CONTAINS SPOILERS. AS PER LATEST CHAPTER. SUBJECT TO ALTERATIONS

This is an update as per the latest chapters. Is it me or is the story and art getting every bit as chaotic as tangled wires? If not for the anime I cannot make half of what is going in on the manga. I am missing the old style where things made a lot of sense. While my initial impressions of major characters remain the same, I still feel burdened with having to remember millions of minor characters and the lack of a definite plot is nagging at me. Sometimes I feel its just fine to skip a chapter or two and I am pretty sure I might’ve have not missed out on much. Characters still lack personality. There is no actual development for MC but the villain has been getting OP upgrades while a desperate attempt is made at finding new ways of competitions for deku and company to participate in. Let’s see how things pan out

PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS TILL CHAPTER 182

The best thing about boku no hero academia is in its addictive story. Amongst big names like naruto, bleach etc BNHA comes out with a fresh and modern undertone for a shounen manga. Unlike older manga, bnha has less complicated dialogues and a more fluid art style. Its arcs are relatively shorter and has a decent pace attached to it. The battle scenes are crisp there by increasing the content. On the flip side, character backstory of the MC is rampant with repetitive flashbacks.

PLOT:
There is no want of interesting plot developments as each arc has unique and linear story line. There is coherence in the narration and speech bubbles contain minimum to no nonsense in conversations. It is an entirely fun read. Waiting for a seventeen page chapter every week can be nerve breaking as the manga is really awesome.

CHARACTERS:
BNHA has a unique quality of providing many characters reasonable plot space. We get to see multiple characters developing to aid the plot. This could be annoying as it becomes cluttered with too much info to keep track of. In this manga you see lots of character types ripped off from popular manga. BSD, Naruto to name a few.

Midoriya:
Izuku Midoriya is different from the run on the mill shounen protagonists. He
appears cute and sweet but is a tactician. In a battle, he can prioritize his course of action with the help of predictions. He studies his opponents behavior and is less reckless in events of pressure. Since this deviates a lot from what a mc ought to be, the author throws in a character flaw. Midoriya is a total wet blanket. He is such a good guy who will pull out the best in his opponent even if it means he loses badly. Theoretically speaking he has makings of hero but power wise, he is yet to prove why he should be the greatest. He does gradually transforms into a self reliant person so its only a few more years of serialization before you see midoriya as the greatest hero.

Majority of shounen manga is of the view that a MC is that powerless but strong willed guy who overcomes obstacles through sheer perseverance and hard work. They tend to be close range combatants. The second hero who is definitely several levels above the MC still comes a close second. The difference in skill set is obvious and through the power of "nakama", all the true efforts of the second hero fails in the face of the apparently cheerful and not to mention reckless MC. In that sense, deku is pretty powerless and when he does get powered up, he winds up getting severely handicapped by his quirk that he cannot survive without outside help. This situation gets slightly better when he takes his quirk up by a notch or three.
The frustrating part is that the author spends too much time polishing rest of the characters and Deku is left with so little screen time when it comes to battles. He either gets the last scenes or is finished off in the beginning. His power improvement over the span of 180 or so chapters is minimal. He possesses One For All which is a physical power boost quirk and yet he loses all the time or accomplishes so little.
He gets sidelined in a flurry of emotional and assertive dialogues. He does so little in most of the battles. He keeps saying he wants to get stronger but has not gotten stronger enough to go independently against anyone, much less bakugo and sadly he lost there too. In the recent chapters he is still cushioned by some one or other while he grapples to control the power.He was made to participate in a futile battle with a minor villain even if he did win, there was some talk-no-jutsu working its course in the background. It did not seem so right for a hero's starting line match.

Shouta Todoroki:
Ice and flames make him too awesome. His personality is decent. His backstory adds more depth to his person. He has the makings of a number 1 hero. His relationship with Deku is healthy. He has half a head full of red hair. that wins in my books. He is adorable and innocent especially in the provisional training course. In terms of abilities and capabilities, he is way above Deku and many other Pro heroes.

Bakugo:
If Naruto were to switch his personality with sasuke, the result is bakugo. He is powerful with cunning techniques but irritatingly loud. While being obsessed with power and fame, he shows his wrath on deku all the time. There is nothing special to him. There is an unhealthy rivalry flowing between the two. He is as feisty as his quirk. His interactions with children is hilarious to watch. It is not just his loudness that annoys readers. Its probably how he picks fight with Deku merely to channel his explosive thoughts. Occasionally he is understanding and all other times he bounces back to his one dimensional design.

Rest of characters:
Aizawa, All might, Froppy, Uarvity, Red riot, dark shadow, lemillion and so many others do one hell of a job supporting this story. We see them fully involved in every arc. Some are lucky to get a backstory too.

Villains:
Sad to say this but the villains are pretty colorless although they pretend to have depth. Shigaraki and his bunch of merry men are nothing but a ragtag group of misfits or psychos whose personalities are not fully developed. The chisaki group was a shade better but again potential was wasted. The entire arc had so much potential but they could not keep the momentum alive for long. I guess the Shigaraki team is meant to be the last boss as the manga snuffs out any other villain as soon it fires off one.

ART
Art in action scenes need to be less chaotic. Sometimes without the help of anime, it is hard to follow the fight scenes. Swift movements need better capturing. Character art on the other hand is really nice. Justice is done on Stationary objects and Backgrounds.

Since shounen is aimed at teenage boys, its often riddled with stories reiterating the importance of morals. It is not surprising if the hero reduces the villain to a good guy. In BNHA it is not so pronounced. Authors are prone to push their ideals of right and wrong onto the readers through his MC which could come of pretty strong. BNHA also has some idealism loosely thrown around the manga but its vehemence is mild as is the temperament of Deku . BNHA is just a simple story of Heroes Vs Villains. With simple moves, the story potential and character potential is kept stagnant. The heroes are bound to win, nothing more nothing less.

The shortcomings of a shounen manga are that they fall in to following the tropes unconsciously. If you look deeper there is no definite plot. The narrative is more like a record of events that led to deku's incumbent victory in the future. Since it is an easy read, we would have just breezed past 182 chapters. Then there are the characters who are growing along with the story honing their skills. Altogether its well created. This manga deserves a rating not less than 8 for quality of art style, storyboard, characters, narration and overall speed and developments.