Note: you probably won't gain any new insight about the show after reading this, but I liked the show enough to write a bit about it.
So I recently started watching 'Boku no Hero Academia', and it's pretty good. It's not my favorite shonen, 'Haikyuu' still holds that title (sorry Deku, you ain't nowhere as cute as Hinata). It's not really my favorite battle shonen either, that title still belongs to 'Naruto'. There's not really that much innovation when it comes to the narrative of the show either, as the story is basically just 'Naruto' but with super powers instead of ninjas. Deku is Naruto, Bakugo is Sasuke, and Todoroki is just Gaara. There's even an exam-tournament arc. But I do have to commend Hero Aca for just how well it does the shonen formula.
At its core, Hero Aca is just a hype shonen action show, and not really that much else. There's some painfully obvious symbolism and a positive message, but not really anything that you coudn't get from just watching any other battle shonen. But the pure hype I feel from watching Hero Aca is insane. I really feel like shouting "heck yeah, beat the shit out of him!" every time there's a fight, and thats a feeling I don't really get from most shows. The only other shows which have made me feel this way is 'JoJo' and 'Attack on Titan'.
I also really like the setting, even if the overall worldbuilding isn't the best. A lot of the quirks are just really stupid as well. I get that not everyone can be All Might and Endeavor, but the fact that Horikoshi thought of adding a guy who's quirk is just that he has a fucking tail baffles me. Like, how lame is that. A tail. It's.... it's literally just a tail! Not to mention my least favorite character, Mineta. My problem with Mineta isn't that he's a pervert, I'm fine with a character having that personality, even if he is just a straight up incel who joined U.A so he could finally get some ladies. Because his personality isn't the most disgusting thing about him. It's his character design. One look at it and I want to puke. The weird bowl thing around his waist, the stupid looking hair, and the yellow gloves... it all looks so fucking stupid. Thankfully Mineta doesn't ruin the entire show for me, but I would have prefered if he was just cut out of it entirely.
But the show more than makes up for it with its villains, who while they might not have the most interesting motives or personalities, certainly have really cool looking attacks and designs. Especially Stain and Tomura, who probably are the coolest looking ones. Stain's fight against Todoroki, Iida and Deku was awesome, and seeing the effects his death had on the world was a really cool detail. It's nothing groundbreaking, but if you were expecting that going into the show, then you probably don't have that much experience with the genre.
But I really like Hero Aca. It's got cool character designs, cool fights, cool attacks... I mean it's a pretty good show. But what I really want from this show... is for it to go on for really long. I really do hope that Hero Aca lasts over ten years. Because while I have read all of Naruto, I didn't get to do it while it was publishing. I know a lot of people prefer binging shows rather than watching weekly, and I'm a bit ambidextrous in that regard. I like both, and I like to watch old shows while also keeping up with seasonals. But the thought of keeping up with the same show for a long amount of time, that really appeals to me. So I do hope that Hero Aca lasts a long time, and that I'll be able to keep up with it. I want to watch Midoriya grow, and I want to grow with him.
I don't really have much else to say. It's pretty good. If you like battle shonen, go watch it. If not, probably not going to appeal to you.