Don’t think too hard about them, maybe you won’t notice.
Summary:
Quirks make killing others too easy, yet we barely hear of mass murderers.
Everyone who is able to give, take or temporarily block Quirks knows each other.
Some Quirks are inherently more powerful than the others, with some being way too strong.
My Hero Academia is one of the most popular modern shounen series. Its popularity is understandable: with a very simple premise to follow, it nevertheless has a huge cast of characters utilizing various abilities, known as Quirks. Quirks can be basically anything, and they are often so unusual and unbelievable, they might as well be considered magic for all intents and purposes. They do, technically, have an in-universe explanation, but it feels more like an afterthought with how impossible it is to relate to real-life science. Now, being unscientific or magical per se isn’t a bad thing, but there’s no consistency with quirks, either.
Quirks are dangerous
One of the biggest issues stems from the fact that a Quirk can be basically anything. This raises some questions, however: in a world where the majority of the population has Quirks of some kind, all it takes is someone with ill intent and a Quirk capable of killing a person to become another mass murderer. Yes, villains exist, however, we barely see cases like that mentioned, which does not seem to make much sense. Quirks with some sort of attack capability seem to be very common, at least according to what kinds of characters we see in the manga and anime, and these cases should be much more widespread. An argument can be made that with the target audience being teenagers, a realistic depiction of these issues would be inappropriate for readers of that age.
Coincidence or lack of thought?
Another problem that arises from Quirks being able to manifest as virtually anything is the fact that Quirks that disable others’ exist (like Eraser Head’s Erasure), and it’s possible to graft Quirks onto others’ bodies (Gigantomachia has seven in total, and Nomu’s are artificial creatures using multiple Quirks). Yet somehow, we barely see any examples of these outside of the ones mentioned. Yes, All For One is able to wield multiple Quirks, as is Deku in the later chapters of the manga, but it seems like these cases are basically unheard of otherwise. It seems extremely unlikely that all people able to do this would know each other, and it seems equally unlikely that Doctor Garaki is the only person who can transfer Quirks, as it would add another layer of unlikely coincidence to this issue. It’s highly unlikely billions of people all have unique abilities.
Other problems
And of course, we shouldn’t forget the immense inherent power disparity between different Quirks. One For All and All For One are exceptions, of course, but there’s a huge difference between something only useful occasionally, like Navel Laser, and Quirks like Eri’s Rewind or Star and Stripe’s New Order, the latter being essentially able to manipulate reality itself with some restrictions. It also makes a lot of characters essentially gatekept by their own abilities: no matter how much they train, they can’t get above a certain level. There is also a surprising absence of guns in an otherwise modern world, with fans actually praising the villain Mustard for even thinking of using one.
Most of these issues would only be noticed by readers and watchers who can’t hold their suspension of disbelief. For the majority of readers, the series is still entertaining, and they don’t have to think much, which is a perfectly valid point of view.
Don’t think too hard about them, maybe you won’t notice.
Summary:
Quirks make killing others too easy, yet we barely hear of mass murderers.
Everyone who is able to give, take or temporarily block Quirks knows each other.
Some Quirks are inherently more powerful than the others, with some being way too strong.
My Hero Academia is one of the most popular modern shounen series. Its popularity is understandable: with a very simple premise to follow, it nevertheless has a huge cast of characters utilizing various abilities, known as Quirks. Quirks can be basically anything, and they are often so unusual and unbelievable, they might as well be considered magic for all intents and purposes. They do, technically, have an in-universe explanation, but it feels more like an afterthought with how impossible it is to relate to real-life science. Now, being unscientific or magical per se isn’t a bad thing, but there’s no consistency with quirks, either.
Quirks are dangerous
One of the biggest issues stems from the fact that a Quirk can be basically anything. This raises some questions, however: in a world where the majority of the population has Quirks of some kind, all it takes is someone with ill intent and a Quirk capable of killing a person to become another mass murderer. Yes, villains exist, however, we barely see cases like that mentioned, which does not seem to make much sense. Quirks with some sort of attack capability seem to be very common, at least according to what kinds of characters we see in the manga and anime, and these cases should be much more widespread. An argument can be made that with the target audience being teenagers, a realistic depiction of these issues would be inappropriate for readers of that age.
Coincidence or lack of thought?
Another problem that arises from Quirks being able to manifest as virtually anything is the fact that Quirks that disable others’ exist (like Eraser Head’s Erasure), and it’s possible to graft Quirks onto others’ bodies (Gigantomachia has seven in total, and Nomu’s are artificial creatures using multiple Quirks). Yet somehow, we barely see any examples of these outside of the ones mentioned. Yes, All For One is able to wield multiple Quirks, as is Deku in the later chapters of the manga, but it seems like these cases are basically unheard of otherwise. It seems extremely unlikely that all people able to do this would know each other, and it seems equally unlikely that Doctor Garaki is the only person who can transfer Quirks, as it would add another layer of unlikely coincidence to this issue. It’s highly unlikely billions of people all have unique abilities.
Other problems
And of course, we shouldn’t forget the immense inherent power disparity between different Quirks. One For All and All For One are exceptions, of course, but there’s a huge difference between something only useful occasionally, like Navel Laser, and Quirks like Eri’s Rewind or Star and Stripe’s New Order, the latter being essentially able to manipulate reality itself with some restrictions. It also makes a lot of characters essentially gatekept by their own abilities: no matter how much they train, they can’t get above a certain level. There is also a surprising absence of guns in an otherwise modern world, with fans actually praising the villain Mustard for even thinking of using one.
Most of these issues would only be noticed by readers and watchers who can’t hold their suspension of disbelief. For the majority of readers, the series is still entertaining, and they don’t have to think much, which is a perfectly valid point of view.
