Following the events of the first season, with the unexpected appearance of the League of Villains and their subsequent fight with the students, the series takes a whole other turn, presenting one of the favorites themes of the shonen anime, the tournament.
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Through a series of games that include team and individual fights among all the branches of the academy (Hero, General Studies, Business and Support) the protagonists manage to “grow”, while we learn a lot about the shuttering past of Todoroki and his relationship with his father, Enji, number 2 in the list of heroes after All Might.
These two axes, the battles and Todoroki’s past form the basic structure of the second season, which continues in same Naruto-like, shonen ways of the first one, although the similarities with the iconic title are much less than before. The concept of the main character that gets injured whenever he uses his power is a great one and adds much drama and subsequently, depth in the title, as is the case with the mentor on the brink of losing his powers. This element is stressed even more by Todoroki’s life story, a really dramatic one that includes year of abuse for both him and his mother, along with a concept of eugenics, all due to this father who wanted to have a son that would be much more powerful than he is. At the same time, a number of other characters are also analyzed and a number of social comments surface through them, like commercialization, money, and the way companies work
Of course, all the above do not mean that the action is in the background this season. On the contrary, the battles are almost constant and quite impressive, as we learn the abilities of even more students, which are combined in a game where they are “forced” to work in threes. These battles become more and more outstanding as the competition progresses and the main characters have to fight against each other, with Kenji Nagasaki’s direction along with the great editing retaining a sense of agony that soars as the season progresses.
The animation by Bones accompanies the aforementioned greatly, in the exaggerated but quite fitting tactics of the shonen, while the character drawing that seems to include elements of American comics along the standards of anime, suits the title quite nicely. Add to that a few dosages of humor, although much less than the first season, and you have the backbone of this one.
The second season of “My Hero Academia” continues in the footsteps of the first, adding drama and social comments, and thus, depth, while retaining the impressive action scenes. In general, a title definitely worth following.
