The first arc of My Hero Academia’s fourth season closes with the successful rescue of Eri and defeat of Kai Chisaki/Overhaul. Following the Hero License Exams Izuku Midoriya has begun his Hero-Work Studies program. He decides to join Sir Nighteye’s agency; a man who was once All Might’s sidekick. This coincidentally reunites him with Mirio Togata of the Big 3 who is also a member and Togata tries to help Midoriya win over Nighteye.

My Hero Academia is a 2016 shounen anime series. It is produced by Studio Bones and licensed by Funimation. It is currently available on Blu-Ray in English and Japanese audio. Season four is currently premiering on streaming platforms.

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for My Hero Academia season four may be present within this review.

My Hero Academia is in its senior season and it’s only grown in quality of its production over time. Season has made a number of strides that keeps it ahead of other long-running shounen including but not limited to its animation, story, and character development. In season four Izuku begins to question his worth as a hero after failing to protect a girl named Eri. She possesses a unique quirk that has caused the Pro Heroes to watch over her and her supposed father Kai Chisaki whose the self-proclaimed leader of Yakuza group Shie Hassaikai. 

THE GOOD: After gaining his Hero License Izuku Midoriya looks for a Hero-Work Study program to continue the honing of his quirk All for One. Initially he tries enlisting the aide of Gran Torino, but he’s unfortunately too busy and is instead pointed to the direction of Sir Nighteye. The former sidekick of All Might who left his side after a dispute about All Might retiring before the gruesome death his quirk Foresight saw into the future and revealed for the Symbol of Peace. It’s here we learn that the young man currently being eyed for the “Number One Hero” title following All Might; Mirio Togata is a member of Sir Nighteye’s hero agency. And with his & Izuku’s past acquaintanceship he tries to help the latter gain Nighteye’s favor by telling him to make him laugh with a good joke. Izuku’s joke of mimicking All Might falls flat as Nighteye believed he was insulting the pro hero instead. Nighteye gives Izuku a test to allow him to join his agency if he can grab his signature stamp within the time limit then he’s a member. Nighteye easily predicts Izuku’s movements even with his speed from Full Cowling and Izuku loses the agreement.

Nighteye reveals that he had always planned on letting Izuku join due to the fact that he wanted to show All Might that Mirio (his hand picked successor) was meant to possess One for All which actually was set to happen before All Might met Izuku. Because of this Nighteye took an instant dislike to Izuku prior to meeting him and had a preconceived notion working against him. Meanwhile, Uraraka and Tsyui have joined Big 3 member Nejire Hado at Dragon Hero Ryuku’s agency while Kirishima has joined Tamaki Amajiki at Fat Gum’s agency. One day while on patrol Mirio and Izuku search for intel on Chisaki and Izuku has an unfortunate meeting with him and Eri who tries to ask for help. But after a subtle threat from Chisaki she returns to his side. Izuku takes note of this reaction and attempts to interfere only for Mirio to stop him, reminding Izuku of their current objective. Chisaki escapes with Eri and Mirio & Deku report back to Nighteye and the other respective Pro Heroes involved with the operation. Feeling the emotional weight of his failure Izuku breaks down in front of Todoroki and the rest of his friends he was having lunch with and they comfort him. Mirio whose normally cheery and upbeat lets his own emotions slip after he, Tamaki, Nejire, and the other junior heroes involved with the Eri operation have a conversation. 

Regaining their confidence Mirio and Izuku swear to save Eri while having a meeting with the Pro Heroes and remaining junior heroes. It’s eventually revealed that Chisaki had been using Eri’s blood to create bullets from her quirk which has potential to permanently erase someone else’s quirk in addition to making drugs that boost quirks. They are successful and plan to sell the bullets and a cure to both villains and heroes respectively. The Pro Heroes learn of Shie’s hideout thanks to Nighteye’s quirk showing a member buying a toy for Eri. This allows them to stage a sting operation led by Nighteye and the Pro Heroes invade the hideout. Several battles ensue separating the heroes and Ryuku battles a Shie member who can expand his size using the life force of others and is able to allow a select few inside the hideout including Nighteye, Izuku, Rock Lock, Mirio, Kirishima, and others as well as members of the police. A member of Shie once again separates the heroes thanks to his quirk which allows him to manipulate the walls of the hideout. An earlier scuffle between the League of Villains and Hassaikai which resulted in Mr. Compress losing an arm, and the deaths of Magne & a Hassaikai member caused a rift between the two groups. They eventually decided to work together with Tomura Shigaraki sending Twice and Toga Himiko to join Shie. This is actually a ploy to have Hassaikai eliminated as an act of revenge for Magne’s death.

Toga and Twice successfully play on the emotions of Shie and the Heroes to manipulate the results of the battle. Prior to this Tamaki had taken on a tightly matched trio of Shie members by himself allowing Fat Gum, Nighteye, and co. entry deeper into the cave. Fat Gum and Kirishima got separated from the core group and faced off against Kendo Rappa and a member of Shie with a barrier quirk. Rappa’s brute strength easily breaks Kirishima’s hardening, terrifying him and leaving Fat Gum to take a pummeling from his powerful strength based quirk. Kirishima remember his past instances of cowardice forces himself back into battle successfully blocking Rappa’s attacks and protecting Fat Gum. Who had unknowingly been using Rappa’s attacks as a ricochet that built up his own power for one big attack to win the battle. Kirishima is knocked unconscious after hitting a barrier and Fat Gum uses his final attack to win the battle while losing his fat shield in the process. Rappa shows respect to Kirishima and Fat Gum and allows them to recover in a nursing room while revealing sensitive details about Shie. Mirio meets up with two members of Shie close to Chisaki and defeats them after fighting off his injuries. He finally catches up to Chisaki and the two battle with Chisaki coming to realize that Mirio is more powerful than himself. Mirio continues to protect Eri with his life and ends up losing his quirk after a Shie member he failed to knock out shoots him with a quirk erasing bullet. Despite this and his injuries Mirio continues his fight with Chisaki and nearly wins, but is close to succumbing to his injuries before Nighteye, Izuku, and Aizawa make the save.

Nighteye faces Chisaki after embracing Mirio and Eri and Izuku helps Eri escape with Mirio. Nighteye is however gravely injured by Chisaki’s attacks forcing Midoriya to fight. Chisaki absorbs one of his subordinates gaining their quirk and boosting his own he’s easily able to predict Izuku and injures him forcing Eri to return to him after she fears being the cause of more death. Ryuku, Uraraka and Tsyui crash into the area from above after bringing down the giant Shie member. Chisaki attempts to escape with Eri, but Eri realizes how hard the heroes are fighting for her sake and finally accepts their help going to Izuku who accidentally uses 100% of One for All to escape to the surface. However, Eri who had activated her quirk which allows her to rewind certain instances of time healed Izuku’s leg before it could burst open. Beginning to understand Eri’s quirk and how it works, Izuku activates One for All Full Cowling 100% Full Power. Chisaki (having been reverted back to original form by Eri) absorbs the giant Shie member and becomes an enormous monstrosity chasing after Izuku and Eri. Izuku initially struggles to get the hang of his full power while in mid-air, but is able to defeat Chisaki and defy Nighteye’s earlier vision where himself, Mirio, and Izuku die from the battle with Chisaki.

If there’s one thing My Hero Academia will be famous for outside of its action sequences and story it’s definitely going to be the excellent character development abilities of mangaka Kohei Horikoshi. He has such a unique gift for making minor and secondary characters feel important regardless of how much screen time they receive and they always feel just as big if not sometimes bigger than the main characters in MHA. Season four is a prime example of this character and world building that has made My Hero Academia such a fast rising favorite within the anime and manga industry. 

THE BAD: There’s not much going wrong with My Hero Academia, although I will say that season four lacks a bit of action in part one until the later half of the cour. Which is fine as it was more focused on the story and characters. Also Studio Bones kind of screwed up the panel to screen adaptation of Mirio vs Overhaul. They went for certain ideas and these ideas just didn’t really click with the sequence.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: My Hero Academia Season 4 Cour 1 is off to an incredible start with most of the ingredients of its winning formula present. Though this arc lacks a large number of recurring characters those that are here receive ample focus, dedication, and representation & character building. Otaku Dome gives My Hero Academia Season 4, Part 1 a 90 out of 100.