My Hero Academia

[Spark Of Spirit]

Possible lame news:

Only 13 episodes.

Now I'm actually hoping there's an anime original storyline in there because 13 episodes won't even get through the sports festival, and that's not an ideal end point.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It might be a case of having 1 cour in the Spring, followed by a break, then another in the Fall. Still, 13-episodes is a bizarrely small number for an anime adaptations of an incredibly popular WSJ manga.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Looking it up, apparently Bones does this a lot. They do one cour then have a break and follow up with a second. If that's the case, and it's going to be 26 episodes total, then I'm fine with it.

Problem is the lack of defined endpoints for the season to end. Unless they rush through the early stuff (which I hope they don't, because it's really fun) they can't get the whole Sports Festival into 13 episodes. It will take at least 8 episodes on its own unless they gut it or push it to the second cour by having some filler or an original arc to end the first 13 instead.

Either way, it will be interesting to see how this ends up.

[VLordGTZ]

Yeah, Bones releases pretty much all their shows now in 1-cour chunks.  If MHA is a split-cour series, Bones might not bother to find a definitive endpoint for the first cour and just end it in the middle of an arc.  If only one cour is currently planned, then they'll most likely do what they did with Noragami Season 1 by ending with a filler arc and releasing a new season next year.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Now, this was Bones at their best. Animation was top notch, voice acting was spot on, and the art style was translated so deftly that it surprised me. Those opening and ending themes are so dead on. I really hope this is a split cour after all. This was so well done.

Now, this first episode is proof that Horikoshi has an insane idea of pacing because nothing about this episode felt slow at all and yet it only covered half the first chapter. Nothing is missing, everything is added on to, and translated to the screen seamlessly. They seriously nailed both the classic manga and comic book feel here. It's easily the best Jump adaption in a while.

Though I see complaints, they are mostly centered on things anime-only watchers wouldn't know about where the story goes after this, so I won't even bother to bring them up. Except Midoriya. If you're worried about him being a whiny crybaby, then I can simply tell you to keep watching. You will be surprised.

[Lord Dalek]

Well as an anime only viewer, I don't know what the hell I was supposed to complain about because I thought this was an absolute hoot.

...please don't tell me it turns into an average shonen. Pleeaaaaaaaaaase.

[VLordGTZ]

As expected from Bones, this was a great premiere!  I was a bit surprised that they only adapted half of the first chapter but, like Spark said, it didn't feel all that slow.  I'm looking forward to next week's ep. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Well as an anime only viewer, I don't know what the hell I was supposed to complain about because I thought this was an absolute hoot.

...please don't tell me it turns into an average shonen. Pleeaaaaaaaaaase.

I can say it only gets better from this point on. The characters only improve, including the new ones, and the story builds with every arc.

There are no power levels or anything, so no power creep, it's mostly a story of heroes against villains and the heroes-in-training getting better at being heroes while facing tough odds. The best part of the series is how well Horikoshi executes everything and develops his characters.

I know that sounded vague but... Man, it's so hard to explain it without spoiling anything.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well as an anime only viewer, I don't know what the hell I was supposed to complain about because I thought this was an absolute hoot.

...please don't tell me it turns into an average shonen. Pleeaaaaaaaaaase.

There is only one relatively short arc in this series that I would accuse of being an average shonen (and even that has its highlights). Putting that aside, it only gets better from here to where the manga is currently at. I'm actually impressed by how complex this series can get with its characterization for a battle shonen series, including some of its best villains.

I can't wait until they get to The Hero Killer "Stain" material (which unfortunately probably won't be until season 2 or 3, going by the 13-episodes/season structure) in particular. That's where it really sunk in for me that this series would be something special. What Horikoshi did with that character is very similar to what I wanted to see Tiger & Bunny do with Lunatic had they ever gotten a third season to conclude his story-line.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm expecting the second season to cover the Festival and Stain arcs. The way they seem to be tackling the anime, I think the first season will probably go right up the first appearance of Shigaraki and Nomu and the fallout of that since that's what the OP is hinting at quite heavily.

Which is fine with me, I always wanted the anime to cover at least to Stain. That's when Horikoshi stomps on the gas and doesn't let up.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

That's another thing that I like about this series. It actually has villains with more than one-dimension to their characters (well, at least for two of them, at this point), and they aren't always on the same page. Noumu only works with Shigaraki out of circumstance, as do the other characters in his league. They have a common goal, but that doesn't mean that they all see eye-to-eye. Then you have a character like Stain, who is unquestionably a villain in his own right, but absolutely abhors Shigaraki and the League of Villains.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Not quite as strong a premiere as past Bones shonen-action shows, but still a solid effort overall. I think the real test of the anime's quality will come in next week's episode when they adapt the first chapter's more action-packed and dramatic second half.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I actually really admire how they didn't rush through any story material in this premiere to get to the action right away, and it also gives me a newfound appreciation in realizing just how much story Horikoshi is able to pack into small chunks without it ever feeling rushed. Granted, I agree that the episode itself is nothing amazing, but to be fair, as an adaptation it counts for how well it manages to translate its source material into motion, and this was definitely an above average effort, IMO.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That's what's most impressive about the pacing. Horikoshi stuffs a lot into that first chapter to the point that if they put it all into here it would have made the episode much too quick. I didn't even notice the episode was near the end until the ED started.

[gunswordfist]

Oh, so it's out?