The Shie Hassaikai Arc and the UA School Festival arc are two of the most fun and exciting arcs in My Hero Academia.
They are also completely different in just about every way, dealing with different themes, putting the characters in different situations, and generally taking the time to showcase the many ways someone could create a story about kids in a superhero high school. Here are five reasons that the Shie Hassaikai Arc is season four’s best arc and five why the YA School Festival Arc was just as good.
10 Shie Hassaikai: Kirishima's Backstory
One of the best things about My Hero Academia is that there are a bunch of characters, all of whom have their own reasons for wanting to become heroes.
The Shie Hassaikai Arc tells the backstory of Kirishima, who has always felt that his Quirk is pretty lackluster. But he has still worked hard to become the best hero he can, and this arc gives him a chance to prove himself and to show how hard he’s worked as he has a last stand against the villains.
9 UA School Festival: Kyoka Jiro Backstory
The school festival focuses on a big musical performance that a bunch of the heroes put on together. There can’t be a musical performance without Kyoka Jiro, whose entire Quirk is that she’s able to use sound as a powerful weapon.
Over the course of putting together the performance, we learn Kyoka’s origin and how she decided to use her Quirk to become a hero instead of a musician. It’s a sweet story of parents being supportive of their child’s choices and of a teenager following her dreams.
8 Shie Hassaikai: Introduction Of Eri
Most of the series follows a group of young people with Quirks who are doing their best to learn how to control them and to get stronger so they can use them to help other people.
So meeting a young character like Eri, who has an extremely powerful Quirk and doesn’t know how to use it, is a refreshing change and shows a different possibility of what could happen to someone who doesn’t have the same structure to learn.
7 UA School Festival: Introduction Of Danjuro
On the other end of the spectrum, the series also introduces a new villain in Danjuro during the UA School Festival. Danjuro’s a really interesting villain, since he’s not actually a bad guy. He’s just motivated by the wrong things and wants to be a hero but makes bad choices.
He’s a great foil for the adults that the UA kids usually spend their time around, who are morally righteous and have successfully become heroes. Danjuro’s a great look at what happens when things don’t work out for the heroes as planned.
6 Shie Hassaikai: Death of Sir Nighteye
While bad things have certainly happened to the characters in the series up to this point, there haven’t been a lot of moments when the peril has just been too great for even the adult heroes to overcome.
Sir Nighteye is the first time the UA kids really see one of the heroes they look up to die in battle. It’s a big wake-up call for all of them that hero life is fraught with danger and nobody is completely unbeatable.
5 UA School Festival: The Festival Performance
As mentioned above, the big moment of the school festival arc is when the students, who have been working together to put on a musical performance, all work together to do so.
It’s a fun moment when all of the students use their Quirks to entertain people, along with generally singing and dancing, which is always amusing to see anime characters do. Plus, this is the big moment when Eri smiles for the first time, and it’s a sweet, nice break from all of the peril.
4 Shie Hassaikai: Mirio Losing His Quirk
Miro is a big, sweet boy who tries his best and works really hard at everything. He was actually the intended recipient of One For All until Deku came along, and Deku looks up to and admires him.
So when he loses his Quirk, and it’s no longer possible for him to be a hero, it’s pretty heartbreaking. Still, it’s a great moment of showing some heroic spirit, since Mirio doesn’t let it break him down, and he doesn’t give up, despite the struggles he’s sure to have now.
3 UA School Festival: The Students Work Together
For most of the arcs that actually take place at the school and have to do with the students learning to become superheroes, the kids spend a lot of time competing with each other in the name of learning how to use their Quirks.
Sure, sometimes, they form teams, but for the most part, they’re each on their own. So the festival gives viewers a chance to see them all working together to accomplish something, figuring out solutions to problems and using their Quirks in a way that’s complementary to each other.
2 Shie Hassaikai: Actual Peril For The Students
The UA students often end up in situations where things are pretty scary or difficult for them, or when they’re generally out of their depth. But for the most part, there are adult heroes nearby who are capable of handling the threats and run in to save them when needed.
That’s not so much the case in this arc, and the adults are in as much danger as the students. It’s a real wakeup call for everyone about what being a hero actually means, and it’s the first time viewers of the show aren’t totally sure whether the characters are going to make it out alive.
1 UA School Festival: It’s A Bit Of A Breather
After the peril and intensity of the Shie Hassaikai Arc, the fact that the UA Festival Arc is next is a bit of a relief. It’s more lighthearted and sees the kids having fun and working together, as opposed to being in immediate danger for most of the episodes.
While there is a villain to contend with, the arc doesn’t have the same level of intensity that the last arc did, which lets the viewers relax a bit. The set-up for the next arc seems to imply that things are about to get pretty crazy again, so it’s probably a good thing that we had a moment to relax.