Summary
My Hero Academia is available to stream onCrunchyroll. The manga is available to read onVIZ Media’s online platform.
One aspect of theMy Hero Academiaanime experience that continues to deliver is the soundtrack produced by Yuki Hayashi, who is also highly regarded for his work on the soundtrack ofHaikyuu!. On the long list of incredible compositions, “You Say Run” stands out as one of the best-ever superhero theme songs.
What most fans don’t realize about the track is the fact that the name, like many other things inMy Hero Academia, is actually a well-hidden play on words hiding a bit of context that just makes it even more incredible.
The Succession of My Hero Academia
“How I Became The Greatest Hero”
The story ofMy Hero Academiais told in retrospect, from the perspective of series protagonist Izuku Midoriya (Hero Name:Deku| Quirk:All For One), who was fifteen at the beginning of the series, as he describes the entire journey as a formerly Quirkless individual who not only gained power but went on to become the greatest hero in history. In the world ofMy Hero Academia, All Might is known as"The Symbol of Peace"; a figure of immense greatness who, unbeknownst to most people, is one in a long line of heroes who have laid down their lives to thwart the evil of the villain known as “All For One”.
Despite being Quirkless, Deku showed immense heroic instincts, putting himself in danger to help Bakugo despite being bullied by him throughout their childhoods. All Might chose Deku to be his successor, placing upon him the burden and the responsibility of the power of One For All, a Quirk that has been passed down over several generations as it is honed and improved with hopes that a wielder with the ability to defeat All For One, once and for all, will eventually emerge. To this end, succession is an important theme inMy Hero Academia, and we see it in play on both sides, with Tomura Shigaraki being primed as the successor to All For One. My Hero Academia itself is a successor, a key player in the wave of shōnen manga in the era after The Big Three.
Why “You Say Run”?
One For All: Passing The Torch
Deku’s journey to mastering his overwhelming power, and coming to grips with the unimaginable weight on his shoulders as the one who must defeat All For One and save the world; as the successor to All Might, is arduous and filled with all kinds of difficulty, as the power starts off as something far too great for him to wield.
The use of One For All would leave Deku with broken bones, and it wasn’t very usable when he first received the power from All Might. Over time, Deku has developed a greater understanding of his abilities, the history of the Quirk and how it is connected to the overarching supervillain of the series. Initially a timid individual, aside from his moments of courage, Deku’s overcoming of obstacles to become a worthy successor to the greatest hero in history has made him beyond competent, and through various difficult situations, fights against powerful opponents and support from the people around him, he evolves intoan immensely powerful hero, one pivotal to the fate of the very world.
As mentioned previously, succession is an important concept in the series, and given the dangerous nature of hero work, this only makes sense. A lot of heroes are inspired by others, many of Deku’s generation (both hero and villain) find themselves captivated by the heroisms of All Might, and the nature of One For All necessitates that it be passed on to keep hope alive. The idea of “passing the torch” comes from the image of the Olympic Games, which begin only once the torch is lit.
The flame is delivered across a great distance in what we call the Olympic Torch Relay, which is a symbolic ceremony connecting the modern Olympics to the ancient games and is derived from the ancient Greek ceremonies where a sacred fire would be kept burning on the altar at the sanctuary ofHestia, the virgin Greek goddess of the hearthwho was once one of the 12 Olympians but gave up her throne to Dionysus to prevent civil war, opting to tend to the sacred fire on Mount Olympus.
The Zygote
The New Generation of Heroes
The responsibility of wielders of One For All is to nurture the power through their immense experiences and use it to defeat All For One; however, all the wielders have failed. They ensure the possibility of success in the future by passing it on to another candidate, and vestiges of previous users remain imprinted on the Quirk itself. In themajor battle between All Might and All For Oneback in season 3, the former just barely beat his arch-foe; however, the encounter forced him into retirement. The entire bout was aired, and the nation watched their hero’s final battle. When he secured an important but ultimately temporary victory, All Might pointed directly at one of the cameras and said, “You’re up next,” a statement which could have been understood to refer to Deku specifically, or the next generation of heroes as a whole.
It is possible that “You Say Run” may come from the parallel between One For All and the Olympic Torch Relay, but the track title is a play on words. “You Say Run” is a deliberate Romanization of the Japanese word “yūseiran”, written 有精卵, which translates to “zygote”. The Japanese word is written with three characters, the first meaning “existence” or “being”, the next being “sei”, as in “spirit”, with “egg” being the last kanji. Zygote is a biological term referring to the product of both sets of gametes required in reproduction; the single cell resulting from the fertilization of the egg in various reproductive cycles. This cell is what undergoes mitosis, replicating itself over and over and eventually giving rise to a living organism, which is, in this case, a fully-fledged hero.
My Hero Academia
In My Hero Academia, Young Deku is born into a world where people commonly have something called quirks, also known as superpowers. He himself is born without any, but circumstances lead to that changing. He enrolls at the UA High School, a prestigious academy where the worlds future heroes learn how to use their powers.
