"Naruto," "Dragon Ball," and "One Piece," all similar Shonen hits that all share the same trait when it comes to their main character. That one main trait is their power-ups, more specifically, how broken they are. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful when we see Naruto dawn his Kyuubi Chakra cloak or Goku with his Kiao-Ken, but these power-ups feel undeserved. They only show up when a character needs them to overcome an obstacle, and always have a sense of unrealism, yes I know that nothing in these shows are realistic, but rather I mean the sense of progression and the path to obtaining these powers; In other words, these power-ups feel like handouts that don't help the story. "My Hero Academia," however, seems to have found the exception to this rule and does an excellent job of showing how to develop a character beyond just handing them arbitrary powers.
My Hero Academia follows Izuku Midoriya, a powerless man in a superhuman society. Hope seems lost until his Idol and #1 hero "All-Might" does something unheard of, he gives Midoriya his quirk, which is just the series way of naming powers. We as viewers follow Midoriya on his journey to be the #1 hero, though this journey isn't as easy and simple as it seems on paper. Midoriya receives a stockpiling quirk, dubbed "All-for-One" from All-Might, greatly boosting his power, however, this power is incredibly difficult to control, and Midoriya even has to go through a ten-month hell-like workout regimen just to even contain the power in his body.
When Izuku finally uses All-for-One, it comes with immense consequences. His punches hold great strength, but they also greatly damage his arms and legs, breaking them due to the immense power the quirk contains. Obviously there's no way he can become the #1 hero if he breaks his body every time after one use, so there needs to be a form of progression for him to control his power. After a discussion with All-Might, Midoriya develops what's dubbed as "The egg in the microwave" thought process. This involves putting just enough power into his respective limb to cause great damage without breaking his body, in other words, he's exchanging power for control.
This philosophy doesn't hold well though, and the fight between Midoriya and his classmate Toderoki is an excellent example of this. During the fight, Midoriya is put in a rock and a hard place and is forced to use his power at 100% to stay in the fight and breaks his arm. We as viewers think that this is the end, if Midoriya has broken arms, there's no way he can fight, but he does something so reckless that first-time viewers will be shocked, he uses his broken arms to punch and fight. While this fight is amazing and should definitely be watched apart from this article, it doesn't come without consequences. Midoriya causes permanent damage to his hand and is also refused further treatment from Recovery Girl, a healer for the hero school Midoriya attends. With this in mind, there's no way Midoriya can continue to use his power the way he does, so there must be a power-up to counteract this.
Instead of just receiving some absurd power increase that lets him go all out, he changes his mindset. Rather than just calling upon One-for-All to just one specific part of his body, he surges the power through his whole body, though with much less power. This power is dubbed "Full Cowling", and allows Midoriya to use his power at 5% but gives him way more control and ability than just breaking his limbs on one attack. I absolutely love this style of improvement, he doesn't get some insane move that blows away everyone, but rather he has to change the way he thinks about his quirk and different ways he can use it.
This doesn't apply to just him however, as all his classmates adapt to the same principal. His "friend" and rival Bakugo has a powerhouse explosion quirk, allowing him to send explosions from his hands. This in itself is a great power, but Bakugo builds upon this with great success. He uses his explosions to propel himself in the air, giving him a rare ability to fight in aerial combat and a huge tactical advantage above his other classmates. This mentality that you can use your powers in a different way is most prevalent in Season 3, Episode 14 "Create Those Ultimate Moves," where the students are tasked with creating a move that is a variation of their quirk.
"My Hero Academia" is the kind of show that anime watchers have been longing for, and it shows no signs of slowing down. There are many reasons why the show is great, but it's the ability to refrain from making their high school protagonists godly levels of overpowered massively contributes to that. If you somehow managed to read the entire article without watching this series I highly suggest it. If you love watching Marvel movies or anything of the sorts you'll feel right at home with this series.
