I just finished Season 4 and wow I am honestly blown away by what Bones was able to do, and let's start things off with this:
1. Internship Arc (Overhaul Arc): Now personally for me from a manga standpoint I really love the entire 1st half of the arc when I was reading it and the second half felt like a drag to read from a pacing standpoint. Not to mention the final fight was a bit anticlimactic when it came to reading it again, and also Ochako, Tsuyu, Ryukiyu, and Nejire getting sidelined was exactly best either.
This is arc is half the reason why I held off on watching Season 4 for the longest, but having watched now watched it what are my thoughts?
Honestly, nothing really changed when you look at the story we were given in the manga, but one important aspect stood out to me the most. I believe the first half of the arc was properly pace as it was in the manga and I braced myself for when they approached Overhaul's base because of what I mentioned above. Except, I felt as though the pacing was a lot smoother when I was watching it vs when I had read it a few years back.
If anyone needs a recap I gave The Internship Arc a Good rating which equates to 7/10 when it came to me reading the manga.
From the perspective of the anime I'm struggling with giving it a Good+ to arguably a Great rating. That would equate to a 7.5 to 8/10.
Again the problems such as the final fight between Deku and Overhaul was still a bit anticlimactic, and the girls weren't given as much focus similar to the manga. Though, I did notice a brief scene of the girls briefly during the attack at the front of the entrance which kinda worked in some ways so I'll give them a plus for that. Correct me if I'm wrong about that not being in the manga. Like I said though, the anime to me handled the pacing of The Internship arc pretty well so props for Bones.
2. Remedial Course Mini-Arc was kinda what I expected to be, like the manga but still good nonetheless.
3. Cultural Festival Arc was actually the arc I was looking forward the most out of this season because I remember there a few elements that Kohei harkened back to when the series first started, and that was the whole uniqueness element. I loved how Gentle and La Brava weren't your typical bad guys who were like Yeah lets cause some mayhem and chaos, and were petty thieves doing things for views. Also Gentle and La Brava's backstory was kinda sad when we see what let them down that path. Deku vs Gentle was also just as great as it was presented in the manga. I also loved that this served as the epilogue to the Internship Arc in terms of Eri and the scene between her and Deku was sweet. Quite honestly, this was actually where I thought Season 4 was going to end.
I believe in the manga I had given this arc a Great rating.
In terms of the anime I'd have to give it a Great+
4. Pro Hero Arc has probably got to be the biggest surprise for me most of all because of I always assumed they would cover this arc at the beginning of Season 5, and simply have this as a tease at the end of Season 4. Bones literally looked at those assumptions and said "Yeah we know manga readers are expecting this for season 5, but we're gonna cover it here." Okay to be fair there are only 10 chapters that make up the Pro Hero Arc in the manga, and the fact they were able to tell almost the entirety of that arc within the last two episodes is really astounding. I'm aware that some of the content didn't make into the anime when looking at the manga, but the pacing was done perfectly. I've got commend Studio Bones for doing just that.
From a Manga Reader perspective I think the arc was great maybe even Great+ rating.
The anime though, I'd have to say with what Studio Bones did it would have to be Amazing.
Which comes to my final verdict on this season......
Season 1: my final verdict was a Great rating
Season 2: my final verdict was an Amazing rating.
Season 3: my final verdict was Amazing+
I think Season 4 would've had the same rating as Season 1 had it just been The internship Arc to The Cultural Festival Arc. However, it's like I said the almost the entirety of the Pro Hero Arc was not only surprising, but also astounding that Bones did an incredible with it's pacing in the final two episodes of the Season.
The rating for Season 4 as a whole will have to be given a Great+
It doesn't exactly match up to Season 2 or Season 3 based on the material from the manga, but like I said Bones handled the adaptation pretty well to a point where it slightly edges over Season 1.
Now given the tease we were given in the after credit scene, I think many of us know what's about to unfold for Season 5. It left an even split when it came to the manga due to one certain element, and I have no doubt that it'll happen again in the anime as well. Joint Training Arc I believe was the arc I think a lot of people weren't exactly happy with, and for me most of had to do with it being so dragged out, and because the chapters were pretty short.
I do think that the Joint Training will most likely only encompass 6-8 episodes (excluding episode 1 since it'll be a recap) because of the content itself mainly with the pages we got from the manga at the time. The Metaliberation Army I think will take up at-least from episode 10 up to episode 21. That would leave Episodes 22-25 for the Endevour Agency Arc.
My big guess is that Season 5 will end with the Heroes disappearing as a tease for Season 6.