10 Essential Superhero Anime That Reinvent The Genre
2. My Hero Academia
A smart, compelling series placing budding superheroes into an academic setting, this particular anime is Japan's biggest superhero property at present, and one of its most popular Shonen series both in Japan and overseas.
Very much a love letter to Silver Age classic Western heroes, the anime adds its own special flavour to the genre, with an extensive cast of characters that are all individually interesting and compelling, in a world where superpowers are common and profited off of, with heroes not only working to be better at saving others, but also focusing on the business and PR side of heroism, with their world having made superpowers part of their societal structure and economy.
Opposing those heroes are villains rebelling against the admittedly problematic structure.
Smart commentary without losing the pure, hopeful optimism embodied by its main character and his own mentor - a self-styled Western themed blond strongman named All-Might, who everyone looks to as the world's greatest hero - My Hero Academia has the kind of enjoyable class dynamic seen in X-Men, while also revelling in the special class and school tropes seen in previous Shonen ventures.
It's the perfect anime to rise in popularity in this age of Hollywood superhero fare.