I think Belzebub was also 1 year?
My Hero Academia II - A true Hero
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I think it is just because high school is always the "prime of their lives" in Japan. And developing relationships past a year is a pain in the ass because of student transfers in an actual high school setting. Of course, you can say that this a fictional setting with allows for flexibility but that actually means Horikoshi have to admit he suck at writing characters when inevitably people realize certain class dynamics are better than the other. The Academia setting should have been tossed out once the story decided to head in this direction and along with better pacing and better character directions, it could actually be a good read. But the story's popularity shoots itself in the foot as everyone wants a fast paced action with flashy scenes instead of slice of life and meaningful development, so we got whatever this is. It also doesn't help when Horikoshi just isn't that good a writer and is probably overreliant on tropes to carry his manga because he is otherwise too tired to care about anything else except finishing it at its "glory".
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I think Belzebub was also 1 year?
Simpler and smaller stories like Azumanga Daioh are where they actually go through the three years and graduate. In shonen it is usually used for relating with the reader like zeltrax225 mentioned.
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And I think most of Negima is in that one year But I could be wrong.
Negima ended before it was supposed to due to shenanigans at the publisher at the time. Given that there were a crapload of dangling plot threads and the author jumped into Negima 2 almost immediately but didn't call it that at first…
It's also a weird one because they spent a VERY long arc in another world, I want to say like 1/3 of the series and the characters were there for months and then when they got back basically no time had passed? And then near the end it started doing timeskips to move things along.
But its been over a decade since I last looked at the story after the rushed ending ruined the whole thing for me, so I don't remember for sure.
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Shokugeki no Soma was also one year. And it turned out horribly there too.
I think school settings in shonen are just often ill conceived. Authors inevitably don't have the ideas or the drive to fill up three whole years, so the main character ends up the best in their craft by the end of the first.
It's barely about the school part anymore - hasn't been for a while frankly - to the point where I wonder why the academy premise was ever shoved into this series in the first place. Dozens of characters left to languish, and many of the student focused arcs are often viewed as the lowpoints (license exam, class A vs. class B, etc.) too. I feel like it would've worked out much better for the worldbuilding and story Hori wanted to tell if Deku was an intern at a hero agency from the start.
School settings are a wellknown way to increase familiarity with your core audience, high school kids in Japan. However, as you said, it's a very restrictive setting that introduced at least implicitely some expectations, a general timeline, etc. and many authors who arent that into worldbuilding can't handle that.
I firmly maintain my position that Oda's choice of setting was one of the most important decisions in his whole career as it allowed for closed off arcs while also making room for sages, filler, exposition from other ends of the world, information starvation/filtering etc. in a very natural way that almost no other manga that in a modern urban or school setting can.
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the best completed high school manga that allows most of the students to grow and breath is GTO and that was decades ago. I guess it helps that it is a grounded setting. Man, its really time for another re-read.
World trigger, although not high school-high school, is a masterclass compared to Hero in terms of managing and slowly introducing a "class" of characters into a larger and complex setting without any of them feeling too left behind. It's not apple to apple but it does hit the right notes that Hero has failed too.
Series like Blue Period, Silver Spoon, Ballroom, etc, while do not have a "class" or highschool setting, does the same by introducing a group of young characters pursuing a craft and grow respectively (even differently and finding their own answers) through their attempts. It's non-flashy, no big powerups, but do satisfy the itch for meaningful character growth and the complexities (and hardships) of chasing excellence. That everyone can chase the same thing but come out with a different understanding of their craft.
Where their development in their passions affects their own character growth. This was also the charm of Shokugeki in its initial years, there was magic there.I feel like besides Bakugo, this is what Hero lacks and should have been. Everyone now is a hive mind. The hero-ing aspect of this series is so vague and so untouched on that it doesn't feel real and it has become a carbon copy of all the generic superpowered shounen manga. There's little to zero complexity here despite the potential of it and it is because there was so much potential that this is a disappointment. -
It's deeply ironic and quite hilarious that MHA is a manga about Western style superheroes that shares the same problems I find quite common in US mainstream cape comics - namely a lack of meaningful stakes, unfilfilling character development, etc.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. - _Sun Tzu, The Art Of War
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It's deeply ironic and quite hilarious that MHA is a manga about Western style superheroes that shares the same problems I find quite common in US mainstream cape comics - namely a lack of meaningful stakes, unfilfilling character development, etc.
It’s not that ironic when we that Hori has consider this:
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After the war is over, MHA will convert to Seinen manga that will focus on Midoryia getting laid.
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the school shit sucks, it's better this way
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The school stuff is the best part. Horikoshi needs to stop focusing so much on the grand narrative and themes and focus on the everyday life stuff again. I really hope the series doesn't end once All for One is defeated.
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The school arcs would be good… if they weren't just the very same thing over and over: tournaments and internships. The gentlethief arc was one of the best parts ever.
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I mostly enjoy character drama like the Todoroki family and Deku and Mirio different mode of heroism with Eric. So I can't say the school stuff would be enough. Since it doesn't have the highs I want.
But I do enjoy the school stuff sometimes. I just wish the school stuff was time to do something different not more fights.Like that rare time where the solution to help kids was giving them a place to play. Not beating someone. Or the festival making them be inventive before turning to battle again.
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The best chapter was just the kids showing off their rooms while Tsu was too upset to share in the exchange. Just character moments and slice of life school stuff. Not class tournaments or internships.
The festival arc was one of the better ones in hindsight, we didn't know then that would be the last time anyone did anything private.
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My favourite part was All Might's fight against AfO. I was genuinely worried he'd die. Great decision on Horikoshi's part to keep him alive after that. Otherwise I enjoyed almost everything focusing on the class, be it the tournament, training sessions, fighting against class B, exams or the festival.
And Twice. Everything about Twice was amazing.
First big dud was definitely Overhaul's arc. Miro and Eri were great, honestly Overhaul was pretty fun as well. But that's when we started shifting focus to the older heroes, action scenes became hard to follow and it felt less about the character's personal developments and more like brainless action. There's still moments I enjoy, especially visually, so long as it's not a big fight Horikoshi is an insanely talented artist, and I like the direction he takes the story in. I just wish we'd kept focusing on the class and not New Character #45. All this big scale country saving action is cool, but it's when he keeps it focused on the everyday people that it shines.
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What's the deal with all the hand motions?
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I really like the emotional core of the Overhaul arc. His introduction with the confrontation between the two villainous groups was memorable, and the final fight with Mirio and 100% Deku moments was quite good. Too bad everything else was boring henchmen fights.
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So much stuff going on it's a little hard to follow.
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Nice seeing Monoma and Shinso get to chip in. Pretty good strategy so far, fun how it kind of bookends USJ.
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Well, that's a positive surprise seeing my favorite character Monoma being back and even contributing a lot to tje heroes fight. 10/10 chapter. Would have been a 11/10 if he'd have talked smack to class A again.
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Nice to see the class B secondaries get to do some stuff.
I don't know why they don't just have mushroom girl throw spores down everyone's throats. Obviously the hyper healing abilities can get around it and maybe some fire power, but it should be able to take out most of them without a quick counter. Muss em up for at least a few precious minutes.
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Watch out as Shigi destroys half the cocoons before Monoma has a chance to transport them.
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A bit cheesy and melodramatic for my taste but I like the 2 that people believed should be villain being important in taking down the most important villain ever.
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New Vigilantes chapter is out
! Here comes the cavalry
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GOAT Koichi time !
! I still expect Koichi to be the one to finish the fight. With the heroes' help but he'll give the final blow.
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! If we follow the playground metaphor the heroes arriving are like the adults telling their kids that it's time to go home
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Jolly good chapter of Vigilante.
Meanwhile! God Dammed Hori you had one job, have Bakugo face his nemesis the sludge villain and you put him against Shigi. At least the Toga-Uraraka-Deku throple is gonna get some closure.
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Koichi's looking really banged up. He's gonna be recovering for a while after this. Good to see Naruhata rooting for him. Not sure how "Knuckleduster" can talk to "AFO". Maybe it's connected to his stolen quirk.
I can definitely see Number 6 trying to take as many people with him when he's about to die. Koichi's not done yet.
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Even though I haven't been enjoying MHA since the post war, I will admit that I am a bit excited for these upcoming fights especially Dabi vs Shoto.
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Welp, we're fucked.
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I'm curious how Team Endeavor's gonna handle AFO. Loving Caffeine Dabi. Expecting a ton of shit talking during his fight. Best Jeanist has had once heck of career. Number 6, AFO, Gigantomachia, and now he's fighting Shigaraki. Don't know how much he's paid, but he needs a raise.
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sick spreads and framing though, really good aesthetically and is eyecandy for anyone into drawing
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I’m guessing that all of these villains are clones of Toga using Twice’s ability. She seems to give them an order at the start of 345.
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46 resons why Aizawa was demoted to not cool by Tenko Shigaraki
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But first, let me tell you about Skillshare…
Nice seeing so many heroes coming to together to make Shigaraki's prison. Deku's official in-universe role is going full shonen protag on Shiggy, ha!
Great seeing more 2nd years. Man, I wish we learned more about them. -
Without Deku there I dont know how much they can do
I dont think Kaminari should be able to provide power for the extended period that is implied but I like the construction .
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Momoyao's going to need a banquet to keep up all that creation.
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Vigilante talk
! Aizawa is such a cool dude. Now it's time for Endy's show off.
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Love seeing so many returning characters show up and cheer on The Crawler. He really is Naruhata's hometown hero. Surprised Endeavor showed up. Wonder what he's gonna do. Not sure if I want All Might showing up but I guess he'll make a final appearance at some point. I really want Mirko to return to the series. That'd be more fitting.
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Take your L Ochaco
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I feel like the author keeps trying to create "dynamic" angles and cool looking scenes to the detriment of readable of visually interesting fight choreography. Individual scenes can look great but then you have stuff like Nomu attacking with amorphous black spike or Shiggy attacking with a mess of limbs. The first fight with shiggy in the start of the manga was a thousand times more intense and cool than this endgame shiggy.
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Anyone else missing Todd Mcfarlane Deku?
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So, Danger Sense doesn't work on stalkers. Okay.
I'm not understanding how generating hands prevents Quirk Singularity. Anyway, I'm excited to see Team Best Jeanist go wild against Shigaraki.
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I'm not understanding how generating hands prevents Quirk Singularity
I think hyper regeneration to prevent quirks blowing up the future users
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Psycho is as psycho does, I guess.
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That second page was gold.
I think I'm gonna love this fight.
