Why is comparing Naruto to BnHa even a thing?
BnHa setting and Naruto are completely different.
BnHA is more grounded, down to earth and plays on a lot of aspects of superhero realism and societal responsibility.
On the other hand, Naruto literally has no rules and goes batshit crazy.
Heck it's difficult to compare BnHa world to any other shounen because everything else is either too chaotic or break their own rules all the time.
The closest I can think of is World Trigger.
BnHa at least make it' own rules and stick to it best as it can with the rare exceptions of plot devices/deus ex machinas.
An example would be the big brother One Piece, one piece is chaotic as it can be but makes it own rules and plays around with it in a creative way that wows us.
We know Luffy is aiming to become Pirate King just like we know Deku is going to graduate.
Except one of them is sailing in a chaotic sea and the other is attending day to day school.
You can't expect kingdoms to blow up when the protagonist is literally going through a curriculum very much like our world's.
Given the limits of the world and rules he created, along with a vision to stick to his endgame, I think Horishiki is doing a good job with the arcs without drastically alternating the structure of the storyline.
What I want to say is there's not much he can do without breaking up the structure of the story because once he does play with other factors besides having the characters following a curriculum (for instance, writing in top-tier villains), it'll go batshit like Naruto and that will be chaotic to the point of nonsense.
It literally says in the title, this is about academy life more than anything else.
For the girls. All I have to say is the Ochako vs Bakugo fight is still one of my favourites today.
No, she's not going to become or grow towards a strong 21st century woman, every woman that becomes one =/= character development.
Her backstory is literally wanting to become a hero to make money. there's no brilliant dream that she has nor does she forces herself to make one.
Yet she does grow, slow as it might be.
Someone brought up Hinata and I facepalmed. Hinata fell in love with Naruto when she was a kid even before she hit puberty and she was obsessed with him over one incident.
I like to link that to psychological trauma but that's another story. Point is, she barely interact with her and him with her. It was to the point of obsession so that she could have something to forget about the terrible life she's living.
Naruto wasn't the only one working hard during the chunin exams, but she needed something to cling to.
Throughout Shippuden, she barely did anything except throw her life away for a guy he barely even know well.
On the other hand, Horishiki gives Ochako and Deku time to grow and she only fall in love with him after a period of time and many interactions. It's the friendship-romance development and I would say it's one of the favourite kinds of read.
Even when she does fall in love, she doesn't let it distract her and because she admires his persistency, she now carries it with her.
Look, I am also disappointed in the lack of girl fights but I still have confidence in Horishiki solely base on the fact that he gives the girls their own interests, panels and moments to shine.
Not every girl has to be battle crazy or change into a badass armor in a double spread page or slash a meteorite to be badass.