My Hero Academia, Season Four Episode 14, Bright Future Review: A Loss for the Heroes and a Gain for the Villains.

Coming into My Hero Academia’s fourteenth episode of season four, “Bright Future”, I was very excited to see the adaptation of two fantastic scenes from the manga that had me feeling very different emotions.
However, unfortunately, while one of these scenes was perfectly adapted, the other lost a lot of its impact.
This scene is the League of Villains’ attack on the police transport that is taking Overhaul away.
After they stop the transport, and Dabi and Mr Compress kill the sand hero Snatch, Shigaraki and Compress amputate Overhaul’s arms, leaving him quirkless, and steal his quirk removing bullets.
The reason this scene is a downgrade in comparison to the manga comes down to censorship.
The moment where Compress amputates Overhaul’s arm is shot in a way that removes most of the violence, making many viewers not even realise that Compress had taken Overhaul’s arm.
As for the death of Snatch, if you missed Dabi’s comment about him probably being dead, you would have no idea that Snatch was killed from being compressed in the fire because it was done so tame.
Maybe they should have added a scene of Dabi crushing the compressed ball with Snatch in it to make his death more clear.
I was also a little disappointed that some of the manga panels did not make the cut.
Other than these instances, though, the scene is still done well, with great voice acting, especially from Koki Uchiyama who voices Shigaraki.
And, even though I was slightly disappointed by this scene’s adaptation, the adaptation of Nighteye’s death could not have been more perfect.
Everything from the voice acting, to the music is handled so well to the point that it almost made me tear up.
Shin-ichiro Miki does a great job as the dying hero, who makes amends with All Might and Deku, before telling his protege, Mirio, that he will be a fine hero and to keep smiling for a brighter future.
The moment the life fades from his eyes is emotionally palpable and a sad end to a very dark arc.
Thankfully, Nighteye’s hope for smiles will be fulfilled with the rest of the season because the upcoming Cultural Festival arc is very uplifting compared to the Overhaul arc’s darker tone.
I have watched the trailer for the second part of the season and it looks like it will be just as well as adapted as previous scenes in the season.
All in all, “Bright Future” is another good episode of My Hero Academia.
Yes, the adaptation of the League of Villains is a real downgrade from the manga, but the Nighteye death scene more than made up for this with its emotional weight.
Anyway, now that the sad times are over, we can move on to the happier times with the next arc, which I am really looking forward to.