but the new theme song for Hero Academia Season 3 - Odd Future by UVERworld is

interesting to say the least where previous heroAca openings were hard rock this one is a bit more hip-hop

Fusion and with that shift in styles comes a shift in pacing to some the OP feels a bit out of sync like the music

doesn't match the escalation of the visuals the drop where the beat gets faster

and the

instruments more intense comes in really late in the song only 10 seconds before the title card and a lot of the action isn't

accompanied by what you'd think of as action music this has led to

complaints and even a meme built around pairing the OP with other songs because they're better, but I'm gonna defend this one

I really like odd future

And I think it matches the action perfectly just in a different way from your typical

J-rock opener instead of getting faster with the action the beat gets heavier the key to this Op is the explosive

bass drop which you're not going to hear if you're listening to it on your phone or tablet

Or crappy TV speakers or in the background of a youtube video

But if you're like me and you have a subwoofer hooked up to

everything you watch anime on this song will grow on you fast because it

Flat-out rocks now with that little bit of opinion out of the way

How does the actual Op hold up is it as packed with sakuga?

references and foreshadowing as its predecessors or any Utaeba or dare to dream does it once again?

Go beyond plus ultra could this be the new best HeroAca opening. Yes, sorry

I'm way too excited to be a tease about this this OP is awesome

and I just want to talk about why

Why? Involves talking about a lot of manga spoilers up to around episode 12 of this season though

So if you're an anime only fan

Continue at your own risk now the Op starts with a zoom out of Deku's

Eye, as he crouches down getting ready to break into a sprint

We see a spotlight on him only natural considering that he's the center of our attention as our

protagonist and also the center of the world's attention as the future symbol of peace and in a flash that spotlight is replaced by

projected images of his past struggles from finding out that he was quirkless all the way up through his battle with Stain

Lastly we see him dashing out of the Academy training grounds with Bakugo a shot straight from the last season finale

Then we pull down and around behind him as he breaks into a run leaving a trail of dust and broken earth in his wake

The camera moving downwards shows his growth as a character going from being weak and insignificant to a powerful

dominant figure who we have to look up to if you've seen my previous videos about HeroAca

You know that the series has been gradually building up a narrative in the beginning and ending of its openings about Deku's

relationship with All Might. Across three Op's Deku goes from staring at All Might's back from afar to being

acknowledged by his hero as an equal and now in the fourth Op

We see him in the same barren desert setting as the last one only this time

he's all alone except for Toru. Deku has finally succeeded all might and now he needs to learn how to move forward without

his hero beside him which is where this story arc is ultimately going to leave him and this Op spends a lot of its runtime

reinforcing that idea the very next shot shows a young All Might accepting his quirk, one for all, from his mentor Nana

Shimura with a 3d rotation of the camera

representing this turning point for them this passing of the torch the rotating camera is a

consistent motif throughout this Op. There are four rotating shots in the opening and all of them focus on either All Might or

Deku, every time the camera moves in this way

It's showing the transition of one for all's power between them, and that's not the only visual motif in this Op

There's also an extreme focus on eyes

And not just what the obvious zooms in and out of Deku's eyes that begin and end this opening sequence

There are a lot of cuts to and away from close-ups on various characters eyes

which represent the will power of these heroes and villains to move forward, note

how when Deku is at his lowest here

We don't see his eyes

But we do when he regains his will to fight the same goes for shigaraki in these shots

And there are two characters whose eyes

We don't see at all, All for One who is blind and on his last legs, and Nana Shimura

who is dead, and then there's All Might whose powers are reaching limit

We only see the glint of his eyes

one time during the final confrontation with All-for-one, which is his last moment acting as a hero. To hammer that home

just a little bit harder

We jumped from All might with his mentor to All Might with his protege sitting on a bench under a blossoming cherry tree

It's a nice uplifting

happy image

which is weird because it's clearly based on a decidedly

somber manga cover.

Chapter 96 of the manga opens with a colour splash page featuring Deku and a deflated All Might

sitting sombrely on a park bench under a more green tree next to each other. The page marks a

farewell to the symbol of peace who loses his powers after well

We'll get to that

The pink Sakura blossoms are associated with spring in Japan while green leaves are more associated with summer so the shot in the op is

clearly a before picture to the manga covers after and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if in the last

episode of this core they changed the op to replace the shot with that cover

But that's enough about Deku and All Might for now. We jump from them to the rest of class 1-a

out for a run in their gym uniforms. For the most part the kids are just running but Aoyama true to his

narcissistic character stares directly into the camera the whole time and we see an exhausted, Minetta

turn and start drooling when the girls catch up with them. Also. Hey. There's To- oh wait Tohru's actually in this shot

I don't know how to

Let's just move on after we meet the kids we´re introduced to the adult pro heroes

Starting with Endeavour who makes a point of getting right up in front of the camera and standing apart from everyone else

This is the first of four times that a shot transition in this Op is marked by flames

A third motif which I believe is meant to hint that endeavour will take All Migth's place

after he loses one for all at any rate. We move on from him to the other pro heroes

This is a very dynamic shot with edge shot in the Wild Wild Pussy Cougars jumping in to strike a pose then gran torino

sliding into place as mount lady in big herself to fill out the top part of the frame

We don't learn a lot about the individual characters from this

But we can instantly tell who actually works at UA

Because they all stand in front of the school while everyone else has to move into position. The heroes do strongly

contrasts with the villains though

Who are introduced by Debbie's blue flame instead of endeavours red and who take up a more

intimidating position much closer to the screen and while the heroes were all looking in the same direction

motivated by a common purpose of protecting the peace. The league of villains

vanguard action squad is looking all over the place because they all have different

ideals and goals. Twice and Mr.

Compress are both looking left because they're both loyal to shigaraki and follow his ideals

Dobby and Spinner are looking to the right

Meanwhile because they're both followers of the hero killer Stain and want to create the better world that he envisioned in

direct opposition though they don't know it yet - to Shigaraki. Also as a neat little aside Mr.

Compress is holding the shrunken Bakugo in his hand. The guy in the cloak and mask

Muscular is looking directly at the screen because all he wants is chaos

Likewise Himiko Toga is another villain who just wants to watch the world burn

And she looks directly into the camera when she pops up as well

but she does a little bit more than that she smiles at us as she toys with her needle in an

unmistakably flirty manner then she throws it directly at the camera

which isn't just a clever and beautifully animated way of cutting to them shots. It

also tells us who she's looking at the camera in all three of these shots

represents Deku's perspective

That's why he's not running with his classmates, and why Aoyama is looking at him although that comes way later

Why the camera frames the pro heroes in such a reverential light, and why the villains look so intimidating by comparison

It's also why Toga flirts with the camera. During the summer training arc

She becomes obsessed with Deku and starts stalking him relentlessly and in light of that

It makes sense for muscular to be staring straight at Deku as well since they fight each other one-on-one

when the villains attack. From Toga we cut to a depressed looking Shigaraki

slumped against the screen and we see a hand reach out of the screen to pattern on

it's head that hand is All for One, All Mights nemesis

and Shigaraki's mentor. This image either

represents Shigaraki during the hideout raid arc when he thinks that all hope is lost before his mentor uses

teleportation to save the league of villains from the clutches of justice or it could represent the

aftermath of that part when Shigaraki is left alone

And his mentor is carted off to jail. Since All for One's influence is still with him now

He's strong enough to move forward on his own

Much like Deku at the beginning of this opening. Speaking of we return to our hero only to see him limping

sadly through the snow and shortly after we see what he's sad about, as Bakugo appears behind him and he turns

gray hanging his head to the feet (bowing in an apologetic manner) at first glance this seems to be a simple character

introduction since the characters hate each other

But Bakugo is notably not in front of the same canyon background as all of the other

action shots use and that's because at the end of the training camp arc Bakugo

gets kidnapped by the league of villains who hope to turn him to their side. Bakugo

goes angry explosive attack isn't just for show then it's a response to that proposal since he's not

exactly big on the whole villainy thing despite his abrasive personality. After Bakugo we see Iida and

Kirishima engaging in battle which is

significant because they along with Deku are the ones who charge in to actually save Bakugo from the villains while all might is busy

battling

All-for-One and with their help the

despondent Deku reclaims his resolve and gets ready to fight

Coming in with that base drop all might flies down to deliver a devastating punch to the center of the city

This is him charging in to fight All-for-one one last time then we cut back to shigaraki

walking forward purposefully in front of a creepy grasping horde of Nomus. He is now moving forward on his own

Truly leading the league of villains instead of just following orders and leaving his defeated mentor behind

which is exactly what All-for-One wants to let Shigaraki's hatred fuel him to achieve even greater

levels of villainy now that his mentor is gone. After that we jump back to the training camp arc to see all of Deku's

classmates jumping out of an explosion in the woods giving everyone a chance to let their powers shine, literally in Aoyama's case

There are a few points of interest here. Firstly,

it's worth noting that Tetsu Tetsu Tetsu Tetsu is mixed in with Class A in place of Kirishima

And he does play a key role in taking down one of the villains. Secondly,

it's significant that the explosion starts with an immense burst of power from Dark Shadow who goes out of control

when the villains attack during this arc and for the most part. That's what this shot is meant to convey

It's just a crazy burst of action meant to show the chaos created by the villains attacking

but even if it's just for a few frames every character gets a chance to show off their unique designs and

personalities we see Todoroki break away from the chaos and fly above it on his ice readying a blast of flames

And I guess he's too important to not get his own character shot at this point

But it's a bit out of place

considering that he doesn't really accomplish much during either the training camp or the hideout raid. Still his flames serve as a cool transition to

Deku as he powers up and gets ready to throw down with muscular

This is a beautifully animated sequence that really sells Deku's desperation and power as well as Muscular's insane

overwhelming strength which dominates every frame he's in you get an instant sense of the

David-and-Goliath nature of this fight from just looking at the two side-by-side

The rotation around Deku tells us that this is a key moment for him

This is his first time fighting as a real hero giving his all to defend someone

he doesn't really know thus it is a

huge step toward realizing his destiny as All Might's eventual successor that idea is

reinforced as he goes in for the knockout blow and just before he lands his 1,000,000% Delaware Detroit

Smash! We zoom into Deku's eye

And see what's inspiring him the ferocious fighting spirit of All Might conveniently this also serves as an excuse to

highlight the final battle between All Might and All for One. From behind the villain we see all my

crackling with energy ready to release every last ounce of one-for-all in his final attack

"United states of smash" which is the coolest attack name ever just as an aside we then zoom in across the battlefield

to All Might and see his face twisted not in his iconic smile or even a serious grimaced, but rather pure

unrestrained rage for the first time in the whole series

We are seeing all might get truly mad and combined with the tempo of the music finally speeding up. It is a bad-ass

moment and if the significance of that is lost on you. The importance of this moment is further emphasised by another camera turn