My Hero Academia season 5 will explore “the greater mystery of One for All”

The dubbed fifth season of My Hero Academia premiered this weekend, kicking off the next chapter in Deku’s journey to becoming the world’s greatest hero. Season 4 of the anime highlighted just how far the series’ main character has come, both in terms of mastering his Quirk and understanding what it means to save people. However, he still has a long way to go when it comes to making One for All “his own.”

Deku’s mastery of One for All is likely to be complicated by the visit from his predecessors at the end of season 4. Of course, this isn’t the first time Deku has been able to communicate with those who wielded his power before him. This time was more definitive, though, and could have ramifications for how he uses his Quirk going forward.

For the past four seasons, fans — and Deku — have only known what All Might has shared about One for All. It seems we’ll learn more heading into the fifth season, adding an interesting new layer to Deku’s story.

We talk to Justin Briner, who plays Deku in the English dub

According to voice actor Justin Briner (Deku), the upcoming season will dive further into the history of his character’s inherited power. Here’s what he said when we were able to talk to him about it:

"Up until now, what’s been important to Deku is mastering the fundamentals of his inherited Quirk. And that has been a struggle – you know, a lot of blood, sweat and broken bones. But now, I think, now that he’s got a grasp of that, we’re going to explore sort of the greater mystery of One for All and what it means to the greater hero community, and how it’s sort of impacted everything since it’s inception. And that’s just deeply fascinating. So, hopefully, we’ll find out a little more [about] that."

What else to expect from My Hero Academia season 5

In addition to Deku discovering more about his Quirk and its previous wielders, fans can also expect to see how Class 1-A and Class 1-B have evolved since the anime’s earlier seasons. The promo for My Hero Academia season 5 has teased a showdown between the two groups the likes of which fans haven’t seen since the Sports Festival Arc back in season 2.

And although fans know how much Class 1-A’s students have grown since the show’s early days, Briner suggests Class 1-B has come just as far:

"Now, I think we’re going to focus on bringing these characters that we know, but we haven’t gotten to see for a very long time, back into the spotlight. And just as Class 1-A has had this ridiculous, tumultuous year to grow and advance, so too will this class. And they’ve got tricks to bring to the party."

It’ll be interesting to see what those tricks are, and whether Class 1-B manages to outsmart Deku and his classmates with them.

Briner also talked about how impressed he was by the My Hero Academia production team’s ability to turn season 5 around as quickly as they did, pointing to the unprecedented circumstances of the past year as one of the challenges to getting the new season out:

"Frankly, I think anyone getting anything creative done the past year is such a feat. And it’s really special to see how the overall voice-over community had to find a way to band together and record from some unorthodox circumstances. So, it was pretty inspiring to see how quickly everybody started to move to start to make this happen. And it’s also just really amazing that we have the technology to do this at all. I think that’s pretty incredible."

It certainly is fortunate so many creatives have found ways to power through the pandemic and bring fans entertainment when it’s needed most. My Hero Academia‘s uplifting message is one that’s always welcome during dark times, so it’s great that fans will get to reconnect with these characters as season 5 continues. You can watch on Hulu, Funimation and Crunchyroll.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels