I think if i wrote mha, i'd have it go through their years of UA, with year one dealing with the idea of humane/ understandable villains first. obvs that wouldent be the only thing, but my point would be to give certain subjects the due time so things CAN be explored. Mostly i think hori handicapped himself by keeping everything locked to their first year so he had to speedrun.
For a story named after Academia, it doesn't explore the characters in a school enviroment nearly enough.
I would have gone through all the years too as it would have given him a lot more time to address the themes that he's introduced in the manga at a much more satisfying rate. He could also build on his characters and their relationships with one another a lot more.
I agree with you that he handicapped himself by only keeping it to one year and rushing through that year.










