Boku no Hero Academia is back! And what better way to start the season than a really nicely done recap episode?
With a title like “The Scoop on U.A. Class 1-A” this episode puts us in a position where not only we’ll be able to catch up with what happened in the previous season, but also get introduced to a new character; reporter and freelance journalist Tokuda Taneo.
After an overwhelming finale for season 3, our heroes are faced with new responsibilities. With All Might’s retirement and the League of Villains still on the loose, their lives surely won’t get any easier. That’s why season 4 is serving us a slow start to show us that our heroes are slowly but surely getting a hold of themselves and their quirks to be ready at any moment before the next attack.
The episode starts with a group of reporters desperately trying to get a scoop article on All Might’s retirement. Just as their hopes almost die out, Tokuda shows up and suggests a theory on who of the U.A. students could be All Might’s successor after turning the spotlight on his iconic quote at the end of his last fight in season 3: “Now it’s your turn.” The journalist then offers to go to the U.A. dorms to try and get a look at the daily lives of the Class 1-A students for the newspapers, but also to secretly uncover the mystery. And that’s where the episode transitions into reintroducing our beloved 20 students of Class 1-A: their names, quirks, costumes, and personalities.
As the recap episode goes on, we also get introduced to Tokuda’s touching backstory and his quirk throughout his talk with Midoriya. This whole scene shows the uniqueness of BNHA in its way of taking care of the smallest details to make the moment come to life for us.
We also get an appearance from All Might and it shows us a simple yet important caring gesture from him to his students to show that they still see him as the Symbol of Peace and the No.1 Hero even after his retiring. These scenes remind us that the smaller and more simple actions in these series are as important as big fight scenes and action packed episodes.
As an episode premiere, we can say that this was rather a slow start to the season. Rather than a big energetic opening bang to season 4, we got a calm and wholesome first episode; and that’s what makes great balance in the whole series.
Jnaina Benaissa
JET Press Team