Imagine Building Your Whole Story Around A Theme And Then Fumbling Its Execution So Badly When It Wouldve Had The Biggest Payoff - Tumblr Posts

My Hero Academia spent its 10 year run concerned with the power of reaching out to others, but in the end, how powerful was it? Reaching out was not a miracle, it was not enough to save the people the climax concerned itself with. Even if it helped some characters along the way, at the peak of the narrative, it couldn’t do the job. What can reaching out do? Not a lot, says My Hero Academia, but maybe it can help in small ways. And isn’t that just anti-climatic. Of course the story feels unsatisfying; the thesis of the manga wasn’t even enough at the end.

Reaching out could have meant so much if Deku reflected on the power of extending your hand as Shimura Tenko stood beside him, alive and saved by that help. He could have continued a cycle of reaching out by continuing to be a hero to villains, coming to them with empathy and reaching out his own hand, finally able to save and heal instead of kill and destroy.

Instead, we learn that it might be enough, so long as it isn’t too late. It’s not just about the villains dying, it’s about the core of the story falling completely flat.