Why Some My Hero Academia Fans Were Disappointed By Overhaul
"My Hero Academia" started as a popular Shonen Jump manga from creator Kohei Horikoshi. But it's gone through a supercharged evolution into an anime series with five seasons under its belt, with a live-action movie currently in development. The story takes place in a world where most people have special abilities called Quirks, except for a young boy named Izuku "Deku" Midoriya. Everything changes for Midoriya when the powerful All Might passes down his power to him and trains him on the path to becoming a hero. "My Hero Academia" comes off as a brilliant animated love letter to comic book superheroes. Yet, we all know a superhero is only as engaging as their counterpart supervillain.
Fortunately, "My Hero Academia" introduces some of the most unique and threatening villains, including young yakuza thug Kai Chisaki, who debuts in Season 4. Going by the name Overhaul, his Quirk grants him the ability to disassemble and reassemble anything he touches, including other heroes' Quirks. Combined with his ruthless nature and calculated mind, Overhaul shows promise as a different and dangerous foe that Deku hasn't dealt with before. However, by the end of his arc, some fans on Reddit expressed that they were left disappointed, as the germophobic villain never lives up to his impressive debut.
Overhaul has too much going on with him
In "My Hero Academia," Overhaul reveals that he wants to remove all Quirks, believing they're a disease, and knowing that the action would bring the yakuza back into power. He's fiercely loyal to his yakuza boss, despite him being the one who put him in a coma. Did we forget that he can recreate anyone's Quirk?
Admittedly, it's a lot to keep up with Overhaul for just a mere season, and for some fans, it's all a bit too much. As Redditor u/soalone34 wrote, "I liked him a lot until the very end of his arc. He kind of fell apart. He had like five different motivations and just started ranting like a stain Shigaraki knockoff." Other fans such as u/KLReviews echoed similar criticisms of the characters, writing, "He is a gangster who is loyal to his family while also being willing to throw them all aside so he can carry out their will even if they don't like it. He's also a mad scientist who can artificially recreate somebody's quirk but is apparently lacking medical training of any kind. And he has a hang-up on germs and thinks society is a disease. That is enough character for three villains."
It seems like Overhaul has too much going on for fans' tastes. That's even more disappointing when we consider that at the beginning, he presents himself as being in a different league compared to Tomura Shigaraki. In Episode 65, he explicitly calls out Shigaraki and the League of Villains for their lack of a plan to overtake the heroes. The scene immediately implies that Overhaul is a strategic sociopath who could stick around as a threat way beyond the "Shie Hassaikai Arc." Instead, he topples under too many character ingredients.