Watched episode 4, and I'm still finding it hard to see what makes this any different from the usual shounen stuff, except maybe the slow pace and annoyingly dumb and jittery protagonist.

I liked the release of his power. The sound and animation were cool in that scene.

It's probably a good execution of the shounen story. The problem is, if you've seen enough of those, this is just like watching a replay. This reminds me of overdrive and that other geek biking story. Even the "twist" about him passing, if anyone can even call it that, could be seen by those new to the genre a mile away. In fact, it makes me question the intelligence of the other "hero candidates" who just left a girl to be crushed. Isn't that worthy of being failed? Are they just gonna leave someone to die in the real world if it isn't convenient for them?

And what's the big deal about this academy? I know many awesome heroes graduate from it, but wouldn't you be able to do good without being a harvard hero grad? Look at Saitama. He saved the world as an unknown hero a few times. Is this story promoting the reward of being recognized over the actual act, the precise opposite message of OPM? But then again Izuku got recognized for being heroic despite having no power... It's a bit of a mixed message.

The chubby mom didn't suck as much this episode because she didn't put down her son, but she did nothing worthy of praise either. She's... normal. And fat.