The fifth season of My Hero Academia is coming soon
By Cheryl Ng
My Hero Academia is one of Japan’s most popular franchises; from manga to international anime, Hirokoshi Kohei’s creation has sparked interest upon audiences worldwide. As spring rolls around, anime fans will undoubtedly be delighted to feast their eyes on the upcoming season of My Hero Academia.
We finally know that the fifth season of My Hero will be released on the 27th of March. Many fans were surprised and delighted at the sudden release headline on My Hero Academia’s official website. Fortunately, even with Japan’s situation with the ongoing Coronavirus outbreaks, it is seen that voice recording sessions have not been disturbed, unquestionably with Japan’s strict social distancing measures.
My Hero Academia is a coming of age story starring the main protagonist, Midoriya Izuku, a teenage boy with a strong sense of justice and a great deal of courage. In his world, every human possesses a superpower called a quirk; there are very few amongst the population who do not have a quirk, and Midoriya is one of the several. He’s constantly bullied by his classmate and old friend, Bakugou Katsuki, a boy who likes to boast about his power to Midoriya and gives him the nickname, “Deku”, which can be translated as “someone who can’t do anything”.
Both boys are huge fans of All Might, the symbol of peace and the world’s greatest hero; the two students aim to attend UA High School, the same institute that All Might attended as a teenager. UA’s primary curriculum is to teach students how to be future heroes. Without a quirk, it is practically impossible to be a pro hero; nonetheless, Midoriya applies for UA High.
When Midoriya walks home from school, he gets attacked by a Sludge villain; thankfully, All Might saves Midoriya, and they form a close alliance. All Might learns about Midoriya’s desire to be a hero and passes down his legacy as the ninth holder of his power, ‘One for All’, giving Midoriya a quirk. Midoriya gets accepted into UA High (along with Bakugou) and is sorted into Class 1-A, the highest class you can get into as a first-year student. He slowly develops his ‘One for All’ quirk and forms a close friendship with Uraraka Ochako, Todoroki Shouto and Tenya Iida. Midoriya chooses his hero name as Deku and presents himself as someone capable of being a hero despite the negative remarks he’s been told his entire life.
During the first season, Midoriya and the rest of Class 1-A gets attacked by The League of Villians, an organisation that aims to disrupt and destroy the hero system. This group of villains is lead by Shigaraki Tomura, a sadistic man who targets All Might to bring him down and create a new type of “justice” in his name. The League of villains has a long list of members, but Dabi, Toga Himiko, Twice and Mr Compress are the most reputable.
Currently, there are four seasons of the anime released and 29 volumes of the manga; while manga can be read for free online, many viewers like myself prefer to enjoy the anime on its own.
From a manga reader, a friend of mine expects that the manga will reflect well on the anime. “I think we’ll see Bakugou and Deku grow as friends,” she states, as Heroes Rising (the second feature film that takes place amid season four) has proved that the two males can certainly work well together despite Bakugou’s resentment towards Midoriya (unfortunately, the movies aren’t canon to the series). “I think that it’s (season five) going to be better because Deku is going to have an amazing improvement in the manga, and it’s going to show that in the anime,” she comments. Adding in as well that we’ll be getting to know The League of Villians, the Todorokis and Class 1-B a lot more!
On the other hand, a past RCHK student and friend predicts that we’ll see more of Dabi in the fifth season, hopefully receiving more information about his past and whether or not he indeed is associated with the circulating theories of Todoroki Touya, Todoroki Shouto’s mysterious elder brother.
As someone who only watched the anime, I believe that the Big 3 (which consists of three third-year students, Mirio, Tamaki and Neijire) significantly influenced season four. I hope that these three students will receive the opportunity to shine in the spotlight more, also by taking account of the raid’s aftermath to Mirio’s quirk (spoiler alert for season four!), for he lost his quirk by getting shot with a quirk destroying bullet.
As of writing this article, there are three current trailers for season five. Observe closely at each trailer, and you’ll know that there will be a showdown between Class 1-A and Class 1-B. Look carefully, and you’ll notice that Shinsou Hitoshi, a student with a brainwashing quirk, is featured amongst the two classes; a quick reminder that Shinsou is neither in Class 1-A or 1-B as he is currently in the department of general studies (Class 1-C), hinting to him or taking part in possible missions related to the league of villains or perhaps even getting transferred to the hero course (Class 1-A or 1-B).
There’s more of Class 1-B as well! On the first day of February, My Hero released new visual art for all the students of 1-B; everyone was twinkling in their new hero costumes! However, one student caught my eye in particular, Yanagi Reiko (second row, fifth from the left). It’s not surprising if her name is unfamiliar, as I could only recognise her outfit. Her hero costume stood out because she’s featured on the top left of the release poster. The surprising thing isn’t that there’s a new character being introduced, but the fact that a minor character from four full seasons suddenly gets presented seems like she’ll be an essential factor to these upcoming arcs as well!
With less than a week till the release of the first episode of season five, I hope everyone will enjoy the next season of My Hero Academia as much as I’m looking forward to it. PLUS ULTRA!