English Dub Season Review: My Hero Academia Season Four

Fourth installments for superhero franchises have a treacherous reputation. We are of course aware of the fourth Superman film which ended the Christopher Reeves run of the character, as well as the infamous “Batman & Robin” which is known solely for its utter tanking of formerly well embraced Batman movies started by Tim Burton. Luckily this seems not to apply towards superhero television, let alone anime like My Hero Academia, which returned last October for another solid run with Izuku Midoriya and the up and coming heroes in training in Class 1-A. The series has come to take hold of the one of the top rankings in manga and anime in ways once held only by the likes of Naruto and Bleach at the height of their runs, but that still means it’s quite the feat to keep viewers invested for four full seasons. So what do we think of this newest installment?

Well, probably the greatest strike against this season is how much it feels like the middle of the story. For whatever you could say about the first three seasons, they definitely had iconic moments that marked major turning points in their respective arcs in terms of the overall story. And maybe that ended up being a double edged sword since it ended up raising the bar a bit high for Season 4. Instead of seeing the next big plot from the League of Villains, we have them temporarily hand over the reins to Overhaul. Instead of getting on with the next big step with the hero training, we take some time to see Bakugou and Todoroki catch up and then spent some time on a festival arc. Now, do not get me wrong, all of these act as important stepping stones towards major character changes down the road (at least as far as I can tell since I haven’t read the manga), it’s just that none seem to really feel like they have the impact of the first villain encounter, the sports festival tournament, or All Might’s final battle.

This season also proves to be the most jam packed in terms of arcs, throwing in four in its 25 episodes. That’s the most since the first season, which mostly had only mini arcs. As for how each stacks up, I’d personally say the Shie Hassaikai arc might be the best out of the bunch, mostly helped by it being the longest and having the most action along with some notable development for characters like Kirishima and the Big Three. After that I would probably place the Pro Hero Arc, which caps the season off with two episodes about Endeavor properly taking hold of the Number 1 Hero position after All Might’s retirement. While it’s definitely a great way to finish the season off and expand the worldbuilding, it’s most definitely too short to get the top spot. Next I would put the School Festival Arc, which while it has a bit of a lull in the action, has a lot of love for characters who often get put off the sidelines and plenty of heart for both its heroes and villains. That leaves the Remedial Lessons Arc, which is still a lot of fun but is hardly anyone’s favorite.

My Hero Academia’s popularity continues to run at a fever pitch and doesn’t look to show any signs of slowing down. While superhero fatigue might be becoming prevalent on the American movie scene, it looks to still be budding in anime, much like the heroes of this story still seem to be finding their own full potential. The end of this season seems to be hinting at far bigger things to come for the series and its cast, which I doubt many will be wanting to wait too long to see, but luckily we have all four seasons to binge from while we wait for it to come. And with the pandemic, that may be waiting awhile, but all the more time to binge! And as All Might says proudly, go beyond and Plus Ultra.