on purpose here. His childish tantrum throwing, his empty words and half-baked ideologies that seem to indicate nothing whatsoever is going on upstairs, and the students and All Might repeatedly insulting him seem to point to the show being self-aware of how dumb and childish he is. In this context, how badly the raid goes for Shigaraki makes sense. After all, he’s supposed to be a moron here. And the results he gets reflect that. I think maybe you could have had him kill someone to establish him as something of a threat considering this scene makes him look incredibly stupid, but that isn’t an issue...yet.

Conclusion

Overall, season 1 of My Hero Academy is very solid. Good action, decent characters, and the looser tone lends itself to a much more enjoyable viewing experience compared to later seasons.

As it turns out I watched these by accident! Hulu lists Outlaw Star as 26 episodes because apparently they put the specials in at episode 16 and 23. So I guess I watched them without even knowing it.

Since no one else has reviewed this title, here we go:

The first special is titled "Demon of the Water Planet", and is designated episode 16 in the series. The episode did not air in Japan on TV Network, but aired February 5, 2001 on Toonami in North America. In this episode, the crew gets a gig to retrieve a cargo of Dragonite from the bottom of the water ... planet, Heifong VII. However, this treasure is guarded by vicious sea creatures that have torn every treasure hunter that came before to shreds. This one isn't really vital to the rest of the series as ultimately the end of the episode renders the endeavor pointless. I can't explain how without spoiling the end of the episode. However you will see someone (don't remember who) holding Dragonite later in the series and without watching this episode you won't recognize what it is. It's skippable but I do think it's a pretty good episode regardless and worth a watch. I was surprised to even find out it went unaired. I did some research attempting to find the reason why it didn't air and unfortunately couldn't find anything.

The second special is titled "Hot Springs Planet Tenrei", and is designated episode 23 of the series. The episode aired June 4, 1998 on TV Network in Japan. The episode previously went unaired on Cartoon Network's Toonami and Adult Swim on account of adult content. In this episode, the crew ends up on a vacation planet filled with hot springs as far as the eye can see. However, Gene's motivation for coming to the planet is to find out the secret behind caster shells and to prepare for the upcoming battle for the Leyline. From the title, you can probably tell this is a fanservice episode. But as far as those go, this is about as well as you can do a hot springs episode. They don't spend the entire episode focused on the girls at the hot springs. Most of the episode follows Gene as he treks up Mt. Nantai to meet the 3 wizards. And story-wise, this episode moves the plot forward amidst all the half-naked and fully naked girls. Without watching this one, you won't know how Gene got the 4 caster shells. This isn't necessarily the best Outlaw Star episode and its placement just before the finale is strange, but like the first special it's worth a watch.

Note:

I don't grade individual episodes because individual episodes require the context of the rest of the series to judge its value. To me, grading this would be like grading the second verse of a song. But MAL forces you to add an overall score to any written review. So the grade I gave this doesn't mean anything other than these 2 episodes are worth watching.

There will inevitably be a lot of people attempting to diagnose what went wrong with One Punch Man season 2, but I think anyone could tell you why it doesn’t work. The obvious answer is the downgraded animation and confused direction, but there’s a bit more than that. Let’s just start with the biggest problem.

~Sound~
You thought I was gonna say the art/animation? Well, that isn’t the biggest problem with One Punch Man season 2. An equally big problem is the sound effects and sound design, but to drill down further it’s the studio. J.C. Staff has no idea how to do action. Don't believe me? ... Go watch Taboo Tattoo. They have no idea what they're doing.

Now, J.C. staff does really well with the slice of life and romcom genres. They produced Toradora and Azumanga Daioh, which were outstanding entries in the romcom and SOL genres respectively. That last detail is important because I hate 95% of SOL shows that came out and I dislike romantic comedies. They bore me. JC. Staff is so good at doing those genres that even I enjoy their takes on them.

But action? They can't do action at all. Taboo Tattoo didn't work partially because the source material is garbage, but also because J.C. staff used terrible muddy sound effects during action scenes that ruined the fighting aspect of that show. The same is true of One Punch Man season 2. For one, the sound design in this show is horrendous. The same muddy, unfitting sound effects that I remember from Taboo Tattoo have returned in OPM. The punches lack the oomph needed to connect with the viewer, the building/concrete/rock destruction effects sound like someone tossing some pebbles, and the fire effects (Genos' engine boost sound effect especially) lack the necessary impact to feel satisfying.

Sound is really important in general, but some genres can get away with having bad sound. Say, romance or a drama. But for 3 specific genres, having good sound is NECESSARY to sell the show. Those 3 genres are sci-fi, fantasy, and action. It’s more important to get it right in sci-fi and fantasy because the sound effects chosen can make or break the world you’re trying to build, but it’s pretty damn important in action too because a fight with bad punching sounds or a car chase with unconvincing driving sounds deflates the entire scene. Go back and watch OPM season 1 and you’ll notice the sound is pretty damn good. Without those fantastic sound effects and generally good sound design, it wouldn't be nearly as effective. Punches have the right sound to feel powerful, destruction effects sounded fantastic, and the industrial/mechanical sound effects (Genos especially) sounded great. The show’s structure demanded its action be done well, and Madhouse was able to deliver. JC Staff did not.

The voice acting is mostly good, but that doesn’t matter as much in an action comedy. What’s important is that it can make its fights register with its audience with good sound design and sound effects. And they failed spectacularly at that.

Also, all the music in this show is horrible. They’re trying to mimic the approach Madhouse took from season 1 and they fail at it so hard. Like go listen to Garou’s theme. It’s one of the most excruciating pieces of music I’ve ever heard. 3/10

~Art/Animation~

On to the other big problem. The other half of why the action doesn't work is the terrible visuals. One Punch Man season 1 was a lightning in a bottle type of show that could never happen twice, in that there were a lot of freelance animators brought in to work on it, along with the source material being fantastic. The framing and composition of shots, as well as animation quality and editing prowess, propel it past any competitor on a technical level. You could feel the energy in every fight through the framing and editing, and sound design accompanied it perfectly.

OPM s2 lacks all of this. The animation quality obviously isn't up to snuff because season 1 was, as I said before, lightning in a bottle. No other action show I can think of had that consistently fantastic animation. In a way, it was privileged to have such high production values behind it, so it isn’t really fair to compare the 2 on a technical level. But even if you remove the high quality animation from the equation, it's still lacking. Not having the animation budget of Madhouse doesn't prevent J.C. Staff from recreating the great framing of shots in season 1. The camera angles and fight edits in season 2 are dull and uninspired, and the battle choreography is too stiff and looks awkward.

Also, the visual effect they used for metal effects like Genos' body and Sonic's armor looks like trash. It's awful. Honestly, any attempt at creating a metallic surface that has to move (Genos’s armor, Metal Knight’s drone, and Metal Bat’s bat specifically) has the single ugliest attempt at a metal texture I’ve ever seen. Usually I try to come up with a more nuanced take on things but that effect is rubbish. It looks like someone rubbed grease all over unpolished metal. It looks so bad that it constantly distracted me even outside of action scenes, and I had to rewind a LOT of scenes because I missed dialog while I was gawking at Genos’ armor or Metal Knight’s drone.

For some reason, that same texture is used to color Superalloy Blackluster’s body. So now they can’t even draw people’s skin right? He’s supposed to look like a beefy oiled-up bodybuilder, but the gradient they use for his skin looks…atrocious. I can’t even describe it. And EVERY shiny or metallic surface is plagued by this gradient. It’s the worst.

Lastly, there’s the inconsistent art quality. If you look closely at character outlines, they tend to be choppy and at times smeared. What the fuck is that? Was there not enough time to finish the outlines? Why are the characters drawn so unprofessionally? I don’t know what JC Staff’s production cycle is but clearly it isn’t enough if you don’t even have time to finish drawing the fucking characters.

I do think the background tend to look very nice and if your eyes are tired of the shitty leather and metal gradients and unfinished character outlines, maybe you can zone out for a while and stare at the fucking clouds or something. 2/10

~Story/Writing~

People often call OPM “One Joke Man”, and I think people are now starting to realize how thin that joke can be stretched before it wears too thin to function. The first season didn’t have any problem working around that joke because it was extremely well-animated, the choreography and cinematography were great, the sound effects and music was excellent, and any problems with the narrative were covered by its comedic timing and great pacing. The creators also took advantage of those high production values and threw in a lot of action-based comedy. They were consistent in working comedy into action scenes, which helped keep the comedy and action sides of the show flowing into each other continuously rather than feeling segregated.

With season 2, it no longer has the benefit of excellent production value backing up its comedy. Which would be fine if JC Staff was taking notes from season 1 and worked comedy into the fight scenes. But rarely does the show work in any sort of comedy into fights. When they do attempt it (like with Saitama vs Blizzard’s goons), it doesn’t work because the technical aspects of the show suck. Saitama sending some goons flying into the distance might be funny if the timing was good, the angle wasn’t flat, and the punch sound was satisfying. You see what I’m getting at? J.C. Staff’s shoddy production quality here tanks the entire thing. And it isn’t just because they have a smaller budget. There are ways to make an action comedy work on a smaller budget. Just look at the earlier episodes of Gintama. JC Staff just doesn’t have the competency to pull it off.

If you go to J.C. staff's producer page on this site and sort by score, you won't find a title with the action tag until the 23rd entry. And that show is Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S. The first true action title there is...One Punch Man season 2, the 28th highest scored show they've produced. They just aren't good at action and should not have been selected to take this adaptation. Bones (FMA/FMA Brotherhood, My Hero Academy, Mob Psycho 100) or David Production (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Cells at Work) would have done a much better job. Ideally you'd want Madhouse to take the helm again but for some reason (possibly involving tequila) they decided AfterLost was a better use of their resources. 6/10

~Characters~

The characters in OPM are more or less pointless to critique. OPM is a satire/parody. Pretty much the entire cast consists of joke characters. Saitama is a weirdo who beats everything with one punch and thus tends to be oblivious to situations that are dangerous to people around him. Genos is super serious but gets his ass kicked in every single fight. Mumen Rider is some dude on a bike. King literally has no powers and is some sort of otaku. Sonic is lightning fast and would be potentially dangerous…if he wasn’t obsessed with fighting the one character he has no chance of defeating, thus guaranteeing he never actually poses a real threat to the rest of the world. Some of the other hero designs include: a guy in a pineapple suit, a dude dressed up as a dog, a guy in a red and yellow full-body latex suit with a smiley face hammer, and the main character is some lanky dude with no hair and wears yellow dishwashing gloves. Almost every character has some sort of joke associated with them or their appearance. There is no point in critiquing that, so I’m leaving this score blank.

~Enjoyment~

I don’t really grade for enjoyment. How much you enjoy something is determined by the product of your experiences in life and what you consider to be a quality production, which are different for every single person. As such, attempting to grade something inherently subjective with an objective grading metric is a paradox. I will leave this score blank.

~Conclusion~

One Punch Man season 2 is a failure almost exclusively on the technical front. If you analyze it for its writing and comedy, it’s pretty good. But that’s only half of what One Punch Man is. It’s an ACTION comedy. Action is half of it, and the action is terrible. As such, I can’t really give it a score above 5. After all, it fails at half of what it’s supposed to do.

One Punch Man season 2 gets a 3/10.

Here is what is contained within this OVA: magical girls, several pairs of tits, blatantly stolen Pokemon sound effects, naked zombies, inflatable henchmen, raining blood, female catgirl power rangers, a giant mascot that saws someone in half with a chainsaw, a girl in a dark magician outfit from Yu-Gi-Oh except with what appears to be latex over her tits, and the main characters floating down a street flooded with blood in a lifeboat to end it.

To tell you the truth, I really don't wanna tell you anything about what this is. Spoiling anything would ruin it. How many words does MAL require for reviews? ... Have I hit it yet? If you hated School Days, you might still like this. The only thing they have in common are the characters, and they don't act like they do in the main series so. Just watch it. It's nuts!

Also worth noting. I don't grade OVAs or specials. MAL forces you to attach a rating to any review you write. The rating I gave this does not mean anything.

[WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ONE PUNCH MAN, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, ZOMBIELAND SAGA, AND YOUR LIE IN APRIL]

Yes, I know everyone and their dementia-ridden grandma has already reviewed this. So rather than just talking about what it is, we’re going to attempt to fix Zombieland Saga. This show had way too much potential to simply accept its failures and move on. That section will be at the very end before the conclusion.


Few things are more frustrating than wasted potential, and that phrase to me is quickly becoming synonymous with Zombieland Saga. This show had serious potential. From a parody perspective, ZLS had the potential to reach the ... holy grounds of One Punch Man. Its premise is THAT GOOD. But you can see the rating I gave it. You know how this is gonna go.

~Story/Writing~ (Contains light spoilers for One Punch Man and BIG SPOILERS for Zombieland Saga)

The premise of Zombieland Saga is simple: an absolute mad lad resurrects dead girls and turns them into zombie idols. Right off the bat, it’s important to note how that sentence makes you feel as an audience member. The premise should lead you to a single conclusion about what you’d expect: this will be a comedy/parody. However, the reason ZLS is so disappointing is because that assumption is correct. ZLS’ premise is that of a comedy or parody/satire. But ZLS the anime adaptation is only partially a comedy. At its heart, its an attempt at drama. And it fails spectacularly at being a drama.

The first 2-5 episodes are indeed based around comedy, and they are powder kegs of canned comedy. Seriously, the first 2 episodes of ZLS are incredible. They’re funny, satirical, and built entirely around the comedic structure of its premise. Here’s what I mean: (This will spoil episodes 1, 2, 4, and 5)

Episode 1- They win over the crowd due to a mental hiccup that occurs in the zombies that looks like headbanging. This hiccup was setup in the scene prior. Set-up and payoff!

Episode 2- They win over the crowd because Tae's limbs keep popping off. This was set-up by the scene prior, when Mizuno's arms popped off when she tried to climb the fence. Set-up and payoff!

In episode 4, Yuugiri makes a comment about the girls getting the opportunity to "wash away the decay from Franchouchou", prompting the other girls to check themselves to make sure they don't stink. This is not random, as the previous episode had a scene where they talked about how zombies smelled bad. Set-up and payoff!

Also in episode 4, the introduction sequence implies that it's going to be a hot springs episode. Once you as a viewer have settled into that fact, they change it up and tell the girls that none of them are going to the hot springs because they can't go outside without their make-up on. So that's a subversion based on the genre they’re parodying and the logic that forms the premise of the show! They do end up going later, but that ends when Sakura’s head pops off and floats to the surface of the water like a zombie movie. That’s funny! Plus, it was set-up in episode 2 that their heads popped off. Set-up and payoff!

Episode 5- The set-up here is they're going to compete in a mud race thing. So they do, but the twist on it is that once they're muddy, they can't rinse off because that would remove their makeup and everyone would see they're zombies. So, they have to stay muddy the entire time. That's funny! Then when they get Tae to tear off her muddy shirt to reveal the group t-shirt, she's still wearing the drive-in shirt from the first half of the episode. Set-up and payoff!

All throughout this, Mamoru Miyano’s performance as Koutarou drives the rest of the comedy. For the first 5 or so episodes, he is a firecracker of performance comedy that never failed to make me giggle when he’s on screen. It sounds like Miyano is dicking around in the studio and the outcome is glorious. It’s also paced out nicely, as him yelling in every scene would get old really fast.

There also good situational comedy like when they're in Ushino (spelling?) and they have Tae hold onto the rope at the shrine, which of course she mindlessly thrashes around which rings the bell! That's funny!

Unfortunately for me (because I loved the first 5 episodes) and everyone else, ZLS implodes after episode 5. It stops trying to be funny and parodical and settles for drama. And it DOES NOT WORK. Story/Writing 5/10

~Characters~ (Contains spoilers for Zombieland Saga, Fullmetal Alchemist, and maybe spoilers for Your Lie in April?)

The first misstep that kicks it in motion is the introduction of character backstories. Now before I say anything else, I have no problem with the writers including these backstories. They’re plenty funny and would be great sources of satirical comedy. The problem is, the writers don’t seem to understand that they’re satirical.

Mizuno's backstory is played to be sad but having her die by getting struck by lightning on-stage is a really silly death to attach to a sad subplot. This is especially true after they show her burnt, crispy body still standing there on stage with her finger in the air, covered in black. That’s a comedic set-up (like the ones I mentioned above) that’s played straight, which cannot work because it's just too over-the-top to function as a serious plot point.

The same goes for all the other backstories too. Part of Sakura’s backstory is that she was delayed getting to her big exam because she had to help too many grannies. Lily died because she had a heart attack that was a result of her finding a wayward hair on her chin. She’s also revealed to be male in the scene. You see what I mean? Those are comedy set-ups. But they play it straight, and it makes no sense. If you're going for comedy or satire there, you play the ensuing scene where Lily and her dad meet for laughs. You don't make it a tear-jerker. That doesn't make any sense because the way Lily died was so stupid and absurd it cannot be played straight. ZLS seems to want to have its cake and eat it too. In that, I mean it wants to have stupid silly deaths the audience will laugh it but still try to make them tragic too. It doesn't work, it's too silly to work as tragedy.

Ultimately, mixing comedy and tragedy is a risky move. In most cases, it backfires or doesn't have a good balance, resulting in a murky grey area between comedy and drama that just doesn't mix well enough to function as either. On one end of that spectrum, you could have a really good drama that's weighed down by ill-advised attempts at comedy. We'll call this the "Your Lie in April" tier. The biggest mistake you can make in this tier is placing the comedy in scenes they aren't appropriate in, which ruins the drama and the mood. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is a good example of how to do this right, as its comedy was not only good, but placed in narrative openings that would work with comedy. At the end of the reveal about what the dog/human chimera is, Winry doesn't bust in and throw a wrench at someone's head. Because obviously, that would be stupid and ruin the moment. Your Lie in April apparently missed the memo on that because it tries to be funny at the end of fantastic character moments.

On the other end of that spectrum, you have Zombieland Saga. There's a bit too much drama that isn't interesting in ZLS, but its comedy scenes (first 5 episodes) are hilarious. They would have been better served scaling back the boring drama and focusing on comedy, because that's what ZLS is good at. It isn't good at being dramatic or sad. Its attempts at that are boring. That's what makes the shift in tone after episode 5 so disappointing. The first 5 episodes are powder kegs of comedy, yet for some reason they decide to shove in drama and it just doesn't work. It's important to have a nice mix of comedy and drama if you're going to try to mix the 2, but ZLS blows it by banking too much on its weak drama when it would function perfectly as a pure comedy. Zombies + idols is a set-up that screams comedy! That should be the focus!


Getting back to characters; as it turns out, Miyano's schtick wears off about half way through the show, mostly because they stopped mixing up his antics. Him yelling wasn't going to work on its own as a comedy pillar through the whole season and they should've known that. The real reason Miyano's schitck grows tired though is because they stop building comedic scenes around the other aspects of the show, which leaves Miyano as the main source of comedy. That was never going to work; it was a guarantee to get old once the other sources of comedy dried up.

And then there’s the pacing debacle that occurs during episodes 10 and 11. They go back to the initial incident where Sakura was hit by a car and turned into a zombie, which is just as confusing in the show as it sounds. Initially, I thought she got hit by ANOTHER car. I couldn’t believe they were going back to the events of the first episode right before the finale. For anyone who doesn’t know, it is generally not a good idea to stop everything that’s happening and introduce a new sub-plot right before the finale. The episodes leading up to a finale are supposed to be putting all the pieces the plot has introduced into place and building tension for the final episode. Going back to episode 1 and going “hey actually this happened so now Sakura is feeling this” is garbage writing. But the real problem is where in the story its placed. Why is it placed near the finale? This is a confused mess. These events take place at the very start of the show. Why isn't it placed there? I'll tell you why. Because the writers were like "wait we need to focus on Sakura right before the last episode so it seems like we're adhering to the second act of the 3-arc story structure where the main character is at their lowest". It's so transparent it's despicable. Characters 4/10

~Music/Sound~

All the vocal performances are great, too. Obviously Mamoru steals the show, but all of the idol characters are voiced well, too. Every character sounds like what you would expect them to sound like, with enough personal flair to make them feel memorable. You might think that is rather useless praise, but I just finished Naruto Shipudden and they used the same adult actors for characters like Shino and Shikamaru during flashbacks. That means 7-year old Shino has the same voice as 17-year old Shino. So yeah, good voice work is something to be appreciated and this is some good shit. Sound 9/10

~Art/Animation~

Visually, ZLS is solid. In terms of hand-drawn animation, art, color palette, character designs, and background art, it’s great. The character designs in particular are extremely well done. If you look at any one character without context, you could probably determine what they’re like based off their appearance and how they’re drawn. To me, that’s the mark of great character designs.

The real problem with ZLS visually is the CG idol performances. The frame rate on their dancing is too slow and makes it look choppy. It was somewhat distracting when Love Live did it, but in those shows it was pretty smooth. Here, it’s too rough to not be distracting. Art/Animation 8/10

~Enjoyment~

I don’t really grade for enjoyment. How much you enjoy something is determined by the product of your experiences in life and what you consider to be a quality production, which are different for every single person. As such, attempting to grade something inherently subjective with an objective grading metric is a paradox. I will leave this score blank.


~FIXING ZOMBIE LAND SAGA~

There are 2 routes you could take to fix ZLS:

1. Make it a pure comedy. That means cutting out the bland drama and focusing on creative ways to build scenes around the characters being zombie idols. This is what the first 2 episodes were.

2. Go for parody/satire. That means keeping the goofy backstories, but keeping the tongue planted firmly in cheek. One Punch Man is a great example of sincere satire, in that One Punch Man parodied the dumber aspects of superpower shounens while embracing what makes them fun. Take for example the scene where Mumen Rider is fighting the Deep Sea King in OPM season 1. The dialogue and structure of the scene indicate it's doing that "the people believe in me and that gives me the strength to win!" bullshit that runs rampant in a lot of other shounens. But instead of that actually giving Mumen Rider the ability to defeat the Deep Sea King, he just keeps getting annihilated. This is hilarious, as they keep building up to the moment where you expect Rider to win out, but instead he keeps getting knocked on his ass. It's a bait-and-switch based on the genre, and it's what made One Punch Man season 1 work as a comedy. This comedic structure is a good foundation to build a sincere satire with given ZLS' premise.

The source material already appears to be satirizing idol and zombie tropes, so flipping the switch from drama to satire would be the easiest path to fixing it.

Outside of those 2 options, there are ways to improve it if you wanted to keep it a drama (I don’t know why you would but I digress):

3. You could go for more of a gray area approach, although it wouldn’t work as well for a comedic premise. You’d still have to sprinkle in light bits of character drama, but I think it could still work. I’d also want to iron out the cliché narrative items for the plot, as they would drag the show down regardless of approach.

The "we need each other”, and "the group isn't the same without you" tropes became clichés right around when Love Live came out, so that particular plot point should have been avoided. Instead, it comes in during episode 3 and it is just lame as it always is.

They could've gone in a much more interesting direction by having one or both girls that were having doubts actually leave for good. Maybe they could have instead made one of them proficient in their past life at something else, making them able to go out on their own and try their hand at whatever that thing is. They could've done a Perfect Blue thing where they end up questioning their decision to pursue other interests and it drives them insane while the group takes off without them. That would have been the more career-oriented twist they could have done.

They also could have gone the Mawaru Penguindrum route and have the same thing happen, but make the girl feel guilty for abandoning their friends, even though the group in question has become massively popular. Or they could have gone gray area and shown her doing whatever she thinks is her purpose in her second life at certain parts of the story, and then maybe she shows up at the final concert to root them on? Anything other than the cliché "oh yay they came back!".

Those routes would work well to fix 2 big problems that reared their heads as soon as they went the drama route: the girls go along with becoming zombie idols far too easily, and no one suffers severe emotional distress from realizing they’re dead. For some of them, everyone they’ve ever known is dead. Don't you think it might mess someone up pretty bad if they woke up and you told them everyone they know has been dead for decades? But ZLS elects to ignore that. This isn’t an issue if it’s a comedy because it doesn’t impact the narrative that much and it wouldn’t be compatible with comedy. After all, it’s hard to write good comedy if you insist on explaining every single detail of what’s happening. But if you’re going to make it a drama, that issue has to be addressed. The more seriously you take your story, the more seriously your plot will be looked it and examined, as the story is what drives any drama.

The other issue that could be solved by having a character branch off on their own path is motivation. It’s odd that none of the girls already have dreams and aspirations they still wanted to pursue. If they did, it wouldn’t necessarily be impossible to achieve just because they’re zombies. Could none of those dreams be similarly reached using make-up and maybe perfume? It isn't a big deal but it annoys me considering the plot shifts to drama and then ignores the obvious dramatic conflicts that would arise from its premise. Even worse, it ignores these so it can indulge in the trappings of idol anime.

Lastly, if they wanted to keep this a drama, they should have made Saga more of a focus in the narrative. If it had jettisoned the silly backstories and used those 3-4 episodes to expand on Saga and why Koutarou wanted to revitalize it, it could’ve done wonders to flesh out his characters as well as give the audience more reason to care. As it stands, Koutarou is a purely comedic character with little to humanize him. Again, that works in a comedy but it’s strange in a drama. If you want to make a good drama, you have to give the audience a reason to care about the drama. Zombie Land Saga failed to do that.

~CONCLUSION~

Everything that’s wrong with ZLS can be traced back to one problem: it is a comedy/parody that’s played like a drama. You just can’t take a parody and force it to be a drama. If they wanted this to be a drama, the characters' motivations to revitalize Saga as idols would have to be expanded far more. That detail literally doesn't matter at all if it's a comedy or satire. It would be a detriment. But you can't change a comedy into a drama and keep the same story structure! That makes no sense!

The comedy side of this show is fantastic, but the drama-based idol aspect of this show sucks. It's good in the first 2 episodes because it's driven by the premise, but after that it starts falling into all the trappings of Love Live. When it tries, the comedy is gold. So how do you grade something that's half good, half bland, and a general mishandling of a premise with great potential? That's a textbook 6.

Zombieland Saga gets a 6/10.

[WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SCHOOL DAYS, SILENT HILL 2, AND DEATH NOTE]

To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how good School Days actually is from an objective standpoint. After all, my rating for it is based partially on the fact that 70% of the people who watched it here didn’t understand it, and partially on its willingness to take a narrative risk that alienated the majority of its audience. Those aren’t the only reasons it got an 8, but context is important when I judge the value of something. The context of School Days is that it’s a slice of life show ... that is infinitely more mature and complex than its most common recommendation Higurashi (why is Higurashi the most recommended show on MAL to people who liked School Days???), it took more risks and a bolder approach than most people give it credit for, its plot structure is extremely polarizing to the point where its reputation among anime fans is one of the worst of any show I’ve watched, and it exposes a lack of maturity among anime fans that I point to as another reason why anime is seen as a niche artistic medium rather than a widely respected medium like film or music.

Some personal background information: I have been cheated on. And people who have been cheated on, who have cheated on someone, or who are thinking about cheating on their partner are the target audience for this show. That seems to be something that most of the people who reviewed this show previously don’t seem to get. This isn’t a show to make the casual anime viewer feel nice about themselves and then they move on. It has several purposes depending on who is watching it.

For those who have been cheated on, it’s a lovely dose of catharsis. It might open a few wounds that you’d prefer stay shut, but the ending is delightful if you’ve felt the same pain Katsura did. If you have cheated on someone, this show will make you feel like a piece of shit. If it doesn’t, what happens to Itou represents what the person you cheated on wished would happen to you. Yeah. If you’re thinking about cheating on someone, this show is a pretty strong argument against doing so. If you have any shred of emotional maturity or empathy, this should convince you to talk to your partner instead of being a selfish coward.

~Characters~ (CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DEATH NOTE)

As for the casual anime fan, watching this is something a challenge from the writers. It challenges you to step outside of your emotional comfort zone and see the main character as a selfish asshole, but also a flawed person. Itou is very young and has never had a girlfriend before. Most of his actions can be written off by the fact that this is his first relationship, but at the same time none of them should be. You see, School Days as a story would not work at all if the characters were any younger or any older. If Katsura was any older, it would be fair to criticize Katsura for letting it go on for as long as she does. If Itou was younger, the sexual aspect of the show probably wouldn’t land and he’d be too inexperienced with girls to even approach them. He already is worthless around girls at the start, but it’s right at that age where he would start to develop. If he was any older, absolutely none of his actions could be argued were a result of emotional immaturity. Anyone who’s been in at least one relationship before should know better than to do anything Itou does to Katsura and Sekai. What he does seems mean-spirited but given his age and inexperience with relationships; these acts of selfishness, cowardice, and insensitivity are par for the course for most guys in their first relationships. It takes practice and experience to be good at anything, and love is no exception.

Itou makes mistakes, but at the same time those mistakes SHOULD be seen as terrible things to do to another person. It’s a case of a human being human, as well as being in a way a victim of Sekai’s own selfishness and cowardice.

Itou is the “villain” of School Days. He is the main character, but undeniably the villain. It’s structured the same way Death Note is. Light was the main character of Death Note, but the villain as well. L was basically the protagonist, but the story isn’t told from his perspective because Light’s perspective is more compelling and the theming of the show is centered around Light’s corruption. The same is true of School Days. For all purposes, Katsura is basically the protagonist of School Days. She’s the most likeable character and one of the few that didn’t really do much of anything wrong. Itou is NOT supposed to be the usual, likeable slice of life protagonist. You are NOT supposed to like him. He’s the villain! School Days is told from his perspective because it wants to focus on his corruption and transformation from a shy, naïve boy into a selfish, manipulative asshole. The Death Note corrupts Light. Sex corrupts Itou. 9/10

~Story~ (CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DEATH NOTE AND BIG SPOILERS (!!!) FOR SILENT HILL 2)

Considering everyone hates Itou so much, that would imply the message of the show hit its viewers hard. The problem is, few viewers seemed to recognize that it worked or even that it was intentional. They hated Itou the male protagonist and therefore concluded that the show was garbage because they didn’t like a character or what he does. This is the challenge I was referring to earlier that’s presented to the audience. Can you step outside of your little bubble and embrace the message of a show that is designed to make you feel angry? Are you mature enough to see a character as a human even when they do things you don’t agree with? The subversion that School Days pulls over the viewer is based on this. Itou is presented as the bland, typical slice of life male protagonist that’s dull, likeable, and relatable and doesn’t do anything controversial that would alienate the show’s audience. This is setup in the first episode where Itou is a shy, bumbling idiot around girls like most other slice of life shows do. But over the course of the show, Itou is gradually corrupted into an asshole that uses people and only thinks of himself.

Just because a character does not do what you would do or does something stupid or mean or impulsive, does not mean they are a bad character. The generic male slice of life protagonist might train your brain to think that all protagonists should be relatable and not do anything bad or disagreeable, but this is not true. Light Yagami is a great example. Light is a terrible person who murders people based on his own naïve sense of justice because he was given a power he was not mature enough to handle responsibly.

Of course, the artistic approaches are totally different. Death Note is very tongue-in-cheek. The cat-and-mouse game between Light and L is absolutely ridiculous and covers a lot of the dumber aspects of the plot by being silly and not taking it seriously. If it took itself seriously, the show probably wouldn’t be nearly as popular. School Days is mostly serious. For the most part it’s pure drama, with little sprinklings of slice-of-life hijinks. If it took itself less seriously and went for entertaining, would it be as popular as Death Note? Would people be willing to overlook Itou’s misdeeds if he paraded around like a goofball and wasn’t just an immature asshole? Definitely. There’s not much to latch onto within Itou’s personality that makes him likable despite his shitty actions. Light had a lot of other aspects to him that made him engaging and fun even though he was a terrible person.

A better comparison might be Silent Hill 2. (Here’s your spoiler warning, this spoils the entire game) The protagonist of Silent Hill 2 is James Sunderland, a man who killed his wife. However, the game does not construct itself around convincing you James is a monster. It presents James as a person; a flawed person that did something horrible for a combination of good and bad reasons. It presents what dumber games would tell you is just a murderer, as a human being. That distinction is why Silent Hill 2 is considered one of the best games ever made. Its story and characters are dark, fucked up, flawed, controversial, and above all: human. It’s a remarkably bold and refreshing artistic statement that you very rarely see in video games.

Am I saying School Days is as good as Silent Hill 2? Hell no. Silent Hill 2 is a masterpiece and has few, if any flaws. But the approach to the “protagonist” is the same: a flawed person that made questionable decisions. I’ll always applaud pieces of art that try to do something bold, controversial, and different. I prefer a Logan or Watchmen over Black Panther, Infinity War, or Thor: Ragnarok. I’ll take my Evangelion over Gundam or Fullmetal Panic. And I enjoy a Spec Ops: the Line or Metal Gear Solid 2 over a Call of Duty or Battlefield. Not to say that those shows I don’t prefer don’t have some value nor am I saying they aren’t good. Just trying to lay my cards on the table and explain why I admire the artistic approach School Days takes.


It rarely tries to be funny, which is wise for a show trying to make the audience feel anger. It's something that a lot of shows in the slice of life genre don't seem to get: tone. If you want your show to make people angry, don't throw light-hearted scenes in that break up the tone. If you want your show to be sad, don't ruin your best scenes with attempts at comedy (Hi, Your Lie in April!).

Cheating does a lot more damage than you think it does. You might think it will only hurt one person, but one slip-up can lead a person down a downward spiral that causes them to use people, not consider other people's feelings, misplace their priorities, and generally act like a total dirtbag. By episode 5 or 6, I already hated the main character; and I felt bad for Katsura because she fell for an emotionally immature idiot that isn't actually in love with her, but the idea of her.

The event that pushes the main plot into motion is a single act of cowardice by Sekai, and most of the more unfortunate events of the plot could have been avoided had Itou not been such a coward. Ultimately, Itou’s fate is ultimately sealed by one final act of cowardice. He doesn’t get better over the course of the show: he constantly gets worse. By the end of the show, both Katsura and Itou are completely different people. Katsura is a husk, too numb and emotionally devastated to even function. Itou is a full-on player, telling a girl he just slept with "she's the only one." And that’s the thesis of School Days on cheating: a single act of cowardice can ruin people’s lives permanently. 8/10

~Art/Animation~

The backgrounds are lovely but the character designs are very bland. Most of the hair styles are fine but every now and then there's a character with one that's so stupid it distracts from what’s happening.

It probably shouldn't be animated. Most of the animation is pretty bad and lacks detail. It would make for a much better movie, and having real actors in it would probably sell the emotions of the characters better and feel more realistic. 5/10

~Sound/Music~

I have nothing to say regarding the sound or music. Music was bland, and the sound design seemed fine. 6/10

~Enjoyment~

Normally, I’d leave the enjoyment part of my review blank because, as I have explained in several reviews before this, grading something subjective like enjoyment using an objective grading metric is a paradox. However, it comes into play here due to the audience it’s intended for.

Like I said earlier in the review, I have been cheated on. Being cheated on absolutely breaks you. That's what you see from Katsura during the second half of the show. That is a woman torn apart by a man who doesn't give 2 squirts a piss about her. She has no idea why, and that's why it's hard to watch the scenes where she vacantly stares into the void while people are talking to her. I've been there. You wonder: what's wrong with me? Am I not attractive enough? Do I bore them? Is my personality weak? Does the person they cheated on me with have something I don't? There's an existential nightmare that bores its head when you're cheated on, and School Days nails that.

So naturally, my experience with School Days is different than most who watched it. From experience being in that situation, this show hits its marks quite well and I could understand and identify with most of the characters, while also reviling those same characters for their immaturity and selfish actions. 9/10

~Conclusion~

If you can’t tell already, I thoroughly enjoyed School Days. A great deal of that enjoyment may come from the fact that it pissed off a bunch of neckbeards who don’t like it when the male protagonist isn’t a boring piece of cardboard, but I think it succeeded at doing what it set out to do and I admire its refusal to pander to its audience (for the most part).

That isn’t to say I don’t have some gripes. The finale does feel like it was meant to be a dose of catharsis for those watching that have been cheated on. And while I appreciate that, it does feel misplaced. The finale is over-the-top like the ending of a thriller, but the rest of the series is mostly played straight, like a drama. The animation and art are rather crappy, and the first 4 episodes are pretty dry.

This show is good and deserves your attention. Try to look past the occasional misplaced attempt at comedy, crappy animation, and bland art style.

School Days gets an 8/10.

[THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]

Rather than writing a traditional start-to-finish review of the entire show, I’m going to show you my actual notes I took as I watched this show. Usually these become the basis for a full review as I preen the paragraphs to root out fluff and hyperbole, but this time I'm pasting my raw notes divided into 3 acts. That way, you’ll know exactly what it’s like watching the maddening stumble from genuinely good character study revolving around player-character dissonance; to plot-hole ridden, horribly characterized, nonsensically stupid shit-show that is Sword Art Online Gun Gale Online Alternative.

(there's a TL;DR at the end ... if you just want a summary or want to avoid spoilers)
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What makes Sword Art Online Gun Gale Online Alternative Architecture 3.33 You Can (Not) Kirito superior to everything else in the franchise boils down to mainly 2 things:

1. The main character is not a harem master like Kirito that always wins out in the end and is the best at everything. Kirito is the king of all Mary Sue characters because he never loses, never struggles for more than a few minutes, and has all the underage girls riding his jock. He is an unbearable main character I always rooted against. He has nothing going for him, he's a boring skinny white boy, and he seemingly has never had to work hard to accomplish anything in his spoiled little life.

What sets Karen apart, however, is that she actually seems to have things she doesn't like going on in her life. Specifically, she's developed a complex due to her height. Karen is unusually tall, and just as little shithead kids do, her classmates make fun of her and treat her like a freak. It isn't much, but this goes a long way in making sure she isn't a soulless protagonist like Kirito. Her in-game avatar reflects the dissonance between who she is outside the game and who she wants to be, realized inside the game. It's unusual for Sword Art Online to attempt to tell a story deeper than "mary sues fight the evil guys", so this is a very refreshing change. (if only I knew what was to come…)

As a result, I wasn't bothered as much when Karen became one of the best players in the game in what felt like a couple days. I don't care! It's about context in this case, and not having Kirito around to pander to the babies that like power fantasies made the journey far more tolerable.

The main characters in SAO seasons 1, 2, and the movie are basically your most boring Facebook friends. I found it really hard to care about any of them, as their bland personalities kind of all felt the same and none of them were really any fun to watch. Karen on the other hand is actually pretty entertaining. She's upbeat, expressive, and silly. She breathes life into what is otherwise a rather generic story. It's even better considering her online behavior is basically the opposite of who she is outside the game. In the real world, she's anxious, reclusive, and quiet. Online, she's bubbly, loud, and extremely flamboyant. It's another nice way of showing how Karen is able to express herself online in ways that she's unable to in real life.

2. This plays off the previous point, but SAO GGO Alternate constantly toys with the concept of online-irl disconnect.

Also on the topic of analyzing the playstyles and in-game lifestyles of players, it also discusses the illusion of skill in online games. The conversation between Karen and skinny wetsuit boob lady about the aiming circle was interesting, partially because it implies there isn't one way to play the game. More importantly, it isn't done in a way that might lead you to believe the writing staff is a bunch of middle schoolers, like having one player use a fucking sword in a shooter. So god damn stupid. It further reminds the viewer that while it may try to convince you the drama and shooting in the game feels real, it's ultimately just a simulation that's gone through rigorous play-testing to feel as real as possible. You aren't a skilled shooter because you can shoot people accurately in game. It's a fantasy, and SAO GGO Alternative's commitment to separating the two is absolutely fascinating.

Seasons 1 and 2 and the movie seemed to think that just making Kirito good at everything constituted good character writing but he lives a fantasy both inside and outside of the game. Nothing about him is grounded in the reality of the universe he lives in (impeccable charisma, irl harem master), or the games he plays (always wins, is always the hero). GGO Alternate's subversion of a consistent problem its predecessors had is mind-boggling, as this show nails it and it's a fucking spin-off.

It is no exaggeration to say that Karen is the best character in the entire franchise. she wins too easily, which appears to just be mandatory for SAO protagonists, but overall she's the only character that I feel any emotion from. You know, other than irritation, loathing, or boredom.

EPISODE 5: IT BEGINS

Why can her gun talk? Why did her teammate lose his mind like that over pretty much nothing? What the fuck was that?

It's difficult to justify how a well-practiced player managed to miss Karen from point-blank range twice. Why did she try to shoot at Karen's head? That's the only thing that Karen can move! Also how did she miss at point-blank range if she's so good with guns she can catch a mag in the loading chamber THAT SOMEONE THREW AT HER?

I guess at episode 5 it suddenly remembers its SAO and starts throwing in all the bad writing and schlock that characterized the first 3 entries in the franchise. I mean this is getting REALLY stupid, REALLY fast.

I feel like that cover thing is kinda broken. if that dude can just wear an invincible shield, then everyone would use one. It would basically neutralize any bullets that aren't extremely high-caliber. As a result, no one would use lower-caliber bullets, and everyone would run around with high-caliber rifles. After all, why bother with a pistol when it can't pierce anyone's chest? You'd have to be a headshot master. In which, case snipers would rule. That shield thing really shouldn't have made it past playtesting. it would've fucked up balance within a couple matches. He didn't say anything about it making the user unusually slow or it being very heavy so it makes their carrying capacity lower to give it an associated trade-off, so I have to assume it’s a totally broken mobile bulletproof shield.

EPISODES 10-12: CRESCENDO OF MADNESS

If Shino took damage from blood loss after losing her hands, why didn't Pito take blood loss damage from getting shot in the head? What kind of fucking sense does that make? Are you telling me that if you're shot in the head and magically survive with 1 hp left, you don't take blood loss significant enough to kill you within 5 minutes? Yet Shino lost a quarter of her health within 1 to 2 minutes. And don't tell me it's because her foot and hands were shot off. You can survive longer without your hands and feet than you can if someone punches a bullet sized hole through the middle of your skull. So do you only take blood loss damage if you aren't shot in the head? Isn't the idea behind that that you would just die instantly rather than bleeding out? If your hands and feet are shot off, you'd die of blood loss but the rest of your body can still function. If you're shot in the head, uh you still bleed a lot. Also it kinda severely damages the brain, which you kinda need to send signals to the rest of your body to move your muscles, breathe, and produce blood. So how does it make sense that you don't suffer from blood loss from getting shot in the head? CAN YOU SAY PLOT ARMOR?

WHAT IS WITH THE TALKING GUN AND WHY DOES IT ONLY HAPPEN IN 3 EPISODES? ALSO WHY DO MULTIPLE GUNS THAT ONLY KAREN USES TALK? WHAT???

Every other character we've seen get shot in the head died pretty much instantly. Pito surviving that is the definition of plot armor.

I guess if you have a villain that's crazy for no reason, you can justify them destroying their own vehicle by saying "well, they're crazy." That's not a valid defense! There's no logic behind anything she does! Pito is a villain that is a villain because the writers said she was a villain. Nothing she does makes her evil. She didn't actually kill anyone like the guy from SAO 1 did (he was at least responsible for every death even if he didn't kill anyone directly). She just said she would. If she was actually that crazy, she probably would have murdered several people irl by now. Why would she wait until now and hinge it on the outcome of a tournament? Because the plot says that is what happens. It doesn't make sense and nothing she does is motivated by anything because her character has zero development.

Everything we know about her is told to us rather than shown. I haven't seen her do anything that I'd call evil. Killing her allies in a game isn't evil. It's stupid, but there's no crime being committed. Her character is a complete shitshow of bad writing, bad plot structure, bad storytelling, and hackneyed tropes that only seem to rear their head when a poorly thought out villain is in play.

Also at around 16:48 (I apparently forgot to note which episode, but its almost certainly episode 11 or 12), Shino is shown to have recovered nearly all her health despite losing ALL OF HER HANDS AND FEET. HOW THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN?

Why would you lose HP when you're lying in water not deep enough to even cover your ears? Is the water full of flesh-eating parasites??

OH MY GOD HER FUCKING TALKING GUN BLEW UP IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS TO PROTECT HER. IT IS SENTIENT, CAN TALK, AND CAN BLOW ITSELF UP TO PROTECT ITS USER. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The main character's talking gun blows itself up in its enemy's hand so Pito can't shoot Karen with it. This is obviously retarded. It's also never explained. This show just has a sentient talking gun and doesn't think to explain it.

There's no deeper reason for Pito being crazy. She just is that way. Usually in a show that wasn't written by a bunch of chimpanzees, there's some event from the character's past or childhood that traumatized them and made the way they are. This is not so for Pito. The writers couldn't be bothered to even do that much.

Also, everyone and their mom could have guessed who Pito was outside the game. It was too obvious.

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TL;DR: SAO GGO A is bad. But, the first 4 episodes are genuinely good. Watch the first 4 episodes and then bail.

Episodes 1-4: 7/10
Episodes 5-9: 4/10
Episodes 10-12: 1/10
Overall: 4/10