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With My Hero Academia season 7 already confirmed, fans of the television anime adaptation of author and illustrator Kohei Horikoshi’s manga series are incredibly excited. Despite a lack of information regarding its release window at the time of writing, the hype surrounding the upcoming season is incredibly high due to the source material it’s set to adapt.
Likewise, the franchise’s fandom was also given an exciting shock to the system with the recent confirmation of a fourth anime movie being in production. Between My Hero Academia season 7 and the fourth franchise film, fans are truly ecstatic to see what the next few years of the series have in store for them.
However, some have a sense of dread regarding the seventh season and its apparent coinciding with the production of a fourth franchise film. They worry that, like season 5 and the third film, the upcoming season’s production may be skimped out in favor of extra resources spent on the film’s production.
Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the opinions of the writer
Financial gains lie at the heart of why My Hero Academia season 7 quality being threatened by movie announcement
Why season 7 is at risk, explained
At the most basic and essential level, My Hero Academia season 7’s quality is at risk due to the much larger financial potential of a theatrical film release than that of a television anime season. While television anime seasons primarily rely on DVD sales to drive revenue, a theatrical film release can quite literally charge each and every fan for a viewing experience.
Both from the perspective of long-term financial gains and total number of sales, a theatrical film release will be in possession of a strong advantage over a television anime season. Likewise, producing both a theatrical film and a television anime season simultaneously may see resources split between the two unevenly.
Such a scenario has already played out for Kohei Horikoshi’s franchise in the past, with the release of the series’ fifth season and its third film coinciding. Likewise, the production of both heavily coincided, likely occurring at the exact same time for most of their production periods.
As has been seen by the quality of both final products, studio BONES clearly prioritized the film, giving fans good reason to worry about My Hero Academia season 7.
An example of the film being prioritized stems from the Joint Training arc, where the animation was wooden at best and a slideshow at worst.
While some fans still optimistically enjoyed the season by way of it being better than nothing at all, the quality was nearly universally panned by fans. Some even went as far as to say they would’ve preferred waiting another year for season 5 rather than it clearly being rushed out.
The season also had an awkwardly placed filler episode to promote the movie, the presence of which was jarring to the overall narrative. While the overall tone of the season was light enough that the episode wasn’t excessively jarring, the same cannot be said for My Hero Academia season 7. A shoehorned-in filler episode could make or break the tension of the season, depending on when it comes and how lighthearted it is.
Be sure to keep up with all My Hero Academia anime, manga, film, and live-action news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.
