Best of the Best 2025
My Hero Academia
What can I say about MHA? I haven’t been into an anime and one for this long for quite some time. It definitely filled some sort of anime-shaped void in my heart that could only be filled with a worthwhile, long running shonen. I’m only half joking. There had been a good long anime missing in my life for a while before it and I feel sad about it ending because now I’m going to have to find something new to fill it up again.
My Hero Academia filled the void up so well because it just had everything you’d want. It has a good protagonist that you can root for. Anyone who says anything about Deku not being a good protagonist obviously never saw anything past season 1. He is not at all a two dimensional character. He has depth and nuance, good qualities and flaws. He has growth and character development, we ultimately see him grow up throughout the series. We actually see him get a little dark. And that alone, seems pretty revolutionary to me. Deku is a good boy, we all know that he did end up going to a pretty dark place. but also even though he accepted himself and his life by the end of the series you can still feel that tingle of–what if in there. It was a bittersweet ending for him if you think about it. It makes my heart hurt for him a little but he did it. He got to do what he always wanted to do. He got to live out his dream at a ripe old age of 16 or something (IDK anime math)
All Deku ever wanted was to be a hero and we got to see it play it out. The final season was a great conclusion to his hard work and determination to do what he always knew he could. I like that we got to see this in what was ultimately one long arching story. It was just one main villain through it all so we got to know him well. In other long running series we usually have several “big bads” for one arc ends another begins, a new villain coming with it (Not like I wouldn’t have liked it to continue, haha).
Going back to what I said early about Deku getting dark and how that was revolutionary in a way. So, I’ve talked about the evolution of shonen protagonist before and this has to be one of the biggest displays of it. Looking back at shonen protagonist they all kind of always kept their personality the same throughout. Sure they would have times when they had to get super serious e.g. the chipper ones like Goku and Luffy when they’re in a fight but they completely revert back afterwards. Even the more serious ones like Naruto or Ichigo didn’t have much of a change other than being more responsible which just comes with regular growth. It’s still happening in new stuff like Tanjiro in Demon Slayer. He lost his family and though he was sad and angry at the moment you don’t often see differences afterwards. Deku though, he never goes back to who he was, that’s okay.
You can also say that about Bakugou and his other shonen counterparts. I’m not going into as much detail since he already had his day, haha. But, take Sasuke or Vegeta and compare them to the growth and acceptance Bakugou goes through. Vegeta does eventually accept his second place status behind Goku but remains bitter about it. (If anything he’s closer to Piccolo in that aspect so that explains why I like both Piccolo and Bakugou the best, haha) But, MHA did give me Bakugou so that’s another reason why it wins, lol. I love myself a good character to obsess over.
Okay, I’m just kind of rambling about MHA at this point but, ultimately it goes back to the series being able to fill in every other category if I wanted it to. With it only being the end of season 7 and season 8: Best Lady: Uraraka, Best Parental Figure: All Might, Best Male: Bakugou, Best Couple: Uraraka & Deku (Bakugou & Deku ((I don’t ship them, lol)), Best Existential Crisis: Shigaraki, Best Brain: Deku, and Best Worst: All for one.
So, yeah…My Hero Academia gave us what we always like about a good shonen, action and laughs while elevating it and moving forward into a more modern direction. It was never without its faults of course. (More exploration of other characters, sometimes feeling rushed) But, there’s no denying that’ll go on to be considered one of the best shonen series for many years in the future.











