Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia has finally come to an end after a decade, and fans have not enjoyed the finale, primarily because of how subpar it was. This is not very reassuring, considering the fact that the mangaka had kept its audience hooked with a gripping storyline that took them on a rollercoaster of emotions.
During this epic journey, fans witnessed the growth of Izuku Midoriya, who went from being a quirkless boy in a superhero world to possessing the greatest Quirk and fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming the #1 Pro-Hero. However, fans have been criticizing the series finale for several factors, with one of the major concerns being character development.
Fans have gone to social media, criticizing one major and irreparable aspect of how Horikoshi-San has fumbled the show, which had the potential to go down as one of the best Shonen series ever made.
My Hero Academia’s Ending Could Not PRESERVE Deku’s Character Growth
The decade-long journey of Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia featured a visually stunning world creatively sewn together with a gripping storyline and well-written characters. Needless to say, the tale narrates how Izuku Midoriya, a powerless boy had the dream to become the #1 Pro-Hero and the Symbol of Peace, just like his idol, All Might.
Gradually, fans witnessed the protagonist’s growth, and he transitioned from being a nervous and timid guy to a confident superhero. Everything was going smoothly until the author of the series failed to come up with a good enough conclusion for the series, which became a hot topic of discussion.
While the Shonen series had five major reasons that ruined the ending, it additionally failed to conserve Midoriya’s growth as well. As readers of the manga would remember, our hero, Deku, went all out to defeat Shigaraki to put an end to All For One’s devious intentions.
Hence, in the process, he lost his One For All quirk, which made him stop being a hero and become a teacher at the UA, where he would guide a new generation of students to become heroes. But he could relive his dream of being a hero after All Might and his Class-1A friends gave him high-tech support armor.
Though this notion was heartfelt and put him back in action as a hero, it ruined the growth showcased in the manga. A fan (@Potacio4) shared a screenshot of an MHA fan on X, where they complained about the ending because Midoriya “learned NOTHING throughout the series.”
They are really mad over there
— Potacio [Hyrule Kingdom] (@Potacio4) August 5, 2024
But bro has a point tbh pic.twitter.com/YzvfRii1PA
They gave an instance from Chapter 1 of the manga where the protagonist wanted to be a hero but never made an active effort to improve himself. Moreover, they emphasized that even without Quirks, one could become a hero, which was again, the original intention of Kohei Horikoshi.
However, the author drew him as if he wanted greatness in “easy mode.” The fan continued and gave examples of Mirio, Stain, and Knuckleduster, relying more on their physical performance than their quirks.
They believed that if Midoriya had worked hard during the time period, he had the potential to be a top-tier hero on his own, but “HE DIDN’T F**KING TRY.” The community read the justified criticism, as they left similar-sounding comments on the tweet.
MHA Fans Are Disappointed At Deku’s Poor Character Development
Even though Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia was a superhero show that featured heroes going all out against some of the best-written villains out there, it taught that true kindness and the desire to help others mattered the most.
Hence, the warm gesture of gifting the support piece was not taken well and ruined the very essence of the series. As a result, the series was bombarded with criticism, and this aspect has got the fans fuming as they belittle the protagonist on social media.
Horikoshi lost sight of what he should've done, and that's why the whole story is ultimately lukewarm and forgettable.
— Perpetual Vanessa Brain Rot (@HollowAfro) August 5, 2024
It's pretty much how Edens Zero ended up.
Knuckleduster my goat was just out here raw dogging the smoke
— God's biggest hater (@Epex80) August 5, 2024
Deku is written like a god damn side characterlol
— Yori (@Yorishiriamori) August 5, 2024
That mf cooked pic.twitter.com/UKYAbWH41Q
— Arya☀ (@SilentArya_) August 5, 2024
He will never be him pic.twitter.com/kzmPzPPqZz
— Mr Chino 🇨🇱🌳 (@MrKlein2k) August 5, 2024
It's just so odd that Knuckleduster is probably the biggest example of a Hero who is impressive with 0 powers and yet…Deku gives up on it so easily
— 3DPat (@ThreeDPat) August 6, 2024
Horikoshi-San’s work on the manga series had been enjoyable overall; it would not have been a topic of conversation if the author hadn’t served a lukewarm ending.
Though the disappointing ending is understandable, the fans strongly object to the learnings being lost, which is why they feel that not retaining the character growth has ruined everything for them.
My Hero Academia can be streamed on Crunchyroll.