now that the anime is more or less over, what are your thoughts on the anime as an adaptation of the manga? you pride yourself in being a self-proclaimed mha manga purist (and i admit i do too) so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts. i don't really hear too much genuine talk and criticism of the adaptation besides talking about the animation's highs and lows and maybe talking about the anime-only scenes, which i find a bummer as i think there's so much more to dig into than that. it's the majority of people's introduction to mha in the english-speaking anime community, and you can definitely feel the ripple effects of that
I spent a lot of time thinking about my answer to this question because my feelings are strong and I always come back to two quintessential moments in my life that inform my opinion on on the MHA anime.
For my 18th birthday, I marked it by watching the entire first season of the MHA anime (which was new at the time). It was only the one season, so I kept up with the manga closely shortly thereafter. I have a lot of good feelings about that night, it started me on my path to be passionate about this series that I have a lot of love for.
Between 2016-2020 while I was in school for design and considering my paths as an artist - I took an independent course for comics after years of wanting to go into animation, doing storyboard tests, and animating as a hobby to meet that goal. And the first thing the instructor of the course said to the class was:
āDo not see this class as a shortcut to animation. Comics are itās own storytelling medium that can do and say things animation will never be capable of, and itās important to recognize that.ā
MHA is a comic about comics. In itās parodies, visuals, references, and by the end, itās primary lesson - is about the power of the language of comics. Unlike most manga/book adaptations, I feel strongly that to appreciate MHA you have to read it eventually. Because being a comic is a big part of its overall purpose.
The anime is advertising for the manga, and thatās great. Thatās what itās supposed to do, but for MHA itās clear that at some point it became a replacement for the manga with fans and marketers in a way.
Personally, I find it hard to engage in a story purely for the hope I eventually get fanservice, I get some people really enjoy that and itās part of the fun - but it feels condescending to me, like jingling keys in my face - except instead of keeping my attention - its forcing me to look around them while they keep stepping in front of me.
And thatās what the MHA anime is to me: jingling keys that eventually give me some beautiful handiwork to look at that I can appreciate from a technical standpoint, but not a storytelling one. Iām constantly looking for Horikoshi in the adaptions, my favorite parts of the anime are always either things Hori storyboarded himself or gave strong instructions for, and I think the popularity of the anime regardless of its wavering quality speaks to Horikoshiās talent as a writer more than it does the kind of accessibility of the anime grants.
I think the thing that will always get me about the anime is that it further created an environment where it treated Horikoshiās manga like an optional venture, or a burden. As though Horikoshiās skill as an artist primarily existed to create a harder workload on the animation team and/or create a reality in which the anime feels it can only do so much as an adaption to keep up with his nuances.
For all the years the anime ran, people had hoped the adaption would overrule the will of the author through fanservice or rewrites of the canon until the very end, and while I appreciate the anime dearly for giving a lot of my peers and artistic idols work and experience - I have no attachment to it as an adaption of My Hero Academia other than it doing its primary job of advertising the existence of MHA to me. Iād often sooner recommend people play a story mode from the few MHA games that exist if they didnāt feel like reading before I recommend the anime purely from a storytelling angle, personally.
As a viewer and reader of the manga, itās insistence on moving, removing and adjusting entire plotlines and moments the directors deemed personally unimportant (MVA, Spinnerās backstory, Shouto Rising etc.) fundamentally confuses and breaks the story in all the minute ways that really matter, and I find it frustrating to talk to other MHA fans who miss these nuances due to no fault of their own.
And Iām curious about some animatorsā working experience. Iāve heard tidbits both positive and negative here and there - so I am curious to see that in the future.
Overall though, and again, ultimately, MHA is a comic about comics, I think anime adaptions have historically taken extreme liberties with the work its adapting from Bleach to Naruto to Retro!Ranma - this phenomenon of distorting canon is not unique to MHA or really, any adaption. And people usually recognize that with time and hindsight. However, what is unique is that we have an author whose emotional center of his story is the power of comics, sequential storytelling, and how it transcends language, education and borders.
I find it hard to think of the MHA animeās legacy as anything other than something that is - unintentionally or not - taking the power away from that message and continuing to drive home the lesson in consumers that comics are just storyboards for animation in disguise. That animation/episodic content is a valid shortcut to avoid engaging with what a comic on its own is saying/doing. Or that inherently comics are something to not take seriously.
The anime was always going to exist - and Iām okay with adaptions existing to varying degrees of quality, I just I wish it wasnāt most peopleās primary way of engaging with MHA. I want to see a world where Horikoshiās manga is given its flowers as the individual work done by his own hands and for people not see itās adaption as the āfinal sayā of his work. Or for people to be treating the adaption as something thatās properly controlling/āfixingā things the author did.
I love My Hero Academia the manga by Horikoshi Kohei, and I love the self indulgence and appreciation for all kind of art and film he has put throughout the story, I just want his love of comics to be seen as more than just a fun fact and something his fans take into consideration when engaging with his work more and give his manga an honest, hard look. I really hope over time that will be the case.
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As someone who lives out in the mountains, the lilacs are only just now beginning to fade away, and it has set me to thinking.
This site has WRECKED me, and I can only think of lilacs in terms of Sir Terry Pratchett and āThe Glorious 25th of May,ā even though the lilac generally blooms a week after that around here.
But, as in most things, Sir Pratchett remains a literary genius, and the lilacs arenāt really about the specific date. Itās about the seasons changing and what that brings.
Spring is when the sleeper wakes up. When humans shake off old thoughts of winter and have the energy to make changes, to be incensed, if need be, about things that have been going on for generations. When do protests happen? May into June.
Does weather play a part? Absolutely. It is easiest in Spring and Fall for outside activity and travel. But it is also about what is happening inside your mind and heart with a shifting of the seasons. Connection to the earth and the rest of humanity plays such a big part in making things RIGHT, whether we recognize it or not.
Pratchett recognized the pattern. I donāt know if he recognized it consciously, but the importance he put on those flowers makes me think he did.
I would credit that pattern recognition to his love of old things. History, folklore. Other people I also see as showing wisdom in their work- Neil Gaiman, the Green Brothers, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Douglas Addams, various writers of fantasy and science fiction- they enjoy history. They read folklore and mythology and other ancient tales. They delve into old things that connect humanity.
I guess what I am saying is really obvious, butā¦
If you enjoy storytellers who suddenly hit you with something that feels like TRUTH, some of that is an intentional care in thier stories, but some of that is thier brain chemistry being changed, as we put it, by some really ancient humanity.
I would suggest if you love Pratchett, love Gaiman, love some of the impactful storytellers, you should consider what made them so good. Consider not just thier works, not just newer wisdom, but ancient wisdom. Connect back to some of the roots of humanity.
Donāt just read Song of Achilles. Read the Illiad too.
If I were a creator in a conservative environment and wanted to write a story about two gays, I would also call them friends and make their friendship as weird as possible to the point where it became uncomfortable for everyone. And I'd add a girl as a distraction (though I'd give her more respect -_-). I'm NOT saying that was the author's intention, but anyway, thanks Hori, I have so many ideas lmao
Yeah lol tbh I think he took advantage of two things with both OchaHimi + IZKT
1. He knew enough to know people didnāt (and wouldnāt) take WLW seriously - so he was able to up the queer factor on Himiko because people were already writing her and her interactions with Ochako off as unserious. Just kept playing that card under everyoneās nose knowing no one was giving it any mind.
2. Fujobait is a common marketing strategy, so heād be able to get away with using it for multiple characters of he wanted to - but he didnāt and instead isolated Izuku and Katsukiās ābigā emotional scenes to unavoidable plot relevant movements.
I genuinely donāt think Ochako was a distraction though, I think she was āsupposedā to fulfill the role she was placed into as the heroine but in his olders works Hori seemed to want to knock against those notions, and give her some individuality.
ā¦ so its not a coincidence to me Himiko āwas created for Ochakoā.
Even early on the writing was on the wall he wasnāt committed to making Ochako just Izukuās love interestā¦unfortunately she ended up that way to the readers because he started treating her like a side character.
Also just an addendum - I do notice the strategy of most writers who are toying with queer elements is to basically make hide it from the executives/publishers and make it interwoven in the fabric of the plot to the point it cannot be removed from the foundation of the story. Not saying itās 100% the case, just that its not unheard of.
Rebecca Sugar talks candidly about their strategy with that here:
Dudebros love to yapping about bkdk and narusasu because Kishi compared his characters to himself and his twin. Whatever, now I'm thinking about AFO and Yoichi.
Its so frustrating and I really wish people wouldnāt compare narusasu and bkdk so much outside of acknowledging its influence from Hori being a Naruto reader and him being a referential guy. MHA being stuck as Narutoās successor and taking the blowback of peopleās reader trauma from Kishimoto has been really frustrating from the perspective of someone who has no particular emotional attachments to Naruto. Like you said Kishi made comments referring to Naru//Sasu as brothers and threw in fujoshi/gay gags in the story, thats enough for me.
I fundamentally believe Kishimoto wrote NaruSasu queer (and also not on accident, because I feel like thatās patronizing to his intentionality as a writer) but I also think based on how he treated and talked about InoSaku and the concept of queerness as a feasible end goal in life - he was generally apathetic about it.
This is not the case with Horikoshi who tends to not label bkdk outside of osananajimi and with ochahimi being explicitly romantic love in nature. He basically dodges or avoids familial definitions to label the two most prominent queer relationships in the story
That being said also, yes I think its so interesting AFO and Yoichi are twin brothers but when you throw Kudou in the mix it makes the dynamic less about treating queerness and as inhuman and more about understanding your human emotions and identity can be nurtured if you donāt lose the battle within yourself to accept you seek belonging with others. To not be ālonelyā.
Note to anyone about to watch Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King-
The attack on Minas Tirith hits different now.
You may let out an involuntary sob as a chunk of mortar smashes into a building with women and children inside.
There are images from our world that will flash momentarily before your eyes.
If you are worried at all about PTSD, maybe avoid this and other war films for while. š«¤
On the flip side of that same coin:
As I think about how Tolkienās experiences in WWI must have informed his stories I find myself wondering-
Does anyone else want a Tolkien biography that is just his experiences as a soldier? Like, someone just collects letters and official mission reports and puts in chronological order. I donāt need anyone to draw the connections to the books, I will do that my own dang self. I just want to know things like- who were this manās commanders that he could write Thorin and Aragorn? Did he write LOTR Smeagle off of a local guide who back-stabbed them? The poisonous air of Mordor obviously refers to the chemical weapons just hovering over the trenches. What else ended up in these tales either subconsciously or purposefully? What DIDNāT? What was so hard to think about that he couldnāt even write about it as fiction?
Give me more reasons to cry through the movies, please. š
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I donāt know if you want to read about how Lloyd Alexander constructed emotional transformation for his characters, but I wrote a paper fanboying about it last fall. I donāt want to fall out of the habit of posting something, even if Iām too busy to write a new post, so Iāll share that paper with you instead. Iām not sure how well the formatting has survived the transition, but it looks legibleā¦
