‘My Hero Academia’ Was Always Copaganda

It’s always been a conservative narrative

Image; Crunchyroll

I have had a soft spot for the Shōnen anime My Hero Academia (2016-present): a crime-fighting show set in a world where people have superpowers or ‘quirks.’ I found the upbeat energy of the protagonist, Izuku “Deku” Midoriya (Daiki Yamashita/Justin Briner), to be more tolerable than most Shōnen anime, and I consider our main antagonist, Tomura Shigaraki (Kōki Uchiyama/Eric Vale), to be the most compelling part of the story.

MHA’s world is similar to ours — i.e., hyper-capitalist, overly militarized, etc.— with the added wrinkle that nearly everyone, from your regular crossing guard to your most malicious terrorist, can create massive fires, level buildings, or use some other type of quirk. This state of affairs has led to a massive restructuring of society, where a significant amount of time is devoted to reining in the disaffected, empowered members of society who pose a direct threat to the state.

In other words, in a world where even your average Joe can level parts of a city’s downtown, a lot of effort is placed into making sure those perceived threats can be dealt with swiftly.

Our leads are young superheroes-in-training who aspire to fill this enforcement role. They are, for all intents and purposes, police officers (a…