My Hero Academia has been one of the giants of the manga/anime world for over half a decade now. While critical reception of the series has begun to wane, its popularity certainly hasn’t.
As all things must do, however, the series is nearing its end, with the manga in its final arc, and the anime not too far behind. The upcoming 6th season of the anime is poised to introduce viewers to some big changes for the series when it hits on October 1. Here’s what fans can expect from the season.
The Story So Far
My Hero Academia season 5 covered a trio of arcs. It started off with a much needed showdown between UA’s class 1A and their eternal understudies in class 1B. In five matches, the two classes duked it out, with victories going back and forth and class B’s quirks being shown off far more than they ever had. Several characters like Juzo Honenuki went from being mildly recognizable background characters to genuinely intimidating opponents. Most importantly, this arc introduced the fact that Izuku “Deku” Midoriya was beginning to unlock quirks from past One for All users, with 6 in total waiting for him to earn and master them.
Following that, the students were sent back out to work at professional hero agencies, with the trio of Deku, Bakugo and Todoroki interning at the office of new number 1 hero, Endeavor. This gave the space for the Todoroki family as a whole to get some much-needed backstory and development. It also gave Deku a chance to learn to add his first new quirk, ‘black whip’ to his fighting style.
Finally, in one of the truly unique arcs in shounen history, the league of villains gained the spotlight, as they faced off against another villain group, the meta liberation army. The resulting events see various power-ups for the villains, eventually culminating in the fusion of the two groups into the paranormal liberation front, with Tomura Shigaraki as its leader.
The Players
As stated, the paranormal liberation front has been set up as the new major organization on the villain’s end. The well known league of villains cast are big players in the organization, with Toga, Twice and Shigaraki having powered their quirks up to even more dangerous levels. The former MLA members further boost the villain’s influence, providing various connections to the criminal underground and mass media that the LOV had no hope of getting a hold on previously.
Shigaraki particularly will be a big point of concern in season 6. Last he was seen in season 5, he had begun some secretive process in order to make him even more powerful. Anyone who’s seen the 2nd MHA movie Heroes Rising will have seen a preview of Shigaraki’s goals, via the villain Nine.
In order to meet the mounting threat of the villains, the heroes are pulling no punches themselves. Japan’s number 2 hero; Hawks has been undercover with the villains for a long time, managing to warn the heroes of the upcoming plans of the PLF. As a double agent, his actions in season 6 are going to be vital to turning the tide against the villains, but at great risk to himself.
Thanks to Hawk’s intel, the heroes have managed to organize a force of their own. As season 5 closed out, even UA students like the first years in class 1A and 1B were getting called in to join the offensive. The result is a massive army of heroes the likes of which the series has never shown on screen. And of course, with his powers ever growing, Deku will be instrumental in their victory.
What to Expect
From the trailers released and the sheer tension of the setup, season 6 will most definitely include a lot of action. The hero and villain forces amassed for the upcoming conflict are both massive, so chaos and carnage are unavoidable. Season 6 will be covering some of MHA’s darkest material, so don’t expect everyone to make it out unscathed.
Visually, MHA will most likely stick to its established art direction, but the sheer scale of the upcoming conflict might drive some more experimental decisions. 3D assets for one, might be used to help portray the mass of characters involved. Hopefully, these are well rendered, but it remains to be seen. 3D assets might also play a part in season 6’s many bombastic action scenes, but there’s no doubt there will also be some fluidly animated sequences by studio BONES and Yutaka Nakamura, the animator behind some of the series’ flashiest sequences.
How Much Will it Cover?
Season 6 has been announced to have 25 episodes, which means it will likely be entirely dedicated to the paranormal liberation war, which was around 53 chapters in the manga. This means that where the season will end, will be right at the end of the arc, at a point where MHA’s story takes a major shift, and just before the beginning of the series’ final saga.