One of the biggest anime series to come out in the past decade is the superhero extravaganza, My Hero Academia. The anime is now in its fifth season and each year Izuku Midoriya gets a little further in his journey to grow into a prolific superhero. My Hero Academia leans into the most effective tropes from the shonen genre, but the series also benefits from the decision to make each season a little darker and more adult than the last year.
My Hero Academia remains a bright and optimistic series, but its tone and the severity of villains grow more mature along with the heroes. Five seasons in, My Hero Academia has a number of surprisingly grim moments and there are likely even more on the way.
10 Eri’s Childhood Of Torture & Brainwashing
Season four of My Hero Academia is when things start to really actively get dark for the first time and Eri’s entire backstory is easily the anime’s most depressing material. Kai Chisaki, otherwise known as the villain Overhaul, becomes Eri’s guardian, only to inflict pain upon her and turn her childhood into a constant lab experiment to exploit her Quirk for his own destructive purposes. Overhaul’s comprehensive abuse stays with Eri long after Overhaul’s death, and she even struggles to remember how to smile. It’s devastating, but thankfully Eri is on the right path now with people who care about her.
9 Endeavor’s Treatment Of His Family & The Origins Of Shoto’s Scar
Enji Todoroki, better known as Endeavor, is in the middle of a redemption arc, but he has an incredibly checkered past. Endeavor has caused a lot of pain for the entire Todoroki family. One of the most blatant examples is that the scar on Shoto’s face is a result of his father’s abuse toward both him and his mother. There’s even the theory that Endeavor only conceived Shoto for the purpose of building an heir with superior Quirks. Some of the healing has begun in the Todoroki family, but there’s still lingering pain that may never heal.
8 Stain Breaks The Legs Of Tensei Iida, Tenya’s Brother
My Hero Academia has done an exceptional job with their villains and they’ve all showcased uniquely terrifying powers and ideologies. The Hero Killer, Stain, is a vicious enemy with a frightening appearance and a disturbing Quirk. Stain takes many lives during his crusade and he massacres Tensei Iida and leaves him for dead.
Tensei survives, but he’s left paralyzed from the waist down, which means his days as a speed-based hero that depends on his legs are over. It’s a tragic act that puts a great deal of responsibility on Tenya that he never fully gets over.
7 Shigaraki Accidentally Kills His Entire Family When He’s A Child
One of My Hero Academia’s strongest assets is that it gives just as much attention to the villains and doesn’t reduce them to stereotypes. Tomura Shigaraki has significantly developed since the start of the series and his growth even mirrors Midoriya’s own in some ways. Shigaraki’s Decay Quirk has led to numerous dark sequences where he evaporates entire individuals or just a part of them, like when he decays Overhaul’s hands. Sadly, Shigaraki’s knowledge of his growing powers as a child involves him destroying his entire family. He acts as his own grim origin story in an ironic way.
6 Sir Nighteye Dies & Mirio Loses His Mentor
It’s not uncommon for shonen series like My Hero Academia to feature lots of deaths, but it’s a little different when many characters in the anime are just teenagers. There are so few fatalities in My Hero Academia, which makes the loss of Sir Nighteye hit even harder. Nighteye is a crucial figure during season four and he plays a vital role in the fight against Overhaul, only to ultimately perish from his actions. It’s a very sad loss, especially since it gets to be partly experienced through Mirio Togata’s eyes, who idolized Nighteye and is crushed from Nighteye’s death.
5 Twice No Longer Knows If He’s The Original Or A Duplicate
Twice and Himiko Toga are an especially chaotic duo. These two villains truly feel like loose cannons and Twice is very unhinged in a Deadpool kind of way. Twice’s Quirk allows him to make clones of people and objects, which is an ability that he’s applied to himself numerous times over for strategic purposes.
Unfortunately, some of Twice’s plans have been so messy that he’s reached the point that he can’t remember if he’s the original Twice or just one of the clones. This existential hopelessness only adds to the villain’s erratic mental state.
4 Mirio Togata Loses His Quirk
Quirks are paramount in My Hero Academia, but the anime is careful to emphasize how anybody can be a hero and it’s actions that matter more than superpowers. Overhaul concocts a series of Quirk-Erasing bullets that become a major threat in season four. Mirio Togata is a selfless individual and the season beautifully showcases why he’s such a grand hero. Mirio sacrifices himself to save Eri and in doing so loses his Permeation Quirk. Mirio never gives up, even while his Quirk is gone, but it’s still a serious casualty that would completely derail most heroes.
3 The Nomu Used To Be Humans
The heroes in My Hero Academia have enough on their plates with the League of Villains and other antagonistic organizations without also having to word about genetically modified monsters that are on the loose. Nomu, a brand of powerful engineered monsters, are created by the villains as dangerous reinforcements to use against heroes. These beasts are mindless drones that are driven purely to fight, which makes it seriously heartbreaking to know that many Nomu were originally humans. Their humanity and personalities are erased and transformed into killing machines, and it even adds a modicum of guilt to the defeat of these monsters.
2 All Of The Blood-Related Quirks
My Hero Academia deserves serious respect for how it’s been able to create dozens of unique Quirks, some of which embrace standard sets of superpowers, but many are completely new and ambitious ideas. There are a few Quirks in the series that specifically revolve around the consumption of blood, which is a very dark means to activate a Quirk. This has been explored in two of My Hero Academia’s more unhinged characters, the Hero Killer, Stain, as well as Himiko Toga. The glee that these villains derive as they lick up an opponent’s blood makes it all even more upsetting.
1 The Origins Of One For All Are More Tragic Than One Would Assume
One of My Hero Academia’s biggest mysteries is the specifics behind One For All, Midoriya’s Quirk that was passed down to him from All Might. Season five of the anime really begins to dig into the history of the Quirk and its past users, which ends up involving All For One, one of the series’ biggest villains. It’s revealed that All For One forces the One For All Quirk on his brother, who’s vehemently opposed to the idea of Quirks. This fundamentally changes his life and sets in motion the larger path that ultimately defines the anime’s heroes and villains.
0 Comments