Popularity My Hero Academia was popular with Japanese readers of
Charapedia, who voted it the fourth best anime show of Q2 2017. The anime received high TV ratings and has consistently ranked among the top ten animated shows in Japan since the release of its
second season. The official music video of the second season's opening theme song, "
Peace Sign" by
Kenshi Yonezu, reached 48.6 million views on YouTube, becoming one of the top trending videos of 2017. In the United States,
My Hero Academia was the second most "in-demand" TV title in the last 60 days in 2020 according to
Observer, which tracks popularity through social media, fan ratings, and piracy. In January 2021, it was revealed that the series was the fourth most-watched anime series on
Crunchyroll in 2020, being watched in 23 countries and territories, including North America, Central America, South America, and Europe. In April of the same year, the
fifth season of the series set the record for the most-watched premiere of any series on
MyAnimeList, surpassing other anime titles such as
Attack on Titan: The Final Season,
The Promised Neverland season 2, and
Dr. Stone: Stone Wars. According to Video Research, the premiere of its
sixth season earned a television rating of 3.9% (an improvement from the previous season's 3.2%) and ranked as the fourth-most watched anime, outperforming other popular series such as
One Piece,
Spy × Family, and
Doraemon in the average household viewership in Japan. The sixth season's fifth episode became one of the most-watched episodes of the series, garnering over 3.01 million viewers across 2.26 million households. Additionally, more than 2.64 million people who watched the anime, was an increase of 325,000 viewers from its season premiere, which had an individual viewership rating of 2.1%. By December 22, 2022, the series ranked as the fifth "Most-Watched Anime in Japan" for December 2022. The sixth season's finale averaged 2.01 million viewers on television after its broadcast. On
Tumblr's Year in Review, which highlights the largest communities,
fandoms, and trends on the platform throughout the year,
My Hero Academia ranked first in the Top Anime & Manga Shows category from 2018 to 2021. The characters also placed highly in the rankings of the Top Anime & Manga Characters category. In 2019, Izuku Midoriya ranked first, with 17 other spots being occupied by other
My Hero Academia characters in the top 50 list; it ranked ninth on the Top 20 overall in 2020; In April 2024,
My Hero Academia was the most popular animated superhero show or franchise according to analyst Miles Atherton, where the data was compiled through social media engagement for the popular new series and its growing popularity for anime. With 4.7 million social media engagements, it was the second most-discussed series, ahead of ''
X-Men '97, Invincible, and KonoSuba'' in the last 30 days, despite the
seventh season having not began airing. After the series' finale, the
final season has an average rating of 9.5/10 on
IMDb, while becoming the first full-length anime season to achieve a 9+ rating in every episode, with episode 8 had a 9.9/10 on its premiere day that became at the time, the website's highest-rated TV episode of 2025. In 2026,
My Hero Academia was named by the
Guinness World Records and data-science firm Parrot Analytics as the "Most in-demand animated TV show", with a global demand rating 57.5 times greater than that of the average TV show, previously held by
Hazbin Hotel.
Sales My Hero Academia sales have been high and the series has been successful in Japan since the release of the anime. The five volumes of the
first season on
Blu-ray and DVD were released in Japan, with each release appearing in Oricon's Animation Blu-ray and Animation DVD ranking. The first Blu-ray edition of
My Hero Academia ranked fifth in the first week of Oricon's Blu-ray ranking, while the first DVD edition ranked fourth with 2,184 copies sold. The second Blu-ray and DVD sets also ranked, with the Blu-ray edition coming in sixth and DVD fifth for a week. The third Blu-ray edition ranked fourth with 1,700 copies sold, while the DVD release was eighth with 1,184 copies sold. The fourth Blu-ray and DVD collections ranked fifth and fourth, respectively. The fifth Blu-ray and DVD release sales ranked higher than the previous volumes; the Blu-ray came in at third with 1,473 copies sold and the DVD ranked second with 1,068 copies sold in a week. Four volumes of the second season on Blu-ray and DVD also appeared in Oricon's Animation Blu-ray and DVD ranking. The first Blu-ray edition ranked seventh, while the DVD ranked fifth. The third Blu-ray edition was among the top 20 in Oricon's Animation Blu-ray ranking, while the DVD was tenth among the 30 Animation DVD ranking. The seventh Blu-ray and DVD ranked eighth, while the eighth Blu-ray and DVD sets ranked fourth. The second season's opening theme, "Peace Sign" by Kenshi Yonezu, topped the
Billboard charts on the
Billboard Japan Hot 100; it peaked at number two on the
Oricon charts. By the end of 2017, the
Bootleg soundtrack album including "Peace Sign" became the top-selling anime CD album on Oricon's chart with 241,754 copies sold. It was the top-selling anime CD album in the first half of 2018 with 134,777 copies sold; the other compilation album,
LiSA BEST: Day, which includes the second ending theme song of the second season, "Datte Atashi no Hero" by
LiSA, ranked fifth on Oricon's chart simultaneously. Seven volumes of the
third season on Blu-ray and DVD appeared in Oricon's Animation Blu-ray and DVD ranking, respectively. The first Blu-ray edition ranked ninth, while the DVD ranked third. The second Blu-ray edition ranked sixth, while the DVD ranked fifth. The third Blu-ray edition ranked fourth, while the DVD ranked second. The fourth Blu-ray and DVD sets ranked fifth and sixth, respectively. The fifth Blu-ray set ranked third with 1,194 copies sold, while the DVD ranked second. The seventh Blu-ray and DVD sets ranked ninth and sixth, respectively. The eighth Blu-ray and DVD sets ranked fourth and third, respectively. By the end of 2018,
Bootleg became the top-selling anime CD album for the second consecutive year while
LiSA BEST: Day ranked ninth on Oricon's chart.
Critical reception My Hero Academia was met with positive reviews from critics, and is considered to be
one of the best anime series of all time. The series has a rating of 100% on review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes. Alex Osborn of
IGN gave the first season a nine out of ten rating, praising its action, story, and characters, while criticizing its villains as underdeveloped. Osborn also stated that "its excellent character design only elevates the memorable cast even further". He concluded that "the first season of
My Hero Academia delivers thirteen episodes of fantastic action, elevated by a heartfelt story that's wrapped around a core cast of memorable and relatable characters". In his review for the second season, Osborn praised it as "truly something special", complimenting the animation, character developments, and emotions. He called it as "one of the best TV shows" he had ever watched. Tom Speelman of
Polygon praised the anime for its animation, action and characters. Speelman also stated that compared to other superhero teams like
X-Men or
Legion of Super-Heroes,
My Hero Academias biggest asset is its huge cast, with even minor characters having a "fun look" or "interesting personality" for readers to latch onto. He noted that it has similarities to the other shows and comics like
Teen Titans,
Runaways, or
Young Justice, though he felt its closest thematic analog is the 2005 Disney film
Sky High. Chris Beveridge from
The Fandom Post also praised the anime. He said that despite it being a long running series, it manages to not feel directionless and has several great moments. Nick Creamer of
Anime News Network also praised the adaptation. He gave praise to the music and animation in the action scenes, while criticizing the pacing and stating that the animation can be average at times. In his review of the second season, he gave it praise for the improvements to both pacing and animation. Sam Leach of
Anime News Network highlighted the 49th episode, which is the second battle between
All Might and
All For One. Leach wrote: "It was unavoidable that this was going to be a beautiful episode. That bloodied-up All Might is striking in either form, and you can tell they pulled out all the stops in making the big hits as intense and crazy as possible. From a pacing perspective, I'm really pleased with how this Bakugo Rescue arc played out." He concluded: "This is
My Hero Academias proudest moment in the spotlight. Not only does it continue to be the darling of modern
Shonen Jump with one of the mostly perfectly tuned anime adaptations a long-running series has ever received, this is an accomplishment of storytelling across the board." Marina Garrow from
Anime Feminist praised the way the plot handles damsel-in-distress elements, especially when compared to other series, stating that the female characters are not the only characters that need saving, and when they do need saving, the situations are realistic and not overexaggerated. Both the original Japanese cast and the English
dub received praise from critics. Osborn applauded the casting choices and overall voice work, adding that
Izuku's voice actor
Daiki Yamashita is a "perfect fit" in the Japanese dub, while praising
Justin Briner's performance in English as excellent and standout. Speelman stated that both Japanese and English casts know exactly how to make these roles work. He noted that both Yamashita and Briner's voice as Izuku "nail the optimistic nerdiness and heroic attitude", with Briner "channeling a bit of
Morty Smith for good measure". He also praised the voice performances of All Might, noting that Japanese voice actor
Kenta Miyake "nails the goofy earnestness of the part", while English voice actor
Christopher Sabat "was essentially
Superman", Speelman felt was a "great fit".
Paste and ''
Men's Health named the series as one of the best anime of all time. and Crunchyroll listed it in their "Top 25 best anime of the 2010s". In January 2020, IGN
and Thrillist named it among the best anime series of the 2010s. Japan Web Magazine'' ranked the series 24th on its list of "30 Best Anime of All Time".
Accolades At the
Crunchyroll's inaugural Anime Awards in 2017, Izuku was awarded "
Hero of the Year" while the anime series was nominated in six other categories including "
Anime of the Year". At the
2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2018, the season won seven out of ten nominations:
Best Action,
Best Animation,
Best Opening ("Peace Sign"),
Best Girl (
Ochaco Uraraka),
Best Boy (
Shoto Todoroki),
Best Villain (
Stain), and Best Hero (Izuku Midoriya) categories; Christopher Sabat also received the Industry Icon Award for his role as All Might.
My Hero Academia won "Shonen Series of the Decade" at the
Funimation's Decade of Anime poll, where the fans voted for their favorite anime across multiple categories. In the other fan poll, Izuku Midoriya and Shoto Todoroki were chosen as one of the "Best Boys of the Decade", while Ochaco Uraraka became one of the five recipients for the "Best Girls of the Decade" category. In 2021, the series won the "Most In-Demand Anime Series of 2020" at the third Global TV Demand Awards; it won the same award at the seventh and eighth editions in 2025 and 2026, while being one of the finalists for "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World". In 2023, the series along with
Attack on Titan, became the first anime to receive an
Astra TV Award nomination for "Best Streaming Animated Series or TV Movie" at the
inaugural and only Astra Creative Arts TV Awards edition.
Awards and nominations == Notes ==