My Hero Academia starts off with a relatively hopeful and lighthearted premise fitting for the inspiration it takes from comic book stories. A powerless individual manages to inspire the number 1 hero into handing him a power that he will earn and develop over the course of the story. While Izuku Midoriya and the rest of his class experienced lighthearted and even rather positive moments and rescues, even as far back as season 5 up to season 6, the story has taken into a dark direction which portrays darker aspects of the world and horrible heart-wrenching losses to many of the heroes. These paragons of virtue have been defeated, and the story itself takes a darker turn with a few deaths on both sides, and the villains from Tartarus have escaped with All For One on the loose.

My Hero Academia doesn't fail to give the audience scenes that inspire confidence and instill hope and happiness, but considering season 6's war arc having been brutal for every character involved, it has instilled the audiences with a sense of dread and defeat as to what may happen to hero society in the future. While the story took a darker turn, it's an odd form of tone that Horikoshi instills into it which reflects somewhat of the changes of how comics themselves were seen by the public. Even so, why is it that My Hero Academia decided to take its story in such a dark turn that could upset many fans of prior seasons, all the while pulling off a narrative shift?

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The Value In Establishing The Norm

My Hero Academia - Feature Why Darker Times

It bears mentioning before talking about season 6, is that My Hero Academia even back in season 1 sowed the seeds of potential dread for the world as the series goes on, mixed in with the kindness that many have associated. From something as minor as neglecting the Quirkless, to assuming and classifying Quirks as Heroic or Villainous, to the villains having shaken the society with its attacks, and All For One's reveal and introduction in season 3. The story has cleverly inputted many kind moments and darker aspects of the show, but it did so by establishing what exactly is the norm for this world as well as what the heroes seek to protect. Because of this, the audience now knows what we want to see in the world and want its inhabitants to be safe but also to be much more understanding and improve.

From the moments of Class 1-A working to put on a concert for the school festival, partially to help Eri find her smile again as well as Izuku's tears of joy of realizing his dream can come true with enough work, My Hero Academia needs to give these scenes for the audience to empathize and wish for their best moments to last as well. Even for some of its villains, it manages to make us understand them at their lowest, and before they turned the way they did. Showing that the world itself has moments of joy, and moments of sadness and regret as well. Despite all that, the reason the story has taken a dark turn, is because in story the boiling point has been reached and All For One has cleverly sowed the seeds of anarchy with his mere presence.

The Dark Hell Of Villainy

My Hero Academia -destroyed city-1

On a narrative level, stories need to have a 'Darkest Night', or rather a moment where everything is at its worst for either the main characters or the world. Without such a state, stories wouldn't be interesting, and we'd be denied catharsis when the main heroes manage to defeat the great evil in this sense. Despite the heroes having taken such a blow from the villains, My Hero Academia is illustrating quite efficiently the 'Darkest Night' moment of the story. Hero Society is crumbling apart, the villains are running rampant, and the heroes themselves have suffered losses and scrambling to pick themselves back up. Needless to say, this is only the beginning of a dark turn to the story, one that will probably last for quite a bit until the audience witnesses the climax of My Hero Academia.

Still, many might be wondering whether this is a necessary move on part of Horikoshi's writing. As the story has become a far cry from what it started out as, and depending on how the anime proceeds, the audience may need to bear with the darkness for a while longer before things start to get better. After all, the villains need to be defeated, and hero society needs to be rebuilt after the fact if that is to be possible. The audience would be forgiven for having dropped the show due to its handling of far darker subject material and even darker direction as its story has changed in tone. And with a change in tone, comes a different examination of how the audiences will perceive the story and its characters through this new lens.

Even so, My Hero Academia is a Shonen series, so it is most likely that Horikoshi has plans to end the story in a fulfilling and brighter way. After all, the 'Darkest Night' doesn't last forever, and is usually followed by the victory of the heroes picking themselves up and facing the opposition or great evil. Whether they succeed or not depends on the story and how it resolves, but My Hero Academia doesn't seem to be going towards a dark deconstruction of comics or superheroes. Instead, it is very possible that the story on its own will end after the heroes have braved through the dark turn the story has taken.

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